CEO, Larry Weintraub

I have been dropping hints for an Ice Cream Maker.

President, Terry Dry

I am really hoping for new Formula 1 Racing Game for the Wii.

CTO, Kevin Glickmann

I don’t want anything. I have everything I need.

COO, Greg Boles

I couldn’t limit it to one. I want a Netbook and a good pair of earbuds for my iPod.

VP, Account Management, Melissa Taylor

I wish that someone would pay off my mortgage.

Social Media Strategist, Christy Wise

I am wishing for a fancy-schmancy iPad.

Sr. Account Executive, Liza Patriana

I want iPad and/or a Kindle because I have neither. I would love if a Prius would fall into my lap and a duplex in Los Filez. Can you tall I want it all?

Sr. Manager, Social Media Marketing, Ben Arnold

I want a bike!

Manager, Corporate Communications, Natalie Svider

I wish for a 2010 AFC West title for my Oakland Raiders and an iPad. Not that much to ask for really.

Manager, Social Media Marketing, Allie Wester

I am wising for the IKEA PS Maskros Pendant Lamp!

Manager, Social Media Strategy, Andrew Germer

Wishes that someone gets him Rock Band 3

Account Executive, Sherry Globman

I’m wishing for a new iPod. And an all-expenses paid vacation to Hawaii

Office Manager, Heather Overton

Only one wish? Ok, the Kindle, but what I REALLY want is the iPad

Community Manager, Charles Ryan

I want, I want I want. A Louis Vuitton iPad Case, and an otter costume for next year’s Halloween (yo, they’re pricey)

GetGlue is in many ways very similar to the other check-in applications we’re already so familiar with. You begin by either linking your Facebook account online at the GetGlue website, or downloading the application to you phone (iPhone, Android, and iPad compatible). Once logged on, you are asked to begin rating your favorite movies, books, and music to help build your GetGlue profile. Users then can begin checking-in when they listen to music, watch TV, or go to the movies, all updating their profile in real time. Their check-ins and ratings help the GetGlue site tailor suggestions based on the users individual tastes in an attempt to help you find “your next favorite thing”.  Badges are rewarded much like other check-in applications, and points are occurred based on frequency of use.

But what does this kind of service mean for the entertainment industry? Why would networks like MSNBC and HBO — for example — sign up and partner with a service like this? The answer is simple; the same reason that restaurants and retail stores are partnering up with Foursquare, Loopt, and Gowalla – to help build consumer loyalty.

GetGlue seems to have two main objectives. On the user’s side, it helps connect people with similar interests, build up profiles based around individual tastes, and suggest new music, shows, movies, and books to its users based on viewing and listening history. On the industry side, it helps to create show loyalty, as well as encourage live tune-in.

In addition, entertainment companies such as Fox are able to tap into the GetGlue database and effectively market new shows to users based on their viewing history, check-ins, and Likes. People who repetitively check-in to different shows are much different than people who “Like” a show on a social network, providing television networks with the ability to see who the die hard fans are, and who just watches a show once in a while. Recommendations are then handed out according to the users views and the entertainment companies get to target a niche market directly.

GetGlue has been gaining popularity since its original conception earlier this year, and has been rightfully dubbed the “Foursquare of Entertainment”. With more television networks and entertainment companies jumping on board, it’s no doubt that the entertainment check-in is one of the more innovative social media concepts within the last few months.

Zynga, hailed as the number one social gaming company, reports worth of up to $4.5 billion, with sales of virtual goods expected to exceed $2 billion by the year 2012. They are not alone in realizing the profit behind the social gaming madness, with competitors Electronic Arts and Playdom following them close behind.

But with the sudden boom of social games online and the vast selection of mobile games for those users constantly on the go, what games are really worth playing, and what games could you do without? We here at Fanscape thought we might be able to help you narrow down which of the games are worth playing.

NFL Superstars (Facebook) Free

If you’re as crazy about the NFL as we are here at Fanscape, then this game is the game for you. Madden NFL Superstars, one of the most highly anticipated social networking games to date, allows you to coach your very own team to the winning title.

The game allows users to create your own franchise, draft your own players, build up your stadium and increase your fanbase. Keep your players fit by scheduling practice sessions, and try to get them into the Super Bowl!

Ultimate Fan Game (Facebook) Free

Just launched is another awesome football-related game. Ultimate Fan is a game on Facebook, focused entirely around football fans themselves.

Ultimate Fan isn’t a football simulator or a fantasy league based game. Ultimate Fan allows fans to be fans, letting them root for their favorite team, predict game scores, and allows them to even host a virtual tailgating party with other fans from all over the country.

Plants vs. Zombies (Online/Mac/iPod/iPhone/iPad) $2.99

The love affair with this game started the minute it was downloaded.

The game Plants vs. Zombies follows a simple concept – you must protect your house from an oncoming zombie horde, using plants you plant in the ground as weapons. Each plant has a different ability, and you utilize sunshine you collect to plant more plants. As the levels get harder, you gain more plants, and more difficult situations come your way. Starting off during the day, the sunshine is more abundant, but as the levels progress, you begin to play at night, in the fog, around a pool, and eventually on the roof. Be warned though, this game is highly addictive!

Fruit Ninja (iPhone/iTouch/iPad) $.99

Slashing its way on to our favorites list is a game that will keep you occupied for days. Fruit Ninja, released by developer Halfbrick Studios, is a must have for anyone looking for a fun way to kill some time.

For only .99 cents, Fruit Ninja is a definite bargain. Players of the game slash various tasty looking 3D fruits with their fingers, trying to see how many they can slash to bits without slashing the occasional bomb. Hit multiple fruits in one slice for extra combo points! Be careful though, miss three fruits and that’s game over.

Bonsai Blast (Facebook/iPhone/iTouch/Android) Free on Facebook, $.99 as a mobile app

For those of you looking for a more classic approach to games, take a look at Bonsai Blast. This award winning puzzle game will have you addicted for hours!

The concept of the game is simple, yet takes some skill as the levels progress. Players shoot marbles to match three or more in a row which causes a chain reaction. The game features 90 different levels, the ability to swap between multiple shooters, and many other features.

Wrath (BlackBerry) $2.99

The game Wrath for the BlackBerry takes the player back to the days of retro arcade shooters.

Guide your fighters ship through space using the phone’s built in accelerometer, and take out any enemy’s that come your way. Fly over power-ups to wield more powerful weapons to ultimately take control of space!

Skies of Glory: Battle of Britain (iPhone/Android) $4.99

Although this game’s price tag is slightly higher than most, it’s well worth it. This game started out on the iPhone and became amazingly popular. Just recently, Skies of Glory has been ported over to the Android line of smartphones, and now allows iOS and Droid users to take to the skies and fight one another in real-time – something that is considered a rare feature with mobile gaming.

Must.Eat.Birds (iPhone/iTouch) $.99

Must.Eat.Birds is by far one of the most ridiculous games I’ve ever played on a mobile device. Players take turns launching what the game calls “Nomsters” at greedy birds parachuting down to eat the delicious looking cakes and sweets you’ve laid out for your picnic.

The game includes 9 different stages as well as four different challenge stages, Must.Eat.Bird will keep you entertained and occupied and is well worth the price! Check out an online version of the game here!

Ka-Glom (BlackBerry) Free

A good puzzle game worthy of downloading for your BlackBerry device is called Ka-Glom. Originally developed for BlackBerry back in 2006, Ka-Glom has remained one of the more popular games to date.

Ka-Glom is played much like Tetris. If you group four of the shapes of on color together, they are destroyed and you are awarded points.

FarmVille (Facebook/iPhone) Free

When talking about online social gaming, perhaps no game has or will ever achieve the amount of social gaming success that Zynga’s FarmVille has gotten in just one single year. Zynga is leader in online social game creation, having created of many similar titles such as PetVille, FrontierVille, YoVille, and FishVille. After is release in June of 2009, the FarmVille fan page boasts a whopping 24 million fans, and reports over 60 million active users.

The principles of the game are simple; run a farm, plant and grow crops, sell the crops, and make money to buy more farming stuff. The game, which originally started out online only but recently released an application for the iPhone, is Zynga’s most successful game to date. Seamlessly integrating into the player’s Facebook data streams, it allows users to swap, trade items, and even help each other out.

MafiaWars (Facebook/Online/iPhone) Free

Another really popular game from Zynga is Mafia Wars.Players in this social game take to the mean streets of New York City, Cuba, Moscow, Bangkok, Paris, London, South Africa, Mumbai, and more recently Las Vegas, to battle it out – Mafia style!

A highly addictive game that is seamlessly integrated with your facebook interface, players battle for control of cities by doing jobs, earning money, gaining respect, and ultimately building a large Mafia Empire.

These are some of our current faves. Feel free to share yours.

Every now and then the hard working social media experts at Fanscape need to take a little break. We were very excited when we were taken, via party bus, to Dodger Stadium with our friends at The Marketing Arm, Davie Brown and USMP to watch the Dodgers win 1-0 in a 14-inning game.

Lisa, Vanessa and Liza

Check out all the pictures HERE

What I won’t be doing is following anything social media, anything online or even checking my Blackberry for that matter – from early evening, until I have watched Jack & Chloe’s final scene. This holds true for the Olympics, awards shows and any other TV program that I am obsessed with that doesn’t air live or that I TiVo to watch after I get home.

Sorry social media and my Backberry, I love you, I really really do, but I learned way early on that people love to talk, text, chat and tweet the millisecond something happens – be it on TV or in real life. And I have been mad at myself for checking too many times to know that I should know better.

So with all of the chatter out there, I will be on a personal social media and Blackberry hiatus while we say goodbye to the TV version of Jack Bower.

Damn it Chloe!

New York Times Editors Choice –Free

A great way to check out the best of the best from the New York Times.

Tweetdeck –Free

This popular Twitter management system is ready and available for the iPad

STREAMING:

ABC Player - Free

Watch some of your favorite ABC shows for free using this app Streams Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, and my personal favorite Modern Family.

Netflix – Free (with unlimited membership)

If you’re a Netflix subscriber this is just one more way to stream television and movies.

GAMES:

Scrabble - $9.99

What makes this unique is its ability to pair with up to four iPhones which have downloaded the free tile rack app and “Flick tiles from your device onto the board”

N.O.V.A. – $6.99

A first person shooter you Halo fans will love.

Special iPad optimized controls:

• Curve your grenade’s trajectory with the new 2-finger-based throwing move

• Perform multiple surgical kills at once with multi-target acquisition

• More intuitive than ever, thanks to numerous multi-touch controls on-screen

More apps are on the way. I’ll keep you posted on the ones I’m all about.

About Ryan Garcia

Ryan Garcia brings his flair for marketing and promotional creation and execution to Fanscape in his position as Manager, Digital Communications. His unique marketing perspective helps him deliver strategic campaign execution that includes digital media relations, social media marketing, blogger and influencer relations as well as digital promotions.

Prior to joining Fanscape Garcia hels posts at Columbia Records, Flux.com and Tagworld.com.

Not that I look forward to taxes mind you, but I always look forward to companies that offer us some good old-fashioned discounts and freebies on this official final day to pay-the-man. What follows is a quick list of companies providing special offers. If you have any that aren’t on this list, please share.

• Cinnabon Cupcake Bites — Get 2 FREE Cinnabon Cupcake Bites at participating Cinnabon locations between 6-8pm!

• Starbucks Brewed Coffee — Take a reusable coffee mug into Starbucks to snag a FREE brewed coffee!

• MaggieMoo’s Ice Cream Pizza — Get a FREE slice of MaggieMoo’s new ice cream pizza from 3-7pm. (Thanks, Saving U Cents!)

• Taco Del Mar Taco — Get a FREE taco from Taco Del Mar when you show them your “taco 1099″!

• Smokey Bones Appetizer — Score a FREE appetizer at Smokey Bones with coupon!

• McCormick & Schmick’s Tax Relief Certificate — Every bar guest at McCormick & Schmick’s will receive a $10.40 tax relief certificate good on their next meal!

• PF Chang’s Discount — Save 15% on your meal at PF Chang’s, no coupon necessary!

• HydroMassage Massage — Relax with a FREE massage at participating HydroMassage locations 4/15-18!

• Office Depot Copies — Make copies of your tax returns for FREE at Office Max, up to 25 single-sided pages!

• Mr. Jim’s Pizza — Become a fan of Mr. Jim’s Pizza and snag a coupon for a FREE small, one-topping pizza!

• Boston Market Meal — Get a B1G1 individual plate meal at Boston Market 4/15-18!

• Whole Foods (in the South only) — Tax-free groceries. 18 locations across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee — are rewarding customers with a tax-free shopping day.

April Fool’s Day is like Christmas on the Internet. You wake up early and excited; ready to unwrap presents in the form of numerous pranks on websites.

The best present is always Google. You can always count on them to apply great minds to give you an in depth April Fools stunt that makes you ask, “is this real?” Today was no letdown. Google was officially renamed Topeka in response to Topeka’s recently renaming of their town, Google.

Next up is Funny or Die who today renamed themselves Bieber or Die after the kid sensation that has the number one album in the country this week, Justin Bieber.  Very well done.  I recommend you watch some of the videos, they are very funny.  Of course, make sure you ask your kids who Justin Bieber is first or else it will be completely lost on you.

Click HERE to read the rest of Larry’s post.

Pick Your Bracket

Everyone has their thoughts on who will win.  President Obama picked last year’s winner and this year he is going with the Kansas Jayhawks to win it all. While choosing the tournament winner requires some knowledge of college basketball, the beauty of the 64-team tournament is that there are so many unknown teams and shocking upsets.  Therefore, picking each game is a crapshoot.  Of course, there are experts who think they know the upset specials and Cinderella teams.  CBSSports.com has some upset predictions and Final Four picks, and CollegeHoops.net has plenty of news and analysis to help you out.  It’s worth doing a bit of research before filling out your own bracket.

Create a Pool

All of the major sports sites offer online brackets that you can fill in with your picks.  If you want to set up a pool for your friends or co-workers, I recommend using Yahoo! Sports or CBSSports.com.  Both make it very easy to set up free pools and offer all kinds of tools to help with filling out your bracket and tracking your march to dominance.  In addition, Yahoo! Sports is again hosting their yearly Tourney Pick’em game, where a perfect bracket will net $1 million.

Follow Online

Now that your bracket is all set, you need to watch the games to see if you made the right picks!  CBS and the NCAA have once again teamed up to offer free online streaming of all of the first round games.  Choose between Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight (for higher quality) and enjoy this year’s new features, such as picture-in-picture highlights of other games that you can see without leaving your current game and the ability to pull tourney stats in real-time.

Follow on Your Phone

Last year CBS Sports Mobile debuted the NCAA March Madness On Demand iPhone app that streamed all 63 tournament games live.  This app is back this year, broadcasting every game except the opening round play-in game live via Wi-Fi and AT&T’s 3G network.  The app carries a higher price tag this year ($9.99 vs. last year’s $4.99 price) but will offer added benefits such as scores and alerts, including notifications for when a game is close or headed to overtime, or when there’s an upset in the making. You can also try out PocketBracket, an iPhone and Android app that allows you to create and track brackets, organize pools and follow the progress of the tourney, all for the cost of $1.99.  You can set up pools among friends, or compete with others on the PocketBracket network.

Relive Tourney Memories

As you patiently wait for the tournament to kick off on March 18^th, you can browse the past ten years of March Madness glory on the NCAA Vault.  Check out full games and highlights, and share with your friends via the Twitter and Facebook integration.  Make sure to share the clip of Adam Morrison’s emotional meltdown as UCLA came back to beat Gonzaga in the 2006 Regional Semifinals.  It never gets old.

Good luck and enjoy the tourney!