“Can you smelllllll….What the The Rock! Is cooking?!?”

That became a ubiquitous catchphrase when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was a Worldwide Wrestling Federation megastar around the turn of the millennium. Unlike most wrestling-ring bruisers, however, Johnson has done a lot more than just “lay the smack down” on hapless “jabronis,” as he was fond of saying.

He won a college football national championship as a hard-hitting defender at the University of Miami in 1991. He’s become a bona fide movie star too, appearing in action hits such as Fast Five, The Scorpion King and Walking Tall. He’s even a bestselling author. His autobiography The Rock Says… spent weeks atop The New York Times charts in 2000.

Recently, Johnson added another feather to his cap: the title of Must-Follow Actor or Actress on Social Media, as voted by readers in the annual Mashable Awards. Since joining Twitter less than a year ago, and Facebook a few months before that, Johnson has become a staunch advocate of social media’s power to connect. His Facebook Page has more than 5 million “Likes” and his @TheRock Twitter account has nearly 2 million followers. He’s especially active on Twitter, posting updates multiple times each day and constantly tweeting back to fans and encouraging them to “bring it” in every aspect of their lives.

Mashable recently caught up with Johnson to talk about his newest award, his thoughts on social media, and answer a few questions from the fans who helped vote him number one.

Q&A with Dwayne Johnson

So, our readers love you. How did you feel about being voted people’s must-follow actor or actress?

It was damn cool to get recognized. I’ve always been a very private person so felt for a long time that social media wasn’t really for me. So it took a little bit of nudging. But it’s been one of the greatest decisions professionally — and personally — that I’ve ever made. It’s meant more to me than I ever imagined. So to be recognized as the Mashable community’s must-follow actor after a short amount of time is so damn cool.

How have you made yourself so successful on social media? Are there certain points you try to drive home or things you try to do every day?

When I launched Twitter my biggest goal was just to be authentic, so that people know that when their tweet alert goes off on their device, that it’s coming directly from my hands. I also try to make it a platform for three things — motivation, encouragement and entertainment. And it’s a great way for me to have my finger on the pulse of what my fans do and don’t like in terms of projects and overall sentiment, because there’s no other platform on Earth that gives me that instant feedback.

You’re well known for a number of different things — football, wrestling, acting. Do you find social media helps you reach one group of fans in particular?

I never want to segment my fans in any way. It’s been a great way to reach multiple groups of people — from sports fans, to movie lovers, to WWE lovers, to fans who want to share stories of encouragement, who have beaten cancer. My mom is a survivor, so that brings in another group of people. I just want people to get some value from it, whether that means a motivational quote I send out at 3 a.m. when I wake up or an incredibly inappropriate, but funny, dirty joke.

“I’ve always been a very private person so felt for a long time that social media wasn’t really for me. So it took a little bit of nudging. But it’s been one of the greatest decisions professionally — and personally — that I’ve ever made.”

This is from lifeinthechickencoop on Tumblr: “Being a third-generation pro wrestler, would you encourage or discourage your own child from entering the profession?”

That’s a great question that I get asked often. I would encourage my children, or anyone else’s, to get involved in pro-wrestling-slash-sports-entertainment if that’s their dream. It’s very personal and deep for me because I come from a long lineage of pro wrestlers, so I have a lot of love for the business. It’s provided an amazing opportunity for me and I wouldn’t be where I am today without it. But the first thing I always tell kids is get their college education. Then if pro wrestling is what they want to do, I’m all for that. But understand that with great success comes consistent hard work.

This is from Stephanie Quilao on Twitter, and makes sense given your busy schedule. “What is your weekly fitness routine like?”

Five days a week, I get up between three and five in the morning. I love training when the sun is coming up because it just allows me to put on my headphones and step off the crazy treadmill that is everyone’s life. I’m in there for about and hour and a half, hour and forty-five minutes, and when I hit the gym I’m coming to clang and bang.

Now for the most-asked question by our readers: “What is The Rock cooking these days?”

I’ll tell you what I’m cooking just for Mashable readers, the first time I’ve answered this in years. I’m cooking grilled Chilean sea bass, sliced mango on the side…nah, that’s B.S. I ain’t cooking anything but being an ass-kicker on Twitter and a good tequila drinker.

1.

Johnson, who still makes appearances in the wrestling ring, has successfully employed social media to help spread his trademark catchphrases.

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Photo courtesy of Dwayne Johnson

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Facebook isn’t the only social network getting ready to monetize its mobile app with advertising. During today’s analyst call to discuss its fourth quarter earnings, LinkedIn executives said they will also be introducing advertising to their mobile apps.

There weren’t many details offered — LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said only that the company has been putting the infrastructure in place, and now it’s ready to “start to introduce advertising in our mobile solutions.”

Even though ads were only mentioned briefly, mobile was definitely a big theme on the call. Weiner noted that the company launched redesigned smartphone apps last August, and he said that mobile is now LinkedIn’s fastest-growing category. Mobile accounts for 15 percent of LinkedIn’s unique member visits, he said, and it will definitely be one of the areas of investment in the coming year.

One of the analysts on the call asked about the performance of CardMunch, the business card-scanning smartphone app that LinkedIn recently acquired, and about whether LinkedIn is performing differently on the various mobile platforms. On CardMunch, Weiner repeated the already-released number that CardMunch has now scanned its 2 millionth business card.

Regarding the different smartphone platforms, he said, “We’re seeing a sharp rise in activations across both the iOS platform and Android. We’re seeing more activations in iOS but both are growing very healthy rates.”

Windows' Save As dialog can be a little annoying. If you want to use a certain file extension, you have to pick it from a long list, and sometimes it isn't even available in that list. Reader Java-Princess shares an awesome shortcut for saving files as whatever extension you want. More »

It was just a few days ago that news of a mysterious home-oriented Google device was being prepped for testing in the homes of 252 company employees, but the associated FCC filing left most of the specifics up in the air. Now, if a new report from the Wall Street Journal holds true, Google’s next foray into the hardware space could be all about pumping up those jams.

According to WSJ’s sources, the device in development is a “home entertainment system” that can wirelessly stream music throughout users’ homes. Google has attempted to make inroads into the living room before with initiatives like Google TV, but this would mark the first time the search giant would be developing and selling products under their own name rather than relying on external hardware vendors.

The pieces we have at this point certainly seem to line up. In their FCC application, Google representatives noted that the at-home beta test was meant to accomplishing the following:

Testing throughput and stability of home WiFi networks using an entertainment device. Testing will include functional testing of all subsystems, including WiFi and Bluetooth radio. Users will connect their device to home WiFi networks and use Bluetooth to connect to other home electronics equipment.

WiFi support seems like a no-brainer when it comes to streaming content, but the inclusion of a Bluetooth radio (commonly seen on phones of all stripes) hints at the possibility of a close connection between the box in question and mobile devices.

The mysterious entertainment device is reportedly the result of years of work from Google’s Android team, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. With movies and more recently music being introduced into the Android Market, it was only natural that the device in question would be able to capitalize on all that content. WSJ’s sources acknowledge that notion, as they note that the Google Mystery Box may be able to stream content other than just music.

Still, media/hardware ventures like Google TV haven’t been as strong a performer in the marketplace as Google would have hoped, so it’s a bit surprising to see that another media-oriented device seems so close to fruition. Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise though — Google chairman Eric Schmidt reaffirmed himself as being a proponent of a highly-connected home life while at this year’s CES.

One of the bigger questions that this whole situation raises is whether or not the entertainment box will ever actually see the light of day. At first glance, the answer seems obvious — why put a petition for testing that much new hardware outside of the lab in front of a federal body if it’ll never see the light of day? WSJ’s sources seem to confirm that the device isn’t just vaporware and that it will launch later this year, but a lot could happen between now and then.

If it is real though, and Google can churn out reliable — and preferably cheap — units, they stand a chance at yanking the rug out from under a major competitor: Apple and its $99 Apple TV.

The Daily App Deals post is a round-up of the best app discounts of the day, as well as some notable mentions for ones that are on sale. More »

Romantic math geeks, your moment has arrived. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, go ahead and type (or paste) this into Google search:

sqrt(cos(x))*cos(300x)+sqrt(abs(x))-0.7)*(4-x*x)^0.01, sqrt(6-x^2), -sqrt(6-x^2) from -4.5 to 4.5

Twitter user @Huckberry tipped us off to the fact that typing in the algebraic equation plots several different functions on a graph that forms the shape of a heart.

The series includes various square roots, absolute values and cosine functions — mathematical functions often taught in high school math courses. The plotted lines change direction due to the absolute value function flipping the sign of the x-coordinate, creating a mirror image across the y-axis.

The “cos(300x)” part of the formula was also written to make the line go quickly up and down as it traces out the interior of the heart. This creates the colored-in effect. Meanwhile, if you change the “300″ number in the equation to “500,” the color fills up the heart. That part of the formula is related to frequency.

Although the equation wasn’t written by Google, this is not the first time users have been able to type in certain keywords into search for a seasonal surprise. For example, type “Let It Snow” and you will be treated to flurries and frost on the Google bar.

Other popular search tricks include typing “Do a barrel roll” and the word “askew” into Google. Check out some more fun search tricks in the gallery below — and let us know in the comments if we’ve missed any.

Beyond Barrel Roll: 10 Hidden Google Tricks
Gravity

Enter "Google Gravity" in the search bar. Hit "I'm feeling lucky" (if you have Google Instant enabled, it's on the right hand side of the suggested searches). Then watch your world fall down.

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: Barrel Roll, easter eggs, Google, trending

Microsoft described in detail Thursday exactly how Windows will work on ARM devices. The new strain of Windows, retooled from the ground up for low-power devices like tablets, will be identical to the regular desktop version in many ways, and Microsoft says it’ll ship some test units to developers by the end of February. Actual products are planned for the general release of Windows 8.

In a departure from traditional Windows machines, ARM-based devices running Windows will be complete “end-to-end” products, meaning you won’t be able to buy Windows as a piece of software separate from those devices — it comes fully integrated. Microsoft says it will service and improve the software over the “useful life” of the device.

Another new feature: Users will never need to turn off Windows on ARM devices, Microsoft says. Instead of going into sleep or hibernate modes, WOA machines will have a Connected Standby mode, similar to smartphones. When the screen goes dark, the a WOA device will go into a “very low-power mode” where the battery can last “for weeks.” Microsoft says it’s working to build the feature into standard x86 PCs as well.

Up until this year, Windows has been the domain of machines running the x86 chip architecture, with processors made by Intel and AMD. Microsoft announced in early 2011, though, that it would be creating a version of Windows to run on devices that use chips based on the ARM architecture. While x86 is synonymous with Windows PCs, ARM is the only game in town for mobile devices — cellphones and tablets.

SEE ALSO: ARM Shrugs Off Intel’s First Smartphone

Recreating Windows on ARM (or WOA, as the company calls it) is key part of Microsoft’s strategy to get its core software on devices of all kinds. In a blog post, Microsoft’s president of Windows, Steve Sinofsky, confirmed that the WOA experience would be identical to the desktop experience for Windows 8 in many ways.

First, WOA uses the exact same Metro interface across both flavors of Windows, with support for touch and being able to call up apps (like email) easily from other apps. Those built-in apps — specifically photos, mail, contacts and calendar — will be identical to the desktop versions.

Just like with the regular Windows, users can easily turn off Metro and simply use the desktop Windows Explorer with WOA. Microsoft promises the “complete Windows experience,” including the same hardware-acceleration for HTML5 functions in Internet Explorer 10.

Microsoft Office has been built for WOA, too. Full-featured versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote will all be available on ARM devices, all re-tuned for low power consumption and the touch capabilities of Windows 8. Documents created in the new Windows apps — part of Microsoft’s Office 15 upgrade — will be compatible between the WOA and desktop versions of Office.

A few lucky developers will get their hands on WOA devices possibly by early next month, when Microsoft says it will ship test units to some hand-picked people. Microsoft is also quick to point out that it still has a lot of work to do on Windows 8. “The code is not done,” Sinofsky writes.

What do you think of Microsoft’s revelations about Windows on ARM? Let us know in the comments.

Windows on ARM devices

Microsoft's Scott Seiber sits beside devices from Nvidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, all of them running a version of Windows for ARM-based devices.

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More About: arm, ARM Holdings, microsoft, mobile processors, Processors, smartphones, tablets, Windows, Windows 8

Dental care is an important part of your overall health care, but it's expensive when you don't have insurance. Financial blog Money Crashers suggests offering to pay up front when shopping for a dentist to see if they're willing to give you a discount. More »

If you're having trouble wading through the pool of iPad dock prospects, we're about to add another to the mix. Scosche has announced that its bassDOCK for both iPad models is now shipping. The dock will blast "My Name is Jonas" from a pair of 1.6-inch stereo speakers and a 3-inch subwoofer. As you'd expect, the kit charges your Apple slate in a cradle that sports both landscape and portrait orientations alongside tilt positioning for the optimum viewing angle. If you find yourself needing to switch over to a smartphone to bump your tunes, the bassDOCK has a 3.5mm aux jack for just that purpose. The speaker dock is available now via the source link for $149.99 and a closer look awaits you in the gallery below.

Gallery: Scosche bassDOCK for iPad

Continue reading Scosche bassDOCK blasts Weezer from any iPad, available now for $150

Scosche bassDOCK blasts Weezer from any iPad, available now for $150 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you played PC games in the 90s, chances are you played some of Tim Schafer’s work. He worked on the Monkey Island Series and Day of the Tentacle, later going on to create such classics as Grim Fandango and Psychonauts. He recently took to Kickstarter to try and score some funding for a new point-and-click adventure game, as most publishers would consider the genre more or less untouchable these days.

He figured there were enough people out there who wanted a new adventure game that they could scrape together $400,000. That was last night. They hit their goal in 8 hours, and are likely to break a million dollars before the end of the day. In fact, just since I started this post, I’ve had to adjust the headline to reflect an additional $50,000 $70,000 $100,000 that has been pledged.

Kickstarter confirmed to Joystiq that “there’s not been a project that has raised as much as this one in such a short timeframe.” Not even the Elevation Dock, which has made something of a splash. It’s easy to understand, considering the deal Double Fine is offering.

In addition to the game, for which $300,000 of the money was to be earmarked, they are partnering with 2 Player Productions to make a video documentary about the development of the game. A $15 donation gets you both the game and the documentary, which accounts partially for the massive uptake, but thousands more opted to give $30 or $100. It’s really quite a festival — over 23,000 backers as of this writing.

That’s understandable: Tim Schafer is something of a cult figure in gaming, and is really an optimal rallying point for a Kickstarter project. Thousands upon thousands have enjoyed his games and have been itching for a way to get involved and make another happen — but petitioning publishers and complaining on forums doesn’t do much. Pledging a few bucks does.

There are a number of these crowd-sourced games in the works, and some smaller sites catering to that audience, like 8 Bit Funding, have popped up. The age of the independent developer is upon us; there’s enough money going around and enough methods for funding that soon, no one will have to go hungry, least of all legendary developers with quiet but fervent global fan bases.

From bootstrapping his company, to raising a seed round last year, to his company’s recent $8 million A round, Neil Capel exemplifies the grit and hustle typical in successful entrepreneurs. Capel founded Sailthru, an enterprise software-as-a-service company that uses clickstream data to individually tailor marketing emails to each user, which Capel says will exponentially increase the lifetime value of a customer email address.

Check out our interview with Capel to find out how he went from a consultant at Morgan Stanley to founding a company that will soon be expanding globally and his thoughts on when you should consider going full-time on your startup.

This Venture Studio Classic was originally released on September 22, 2011.

Follow Venture Studio, in association with Mashable. The show is hosted by Dave Lerner, a 3x entrepreneur and angel investor. To join Venture Studio’s Facebook page, click here.

More Recent Episodes of Venture Studio:

• How One Pioneering Investor Kick-Starts Early Stage Companies [VIDEO]
• How LinkedIn Gave A Former Pro Athlete A New Career [VIDEO]
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gotfork writes "Quoting The Guardian: 'A pro-Kremlin group runs a network of internet trolls, seeks to buy flattering coverage of Vladimir Putin and hatches plans to discredit opposition activists and media, according to private emails allegedly hacked by a group calling itself the Russian arm of Anonymous.' While a similar program has operated in China for a long time, and some commentators have suggested that a similar program exists in Russia, this is the first confirmation."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This might just be the sweetest Valentine’s Day story I’ve ever heard. It’s definitely the sweetest Valentine’s Day story I’ve ever written.

Kaitlyn Trigger is a marketing director at Rally.org. She also happens to be Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger’s girlfriend of two and a half years (The 26 year old Krieger and 27 year old Trigger met at a friend’s house in October of 2009 and moved in together in October 2010). And my hero.

Last December, Trigger decided she wanted to be able to talk to her boyfriend in depth about the stuff he was working on. So the Yale political science major who “never took any computer classes” covertly downloaded “Learn Python the Hard Way” and began the Odyssey into programming, deadline Valentines’ Day.

Her goal? To create what is now Lovestagram, a way to take the Instagram photos you’ve shared with a specific person and turn them into an e-Valentine. “Several months ago, I was brainstorming a gift for two friends who had recently gotten engaged. I wanted to find Instagram photos they had in common, and it was tough!”

After she learned Python, Triggger then had to complete a Django tutorial in order to bring the Python online — she used Heroku to push stuff to a webserver. She spent marathon weekends building the site, leaving the apartment for a total of three hours on the Martin Luther King holiday in order to finish by February 14th.

“Learning to program isn’t the hard part. The biggest challenge is figuring out how all the moving parts of a web application fit together. There’s no book for that,” she said.

To use Lovestagram simply sign in with your Instagram account, enter the name of your beloved and choose from one of three adorable designs, Lovestagram Rainbow, Mr. Pink Camera and Cinnamon Heart Candy (I’ve been constantly ‘Awwing’ the entire time I’ve been writing this, by the way.). You can then customize the message and send off to your beau.

Here’s a Lovestagram that Kaitlyn sent to Mike and yes, she actually wrote, “Like an Instagram filter, you make my world more beautiful.” And yes she also had to learn Photoshop to come up with the the three different designs, “It’s almost harder than Python,” she told me.

While the service ended up looking amazing, her plan to keep it a secret from Krieger didn’t work, mainly because of her frustration with working out bugs, “Something would take me an hour and a half and I knew that ten feet away is someone who could fix the same bug in ten seconds.” So she spilled the beans.

“Mike was really touched,” she said. “His support throughout this whole process has really been a gift. Tolerating me when I’ve been cranky.” Trigger views both the physical manifestation of her skills and the skills themselves as the V-Day gifts, “[But] the fact that we have one more thing in common is the bigger gift.”

As someone who might have dated a programmer at some point, I feel Trigger’s pain when she described the state of Krieger sitting in front of computer as “not knowing what he was doing.” “It’s hard in a city where most of the men are software engineers and most of the women are not,” she says (for the record I also tried and failed to learn Python – more on that later).

Trigger suggests creating classes specifically for women who want to code as a possible solution to this particular digital divide, the trick is to not be intimidated ,“[Code] is something that nobody should be afraid of. “

It’s also something that you don’t need a significant other for necessarily. The best V-Day gift of coding skills you can give, is the V-Day gift of coding skills you give to yourself.

TV personality, activist, and social media comedian Stephen Fry has taken sides in the Paul Chambers “Twitter Joke Trial,” saying that British judges fundamentally don’t understand how Twitter works.

Fry’s stance is more interesting for the larger question it raises about the rising role of social media and the generation gap between users of social networks and those asked to adjudicate them.

Chambers was arrested for a tweet he sent about Robin Hood Airport in England in January 2010. The airport suffered repeated service delays and disruptions due to cold weather, prompting Chambers to tweet:

Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!

Chambers was later convicted for sending a “message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character” under the Communications Act 2003, causing him to lose his job, gain a criminal record and a mountain of fees and legal costs. Chambers lost several appeals and is awaiting his latest appeal, due this month.

Fry has publicly stood behind Chambers saying the verdict was unfair and even helping Chambers with his continuing legal costs. The real problem, according to Fry, is that British Judges are simply too out of touch with modern social tools such as Twitter. This is what Fry said in a recent interview:

“It was so clearly a joke, so clearly just a frustrated person going “Oh, damn.” It’s like me saying “I’ll kill my wife if she’s late again.” It’s that. It’s as simple that. And I’m afraid there’s a generation of judges and a generation of people at the Crown Prosecution Service that just don’t get Twitter, that just don’t get social media, who don’t understand that it’s part of a conversation.”

Saying you’re going to blow up an airport is clearly not a good idea, even if in jest, but the court’s reaction has been labelled unfair and disproportionate to the “crime” committed.

Fry’s interview, appearing on the BBC’s Newsbeat, addresses problems beyond just Chambers’ appeal. Similar questions were raised during the SOPA and PIPA debates when legislators and members of the government admitted ignorance at the nitty gritty of the bills they were trying to pass.

Fry’s allegations are even more topical now that the U.K. Supreme Court has joined Twitter (@UKSupremeCourt) this past month, joining the Judiciary of England and Wales at @judiciaryuk.

Should judges and authorities go through social media training or has Fry overstepped his mark? Let us know in the comments below.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Beinecke Library

More About: law, Social Media, Twitter

Googler Daniel Russell knows how to find the answers to questions you can't get to with a simple Google query. In his weekly Search Research column, Russell issues a search challenge, then follows up later in the week with his solution—using whatever search technology and methodology fits the bill. This week's challenge: Where can I find that tool? More »

LinkedIn on Thursday announced it has 150 million members in its network, a 20 million increase over November.

The figure was disclosed in a press release the company issued Thursday announcing its fourth quarter and full-year 2011 results.

The company posted revenues of $167.7 million, beating the analysts’ consensus of $160 million for Q4. Adjusted profit was $0.12 cents per share, which beat analysts’ projections of 7 cents a share. LinkedIn’s stock was up more than 5% in after-hours trading.

The Q4 revenue figure was a 105% jump over the same period in 2010. Revenues for full-year 2011 was $522.2 million, a 115% increase over 2010′s $243.1 million. Once again, Hiring Solutions was the company’s largest source of revenues, providing $84.9 million for the quarter. Marketing Solutions, meanwhile, brought in revenues of $49.5 million, while revenues from Premium Subscriptions totaled $33.3 million.

“Q4 once again exceeded our expectations for member engagement and business growth. It was a fitting end to a memorable year in which we reinforced our position as the pre-eminent professional network on the web,” said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn. “We believe continued focus on our members and technology infrastructure positions us well for accelerated product innovation in 2012.”

Image courtesy of Flickr, smi23le

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If Angry Birds and Cut the Rope can have toys, why can’t FarmVille?

Social gaming juggernaut Zynga is teaming up with toy maker Hasbro to create a “wide range of toys and gaming experiences” based on Zynga properties and brands, a release read.

The first products are expected to hit the market in Fall 2012. The agreement gives Hasbro license to develop and distribute an array of products in various toy and game categories for Zynga’s various properties. The companies will also be able to co-brand merchandise, which could potentially lead to digital product tie-ins.

The Hasbro/Zynga deal is just the latest to create real-life products out of social games. Angry Birds is a bona fide brand of its own, with licensees for everything from toys to plush dolls to baby clothes. Disney’s social network for tweens, Club Penguin, sells plush toys that also act as in-game bonuses.

While Zynga has an enormous audience — 227 million users play its games every month — its biggest hits (CityVille, FarmVille and Words With Friends) don’t have immediately recognizable mascots or protagonists like Angry Birds. Sure, the -Ville franchises share similar character designs but the games are largely about individual player experiences.

That doesn’t mean that products based on the brand can’t work. Speaking only for myself (and not the rest of Mashable) this recovering FarmVille addict would be tempted to buy a miniature FarmVille playset or stuffed Truffle Hunting Pig.

What about you — do you want your own mini CityVille or Words With Friends toy or tie in? Let us know.

More About: casual games, hasbro, social games, toys, Zynga

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Professional social network LinkedIn just reported stronger than expected fourth quarter 2011 earnings today. Earnings came in at $0.12 per share. Revenue for the fourth quarter was $167.7 million, an increase of 105% compared to $81.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. Net income for the fourth quarter was $6.9 million, compared to net income of $5.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. Analysts expected the company to earn $0.07 per share on revenues of $159.72 million.

Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter was $13.3 million, compared to $5.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. For the full year 2011, revenue increased 115% to $522.2 million from $243.1 million.

“Q4 once again exceeded our expectations for member engagement and business growth. It was a fitting end to a memorable year in which we reinforced our position as the pre-eminent professional network on the web,” said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn in a release. “We believe continued focus on our members and technology infrastructure positions us well for accelerated product innovation in 2012.”

In terms of revenue breakdown, sales from Hiring Solutions products totaled $84.9 million, an increase of 136% compared to the fourth quarter of 2010. Hiring Solutions revenue represented 50% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to 44% in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Revenue from Marketing Solutions products totaled $49.5 million, an increase of 77% compared to the fourth quarter of 2010 (and represented 30% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to 34% in the fourth quarter of 2010). Premium Subscriptions revenue totaled $33.3 million, an increase of 87% compared to the fourth quarter of 2010 (and was 20% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to 22% in the fourth quarter of 2010).

By geographic area, revenue from the U.S. totaled $112 million, and represented 67% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2011. Revenue from international markets totaled $55.8 million, and represented 33% of total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2011.

LinkedIn is now adding two new members every second, and just hit 150 million members (up from 135 million last November) in over 200 countries and territories.

In terms of guidance, revenue for the first quarter of 2012 is projected to be in the range of $170 million to $175 million and revenue for the full year will be in the range of $840 million to $860 million.

LinkedIn is past the excitement of the public offering and now coming into its own as a public company. As Weiner recently told TechCrunch, “The event itself was memorable, but for us it was really just a stepping stone.” The fourth quarter was relatively quiet with regard to new products compared to past quarters. The network debuted a new version of business card organizer CardMuch (which they acquired in early 2011), and updated Groups with new functionality.

LinkedIn also announced Talent Pipeline, a new product that allows recruiters and hiring managers to manage, track, and stay in touch with active and passive candidates, regardless of source. Talent Pipeline is currently in pilot testing phase with select Hiring Solutions customers, according to the company.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that LinkedIn is slowing down. We hear there’s much more in store for the company for 2012, especially in mobile. Steve Sordello, CFO of LinkedIn, said in the release that the company will “continue to invest in our product, engineering, and sales infrastructure to capitalize on our long-term opportunity” in 2012. It will also be interesting to see how acquisitive LinkedIn is in the coming year. The company just picked up contact manager Rapportive for $15 million.

Here are our notes from the earnings call:

Weiner said that member engagement was at record levels in 2011, and the site passed the 150 million milestone. Member page views grew 77 percent in the fourth quarter and unique member visits to LinkedIn in Q4 grew 67% year over year. 60 percent of LinkedIn members are located outside of the U.S. Mobile account for 15 percent of total visits to the site.

He says there are more than 50,000 developers using LinkedIn APIs to help build and power the professional Web.

In terms of future product strategy, LinkedIn’s approach will focus on simplicity, and we can “expect refreshes of pillar products.” Membership growth is another area the where LinkedIn will focus. And the company will invest in mobile, which Weiner says is the company’s fastest growing service.

LinkedIn ended the year with more than 2,000 employees. In 2012, LinkedIn will be ramping up hiring at the university and college level.

Sordello adds that one-third of members visited LinkedIn during the quarter. The company also added 1,900 enterprises to its premium products client base in 2011.

Q: Jeff-when you think 2-3 three years out what do you see as the future for offering a SaaS platform for recruiting or an ad network, while leveraging data?

A: Our current recruiting process currently already leverages data and is a SaaS product. In terms of marketing solutions, we see similar benefits. Data is one of the most valuable assets for the company. LinkedIn today is doing very well, and 300,000 publishers have the LinkedIn share button on their sites.

Q: How do you monetize mobile?

A: We’re focused on product for now, we’re going to start to run some tests with regard to advertising and marketing in mobile platforms.

Q: Other companies in the hiring space have seen softness in some verticals like finance; can you comment on this? Also can you elaborate on your student growth as well?

A: We haven’t seen any weakness in a particular vertical. The student demographic is our fastest growing demographic. We’re also increasing outreach to university career centers.

Q: Can you talk about hiring solutions internationally?

A: Europe is a year to two behind the U.S. in terms of penetration and Asia is probably 2-3 years behind.

Q: Who are some of your largest hiring solutions companies?

A: We have 70-80 percent of the Fortune 100.

Q: Can you give us additional color on mobile traction? Tablet vs. smartphone vs. iPhone. vs. Android?

A: We announced that CardMuch has generated its 2 millionth card scan a few weeks ago, and growth is accelerating. We’re seeing a sharp rise in activations across iOS platform and Android. Both are growing at healthy rates.

Details are still fairly light at the moment, but The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Google could be about to make big push into the hardware business. Citing people briefed on the company's plans, the WSJ says that Google is now developing a home entertainment system that would stream music wirelessly throughout the home (including to web-connected devices and "Google-made speakers"), and be able to be controlled using a smartphone or tablet -- making it sound a whole lot like a Sonos competitor. What's more, unlike current Android and Google TV devices, this system will reportedly be marketed under Google's own brand. An attempt to really turn it up to eleven, perhaps?

Google reportedly working on wireless home entertainment system to be sold under its own brand originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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