Researchers from PlaceboEffect.com are raising funds through Indiegogo to create an app that administers a virtual placebo. No pills, no doctors — just pictures.

Here’s how it works: You begin the experience by choosing which lifestyle aspect you’d like to change — say, quitting smoking or decreasing stress — before scheduling an alarm-like reminder to “take it” each day. Then, you can personalize it further by choosing exactly what you’ll be taking (it doesn’t need to be a picture of a pill)

The whole idea is to create a comfortable “happy place” to achieve the proper effect. With the right mindset, the group says, the act of routinely pressing buttons and watching your smartphone‘s screen will be equivalent to physically swallowing a sugar pill. Read more…

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FB is still stuck at $26.25, way down from its $38 IPO price, but it's made important progress since going public a year ago. Daily users up 26%, mobile..

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We might need to call it “Banned With Friends.” A week after debuting the new mobile client for anonymous friend banging, the iOS version of Bang With Friends (BWF) was removed from the App Store by Apple.

Bang With Friends debuted in January and quickly took off in popularity. The concept is simple: Users log in with Facebook and select what friends they want to bang. Only friends that have mutually selected the other user show-up in a “down to bang” queue.

The app claims more than 1 million users, even though it’s not without its share of controversy. In addition to questions about creepy factor, the anonymity of users has come into question. Earlier this month, it became possible to find out if some of your friends had signed-up for the service on Facebook. A mobile version for iOS and Android debuted last week. Read more…

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Social networking service mixi seeks new businesses to lift earningsGlobalPostJapanese social networking site operator mixi Inc. is hoping to shore up its faltering earnings in the face of stiff competition from the U.S.-based Facebook by seeking new businesses and doing away with complacency with its past success, incoming …and more »

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The HinduSocial networking spotlight on spot fixingThe HinduWith most news breaking on social media, the IPL spot fixing scandal was no different. Reactions, both good and bad, flew fast and thick on social networking sites. Literally within minutes, the Facebook timelines were flooded with shocked and angry …and more »

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Mashable is excited to announce G-everyone, a 24-hour digital convening that will unite local groups around the world to discuss the pressing issues addressed at the G8 Summit.

Organized through Mashable’s Meetup Everywhere platform, G-everyone meetups will take place on the eve of the G8, a forum of the world’s eight wealthiest Western countries. The goal of G-everyone is to make the G8 more accessible, and to brainstorm ways to solve the world’s most challenging problems.

G-everyone will provide an open dialogue around the G8’s core themes of “Open Economies, Open Governments and Open Societies.” Mashable will crowdsource the best ideas and thoughts from our community via Meetup Everywhere, and report back to the leaders at the G8. Read more…

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It’s hard to believe how long we’ve been instant messaging. The formerly ubiquitous AIM launched in 1997, and you’ve probably used a handful of services since registering your first screen name

For many of us, Google Talk, more affectionately known as “Gchat” has become the standard — especially if both your work and personal email accounts are on Gmail. While Gmail has its perks, such as the ability to search for conversations among your archives, having your chat windows stuck to your inbox can be quite distracting.

SEE ALSO: 10 Gchat Tricks and Tips for Power Users

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Google engineers sometimes like to say the Star Trek computer is the ideal search engine. You can talk to it like it were a person, ask it anything, and it’ll tell you the answer — verbally. During the keynote at Google I/O developer conference, the company demonstrated how it’s bringing exactly that technology to the Chrome browser.

Although the upgrade isn’t available yet, Mashable got some hands-on time with it at the I/O. To be clear, Chrome already has voice search (that’s what the little microphone is in the Google.com search box), but Google will soon be augmenting it with a new user experience that includes the ability to speak back to you. Read more…

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If subjects like "XORing Elephants: Novel Erasure Codes for Big Data" get you all worked up, you'll dig the "Research Publications At Face..

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Microsoft’s Bing search engine just got even more inventive, creating a strange new world where no web geek has gone before. To take a unique trip, simply type “beam me up” in the Bing search engine, and see what happens.

Once you’ve been beamed up, click on any of the designated hotspots. You’ll hear realistic Starfleet-regulation sound effects as you’re transported to a variety of locations throughout the universe. Each of those destinations offers links to Star Trek trivia, clips from the series and a lot more

As we suspected, Bing designers are “huge Star Trek fans,” according to Stephanie Horstmanshof, Bing’s senior lead managing editor. “We really looked at this project as a love letter to Star Trek fans,” she told Mashable. “We had so much fun brainstorming ideas for the various levels of the experience.” Read more…

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