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Ben Lerer is the co-founder and CEO of Thrillist, a leading men’s multi-platform lifestyle publication with over 3 million daily subscriptions in 21 localized markets in the U.S. and the UK. Since its launch in 2005, Lerer has overseen the growth of Thrillist’s marketing, sales and business development efforts, as well as its expansion into e-commerce with the acquisition of members-only online retailer JackThreads.com, and the launch of localized deals platform Thrillist Rewards.

Lerer was among Crain’s “40 under 40” class of 2010, Entrepreneur magazine’s “Top 5 Entrepreneurs of the Year,” and Silicon Alley Insider’s “100 Coolest People in Tech” for the fifth year running. Plus he’s been featured on the cover of AdWeek’s “Digital Hotshots” issue and the front page of the New York Times business section.

Lerer serves on the board of directors for the East River Development Alliance, a New York nonprofit organization, and is an associate member of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS). He is also the co-founder of Lerer Ventures, a New York-based angel fund that invests in media and technology.

YEC Global is an international mentorship program of the Young Entrepreneur Council, an invite-only nonprofit comprised of promising young entrepreneurs. Its goal is to promote and support young entrepreneurs around the world, as well as foster the thriving global entrepreneurial ecosystem by sending delegations to various countries around the world to lead in-person, peer-to-peer mentorship programs, creative sessions, panel discussions and business competitions. The program also offers one- to two-week internships at YEC member-owned companies.

More About: Business, entrepreneurship, features, Live Chat, Startups, thrillist

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The typical soldier can only carry about 100 lbs. worth of gear, but not indefinitely. DARPA’s (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) new robotic mule, however, can carry 400 lbs. of gear and never get tired — and it can do it with a surprising degree of agility.

Physical overburden of soldiers is one of the top five biggest challenges for the U.S. army, according to DARPA, and a semi-autonomous legged robot, officially named the Legged Squad Support System (LS3), might be one way of fixing that problem.

In the video above, the LS3 prototype (original developer Boston Dynamics also calls the robot “AlphaDog”) shows its ability to follow a person using its sensors and distinguish between various terrain features and obstacles.

In the next 18 months, DARPA plans to complete the robot’s development and ensure it’s ready to carry 400 lbs on a 20-mile trek in 24-hours without refueling. It also plans to make it considerably smarter and more observant, making it obey commands such as “stop,” “sit or “come here,” and updating its visual sensors so it can track a specific individual or object. The LS3 will ultimately be able to autonomously make course corrections if needed.

“If successful, this could provide real value to a squad while addressing the military’s concern for unburdening troops. LS3 seeks to have the responsiveness of a trained animal and the carrying capacity of a mule,” said Army Lt. Col. Joe Hitt, DARPA program manager.

Recent similar projects include the Warrior, an Xbox-controlled robot that can navigate rough terrain and lift up to 150 pounds using a mechanical arm.

Check out some of our other favorite robots in the slideshow below.

We met The Cubinator for the first time at the 2010 World Maker Faire. The robot currently holds the Guinness world record for fastest machine solve of a Rubik's cube. Pete Redmond, who developed the robot for the final project of his master's degree, says that its solve time averages about 25 seconds. Webcams in the robot's eyes detect the colors on the cube and the machine solves the puzzle by using an algorithm to find the fewest moves. It also has has a sense of humor, shouting "oh dear!" when it occasionally drops the cube.

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: DARPA, LS3, military, Robot, robot mule

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released a 191-page background check on late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs that was done in 1991, when Jobs was considered for a post in the George H.W. Bush administration.

The report doesn’t delineate what kind of post Jobs was being considered for. The report, which the FBI posted on its website, includes feedback based on interviews with friends and colleagues of Jobs that should be familiar to readers of Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs bio, including:

“Several individuals questioned Mr. Jobs’s honesty, stating that Mr. Jobs will twist the truth and distort reality to achieve his goals. They also stated that Mr. Jobs was not supportive of [the mother of his child born out of wedlock.]”

“[Blank] stated that during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mr. Jobs may have experimented with illegal drugs, having come from that generation.”

“[Blank] characterized Mr. Jobs as a deceptive individual who is not completely forthright and honest.”

“[Blank] also advised that he was aware that Mr. Jobs used illegal drugs, including marijuana and LSD, while they were attending college.”

“[Blank] considers Mr. Jobs to be a successful individual because he can delegate tasks to individuals.”

“Two individuals, who were acquainted with Mr. Jobs while they were employed at [Apple] offered favorable comments concerning Mr. Jobs. They stated that he is strongwilled, stubborn, hardworking and driven, which they believe is why he’s so succcessful. They futehr stated, however, that Mr. Jobs possesses integrity as long as he gets his way; however, they did not elaborate on this.”

“[Blank] stated that she and [Jobs] both experimented with various drugs although she would not be more specific to the kinds of drugs involved…She added that [Jobs] is extremely health-conscious now and rarely even drinks, but will occasionally have wine socially.”

“During a routine interview of Mr. Jobs conducted by the FBI on March 13, 1991, he commented concerning his resignation at [Apple] and his past drug use.”

“He had not used any illegal drugs in the past five years however during the period of approximately 1970-1974 he experimentd with marijuana, hashish and LSD. This was during high school and college and he mostly used these substances by himself.”

[Via Gawker]

More About: apple, FBI, steve jobs

The tech world awoke today to a new batch of rumors about the iPad 3. First various sites reported on an alleged leak of some of the components of the tablet, then another chimed in to announce that Apple is planning a March unveiling for its new toy.

Yesterday Repair Labs posted a picture of what it says is the back housing for the iPad 3, supposedly from “industry insiders” in China. Comparing the component to the iPad 2, it reveals some differences, specifically that there will be more room for a larger battery, a different camera and a new LCD screen. The sources also said the new design would not be thicker than the iPad 2. (You can see the image below.)

After that, the blog Cult of Mac posted pictures that are allegedly of other internal components of the iPad 3 “hot off the factory floor.” While the photos show some internal components remain the same, there are some notable new ones, mainly a new camera and a redesigned Wi-Fi radio. The pictures include one of the back housing, which supports the other report that the iPad casing won’t change — although it may have a repositioned headphone jack.

SEE ALSO: 8 Rumors About the iPad 3: What It Could Look Like, When It Could Arrive

If that wasn’t enough, the Japanese blog iLab Factory posted photos of what it says is probably the iPad 3′s LCD screen. The site says the panel “seems to be” made by Sharp, measuring 9.7 inches diagonally, with a resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 pixels, or four times the resolution of the iPad 2 (double the pixels in both directions).

Finally, All Things D reports that “sources” say Apple will hold an event in March (not in February, as had been previously reported) to launch the iPad 3. It’ll be in San Francisco, probably the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the regular location for Apple launches. The site’s sources said previous rumors are correct — that the next iPad will have a faster processor (the A6), with a higher-resolution display and improved graphics.

Of course, all of this is unconfirmed, though everything is pretty much in line with what has been expected of the next iPad, with the exception of the new headphone jack — something even the source site expresses doubts about.

What features would you like to see in the iPad 3? Give us your wish list in the comments.

This photo allegedly shows the back of the iPad 3, which suggests more room for battery, a different camera and a new LCD.

Credit: Repair Labs

Click here to view this gallery.

Image via of Cult of Mac

More About: apple, ipad, ipad 3, ipad rumors, rumors, tablets, trending

New technological and social media tools have a way of messing up relationships — and they can also be used for evidence when those relationships fail and end up in divorce court. A study of divorce attorneys released this week shows an increase in smartphones being used as evidence.

Ninety-two percent of the attorneys surveyed in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers study said they’ve seen an increase in the past few years in the number of cases that use evidence from smartphones; 94% said they’ve seen a rise in the use of texts as evidence in the past three years.

“As smart phones and text messaging become main sources of communication during the course of each day, there will inevitably be more and more evidence that an estranged spouse can collect,” said Ken Altshuler, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, in a statement. “Text messages can be particularly powerful forms of evidence during a divorce case, because they are written records of someone’s thoughts, actions and intentions.”

Check out the video above to learn more.

On the flip side, we do admit, technology and social media can create some unique opportunities for growing relationships. Click through the slideshow below for some of our favorite techy wedding proposals.

Timothy Tiah Ewe Tiam snuck up on his long-time love interest, Audrey Ooi Feng Ling, at Neroteca, a restaurant in Malaysia, and began showing her poster-sized printed memes such as Socially Awkward Penguin, Y U NO Guy and Success Kid.

At the end of the meme-ridden surprise, he knelt and confessed, “I’m very nervous and terrified about this, but I love you and I think you’re my soul mate. And I can’t see myself living without you in my life. Will you marry me?”

Click here to view this gallery.

Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, malerapaso

More About: divorce, marriage, mashable video, smartphone

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In a cost-cutting move and a signal of the company’s poor financial situation, Eastman Kodak on Thursday announced it plans to stop selling digital cameras.

The company, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, will instead focus on online and retail-based photo printing as well as desktop inkjet printing. Kodak plans to phase out all digital camera sales within the first half of this year. The move is expected to save Kodak $100 million. Kodak expects to incur charges of $30 million for exiting the business.

“For some time, Kodak’s strategy has been to improve margins in the capture device business by narrowing our participation in terms of product portfolio, geographies and retail outlets. Today’s announcement is the logical extension of that process, given our analysis of the industry trends,” said Pradeep Jotwani, president, consumer businesses, and Kodak chief marketing officer, in a press release from the company.

SEE ALSO: How Kodak Squandered Every Single Digital Opportunity It Had

The decision marks a frustrating turn of events for Kodak, which introduced the first digital camera in 1975. However, as it held off on pursuing the market for digital cameras to protect its lucrative film business, others rushed in to corner the market. At the same time, competitors like Fujifilm undercut Kodak’s film prices.

Currently, Kodak’s digital businesses — including digital cameras, printing and enterprise services and solutions — comprise three-fourths of the company’s total revenues. Kodak has more than 100,000 kiosks and order stations for dry lab systems across the world. About a third of the kiosks are connected to the most popular photo-sharing sites, according to the release.

High school drop out and bank clerk George Eastman's technological breakthrough in the late 1870s and 1880s was the development of dry film.

Previous to Eastman's invention, photography was an expensive, cumbersome and messy hobby. Cameras were enormous and the wet film required processing straight away.

In September 1888, New York-based Eastman registered the made-up brand name "Kodak" and offered the first branded camera, a handheld box-shaped model sold with the promise, "You press the button - we do the rest."

Further developments during the rest of the century and into the 1900s saw Kodak film improve, cameras get smaller and easier to use and the brand grow into one synonymous with the new medium of snapshot photography.

Click here to view this gallery.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, fikretozk

More About: bankruptcy, digital cameras, Kodak

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iPhones aren’t cool. You know what’s cool? Shooting your friends with your iPhone, mounted into a laser blaster.

A couple of phone-based friend-blasting systems have crossed our radar this week — one for iPhone, one for any smartphone.

First came news that Hasbro is updating Lazer Tag (remember that?) for the app-obsessed 21st century. Its 2012 edition guns, hitting toy store shelves this August for $40 per blaster, include a slot for your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Using a free Lazer Tag app and the phone’s built-in camera, the set-up will keep track of who shot whom and how much energy you have left. No need to wear those bulky chest targets! Here’s what the weapons will look like:

Not bad, but kind of cheap and plastic-looking. That trigger slot looks a little unwieldy, designed more for coins than fingers. And if you own anything other than an iPhone, you’re out of luck.

Not so with the AppTag (see above at top), a similar weapon that hit Kickstarter this week from Australian inventor (and army veteran) Jon Atherton. Entirely open source, the AppTag will not only work with any smartphone — it’ll slot on top of any toy gun.

Atherton plans to deliver the AppTag in June, at a bargain-basement price of $25 per unit. He’s also offering an SDK for developers, and promises the device will ship with at least a couple of augmented reality games.

So which device will win in the marketplace? No contest, Atherton tells Mashable. “The Hasbro toy is pretty interesting in a committee designed kinda way,” he says. “But they didn’t think of a lot of things” — such as the fact that you have to take your phone out of its case to put it in the Lazer Tag gun.

AppTag’s secret sauce: it communicates with your smartphone via high frequency sound, rather than wires, Wifi or Bluetooth. (It’s unclear how the Lazer Tag guns will connect to the iPhone). You’ll still be able to talk to buddies on your team while shooting your other buddies.

Check out Atherton’s endearingly nervous pitch for Kickstarter funds in the video below. (He’s asking for $30,000; the project has gained $3,000 in a matter of days). And let us know in the comments: does this look like fun?

More About: Augmented Reality, games, iphone, kickstarter

The Future of Search Series is supported by SES New York, the leading search, social and display conference. From March 19 to 23, get five days of education, inspiration and conversations with marketing experts from the digital space. Register with MASH20 to save 20%.

More people are flocking online to get their shopping done these days. But, an online shopper doesn’t necessarily equal genius website navigator. Your need to ensure that your business website’s search tools are simple and intuitive for those who are less technologically inclined — or risk losing customers.

About 60% of online purchases result from a customer search, according to ecommerce design solution Volusion. Not only should you do everything you can to land your business in the search engine sweet spot, but you should also optimize your in-site search for convenient user navigation.

The following tips will help improve your ecommerce company’s search functionality, both on-site and via organic search.

Usability studies indicate that a user’s eye naturally progresses from left to right; therefore, place navigation bars to the left. Also, you’ll probably have more room for detail if the navigation bar runs down the left side of the screen.

From there, you may choose to expand navigation bars into drop-down boxes that display sub-categories. For instance, a navigation heading displaying “Automotive” might expand into subcategories that include “Carburetors” and “Transmissions.” Just be sure not to get too specific (e.g. “Bi-Xenon Headlamps”) or else the user could become overwhelmed and discouraged.

SEE ALSO: How to Design the Best Navigation Bar for Your Website

Once the user has moved beyond the navigation, he will be taken to a page full of products. Provide a filter option that allows him to narrow products further — by price, color, fabric, most recent, etc.

In addition to pairing products with colorful, high-resolution photos, make sure to include unique, intriguing product descriptions. Not only will the shopper be more intrigued to click through to the main product page, but Google is more likely to prioritize unique product descriptions versus unoriginal content.

Cross-link between product pages and categories. That way, the shopper will more easily find related products, all while spending more time on your site and lowering your bounce rate. Cross-linking is one of the most effective search methods for ecommerce customers, especially those browsing without a clear purchase in mind.

If your site has a larger population of product pages, a search box can help with targeted navigation. Follow TasteBook‘s example and consider including brief search hints like “keyword,” “ingredient,” “fabric” or “sport.” Depending on the effectiveness of the tool, the search should bring the shopper to page full of corresponding products.

However, you still want to entice users on a mission to explore the site. Consider a floating sidebar of most popular products or categories that follows a shopper throughout her search or a feed of sales activity, like Fab.com’s social shopping page. And an ecommerce homepage should constantly cycle through featured products, sales and curated content so that repeat customers are more enticed to explore.

Speaking of homepages, Google will crawl the pages of a website that have the most SEO juice, which is usually the homepage. Therefore, the pages that you link to your homepage should be the most important. Keep in mind that these pages might not necessarily reflect the categories on your navigation bar. Give prominence to other highly-clicked pages like the “About” page, for instance — they’re more likely to be indexed by Google.

Be sure to index all of your main pages, category pages and even specific product pages. Use Google Webmaster Tools and Webmaster Central to learn how to effectively index pages, then track how users searched for and found those pages. You can even view the ratio of your total URLs compared to how many have appeared in Google’s web index.

In order to maximize SEO, be sure to attach strategic keywords (including long-tail keywords) to your site pages. Use Google’s free Keyword Tool to estimate the traffic you can expect from certain key words and phrases.

Finally, be sure to index user reviews as well — Google favors fresh, user-generated content. For this reason, you may also choose to invite curators to regularly contribute related content to your website, which will not only improve SEO, but will also add a community element to your business.

How does your website design and optimize its search features? Which are the most easily navigable ecommerce sites out there today? Let us know in the comments.

The Future of Search Series is supported by SES New York Conference and Expo, connecting the digital dots between search, social and commerce. The SES New York Conference and Expo takes a critical look at the latest developments to help marketers traverse the quickly developing landscape, with a special focus on the latest digital marketing trends and the latest technology launches from Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and more. Register with MASH20 and Save 20%. Join the discussion #SESConf.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alexsl

More About: ecommerce, features, Future of Search Series, Search, search optimization, SEO

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It worked for Burberry, so why couldn’t it work for us?

So seems to be the thought process of several prominent U.S. fashion labels during New York Fashion Week, all of which are planning their own takes on the “Tweetwalk” Burberry debuted at its womenswear show in September 2011.

The London-based fashion house made headlines when it posted photos of every look from its Spring/Summer 2012 collection on Twitter seconds before they appeared on the catwalk. The initiative generated a huge amount of interest on Twitter — so much so that both “#Burberry” and “Christopher Bailey” trended worldwide on the platform.

At 5:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Tommy Hilfiger will stage its own “Twitter Model Walk” at its men’s Fall 2012 show. The company is pushing its shoe line for autumn, and as such, will release images of the shoes on Twitter as they hit the runway. Followers can enter for a chance to win a pair by retweeting an image with the hashtag #TommyRunwayShoes, or by filling out a form on Facebook, where the U.S. fashion label will also be livestreaming video footage of its show.

Elsewhere, Rebecca Minkoff is planning to debut pieces from her collection on Twitter a full 30 minutes before they appear on the runway. Final looks will be shot outside the show’s venue in Lincoln Center. Additional backstage footage will appear on the designer’s Twitter and Instagram accounts, and the full show will stream live on YouTube at 3 p.m. ET on Friday.

Perhaps most creatively, Diane von Furstenberg has teamed up with iPhone video app Viddy to shoot and distribute 15- to 30-second videos — rather than photos — of looks backstage. A spokesperson for the company said that videos will be timed to go live on Facebook as they hit the runway; some of the videos will be shared to Twitter, as well.

Kate Sroczynski, senior director of digital at DVF, says that Viddy is a way for the brand to push the Tweetwalk concept to the next level. The short timeframes and direct-to-Facebook posting capabilities give DVF a way to deliver a “Twitter-esque” experience while reaching the brand’s more engaged fan base on Facebook, she explains.

The decision to debut looks on social media channels alongside — and, in some cases, ahead — of their appearance on the runway points to the growing prioritization of the online consumer audience at shows. New York Fashion Week, once a roped-off series of events for media and buyers, has become a global public spectacle, thanks to the advent of livestreaming and other online distribution channels. It’s a trend we expect will only accelerate over time.

More About: Facebook, fashion, features, nyfw, trending, Twitter

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DebtEye announced Wednesday it is now SpringCoin, a learning-focused financial planning website that gets more intuitive as you use it.

John Sun, CEO of San Francisco-based SpringCoin, started the business under the name DebtEye in February 2011. It was one of the start-ups at the notable Y Combinator start-up incubator and funding machine founded by Harj Taggar. SpringCoin helps customers meet financial needs and figure out how to pay off their debts by improving their financial literacy and by creating goals.

“There’s a mentality that this stuff (finance) is above them and that’s just not true,” Sun says.

The integrated features and financial education aspect of SpringCoin is what differentiates it from DebtEye.

SpringCoin features adaptive bill setting and financial budgeting plans that change the more you use it.

“Kind of like how Netflix figures out what type of movies you like to watch, the site will pick up where you spend your money,” Sun explains. “We can actually get extremely targeted and say, ‘Last week you spent $30 at Starbucks. This week we recommend you spend $20.”

This is made possible by significant improvements to the software algorithms, he says.

To create SpringCoin, Sun and his team surveyed consumers to get feedback and find out what parts of the original site worked and what could stand to change. Sun says DebtEye engaged customers, but they wanted the name to focus more on the positive aspects of managing your finances. Rather than watching debt, focus on growing your coin. Probably the most important part of SpringCoin that could make it stand out from other debt management sites is its financial education element.

Financial education is integrated into users’ financial goals — “we really put that part at the heart of SpringCoin,” he says.

Sun and his team gathered content by speaking with financial bloggers, finance experts and using their own internal knowledge — Sun and his team are credit counselors.

SpringCoin also features automated budget alerts and bill reminders that can pull information directly from users’ bank transactions.

“It uses financial forecasting methods — the same methods that Fortune 500 companies use — to project and warn customers about future cash flow problems that could occur,” he says.

When users meet financial goals they are rewarded with points that measure their progress and entered into a weekly raffle to win Amazon gift cards or other prizes.

“If you just want a place to look at all your accounts in one place, we recommend something like Mint or Ready For Zero,” notes the website FAQ’s.

SpringCoin will not be free — but don’t fret, it’s a nominal fee at $8 per month for the basic plan. However, it costs $50-$120 per month for full service plans. Sun has a noble reason for shunning advertising. He didn’t want to create a conflict of interest that might arise if financial or credit companies that Sun didn’t approve of wanted to advertise, so he decided to forgo ads entirely. Some companies he stands behind, Sun says, but rather than going down that potentially precarious path, they went with a paid price model.

Every user gets a one month free trial before the monthly fee kicks-in. As a “limited time” promotion, Sun says, if you submit the email addresses of three friends (Sun promises not to spam them) even if your friends don’t respond, you can get three months free.

Sun says they plan to release an app in the future, but probably not until next year.

What do you think about SpringCoin? Will you use it? Do you use any other debt management websites? Tell us in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, kizilkayaphotos