Twitter announced Monday that it will soon begin reformatting all links posted to its service with t.co, regardless of length.

Previously, only links that were 20 characters or greater were reformatted with t.co.

T.co is Twitter’s official URL shortener, which is designed to prevent malware and phishing attacks. Unlike other URL shorteners, such as bit.ly, Twitter displays the domain name in full so users know what they’re clicking on. Existing URL shorteners, such as bit.ly, will continue to function as normal, although fewer characters will be displayed.

For example, if you entered this YouTube URL:

It would appear as a shortened version of the original URL:

This same process will now apply to shorter links as well.

More About: t.co, Twitter

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Annoying Orange, the popular YouTube series about just that, is primed to make its way to your TV soon.

Management/production company The Collective has joined forces with Annoying Orange creator Dane Boedigheimer to create six episodes of the show, according to Deadline.

Conrad Vernon (Monsters and Aliens and Shrek 2) will executive produce the show and Tom Sheppard (Pinky and the Brain) will write it. Annoying Orange is following in the footsteps of another popular YouTube show, Fred (another The Collective project), which scored a TV movie on Nickelodeon.

Annoying Orange is already an extremely popular web series (and, now, iPhone app) — it has more than 560 million views, 50 million monthly viewers and is the eighth most subscribed YouTube channel of all time — so we wager that a TV version would be well-received by the pre-existing fan base.

We talked with Boedigheimer about what the show will entail. Check out our Q&A below:

How far along are you in the production process?

I can’t talk about placement and/or networks just yet, but we are in the preproduction stage at this point. Shooting begins very soon. Lots of really talented people are on board and it’s exciting to see all of it coming together.

What will the show look like?

At it’s core it will look a lot like the web series. We will continue to use realistic-looking animation assets, so that the Annoying Orange world resembles our own, but there will also be many kinds of other style of animation/filmmaking incorporated as well. The biggest change will be locations. Whereas the characters mainly live in the kitchen in the web series, now they will live on a fruit cart that can end up in any location at any time…whether it be space, prehistoric times, or Canada.

Will there be new characters/voices?

Yes! Lots of new characters actually. There will still be the core group – Orange, Pear, Passion Fruit, Grandpa Lemon, Grapefruit, Midget Apple, and Marshmallow (all still played by the same people), but now we’ll have other characters that live on the fruit cart with them too. We’ll also have a main human fruit cart vendor that can interact with the fruit.

Why translate a popular web show to TV?

I love challenges. Every time I do a new video online I try to incorporate something new that challenges me and forces me to learn something new. This is kind of an extension of that tactic, on a much bigger scale. Obviously the web show is simplified because you only have a few minutes to work with each episode, but with TV you have the ability to really incorporate a lot of story and open up the world these characters live in. It’s a challenge to make that kind of transition, and one that I’m really excited about. On top of that, Orange has a very respectable following online, and I think being able to create a TV show that works in tandem with the web series would be huge. You could do so many things with cross promotion and driving traffic to each medium. It’s exciting!

What has the reaction been so far?

Overall the reaction has been positive. I’ve seen a few comments here and there where people say, “Orange is getting a TV show? The world is ending! He’s so annoying!!!” And those always give me a good chuckle. You know why? Because you know exactly what the show is about from the title. It’s called the Annoying Orange. Anyone expecting a life-altering experience is barking up the wrong tree. Sometimes people just need a good laugh. Plain and simple. Fans of Annoying Orange are ecstatic to see the transition to television, and honestly, it seems like most people are excited to see what happens even if they aren’t fans, because if Orange can make a successful to jump to TV, that opens the door for many other web entities to do the same thing.

More About: annoying-orange, tv, viral video, youtube

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The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Social Printshop

Quick Pitch: Social Printshop is an early-stage startup working to significantly alter the web’s relationship with the physical realm. Its first product, the Facebook Friend Poster, is the equivalent of a real-life Facebook Wall.

Genius Idea: Capitalizing on social interactions

Benjamin Lotan is the founder and CEO of Social Printshop, a startup that turns social media connections and photos into physical prints that buyers can put on display in their homes and offices.

On the surface, it’s a straightforward printshop serving the social media obsessed. Social Printshop’s products — Facebook fan/friend posters, Twitter prints, social media stickers and mini photo books — all add tangibility to social media relationships. What better way to experience those Facebook or Twitter relationships than to observe the avatars of these “friends” on your wall, in an art-like fashion?

There’s no controversy here, except that Lotan admits to building a business that caters to the ego and capitalizes on social interactions. It’s a regular business objective, but Lotan sees himself as a Robin Hood. “We’re almost stealing money from our customers,” he says, “to reroute money into projects we believe in.”

Lotan, a Visual Arts student working toward a Master of Fine Arts at the University of California at San Diego, believes in the artistic sensibility of those around him. Frustrated by seeing friends’ and fellow students’ solid ideas fail for lack of funding, Lotan chose a road that would potentially right those wrongs.

“I saw the tech route as the easiest route to get money pretty quickly,” he says. So, Lotan built and launched the Facebook Friend Poster in a week, and used it as a vehicle to mobilize friends and create a business.

Lotan speaks of a three- or four-year plan to make Social Printshop into a profitable company, at which time he’ll funnel the money into projects closer his heart.

The immediate goal is to feed off early attention, create a brand and work on a more meta goal of adding point-of-sale to social interactions, something Lotan refers to as both “supremely nice and supremely evil.”

Though a handful of other products have since been released, the Facebook Friend Poster remains Social Printshop’s most recognized product. Mashable, as a customer, will create the world’s largest real-life Facebook Wall to put on display in our New York headquarters as wallpaper. Our interest has spawned a me-too reaction from huge brands who want a giant life-sized social canvas of their own, according to Lotan.

The look-at-how-big-my-following-is motivation has an Old Spice Guy ring to it. Look at your Facebook fans. Now back at mine. Now look at all of the people who love me, and marvel at my greatness.

Lotan, omni-conscious of the ego-appeal in his existing products, may or not may soon release SuperEgo.me, a site that could take self-importance too far into the absurd.

The name alone sounds like everything that’s wrong with the web, and that’s almost the point. The app caters to the notion that you are your greatest fan. It will hook into your Facebook profile, strip out your friends, and just show you in all your glory.

SuperEgo.me started as a way to poke fun at Facebook photo app Pixable and online start page About.me. Lotan says that the irony behind these products is that people really only want to look at photos of themselves. Though, after continuing to iterate on the app, he’s now conflicted between building a product with real appeal and releasing something that could be perceived as a joke.

That battle wages on, but Social Printshop’s 15-person team — an unusual blend of developers, writers, musicians, poets and an investor with a soft-core porn background — is currently using its $70,000 in seed funding to build two photo-centric mobile apps, with associated for-charge print products, of course.

Today, Social Printshop processes anywhere from one to ten orders per day and handles custom corporate requests. “To get to be a 100 million dollar company,” Lotan says, “we’re going to need to produce something significant.” He talks of producing a print API and creating an ecosystem of its own to make that happen.

Still, Social Printshop traffics in the ego. And, is there any less art in that? A Twitter photo print of all my followers would be a cool way to represent four-plus years of social achievement. Where do I sign-up? Cha-ching.

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

More About: art, Facebook wall, print, social media, social printshop, spark-of-genius, startup, trending, twitter

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Facebook rolled out a new way for users to read and understand its privacy policy. Although none of the terms of the privacy policy have changed, the new site and policy outlines has been rewritten, reformatted and reorganized in a way that makes it easy for non-lawyers to understand.

This trial format comes a day after Facebook responded to an inquiry from the the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. In its response, Facebook said that it agreed with the FTC’s finding “that any privacy framework must be implemented in a way that both honors consumers’ expectations in the contexts in which they use online services and promotes the innovation that has fueled the growth of the Internet of the past two decades.”

Facebook explained the rationale behind the new human-friendly draft of its privacy on the Site Governance page, stating it had settled upon a few basic principles when trying to figure out what users want from a privacy policy.

These principles are:

1. First, it should be easy to understand, even when the concept is complicated or is of no use to anyone.
2. Second, it should be visual and interactive, because that’s the way people use the web today.
3. Third, it should focus on the questions Facebook users are most likely to ask, because that makes it relevant.

Looking at the draft policy and at Facebook’s official privacy policy, we know which one we prefer.

It’s really amazing what kind of difference larger fonts and well organized information can have on the readability of a document.

Make no mistake: Even in this early draft, the Facebook’s privacy policy is still a dense document. That said, information is much more understandable and the navigational aspects are a huge improvement.

Frankly, our hats are off to Facebook for putting this type of document together. We wish other companies (read: Google) would be so willing to better present this type of information.

More About: facebook, facebook privacy, facebook privacy policy, privacy

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Our weekly YouTube roundup is usually a reprieve from your mentally stimulating (yeah, right) work day. Not today, folks. Today, you must think, as this week’s theme is: TEDTalks.

The 2011 Technology Entertainment Design conference will be kicking off next week in Long Beach, California, bringing the leading minds of many fields together to talk about innovation, change and the future.

What we dig most about the TED conference are the talks that it yields, videos of which are all archived on the organization’s website.

Keep an eye on Mashable in the coming week for our TED coverage, but, in the meantime, get some learnin’ below.

Dan Ariely Asks: Are We in Control of Our Decisions?

Zachary Sniderman: Making absurdity both hilarious and brilliant.

Thomas Thwaites: How I Built a Toaster — From Scratch

Josh Catone: Thomas Thwaites’s attempt to build a toaster from scratch — including collecting and refining all the raw materials — is an interesting commentary on our globalized society.

Brian Cox: What Really Goes on at the Large Hadron Collider

Amy-Mae Elliott: Here Brian Cox explains what happens at the LHC (and more importantly why it’s such a fascinating experiment) in his typically accessible and engaging style.

Madeleine Albright: On Being a Woman and a Diplomat

Stacy Green: Because everything that Madam Secretary says is awesome and hilarious.

Amber Case: We Are All Cyborgs Now

Emily Banks: Amber Case provides a fascinating anthropological perspective on our modern tools and tech.

David Blaine: How I Held My Breath For 17 Minutes

Christina Warren’s pick

Jacek Utko: Can design Save the Newspaper?

Meghan Peters: Can it?

Jake Shimabukuro Plays “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Brenna Ehrlich: I dig the uke.

Alexis Ohanian: How To Make a Splash in Social Media

Matt Silverman: Funny + Social + Good Cause + Reddit = YEAH

More About: favorite-youtube-videos, TED-2011

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Competition has been heating up between the two biggest daily deals sites, Groupon and LivingSocial, over the past several weeks, as the two vie for investor funding, Super Bowl ad placements and deals from local and national retailers.

In mid-January, LivingSocial offered a $20 Amazon gift card for $10, shortly after the latter became a major stakeholder in the company. The deal was eagerly shared by the press and consumers alike (40% of purchases came from shared links), resulting in 1.3 million vouchers (and $13 million in gross sales), an 80% increase in traffic and a 33% increase in membership to 20 million for the month. Groupon had 40 million subscribers as of December.

In an attempt to counterbalance LivingSocial’s Amazon offer, Groupon sent out a “Super Groupon” Friday offering $20 of Barnes & Noble merchandise for $10. While Barnes & Noble doesn’t offer as broad a selection as Amazon does, book lovers should have no trouble spending their vouchers.

Those who cash in on the deal will have until April 11 to use their Groupon; after that period, the value of the voucher will decrease to $10. Vouchers are limited to one per person.

More About: barnes & noble, groupon, LivingSocial

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Facebook is moving out of its current office complex in Palo Alto and relocating to the former campus of Sun Microsystems in San Mateo.

Facebook has sent Mashable and other media outlets an invite to a press conference Tuesday, February 8, where it will it discuss its new headquarters. The event will be taking place at 1701 Laurel Street in Menlo Park, the location of the Menlo Park City Council Chambers.

It isn’t revealing much more than that, though. However, our sources confirm that Facebook will indeed be moving its operations to the 22-acre property used by Sun Microsystems before it was acquired by Oracle. Palo Alto Online also confirmed by checking city records that Facebook has acquired 312 and 314 Constitution Drive, properties next to the old Sun Microsystems campus.

Facebook has been headquartered in Palo Alto since Zuckerberg first moved there in 2004. Facebook is rapidly approaching 2,000 employees, and it won’t be long until its current headquarters will run out of space. And with $500 million in funding burning its pockets, Facebook definitely has the money to buy something as large as the Sun Microsystems campus, which will give it room for long-term growth and rapid hiring.

More About: facebook, Facebook Invite, sun microsystems

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This series is brought to you by HTC EVO 4G, America’s first 4G phone. Only from Sprint. The “First to Know” series keeps you in the know on what’s happening now in the world of social media and technology.

 

Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world today. We’re keeping our eyes on four particular stories of interest today. Google Is Going into Gaming Google is going into social gaming in attempt to win over some of the ad dollars that have gone to social networking sites, sources familiar with the matter have told The Wall Street Journal. The company has reportedly been in talks with top developers like Playdom Inc., which was acquired by Disney this week, as well as Electronic Arts’s Playfish and FarmVille creator Zynga. Checkins Coming to Google In further Google news, the company has indicated that it is working with developers to bring checkins to location-based applications via its Places API. Google Places is the new version of the company’s Local Business Center, designed to help local business owners gain an edge in search engine marketing. Facebook May Put Off IPO Until 2012 Three sources have informed Bloomberg that Facebook may postpone its initial public offering until 2012. “At some point along the path, I think it’ll make sense to have an IPO. But we’re not running the company to do that. We’re running the company to serve more people,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg told ABC’s Diane Sawyer recently. Spotify’s U.S. Launch Faces Further Delays Negotiations between free music streaming service Spotify and U.S. record labels are faring none-too-well; the company is reportedly “back to square one.” The startup is still aiming for a late 2010/early 2011 launch in the U.S. Further News Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the company is hard at work making Windows 7 a great OS for tablets; Redbox is adding Blu-ray rentals to its kiosks [via Variety]; Samsung confirms it will the Galaxy S smartphone will get Froyo in September [via Engadget]; and Google dispelled rumors that it was fully blocked in China. Disclosure: Microsoft is a Mashable sponsor.

This series is brought to you by HTC EVO 4G, America’s first 4G phone. Only from Sprint. The “First to Know” series keeps you in the know on what’s happening now in the world of social media and technology.

More About: facebook, facebook ipo, first to know series, geolocation, Google, google places, spotify

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This comes as no surprise as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has always been very careful on the subject. “At some point along the path, I think it’ll make sense to have an IPO. But we’re not running the company to do that. We’re running the company to serve more people,” he said recently.

Facebook’s IPO has been one of the burning topics in business circles in the last couple of years. With the company’s revenue (and valuation) rising swiftly, Facebook () is poised to become the next Google (), whose initial public offering in 2004 was wildly successful, with the company increasing its market capitalization fivefold over the coming years.

Despite the pressure to go public, Facebook’s IPO seems to be pushed further into the future every year. The wait, however, will give 26-year old Zuckerberg more time to gain more users, sort out the privacy issues that have been plaguing Facebook and, most importantly, boost sales and increase earnings.

Congratulations! You’ve rocked another week. In addition to being seven days closer to your inevitable demise, it’s also likely that some critical social media resources slipped through the cracks in your Google Reader.

Worry not. As always, we’ve gathered the goods back up and stashed them here in our weekly super list.

Below, you’ll find the case for a musical MySpace, analysis of location-based sustainability, some social biz tips from the hospitality industry, and much, much more, all for just three easy payments of $29.95.

Just kidding, it’s free!

Social Media

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• Why Facebook Must Get Serious About Privacy
  Facebook’s long list of privacy snafus continue to trouble the network as it sets its sites on web domination. Like Google before it, there are steps to be taken, and lessons to be learned before it can truly become an Internet titan.
• 10 YouTube Videos of People Doing Amazing Things
  Bike stunts, musical feats, and some very fast clapping await you in this cavalcade of jaw-dropping YouTube excitement!
• HOW TO: Send a Real Gift on Facebook
  When flinging a virtual cupcake at your friend just won’t cut it, Facebook lets you send actual gifts in a social way. Here’s how to do it, along with a few alternative options.
• 5 Creative Uses for Crowdsourcing
  Some companies are tapping into the social web to solve problems and make decisions in interesting ways. These crowdsourcing approaches are food for thought.
• Why MySpace Can Still Win as a Music Destination
  Despite the ground it’s lost in the social network wars, MySpace remains a powerhouse as a music discovery site. Here are the reasons why, and what the site should do to stay in the social game through music.

For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Tech & Mobile

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• 7 Unique Sites for Discovering New Music
  Whether you’re looking for rare audio and video from your favorite artists, or simply want to expand your musical palette, these seven unsuspecting sites will satisfy any audiophile.
• Top 5 DIY iPhone Stands [PICS]
  Ready to get all “MacGyver” on your iPhone accessories? These five iPhone stands can be made from simple household items in a snap. Check it out!
• 10 Best “Get a Mac” Parodies [VIDEOS]
  It’s the end of an advertising era, and as the “Get a Mac” series hangs up its spurs, we thought it appropriate to wrangle the best send-ups of the iconic commercial.
• 10 Great Websites to Buy Handmade Goods
  If you love Etsy, there’s a whole new crop of handmade online marketplaces worth exploring. Here are ten of the best.
• Are Location-Based Services All Hype?
  While the buzz around location is ever-growing, the unwillingness to look at sustainability and mainstream penetration echos the tech bust of the mid 90s. This post takes a hard look at the numbers and trends.
• The Future of Web Fonts
  While advances in web code allow for some amazing things in your browser, there are a number of reasons why typography has been a stunted part of web design. Recent developments seek to change all that. Here’s a look at where we’ve been, and where we’re going in the world of web fonts.
• How Open Data Applications are Improving Government
  From agency transparency to public transit, when governments make data available to developers, the citizens win. Here are some cases where it’s really working.

For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Business

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• How Data is Redefining Business Relationships
  Doing business in an online world is still all about relationships. Social data has made tapping into these connections more efficient and more comprehensive. This post details how.
• How Hospitality Companies are Using Social Media for Real Results
  Social media offers the hotel and restaurant industries unprecedented opportunities to connect with clientele and bring new business in the door. We spoke with some establishments who have had success.
• 6 Tips for Effective Recruiting on Social Media Sites
  Looking for the perfect job candidate has gotten a whole lot easier thanks to the social web. Check out these strategies for getting the most out of online recruiting.
• 5 Ways to Monetize the Future of News Media
  While journalism still struggles to find sustainable business models, startups and establishments alike are experimenting with new ways to monetize content. Take a look at these five points on the spectrum.
• 5 Ways To Turn Your Traffic Into Valuable User Data
  You may be getting hits to your site, but simply tallying the numbers may mean you’re leaving important data on the table — data you could use to target and even monetize your traffic. Check out these five apps that can turn clicks in to insights.
• HOW TO: Start a Small Business Social Good Campaign
  It’s no secret that people are more inclined to purchase from companies that are working to improve our world. Check out these tips if you plan to embark on a social good campaign.
• 5 Steps to Taking Customer Service Social
  By integrating social media, customer service is no longer relegated to a specific department, but can be practiced by your entire staff through personal interaction with customers. Here’s how to make it happen.
• HOW TO: Pick the Perfect Name for Your Startup
  There’s a lot to consider when choosing a name for your business on the web. Is it available? How does it sound? What does it really mean? We spoke to startup pros and linguists to get their tips.

For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Tags: business, facebook, Features Week In Review, List, Lists, Mobile 2.0, small business, social media, tech, twitter, youtube

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