Open up your mind and say, ahh...

Flash sales website Gilt Groupe this week will dish out discounts solely determined by its members’ Klout scores, with rollbacks as high as 100% off apparel and home decor.

Gilt has partnered with Klout — which measures a social media user’s online influence from 0 to 100 on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Foursquare — to offer the unique discount on Klout’s Perks platform.

The discount begins Tuesday with people who have lower scores and opens up to others during the week:

• March 6: 20% off for users with scores up to 20 (up to $50)
• March 7: 40% off for users with scores between 21-40 (up to $50)
• March 8: 60% off for users with scores between 41-60 (up to $75)
• March 9: 80% off for users with scores between 61-80 (up to $100)
• March 10: 100% for users off with scores between 81-100 (up to $100)

“Gilt is working with us in a way that brings significant value to our users, and has the foresight to see how important it is to connect to influencers at scale,” says Klout CEO Joe Fernandez.

Both companies, which worked on the deal for three months, are keen on tapping into new avenues.

This year alone, Klout has been busy toying with perks to bring real-world benefits to its scoring system and Perks platform, which is an integral part of the San Francisco-based startup’s business model. And a recent acquisition of another startup shows Klout is taking steps toward releasing the first offcial Klout mobile app.

Meanwhile, Gilt continues to market its expanded properties through partnerships, including its most recent venture with Niche Media founder Jason Binn to launch a shoppable luxury magazine called Du Jour. Gilt, which just a few months ago began shipping outside of the U.S., also unleashed an application programming interface (API) in February that allows outside developers to infuse Gilt data into their apps or platforms.

Gilt also teamed up with influencers of specific Klout topics to curate special 36-hour sales that start March 7.

A Gilt rep told Mashable that all of the curators’ picks will be represented in one sale, allowing Gilt members to learn about curators and products from several Gilt properties in one place.

“Klout has the ability to identify influencers and Gilt has the platform to connect those influencers with brands and an engaged shopper audience,” says Gilt Groupe President Andy Page.

Foursquare is parting ways with Google Maps in favor of crowdsourced maps created by the OpenStreetMap project.

Foursquare announced the change in a blog post Wednesday, explaining its decision to make the big API switch. To power the new maps, Foursquare is partnering with MapBox, a startup which calls itself “a beautiful alternative to Google Maps” and uses data from OpenStreetMap.

“As a startup, we also often think about how we can make life easier for other startups,” the Foursquare blog explains.

Foursquare says it chose MapBox for three reasons: its use of OpenStreetMap, which will continue to get better; it allows for design flexibility, so Foursquare can pick fonts and colors to match the rest of the app; and it’s powered by the open-source Leaflet java script library.

During the company’s January hackathon, one engineer proposed the question “What would the world look like if we made our own maps?” and answered it using data from OpenStreetMap, a crowdsourced global atlas.

Foursquare also sited Google Maps’ pricing as a reason they were looking to make a switch.

OpenStreetMap is one of the largest online group projects on the web. Google’s relationship with the project has thus far been tumultuous. For instance, someone with a Google IP address was found to be vandalizing the project, inputting false information in several cities, such as directing one-way street signs in the wrong direction.

What do you think Foursquare’s departure from Google Maps suggests for the future of digital maps? Do you think this decision will pave the way for more new players to gain traction? Let us know in the comments.

BONUS: Strange and Hilarious Google Street View Sightings

Sometimes Google has to employ a tricycle for those hard-to-reach streets. Using a trike also decreases the carbon footprint created by sending a bunch of cars to just drive around.

There has been much controversy swirling around how the tech behemoth handles the data it collects on the public, but this is proof that Google wants to keep everyone’s most personal information anonymous — even if they’re not really people at all.

Some people see the Google cars right away and make an effort to be noticed. This guy is certainly a strong contender to be the leader of the group. Check out the next few pics to see his comrades.

Some websites feature the legacy version of this photo of two gentlemen in hot pursuit of the Google car. For a reason that defies logic, the two have been blurred almost completely. But look closely at their shadows and you can still see their intentions. Maybe Google disapproves of using accessories intended for exclusive use in the sea on land?

This looks like a shot right out of an ’80s movie where the lovable main character is getting chased home from school by three bullies on much more powerful, motorized scooters.

If anyone ever has doubt about this kid’s ability to pop a sick wheelie, he need only refer to them to Google Maps, the ultimate proof.

Let’s be honest. If you saw the Google car going through your block, you’d be curious what it is, too. You might even bust out your camcorder and film the event if you had one in your backseat. Looks like these guys did just that.

Maybe next time, this guy will be a little more subtle about checking out the next woman that walks by him. Or at least he’ll be more aware of the car with the giant orb on the roof? Let’s hope so.

Guys in Italy apparently have much in common with guys in Florida. This man is a little bolder though. We wonder how he chose what to look at – the strange Google camera car or the attractive girl on the sidewalk? We just hope this wasn’t a fateful glance like the driver in the next photo.

You: Officer, I was distracted by the car with Google graphics all over it and a six-foot beam with a giant camera orb attached to the top!

Officer: Sorry, you’re still at fault. Here’s your ticket.

A slew of new mobile apps allow you to open and close your garage door when you’re miles away from home. Maybe this is evidence that it’s better to press the button while you’re there.

Either this guy isn’t too hip on the idea of the Google Street View camera or he really has to go to the bathroom.

Sure, that fence would easily keep out the prying eyes of the few people walking by, but will it keep out the curious eyes of everyone else using the Internet? Start investing in fence companies – they’re probably going to start seeing an uptick in materials needs.

We’re not sure, but we don’t think there are any bikes down there. But maybe…

A camera on top of a long pole on top of a car is bound to run into some low-hanging objects every now and again.

Of course, you knew these kinds of photos were coming. People do weird things and the omni-present street cam will catch you doing the weird things that you do. Like this guy, pulling his penguin friend around while riding his giant bicycle.

Sometimes the Google Street Cam melds two images together to form entirely new things! Like this photo of Alex from Madagascar turned into a strange lion cyclops.

Apparently avian species are also curious about the globe-like camera device attached to roofs of Google cars.

If you look closely, you can see Google is smiling ear to ear.

With the rumors churning about Google’s potential “heads-up display glasses” coming out at the end of the year, we thought it was important to look back at the history of this technlogy.

Heads-up displays allow users to receive data on a screen in front of them, so they don’t have to look somewhere else, thus disrupting what they’re concentrating on. Each HUD has three parts: the combiner, which is the surface the data is projected on — like a windshield or lens; the projector unit, which puts out the image; and a video generation computer, which creates the images.

Google has been testing more secure ways for users to access their Gmail accounts from public computers, and one experiment included QR codes.

The test is no longer available, but Google says there’s more to come. A PCWorld writer was able to successfully access his Gmail account via both Android and iPhone (Google said it would also work with Windows Phone). Check out the video above to find out how the login worked.

Would you use this method for checking your email at a public terminal?

Check out some of our favorite QR codes in the slideshow below.

Designed by Paperlinks, a charming elephant drawing adds a dash of Asia to this LA restaurant’s QR code.

HBO’s True Blood season 3 was the first TV series to get a designer QR code in an ad, thanks to a collaboration between Warbasse Design, .phd agency and SET Japan.

This clever code from Patrick Donnelly is made up of bottle tops and links to the beer company’s mobile optimized Facebook page.

Chances are you’ve already seen SET’s “Help Japan” design. As well as extending the code to make an instantly recognizable red cross, the faux parts of the code contain related symbols for an arresting overall effect.

Another SET creation, QR codes get playful with a dose of Takeshi Murakami-influenced design for Louis Vuitton’s mobile website

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Wine app Corkbin gets the Paperlinks treatment with a design that co-ordinates with, and even features, its distinctive logo.

Cliffano Subagio spotted these awesome Disney codes in Japan where QR is a well established marketing tool.

This Paperlinks code is both cool and calm with made-you-look palm trees that add a special design touch.

An experimental design from Patrick Donnelly, we love the witty, retro appeal.

The dots from Greenfield Lodge’s floral logo are replicated throughout the design to great effect.

Anther concept design from Patrick Donnelly, we like the idea of arranging real-life objects into a scannable code.

Paperlinks added musical instruments into this concert venue’s design, a neat way to tease consumers into reading the code.

Artists Tom Burtonwood and Holly Holmes have fun by extruding the classic code design with a code-within-a-code concept.

As well as integrating elements from the group’s logo, we like how Paperlinks made the design appear painted with wine.

These striking TIME covers from SET show just how creative you can get with QR codes.

Patrick Donnelly is such a QR code enthusiast, he spent months on Farmville “growing” a design!

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Small business and startup employees are constantly on the go. They need quick, mobile solutions for scanning, storing, organizing and sharing important documents.

Eager to empty that box full of receipts? Looking for an easy and secure way to send signed documents? We’ve found eight apps and tools that seamlessly scan and file your most important documents and keepsakes. Best of all, most of them integrate with proven file hosts Dropbox and Evernote.

What other tools have proved useful when scanning and integrating your own documents.

One of the most universal apps out there, DocScanner works across iOS, Android and Symbian platforms. Just take a photo of a document, receipt or notebook page and email it as a PDF. Integrate with Mobile.me, Dropbox or Evernote.

Price: $4.99

Similar to DocScanner, this iPhone only app scans and sends documents securely by email and integrates information into Evernote, Dropbox and Google Docs.

Price: $6.99

The iPhone app not only can create PDF documents with multiple scans, but also can digitize and improve handwritten notes.

Price: FREE

Use this app to scan business cards, then add them as contacts in your phone and connect with them on LinkedIn.

Price: FREE

CamScanner allows for post-scan image editing and enhancement. You’re also able to search the text within a PDF image. The app also has fax and AirPrint capabilities.

Price: $4.99

This web/mobile app is named for — you guessed it — all the scrap papers you leave in a shoebox, namely, receipts. Shoeboxed transforms scanned receipts or coupons into organized categories or even expense reports.

Price: FREE

SignNow allows you to securely send scanned documents online for signatures. Sign the documents from a web browser, smartphone or tablet. Great for closing a lease deal or sending freelance contracts.

Price: FREE

For anyone still inclined toward paper scanning, try the Doxie scanner, a super portable single document scanner that integrates with many desktop and mobile apps.

Price: $149

This post is supported by Samsonite: The bags that adapt to any job. Shop Samsonite’s full line of laptop bags, backpacks, sleeves and shuttles at Samsonite.com. Ready For Anywhere™.

Last week we asked you, the Mashable community, what is your ultimate business travel story?

We received a number of unique responses. Some were epically funny, while others were quite touching.

We’ve chosen five of the most inspiring stories to receive as our Samsonite Quantum laptop bag winners: Jenna Ellis, Blair Hickman, Jay Kruemcke, Sean Kahulia and Wendy Ferguson.

Check out their winning stories in the slideshow below. Congrats to our winners and thanks to all who participated!

Jenna Ennis shares her business travel story about sleeping and not waking up til one hour before the plane took off. It sounds like she had the most filled hour of her life. Luckily in the end she made it back home safely.

Blair Hickman shared a travel story of her plane being super delayed, having a passenger dragged off the plane, and then to top it off, having to sit next to a baby who needed a major diaper change.

Jay Kruemcke shares his experience of nearly losing his checked luggage. Thankfully, it all worked out in the end.

Jay Kruemcke shares his experience of nearly losing his checked luggage. Thankfully, it all worked out in the end.

Sean Kahuila shares his many business traveling experiences. After traveling with many different people, including actors and sports teams, he has humbly learned to be a much gentler traveler.

Sean Kahuila shares his many business traveling experiences. After traveling with many different people, including actors and sports teams, he has humbly learned to be a much gentler traveler.

Wendy Ferguson delivers this lengthy tale of her search for a restroom while on a long road trip. Glad it turned out ok, Wendy!

Wendy Ferguson delivers this lengthy tale of her search for a restroom while on a long road trip. Glad it turned out ok, Wendy!

Wendy Ferguson delivers this lengthy tale of her search for a restroom while on a long road trip. Glad it turned out ok, Wendy!

If you spend half as much time gift shopping as you spend on Facebook, my guess is your holiday shopping would already be finished. So, why not combine the process?

Many of the apps below produce personalized gift suggestions for your Facebook friends. Others match those friends to products on specific sites, such as Etsy and Amazon. Some of these apps crowdsource cash or creative contributions for truly special (and convenient) gifts.

The gallery below features 10 online social tools for discovering and sending gifts this holiday season. Please share more in the comments section below.

Connect your Facebook account and search for Etsy gift recommendations by friend. The results are based mainly on Likes and interests, not necessarily on your friends’ status updates, so privacy doesn’t seem to be an issue.

Also filter by price preference to tailor gifts to your budget.

Amazon’s gift recommendation app is similar to Etsy’s. Sign into Facebook and search for friends to find Amazon recommendations. Usually the first items to pop up are books, music and movies, which Amazon collects from the Facebook profiles of your friends.

Amazon’s gift suggestions are fairly accurate, especially if your friends have detailed Facebook profiles.

Create wishlists and send them to your friends and family via email. Then recipients can choose to contribute money toward your wishes using PayPal.

It’s a little self-indulgent, but practical for many occasions besides the holidays: weddings, showers and graduations too!

Don’t write off larger, more expensive gifts. Instead, crowdsource the money through eBay and PayPal’s service and then use the cash to buy and send the gift to the lucky recipient.

eBay’s service is ideal for coordinating long-distance contributions and deliveries.

DreamBank recognizes that some of the best gifts are experiences, rather than physical items. Use its service to post your dream vacation, perfect wedding or down payment on your first house. Then, invite friends and family to contribute money toward your dream.

Even better, DreamBank donates 10% of all net transaction revenue to charities of the dreamer’s choice.

The Present Bee web app searches your Facebook friends’ interests for gift suggestions. Plus, you can ask mutual friends for their opinions. Does Cameron really want a Shake Weight?

Choose a Facebook friend, input that person’s gender and age, and apply their Twitter handle if applicable. GiveEmThis will suggest gifts that, while accurate, might apply to an older audience.

Givvy doesn’t recommend gifts by specific social media friend, but rather, the Facebook app narrows gift suggestions by type of person.

Tap into the app’s top gift curators for some great suggestions.

Send ultra-personalized gift cards via email, Facebook or snail mail. The recipient can redeem the gift card by presenting the resulting smartphone receipt at any location of your choosing.

Further customize gift cards by selecting the dollar amount and uploading photos to the card from Facebook or Google. Or just choose a stock image — they’re equally cute.

Sometimes the simplest ideas produce the most special results. “From a Birdie” invites people to write letters to a shared friend or family member. The group collectively uploads memories, well-wishes and photos, which are finally compiled into an “Album of Letters.” Specify a day for delivery and your recipient is sure to be delighted!

Last night I went in search of an answer to a question that has vexed this industry for weeks: When will Facebook Timeline officially launch to the masses? The world’s most popular social network was holding a tiny gathering in downtown NYC, where I’d get to rub elbows with Timeline’s architects. I went, figuring one of them had to know the truth.

The small club atop a trendy hotel in lower Manhattan was crowded and dark. It offered amazing vistas of the city skyline and doted around the periphery of the room were stations where designers would talk about how they came up with some of the ideas in Timeline. Eventually, I found a bespectacled guy talking excitedly to another reporter. I began to listen in:

“One of the things we learned is that you can’t just walk in and rearrange the furniture.” It was Sam Lessin, product Manager for Facebook Timeline, explaining why Facebook was taking its time rolling out Timeline. The update radically rearranges users profile pages into, essentially, a timeline of their lives on Facebook and — if they fill in more details — even before they got on the social networking service.

Those who really want Timeline right now can, Lessin reminded me, get it. This is true; I jumped through a few simple developer hoops to get mine and told Lessin how I marveled at the things Timeline automatically surfaced about my time online. When your Facebook world is random and disorganized, you can forget about certain photos and comments—even the ones that generated more Likes and comments. Timeline reminds you by automatically finding the important ones and putting them in chronological order.

I inched closer to Lessin, who sounds a lot like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He was warming to his subject and explained the early access enterprising people like me have enjoyed is part of Facebook’s Timeline roll-out strategy. The social networking giant is giving those more skilled in technology and social network tools time to learn the new platform. In essence, it’s building an army of Timeline foot soldiers—not Facebook employees, but regular people who have gone out of their way to access and build their own Timelines. These early adopters are already embedded with their own often less technically adept family members and friends. The Timeline soldiers can help when friends and family are confronted by the sweeping changes found in Timeline. It’s also clear that, with events like this one, Facebook is trying to educate the media on the fundamentals and benefits of Timeline, which I’m sure Facebook execs figure could help buffet back a public outcry when the changes go live for everyone.

Changing things and then trying to explain won’t work, Lessin told us. “We can write all the FAQs in the world and they won’t read them,” said Lessin.

Facebook Timeline can’t stay in this beta form forever. Lessin agreed and said eventually Facebook will take that next step and make Timeline opt-in for all. I pressed and asked when that next “step” would come. Lessing would only smile and say “soon.”

Will there ever come a time when Facebook will, in fact, “rearrange the furniture” for all of its users? Lessin said that “someday” Facebook will do the global switchover, but would offer no details of when that might actually happen. So for now, the couch stays where it is; that ottoman is fine over there and your favorite easy chair has not moved an inch. You can move one if you like, but it might be even better if you visited your technophobe parent’s house and helped them move the furniture—and, yes, I am still talking about Facebook.

Is Facebook taking the right approach or should it just take the leap and turn Timeline on for everyone–right now? Let us know your opinion in the comments.

Facebook’s mysterious algorithm decides which stories will showcase on your Timeline.

However, it also includes half-hidden posts. Posts that are marked on your Timeline, but not displayed, are noted by a blue dot on the central line. You can view these posts by clicking on the individual blue dots.

A quicker method is to click on the three blue dots underneath each year. This gives you the option to view all stories within that year.

As we’ve pointed out, the Timeline gives friends the ability to view your entire Facebook history.

For this reason, we imagine the first thing most people will want to do is to “sanitize” their Timeline. The good news is, it’s simple to hide what you don’t want showing.

When you see a post you’d like to nix, just hit the pencil icon at the top of the post and select “Hide from Timeline.” This doesn’t delete the content from your account, but it will keep it safe from prying eyes.

Next up is the ability to customize the boxes that appear under your cover photo. The “Friends” and “Photos” boxes are fixed, but you can play around with the others.

To edit the boxes, click on the small arrow icon on their right. All boxes that can be moved or removed will have a pencil edit icon appear as you hover.

Hitting on the pencil brings up edit options to remove or swap boxes. To add a Facebook app, or one of the new social apps, click on the plus sign on an empty box.

You can make Timeline look even less cluttered by hiding the sidebar.

To do this, click on the arrow icon at the very bottom right of your screen. The sidebar will collapse, but leave the adverts to bug you — although, we’ve got a tip for those too…

If a specific ad is really bothering you, simply adios it from your display.

Hover over the advert and click the “X” that appears at the top right. This gives you the option to hide it or hide all ads from that advertiser.

If you choose to hide the ad, Facebook gives you the further option to tailor what kind of ads appear on your account.

Albums you’ve created will show up in your Timeline. However, you can change the large, or “primary” image.

Click the pencil edit icon to select a different image from the album that will appear in the big window.

Make certain posts appear larger on your Timeline so they take up a double column space.

To do this, click the star icon in the top right corner of the post. You can minimize large posts the same way.

When you subscribe to someone’s public updates, Facebook defaults to “Most updates.” You can change this.

Either go to the person’s profile and click the “Subscribed” drop down menu or, more efficiently, go click your “Subscriptions” favorites box (under your cover photo). This gives you a bird’s-eye view of the people you’ve subscribed to.

Now, if you hit the “Subscribed” box for each person you can tailor exact updates.

If you’ve hidden items from your Timeline, but still want to review all of your Facebook content, look to your private Activity Log. Click on the “View Activity” box under your cover photo.

Now, by selecting a type of content from the “All” drop down menu, you can browse all your past Facebook activities, organized by date.

As with the former version of Facebook, you can view how others see your Timeline.

Click the cog icon under your cover photo; then select “View as…”

You can now enter a friend’s name or click on the “public” hyperlink to see how stranger’s view your Timeline.

As we’ve addressed, Facebook has downgraded the famous “poke” in the new Timeline design.

If you still want to “poke” your Facebook buddies, you have to head directly to their profiles. Under a friend’s cover photo, next to the “Message” box, there’s a cog menu. Click this and you’ll see the option to poke. As always, use wisely.