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The web took a collective 15-minute pause this morning as Tiger Woods made his first public statement since becoming engulfed in scandal back in November. Ustream is the first in with numbers from the event, as it tells us that its live stream drew 683,000 views.

We thought the event might be huge given the interest in the Woods scandal and the fact the event took place during the U.S. work day, and the numbers from Ustream indicate that the statement was likely watched online by millions in total.

Livestream, Hulu, and YouTube all streamed the event live, with the latter promoting it on its homepage and widely followed Twitter account. The event was also carried on all of the major TV networks, further contributing to the buzz across social media sites.

Ustream added that its social stream integration — which lets users post messages to Twitter, Facebook and MySpace while watching live video — contributed 3,300 updates to the chatter. In total, Trendrr tells us there were 93,000 tweets about the press conference in the first hour.

Tags: live video, tiger woods, ustream

Tiger Beer — a Singapore-brewed beer not associated with the now infamous golfer — is ready to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Tiger. It has recently released an iPhone app [iTunes link] that combines augmented reality and game play to help UK users discover the best their cities have to offer in terms of Chinese New Year-themed entertainment.

After downloading the free application, you can use it to discover nearby restaurants and bars that serve Tiger Beer. The application works like most other AR apps, which means you can hold it up and rotate it in different directions around Chinatown to see the venue spots superimposed over your camera lens. You can also preview venue offerings and read up on reviews.

Once your thirst for Tiger Beer is quenched, you can also try your hand at the Tuk Tuk Challenge. The game asks you to complete missions and avoid traffic as you navigate around Chinatown.

The real functionality of the app can be seen in the GPS bar finder; it’s especially interesting to see a brand attempt to leverage augmented reality as part of a marketing campaign. The adventurous offering combines utility and practicality with the spirit of the brand in a way that we think most Tiger Beer fans will appreciate.

To see the application in action, watch the video below.

[img credit: Beverly & Pack]

Tags: Augmented Reality, iphone, tiger beer

If you were waiting for the next huge online video event, this is it. Tiger Woods is set to break his silence on Friday morning with a press conference that will be broadcast live at 11 a.m. ET on Ustream, via the company’s partner CBS News.

News of Tiger’s first public appearance since admitting to transgressions back in December broke earlier this afternoon. The golfer’s agent tells the AP that the event will consist of a “small group of friends, colleagues and close associates [who will listen to Woods apologize as he talks about the past and what he plans to do next].”

With recent Ustream events attracting millions of viewers and the huge interest in the Woods story, we’re confident the press conference will draw massive numbers, too. Plus, the fact it takes place during the U.S. work day means those that can’t watch it via television will be looking for the live stream online.

Ustream’s social media integration, which broadcasts chat messages to Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, will likely drive even more audience to the stream as viewers react to Tiger’s statement.

Tags: live video, sports, tiger woods, ustream, web video

We certainly love cheap around Lifehacker HQ, and this hack is about as cheap as it gets: instead of buying a drawer organizer, you could just cut up that old Lucky Charms box and let it organize your office supplies instead.

Blogger Patricia Zapata, who does a lot of recycling projects, cooked up this repurposing hack with a cereal box and some craft paper to cover the outside pictures (it doesn’t need to be that pretty, but the least you could do is hide that giant picture of Tony the Tiger). She even used some of the cardboard to create a divider, with which she could separate smaller objects (pens, paper clips) from larger ones (scissors, tape, stationary). It fit perfectly in her IKEA drawer, though you might have to make some adjustments—keep in mind there are many sized cereal boxes out there. Got any other cheap drawer-organizing tips? Share them in the comments!

Operating system icons have gotten progressively more appealing over time but that doesn’t mean you’re happy with the way your operating system of choice displays things. Iconizer catalogs the swanky icons of multiple operating systems and more for your use.

At Iconizer you can not only browse through categories like icons for actions, communication, hardware & devices, and other types of customization but you can browse for icons by operating system. Love the way a certain icon is used on the Mac? Like the way Aero displays things on Vista and Windows 7? You can dip into the icon sets for each operating system and customize icons from it for personal use. Not only are stock icons included but each category has around a dozen additional icons sets independent of entries like Aero, Vista, or Tiger.

Iconizer lets you change the background and foreground color of icons, make the background transparent, adjust the size, and save the file in a variety of formats so you can not only use it for your actual operating system but also for design projects or on your web site. The only moderate fault with Iconizer is that modifying and downloading icons is a one-by-one affair—if you find that you just like the stock icons in a given category you can’t grab all of them at once. The service is free and requires no sign up. Have a favorite place for customizing or finding new icons? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

With product names like “Endorphin Rush,” “Freedom,” and “The Tiger Eyes” for its headphones, it’s always been clear that Jaybird strives for a little bit more when it comes to the image associated with its listening devices. So naturally the imaginatively named “SB1 Sportsband” set of Bluetooth headphones would bring one of the classiest designs we’ve seen for that purpose, and certainly Jaybird’s most stunning contribution to the market. The headphones boast about eight hours of stereo music use, feature moisture-protected music controls, and can even handle the odd call or two. They’re shipping now for $89.

[Thanks, Matt A.]

Jaybird’s SB1 Sportsband Bluetooth headphones finally find their aesthetic calling originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 05:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Update: Tiger Woods has also just announced on his website that he’s “taking a hiatus from golf” and says that it “may not be possible to repair the damage I’ve done, but I want to do my best to try.”

The revelations and allegations about Tiger Woods continue, and at least one of his major corporate sponsors has just dropped the golfer from a big piece of its online marketing.

Earlier today, Accenture pulled an image of Woods (seen below from Google’s cache) that according to Bloomberg, had been running in rotation with the current homepage images of speed skaters and skiers. Bloomberg also notes that “links to some Woods-related content are no longer working, leading to messages saying that the page the user has requested can’t be found.”

While I’m personally no fan of the continued prying into the golfer’s personal life, the fallout in the business and media world is proving to be an interesting topic to watch. So far, the brand perhaps most associated with Woods – Nike – is standing by their guy, both with a statement and the section of their website dedicated to him.

However, with marketing taglines like “Go on, be a Tiger” and “It’s what you do next that counts,” it’s hard to imagine Accenture not at least reconsidering how it uses the golfer going forward. Here’s what the homepage used to look like:

Tags: accenture, advertising, tiger woods

Although Tiger Woods has released a statement about his “transgressions” and asked for privacy, the media frenzy around the car accident and his alleged infidelities continues to swell.

As if that’s not bad enough, Spirit Airlines has come out with a new airfare sale, inspired by Woods, that smacks of a marketing ploy. The “Eye of the Tiger Sale,” advertised front and center on Spirit Airlines’ homepage, shows a tiger driving an SUV into a fire hydrant, and then promotes their $9 fare sale.

Obviously the stunt will generate buzz for Spirit, but has the airline gone too far? Watch the screencast below and then let us know what you think.

[via TMZ]

Tags: eye of the tiger sale, spirit airlies, tiger woods

World champion golfer and sports icon Tiger Woods is in serious condition after his car crashed into a fire hydrant and a tree near his home in Isleworth, Florida.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Woods hit the hydrant with his 2009 Escalade after pulling out of his driveway at around 2:25 A.M. this morning. According to Florida Highway Patrol reports, he subsequently drove into a tree on a neighbor’s property. He is now at the Health Central Hospital in Ocoee, Florida.

Woods is one of the world’s most iconic sports figures as well as a husband and father. The Mashable team offers its best wishes for Tiger and his family.

Update: According to a statement form Tiger Woods’ publicist, he was admitted, treated, and released from Health Central Hospital today. He is being described as being in “good condition.”

Tags: sports, tiger woods