Mingle in Full Screen Mode

We added a simple but very useful feature last week - you can now expand your mingle room to take up your full screen. Even though it's a small change, it makes a big difference and really makes the mingle feel more immersive. It's especially useful in our Facebook Application because apps have to fit within their walls, but this button allows you to escape the small area that they give us.

Keep in mind that for security reasons Flash does not allow text entry while in full screen mode, so if you find yourself using the text chat or need to search for a YouTube video you'll have to temporarily exit full screen mode by pressing the 'Esc' key on your keyboard.

Just a side note to help avoid any confusion. We continue to have our expand media button which is a separate function from Full Screen... it will take the presentation/picture/video off of the wall and bring it to the front and center of your view. Once you try it once you'll see what I mean.

Meet Aaron

Aaron is one of our engineers. Formally, Aaron has over 5 years experience in software development and consumer electronics, with a focus on building web-based applications. But after creeping his Facebook profile we can get some more fun information. Aaron grew up in Chilliwack, B.C, went to school at UBC and is married to Elanor. Aaron seems to love having his heart broken - he's a diehard Canucks fan and is cheering for England in the World Cup.

Aaron's suggestion for a good laugh: Fake Yo-Yo Trickster Fools Every TV Station Everywhere

Win An iPhone 4

Today Apple announced the iPhone 4... and we think it's really cool. We're even excited enough about it to camp overnight to get one. We figured that while we're there we may as well pick up a couple for our minglers and host a contest to decide the winners!

Mingle To Win An iPhone 4
For every 1,000 people to enter the contest we'll be giving away an iPhone 4!

All you have to do to enter is go to www.mingleverse.com/contest and sign-in using Facebook Connect.

And be sure to invite your friends because the more people that enter, the more chances you have to win!

-- Good luck --

Facebook Image Sharing Just Got Much More Social

How social is looking at images on your Facebook page or someone else’s page, if you do it alone? Well, it is not social enough in our mind. That’s why our Facebook Application can now access the images stored on your Facebook page. Invite your friends into the mingle and enjoy your snapshots together, whether they are from your most recent vacation, childhood memories, or a special event.

Of course, sharing images is just one small part of our Facebook app. Watch YouTube or Justin TV together with friends, or share presentations with colleagues. Stream videos live in your room or stream yourself via your webcam. If you ask us, talking live and sharing live does not get much more social and we are pretty excited about it.

If you are already a registered Mingleverse user, you can use your Mingle Room in Facebook and if you are new, setting up your room is done in less than 10 seconds. And yes, it is free. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Head over to Mingleverse on Facebook here: http://apps.facebook.com/Mingleverse

Minglverse Celebrates Earth Day!

Today being Earth Day I thought I would take some time to talk about, well... the Earth. I just checked the stats and the combined carbon savings total of all minglers is now 16,719 metric tonnes! That's a serious amount of carbon saved and even if you've mingled just once you're making enormous contributions!

Let's put that 16,719 metric tonnes into perspective. According to the Air Canada Carbon Offset Program, our savings are equal to:

• 3,344 trees planted


• 4,139 cars taken off the road for a year


• $267,500 in carbon offset purchases

As much as buying hybrid cars and taking the bus help the environment, the best way to help the environment is cut out your unnecessary travel, and that's exactly what you are doing when you use Mingleverse.

Here are 5 easy tips to cut your carbon footprint:

1. Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl)
   CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.


2. Install a programmable thermostat
   Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.


3. Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner
   Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.


4. Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer
   Almost half of the energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. You could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.


5. Reuse your shopping bag
   When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable bag instead of accepting a disposable one in each shop. Waste not only discharges CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil.


6. Want more? Read 45 More Tips!

Happy Earth Day!

- Daniel

Talk With Your Friends in Facebook Live!

Today we are launching Mingleverse for Facebook, which allows you to talk and share media live right within Facebook. The best part about using the App is that we tell you which of your Facebook friends are currently online so that you can instantly invite them into your mingle room. Quite simply, there is no better way to interact with your friends on Facebook. Period.

A change that we’ve made so that your guests can enter right away is that we no longer require the 3D voice chat download. Your guests can now instantly enter your mingle room, watch YouTube, Justin.tv, pictures, presentations, etc with you, while communicating via text chat. The quick optional installation of the immersive 3D voice chat will then allow you to talk to each other live and have the full Mingleverse experience!

Head over to our Facebook page and give it a spin. We’d love to hear from you what you think!

Mingleverse Now Streams Justin.tv

We have just upgraded the video integration for Mingle Rooms and it’s ready for a spin. You can now load Justin.tv channels directly in your Mingle Room and watch countless channels with your friends in the privacy of your Mingle Room! Justin.tv is one of the world’s most popular live video sharing platforms with about 300 million video views every month and we are excited to bring this service to Mingleverse.

Also new is a greatly improved YouTube app, in which you can now search YouTube content from right inside of your room and of course watch the video together with your friends on your mingle room’s video screen. You don’t have to leave Mingleverse anymore to locate YouTube videos. Finding and watching video content has just become a lot easier.

You can access both new features directly from the Media tab in your Mingle Room window. Try the new features and let us know what you think!