Open up your mind and say, ahh...

On my flight tonight, I had time to read and time to think. I didn’t watch the seatback televisions, though I’m grateful for JetBlue for providing them, should I want them. Instead, I used my time to think and consider and practice and plan.

In my hotel room, on the eve of another speech, I didn’t go back into Twitter and Google+ to see what was being said about the passing of Steve Jobs, though I feel that same melancholy that may be tugging at you (I’ve been an Apple customer since 1983, when Guy Kawasaki first told me about the Macintosh at the Boston Computer Society). I didn’t turn on the television. I ordered a fruit plate and some water, and thought some more.

I could ask anyone, anywhere, with most any role, if they had enough time to do the things they wanted to do. They would all answer no. I ask people how their businesses are going, and most everyone says “busy,” even the liars. We are all in a hurry. We all have somewhere to go. And oddly, I think it’s because we are accidentally losing time all over the place. It falls out of our watches like folded up money slipping out of your jeans pocket at the end of a long night, lost like leaves rattling down the street.

We’re Losing Time

We lose time when we check our phone every time it beeps and bings, especially if someone we love is sitting beside or across from us. We lose time every time we turn on the glowing box instead of pursue our future visions and goals. We throw away time every time we agree to an hour meeting when 20 minutes will do. We lose time chasing that extra six cents a gallon we heard they were getting for gas across town, not stopping to think that we’re only getting back $1.30 for that effort.

Every time we don’t say sorry first and end the stalemate, we are losing time. Every time we focus on our regrets, we lose time. Whenever you look in the mirror and judge yourself a failure, you are losing time. Strangely, this made me think of golf balls.

There is not one golf ball in the world that judges itself a failure. Sometimes they land in the hole. Other times, they get lost in the woods. But they are still primarily the same object. The same is true for you. Failure is something about a moment. Failure is a great thief of time. Learn. Embrace your learning. Move. Time only goes in one direction, and that’s away from you.

Make that call. Pick up that course of study. Practice that new idea. Experiment with that plan. Accept that you are who you are, and that change isn’t the goal: awareness and adaptation are the goals.

Set your phone to silent. Check it as infrequently as you can stand. Before we all had cell phones, our children all lived. The boss wants you to be responsive. Fine. Be responsive, but not a slave.

Time, friends, is the most difficult of the currencies to leverage, and we all spend it like it’s free.

This doesn’t mean “hurry.” This means “live.” Live in the way that suggests you know what time it is, with or without a watch. Because it’s your time. And that’s what matters while you still breathe.

And for the bonus round? Think about how you can use your time to extend value to people after you have stopped breathing. That’s why the world is thinking so much about Steve Jobs today. For every flaw you want to mention, for every truth about his temper or his choices, he built a legacy, more than once, with the time he had.

Be brave with your time.

Part three in a series introducing The End of Business as Usual…Written by Frank Eliason (@frankeliason)

Certainly not a statement you would expect to hear from the person formerly known as @ComcastCares, but I think it is an important fact to consider. As I look around I see many interesting aspects of social media from large and small businesses. I am very excited to see companies trying new things to reach their Customers, but we are now moving in a new direction, but I think too few see it yet. Don’t worry they will!

Today I am SVP of Social Media for Citibank (of course thoughts here are my own). I have had the privilege to see the impact social media can have on big businesses and I look forward to watching this come to reality. A few key observations I have had are:

- It all starts with trust

- Stories are the most powerful way to create & reinforce change

- Human connections are against the grain for many businesses, but imperative for social media success

- Many people are trying to make money off business leaders who do not understand social media (and they are being successful at it)

- We are so stuck on measurements, yet we are measuring the wrong things

I sometimes refer to the last twenty years in business as the Jack Welch era. While he is a business leader whom I have tremendous respect for, I also believe times are changing. Companies have been striving to focus on greater levels of metrics. For those who study Six Sigma, you have seen it first hand. When I first learned the Six Sigma process I was very excited. It was not about opinion, but instead where the metrics guided you. I completely understand why executives loved it. What many did not realize is those running the projects typically chose metrics that told the story they wanted to tell.

I am seeing the same trouble with social media today. People are focusing on the completely wrong metrics and not properly educating executives on the real story of social media. Today, companies are focusing on metrics such as ‘likes,’ fans, followers, etc. These metrics tell you nothing of substance. Few companies tie this information directly to their Customers through measurements such as the net promoter score of the social Customer, what products they are buying, etc. Most companies proclaim to be ‘listening’ in the space but very few have changed or implement processes or products based on this listening. Huge ROI can be gained just by measuring changes that stem from listening.  It’s sad to say, but the only changes I have seen are those due to large or threatening groundswells. And in my view, change was only made to silence the noise.

It is easy to pick on businesses where problems play out in social media. After all, it’s there for everyone to witness. The fact is that every business, large or small, can find out useful information via social media. It’s not just about listening, it’s about gaining insights and intelligence.  It should not take a groundswell of any proportion to get people within your organization to start to think about the Consumer. The world as we know it has already shifted. This is indeed the end of business as usual, but few are willing to admit it.

It’s not just the lack of intelligence or powers of observation that fail businesses. Traditional marketing is not as effective as it once was perceived to be. When I do watch TV, I tend to fast-forward passed commercials. I ignore virtually everything that enters my mailbox. When I am online, I, like you, pay more attention to what I am looking for or reading than digital ads. When I do go to buy a product, also like you, read reviews on websites like Amazon or I ask my social graph for their thoughts. The pendulum has shifted!

This brings me to the failure of social service. The other day someone tweeted me asking about current costs of phone calls versus the cost per Tweet for customer service. Ugh! This is new media and yet we’re already focusing on old metrics. The truth is that the service world has been broken for years because of the emphasis of handle time or calls per hour. Companies do not want to talk to you, and it shows. The fact is most do not want to Tweet with you either. Since they are worried about brand sentiment, they may appease you to shut you up. Sorry, shutting your customer up is not customer service and trying to expedite resolution isn’t a metric for the new world of consumer influence.

Many businesses run new media efforts through PR or marketing. I have even seen a few that run social media through their outside marketing agencies (talk about being close to the customer). Anyway, I have tried a few of these out over the years. My view is that these disconnected businesses are attempting to placate consumers, to minimize or eliminate the complaint. In order for social media service to scale, change MUST happen. Companies must care. New metrics must surface that place the customer back in customer service.

I do not get a sense however, that much has changed in the way businesses run, no matter how engaged in social media they are today. This is not because the scaling is not possible, because for the most part you can queue up a tweet just as easily as you queue up a call. The trouble is the efforts are not leading to wholesale change in the way companies interact with their customers. If you are simply placating loud customers, all you are really doing is encouraging others to focus on the channels where they believe resolution awaits.

What people failed to see regarding the Dell or Comcast success stories in the early social media days, is the amount of work that went on behind Twitter, Facebook, and blogs. The true transformation of these businesses what not in taking to social network, but instead building the back end to start fixing the problems that created negative experiences in the first place. In my list above, I mention the power of stories, and both Dell and Comcast utilized these online conversations or stories to help drive improvements. I am sure both companies will admit that this is an ongoing process and that wholesale change does take time.

Social media is creating change in how businesses conduct themselves and placing still underestimated power in the hands of consumers and employees. If you truly want to influence brand perception, companies must:

- Empower employees (they are the life blood and the greatest ambassadors for your brand)

- Improve the customer experience, not just through service, but the entire experience with your company (please note I did not limit that to products or departments because most businesses are one brand)

- Be more nimble and not so stuck on processes that prevent change

- STOP being afraid of your customer! If anyone is afraid to speak to a Customer, you are doing the wrong things

- STOP minimizing the value of your customer! They are more influential to you in the post-commerce phase than you can imagine.

As Brian says in the next book, the brand of your business is the culmination of shared experiences. And as a result, we are entering a time when business will change dramatically. It already has in the eyes of the consumer, but few executives have connected the dots. The bottom line is that businesses need to have wholesale improvements over the way they interact with customers. This changes is currently being driven by the customer, but it also must be driven by empowered employees who want to see success in their business and processes that support transformation and adaptation.

How do you drive change at your business?

Is your business afraid of the Customer?

Do people within your company want nothing to do with the Customer Service department, or even worse, look down on it?

I personally love the customer; they are my passion and success. I represent them in everything I do. I use their stories to drive change. It is something you may want to do to.

I saw a selection of Steve Garfield’s photos on Instagram (well, technically, they were on a site called Inkstagram, so maybe that’s related?), and it got me wondering: does using a social sharing service like Instagram (or Flickr, or Facebook) make you a better photographer? And by better, I don’t always mean that you figure out the right F-stop or aperture settings, etc, but maybe I mean a more “mindful” photographer. Do you think differently about the kinds of photos you intend to take and share?

I’ve long since teased the users of Instagram by saying “It’s like turning your insignificant photos of your life into instant album covers for fake albums.” With all the filter effects and over-bold colors, Instagram makes some photographers cringe, citing an absolute lack of subtlety. Not me. I think it’s swell how everything gets a lot more bold. But that’s not really my point.

Does the act of sharing photographs on social sites make you more mindful/a better photographer?

That’s the question at hand. I’m thinking yes. I’m thinking that it differs from site to site. I’d say that Instagram is on one end of the spectrum, where most people tend to want to shoot thoughtful photos of everyday life. I’d say that Facebook seems to be more for social sharing. I’d say that Flickr’s in the middle, with a blend of uses, as some people share their professional work there, and others take photos of whatever happens to rush across their lens. Beyond these three sites, there are many more “focused” communities of photo sharing, I’m sure.

But what about you? Do you share your photos on social sites? Does it change how you curate what you post? Does it change what you consider a “good” shot?

Would love your insights.

There’s an odd sense of deflation across much of the tech world in the wake of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s first product launch Tuesday. It is a feeling akin to your favorite team making a pretty dull night out of what was supposed to be a major game, as if the crowd simply didn’t exist.

Even those of us who aren’t Apple fanboys were watching with a keen sense of interest. This was the world’s most valuable company, and its most idolized, stepping up to the plate. Did they bring their A-game? Would they hit it out of the park? Would they make our jaws drop with delight, and push back the frontier of the possible?

Answer: no. Clearly, the iPhone 4S was a single rather than a home run. But that’s good enough for Cook, a low-key manager if ever there was one (and a stark contrast to his predecessor in that respect). Cook will take singles all night. He has his eye on the pennant, rather than delighting the fans.

The plain truth is that Cook is an inventory guy. That’s how he made his name at Apple: understanding the life cycles of products, and making sure his stores weren’t saddled with too many of them. Keeping inventory low, unsexy as it sounds, is a big part of what makes companies wealthy. And from that perspective, there’s one major reason to release the iPhone 4S now: making sure all your iPhone 3GS customers, who have just left their two-year contracts, upgrade to a new device.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s iPhone Event: Three Big Reasons It Still Mattered

And the iPhone 5? For all we know from the famously tight-lipped Apple, there may well be an iPhone 5 prototype ready and waiting to roll into production. Not all of those endless rumors had to be made out of whole cloth; one thing we know about Apple is that it works on every product years in advance. If the iPhone 5 will launch in 2012, you can bet your life it exists in some form now. Perhaps it’s just waiting on one thing, like a better, slimmer battery that can handle energy-intensive 4G signal. Or perhaps it is only waiting for the go order from Cook, and designer Jonathan Ive sighs wistfully every time he looks in its direction.

Cook, like the honey badger, just don’t care. (Indeed, with $75 billion in the bank, Apple can afford not to care.) The product cycle is now firmly established, and it’s all that matters. The iPhone 4S is for 3GS owners and curious newbies. The iPhone 5 will arrive in time for iPhone 4 owners to upgrade and lock themselves into another two-year contract, and another set of curious newbies can sign up then too. The Earth spins on its axis. Everything is in order.

SEE ALSO: iPhone 4S: 4 Reasons to Upgrade

Is it a risky strategy? Does it provide an opening for Android phone makers to produce ever-more advanced 4G handsets, based on the hot new Ice Cream Sandwich platform, in the meantime? Yes, and yes. Cook is betting on two things: that Apple’s current customer base is rabidly loyal enough that they won’t leave, and that the Apple name, marketing and word of mouth will pick up a steady stream of newcomers, swelling the company coffers and pleasing Wall Street. From the bleachers, those look like pretty safe bets in the long run, even if Wall Street was jittery at first.

We only wish that Cook had acknowledged the crowd somehow. Just one sly joke about iPhone 5 expectations would have gone a long way towards placating the fans; you get the feeling that’s what his predecessor would have done. But that isn’t Cook’s style. This unexciting bottom-line focus is the new normal at Apple. Better get used to it.

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Steve Jobs leaves behind a nearly unrivaled legacy of invention and innovation.

His products are loved by millions and copied by competitors; his design aesthetic has become the barometer by which all other things are compared, and his vision of the future has given life to products and services that have changed entire industries.

Are we likely to see another human being in our lifetime wield as great an influence?

Mashable contacted industry insiders, entrepreneurs and celebrated technologists to get their perspectives. Could there ever be another person capable of profoundly changing the world through software and hardware design as Jobs has done?

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History Suggests People With These Attributes Will Occasionally Emerge

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At the high end of innovative human achievement, the details never repeat; that’s what defines the innovation.

But history suggests that in at least a fair fraction of civilizations, people with these attributes will occasionally emerge.

– Stephen Wolfram, founder & CEO, Wolfram Research

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A Product Of An Era That Was

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Yes there will be. And no there won’t be.

The sensibility that Jobs brought to products — beautiful design, attention to simplicity — humanizes design and end-to-end coupling of hardware and software. These things are all very much part of the future we in this industry are building.

There is so much still to be built. Smart device-based devices and software, dumb devices and software. Social services. Beautiful services! The USA is well positioned to continue to lead in technology and web services. We are makers in this field — and I hope we will remain leaders and makers.

All that said, there won’t be another person who has such a singular influence on hardware and software and innovation. The market today tends to reward and focus people on quick hits versus deep investigation and commitment. Jobs spent the better part of his life thinking about the human/computer interface — from Newton to the sheet of glass I’m typing on now (iPhone). That kind of focus in one company, by one person covering hardware and software is a product of an era that was.

– John Borthwick, founder & CEO, Betaworks

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Some Of Us Will Make It Happen Again

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Will there be another Steve Jobs? At a different time, different place, and different focus, yes.

There are a very few people in the world that stand up to what Steve created. His willingness to be uncompromising, even in the face of great difficulty, and to have brilliant insight … these qualities are hard to find. Yet every once in a while, there are individuals that out of vision, or perhaps need, stand up, stand in an uncompromising place, and create.

As I reflect on the story that I have heard about Steve’s upbringing, I think that the conditions of his youth, more than anything else, are the source of what created him. Early struggle, with a family that cared for him, but still was in struggle … these things laid the foundation. Finding his way to Zen meditation practice gave him focus. Dropping in on classes (e.g. his insight about print because of the calligraphy classes that he took) gave him insight into other worlds that he brought to Apple. And Silicon Valley gave him a place to grow his dreams and vision.

Although I could never measure my own accomplishments against his, I do believe that I, and others, have followed a simliar path — a path driven by uncompromisingly driving a great vision. Some of us will make it happen again.

Candidates. Sadly, at this note … this is not clear to me. Perhaps it’s because Steve’s passing happened quicker than I thought it would. I do believe, though, that with the events of this year, we’ll see others step forward.

Getting to work at NeXT changed my life … in Steve, I feel lucky to have had a hero that I got to learn from.

– Kevin Koym, Founder, Tech Ranch Austin

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Jobs Set a New Standard

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Speaking both as the founder of Pandora and as a longtime musician, I can say that no one brought more innovation and more opportunity to music than Steve and Apple.

His extraordinary vision and tenacity, and the artistry of the Apple products set a new standard for everyone.

– Tim Westergren, founder & chief strategy officer, Pandora

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People Thought There Would Never Be Another Edison

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It’s easy to say there won’t be. Largely because, well, there won’t be.

But people probably thought there would never be another Edison, either. And here we are, celebrating the life of Steve Jobs and every amazing thing he did.

– Matt Buchanan, deputy editor, Gizmodo

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A Singular Combination of Genius & Execution

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Will there ever be another Steve Jobs? No.

The combination of genius and execution at his level is so singular that it is meaningless to compare it with others. Was there another Mozart? Shakespeare? Einstein? There will never be another Steve Jobs, but — exactly because his lifetime focus was on the very ideas of experience and design and perfection — he has inspired ten thousand people to come after him, and stand on his shoulders, and reach much further than he did.

– Phil Libin, CEO, Evernote

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A Unique Combo of Vision, Design, Performance, Leadership & Elegance

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Steve Jobs’ passing has me both saddened, humbled and inspired all at the same time. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. My heart goes out to his family, everyone at Apple and everyone affected by his amazing achievements.

Steve brought to light a unique combination of vision, design, performance, leadership and elegance that inspired and changed the world.

– Adam Brotman, senior vice president, Starbucks Digital Ventures

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Jobs & Apple Transcend Generations

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I don’t think there will be another Steve Jobs. Three main reasons:

Very few people have the sheer ability to produce products like Steve did. This has been discussed a lot. Steve was a product visionary: He thought years ahead to launch spectacular devices. He said “no” when something wasn’t right. People talk about the small stuff, like an icon’s color being slightly off. But more importantly was the big stuff, like not releasing a tablet for years until the hardware and software was ready. That takes patience.

You need to build an amazing team around you. Apple has this. From the executives to all the employees, Apple has the most spectacular set of engineers and designers in the world. You can’t do it alone, and you need people you can trust and who have the same passion you do.

There are other product geniuses out there, but the reason why none will match Steve is because Apple builds products that really touch people’s lives. Our phones help us communicate, iTunes for music, video chat, photos… These are very emotional things for us and that’s what Apple builds. They transcend generations and technology.

– Sachin Agarwal, founder & CEO, Posterous

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Jobs Was Willy Wonka

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Steve Jobs was Willy Wonka — a brilliant, creative, determined, private man who made so many people believe his toys were magical!

It is amazing how his death has been elevated into a loss of such monumental proportions as one would expect with the death of Martin Luther King, Gandhi, or JFK. A good friend of mine said it best: “Perhaps in a world that is obsessed with ‘stuff’ and money, Steve Jobs was a messiah.”

– Dmitry Shapiro, CEO & co-founder, Anybeat

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A Seismic Shift From Content To Product

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I don’t think our generation will see another Steve Jobs, if by that we mean the combined impact on product and design, as well as the business world.

In short, what he did turning around Apple as a business is pretty much unheard of in the technology industry — to go from an existing, maturing business that was literally running out of cash, failing products in the face of a dominant competitor (Microsoft) to go on to be one of the most valuable companies in the world … I think that one is a no.

As a leader, taking big bets, inspiring, being visionary while risking a multi-billion dollar company, I can’t think of another example, and the world of business is rife with the other side of the coin.

On the other hand, his influence on the world of products and design will indeed lead to “another” Steve Jobs in terms of consumer impact.

In my mind, Steve Jobs represents a seismic shift from content to product. It’s hard to internalize but having been within large media organizations there’s always a belief that content alone will drive audiences, build platforms, determine winners.

What Steve did was to ignite our passions for products … from Google to Facebook these are entire organizations and businesses that have styled themselves after Apple placing a critical importance on product — information and user design, quality of experience, simplicity of form and function. Just take a look at any developer conference and suddenly you are seeing a different breed of young design-influenced, product-centric teams. I credit Steve with that shift.

– Adam Cahan, Media Products Vice President, Yahoo

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The Life & Times of Steve Jobs

Image courtesy of Jonathan Mak

It felt like I’d been slapped in the face. There it was: On Twitter. In my email. On a phone call. Steve Jobs, the tech industry’s one true icon, was gone — taken from us far too soon, at the age of 56.

Say what you will about the dynamic maverick who built and rebuilt Apple over the course of four decades, but Steve Jobs was a visionary. A maker of things. A doer who intimately understood the excitement of a new product. How the interchange of 1s and 0s could produce a sublime piece of software. Steve Jobs got all this. We admired him for it. Some loved him for it. None of us will forget him for it.

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On Stage

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I had the privilege of attending many Apple product launches where I witnessed the master in action. Jobs may have ruled the boardroom, product meetings and led Apple’s strategy behind the scenes, but first and foremost he ruled the stage. He was a magnetic figure. No, Steve’s voice didn’t boom. Sometimes he sounded and looked like the nerd he was. Yet he knew when to pause, when to push, when to point to the right highlight — and when to stop, almost walk off stage, then produce that “one more thing” from his back pocket.

Jobs relished the stage, I think, because it was the place where he could share his delight in the new. I always believed Steve Jobs was truly in love with his own products. When he unveiled the iPad, Jobs was smiling from ear to ear. Granted, he had some really good stuff to show off. To this day, no other tablet has surpassed (or even come close) to the iPad — or its market share.

Steve Jobs taught an entire industry that product experience didn’t begin or end with the hardware or application. It started on stage, continued in the store, and was ultimately realized when an Apple customer opened the product packaging. Unboxing stories were invented because of Apple, and thus because of Jobs. Obviously, not every Apple idea sprung fully formed from his mind. But like any good leader, he surrounded himself with exceptional professionals who helped create the world we know know as the Apple ecosystem.

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A Deep Loss

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Jobs’ death comes less than 24 hours after Tim Cook took the stage for the first time as CEO and unveiled the iPhone 4s. It was an oddly subdued affair that felt like a change of direction for Apple. Cook is not Steve Jobs. He will do things his own way, and it was important for him to set a new tone. In hindsight, Tuesday felt like the beginning of the mourning process. I can’t guess whether or not Cook and other top Apple execs knew what was coming — but if they did, yesterday’s mood makes sense.

Having followed his career and products for so long — I was using an Mac SE in 1985 (and owned an Apple IIe before that) — I feel as if I’ve lost a relative. I simply cannot believe that Steve Jobs will not appear one more time on an Apple stage. Yes, he got thinner and weaker with each passing year (he battled cancer for almost seven years), but his energy on stage was unstoppable. The last time I saw him, it felt as if he had sucked up all the energy from the room, swallowed it and then sent it back out for the iOS 5 introduction. It was inspirational.

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The Master

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I am no Apple fanboy. I eventually gave up for Mac for a Windows PC. This was during the early 1990s, when Apple went through its darkest hour. Jobs was pushed out of the company in 1985, and Apple lost its way. When Jobs returned in 1997, he seemed more mature. He accelerated Apple’s product development, setting up a decade-long run of innovation rarely seen in any industry. One iconic product followed another, all with Jobs’ fingerprints on them. He leaves behind a strong of accomplishments and a legacy of products that will be remembered for decades to come.

In the coming days and weeks much will be said of the life of Steve Jobs. Eventually, the talk will turn to what’s next for Apple, and how Steve’s absence will affects the company he built. But for now, I will remember Steve Jobs on stage pausing just a moment, smiling wryly at the crowd, saying “and one more thing.” One more thing that will never pass this way again.

From Sharon Little, chief executive, Greeting Card Association, UK:

“I think the more channels for sending cards the better, as long as the recipient is receiving a real card. Moonpig, Funky Pigeon and other web-based card publishers are already available via an iPhone.

“However Apple’s ‘Cards’ app does seem quite an expensive option at $2.99, 21 images isn’t a huge variety, and I would be interested to see the quality of the board and printing.

“There has been quite a bit of conjecture over the impact of online retail on the greeting card market, especially from outside the industry. But we haven’t seen any worrying impact on card sales. We estimate that, at most, online sales now represent 3% of the market, which compared to the books and CD market is tiny!

“The latest GCA Market Report 2011 suggests that far from sounding the death knell of the greeting card industry, social networking and texting have created new opportunities and more interaction. More communication between people means a greater network of people that care about each other and it is widely believed that this has had a positive effect on card sales.”

The writers of Toy Story are reportedly in talks to pen a movie based on FarmVille, the popular Facebook game.

Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen said in an interview with IGN that they’re working with Zynga on a movie based on one of the company’s most popular games, adding “Can’t really say too much on that front yet, but ‘Old MacDonald’ didn’t have a factory, if you get our drift.”

We get it: Making a movie is super risky. Unlike launching new apps and websites, movies are a huge upfront investment in the vague hope of a hit. Hence the tendency to just remake something that’s already popular. Or the flurry of movies based on popular websites, apps and tech personalties. The Facebook movie. The Steve Jobs movie (possibly). The Angry Birds movie. Why take a chance on something new when you can buy the rights to something with tens of millions of fans already?

What does a FarmVille movie look like anyway? No doubt it’ll be a computer-animated feature (in 3D, of course!) incorporating the graphics and themes of the Facebook game. But FarmVille is a game in which you tend crops. Is that going to be a bit … boring? And while to tens of millions of people, FarmVille is an addictive pastime, for the friends of those people (ie. us!) it’s actually kind of a nuisance.

Would a FarmVille movie be met with glowing reviews or – more likely – an audible sigh from those of us who grudgingly tolerate the addiction of our FarmVille-playing friends and relatives? And could the critics be anything but, well, critical of this cynical attempt at turning a successful gaming franchise into an equally popular film?

Ah, but plenty can happen at these early stages — one of a hundred issues may prevent the movie from entering production. Not to mention that FarmVille is no longer the most popular Facebook game, reducing the potential audience for the movie. Or perhaps I’ll be proven sorely wrong. After all, a certain movie based on the Facebook story took home 3 Oscars this year.

PS. For those movie studios thinking of following suit, Zynga was kind enough to list its top-performing games – plus some intriguing stats – in its IPO filing earlier this year:

Social gifting startup Sincerely, makers of Postagram and PopBooth, is bringing its popular mobile postcard making, printing and shipping features to an iPhone app you already love.

Sincerely is launching Ship, an iOS Library and SDK, as a plug-and-play software kit that developers can use to turn their iPhone photo apps into mobile printing studios.

“The printed photo is the world’s simplest but most ubiquitously appreciated gift,” Sincerely CEO and cofounder Matt Brezina says. “This extends our platform to a much broader user base. Right now, we have two apps in the App Store, tomorrow will have 14 … a couple months from now will have 100 apps in the App Store that are all exposing the Sincerely experience.”

More than a dozen launch partners will feature Sincerely’s print and ship technology in their iPhone apps, starting Thursday. Partners include Lonely Planet, Path, Pic Collage, Waddle, Quiption, Picsicle, Filtermania, Ship Mate, Interlacer, Pregnancy Progress, I’m Awesome and Color Effects.

At launch, Sincerely will continue to hand select app partners and evaluate interested parties on a case-by-case basis, Brezina says. The startup has already fielded inquiries from more than 200 developers, he adds.

App makers will earn 70% of revenue earned from the sale of each postcard above $0.99. Sincerely prices its postcards at $0.99 a pop, a fee that includes printing and shipping costs to anywhere in the world. App makers can keep the $0.99 price point in tact or price postcards higher to make a profit on sales through their apps.

Coincidentally, Sincerely’s SDK release comes just two days after Apple announced that it would enter the greeting card business with Cards, an iPhone application for creating, printing and sending greeting cards.

Brezina sees the Cards app as a competitor, but does not view it as a substantial threat to Sincerely’s business. In part because, he asserts, gifting is not Apple’s core business focus.

“I don’t think it’s a new direction for Apple,” he says. “I don’t think they’re going to make an amazing gifting experience or offer amazing products like Postagram…I think it’s kind of a checkbox for them.”

Meanwhile, Sincerely will forge ahead with what Brezina believes to be the best mobile gifting experience available. He points to Postagram’s high ratings on the App Store and Android Marketplace, and its appearance in a series of Apple ads as proof. Brezina would not disclose the size of the company’s user base or the number of postcards that have been purchased via Sincerely apps.

“We believe very strongly that a printed photo is this gift that every person on the street would appreciate,” Brezina says.