So still getting used to seeing my face in a freeze-frame off YouTube, but for the most part the message is laid out visually for your eyes and ears to see & hear…

If you haven’t yet heeded my “Happy Labor Day” weekend greeting, well here it is up above via video. Also, reiterating our lovely widget with the code: here. Get it and get more traffic now.

And now for a fun competition with a fun(ny) video, watch:

That’s right everyone, I’m taking $100 out of my wallet and handing it straight to you - along with some generous items from e.l.f. cosmetics - and all you have to do is show SmakNews some love in a YouTube or .avi fashion through our Facebook page. 

Only video entries are accepted. It can be as short, funny, sexy, or goofy as you want. You must post it on our Facebook wall for now… We’ll aggregate the best videos for our “board” of judges and users to “talk smak” on and select the winner(s) ~ yes, there could be more than one! The video must have a mention for “SmakNews” in any way, shape, or form (silent movies can also apply, or subtitles, or elaborate effects by way of extensive film school training too, why not?) 

Runner-ups will receive not just one but three (3) e.l.f. cosmetics items to use, re-gift, or barter with your sister/girlfriend for … but the winner will of course be getting all that plus 100 dollars.

For questions on rules, tweet, email, or send us a message on Facebook. Good luck!

There are many “top” numbered lists (we’re sure of) that have been written and buzzed about from us, but none other than this now latest one will actually mean the closest to our hearts.

Being a very young start-up, we realize that we would be nothing without our users giving back to us. Whether it be in the form of smak-talks, constantly tweeting us feedback, or submitting stories –links, editorials, and/or questions– all of the amazing activity created on SmakNews is not just due to the founders or the staff hard at work, it’s mainly due to the great users who are just as vital to our growth as anything.

Here are the top 16 users who have shined recently at SmakNews. Don’t worry, we’ll be updating this and will surely be adding to it as we go along…

1. NicoKitten

Known to have submitted some very popular links as well as having penned some of her own sexy tips, @NicoKitten is a fresh, young vibrant contributor whose only bound to turn any story found on the web sizzling “hot.”

2. Christinafs

An adorable smak-talkkin’ student, Christina’s positive comments are always indicative that she’s not only having a good time at SmakNews.com, she’s just having a good time period.

3. HaveUHeard

VonDay, owner of HaveUHeard.net, smaks some great celebrity gossip articles daily, frequently, and timely too. In case you haven’t heard, you are hearing it right now on SmakNews thanks to this awesome user.

4. Gomar

A veteran Smak-talker, Margo exemplifies the busy American woman who does everything- blogs, tweets, smaks, and even takes care of some teenaged girls! How does she find the time to do it all? And can she please keep on doing it?

5. FiveAlive

Hiding behind that cute little avatar is one of the busiest smakkers we have! Recently joined, “fivealive” seems to be grabbing some great content and flipping them for “hot” status in five seconds flat, no joke! (But slightly exaggerated, yes.)

6. GDavisms

Publisher Gloria Davis may look like a quiet gal from Jackson, Mississippi but she’s bringing many of  her stories from her blog straight to SmakNews.

7. MissDestructo

We feel @MissDestructo’s beautiful blue hair adds some complementing tones to the layout of SmakNews, don’t you? A personal tweet-heart, Amber’s additions from her blog or just abundance in Smak-thusiam is always appreciated.

8. ElsiesBlogs

Not only does Vanessa’s avatar please a couple of male visitors, her breaking stories has garnered interesting smak-talks, especially this one involving President Obama.

9. CoutureInTheCity

What’s a women’s fashion news site without a bit of “Couture”, put that Couture in the City and you have a perfectly mixed cocktail waiting. Angelique knows fashion, and she knows it well enough to “talk smak” in the most fabulous of ways. Here.

* Want to be just as “in” as our trend-setting friends up there? Introducing the latest fashion icon on the web– a “Talk Smak” button that you can add right on your blog/website to make it easier, friendlier, and just more stylish in talking smak… Details to come on the code for this cute little button.*

10. AnthonyMark

Mr. AnthonyMark is just a wonderful smak-talker via Twitter and once actually on here and without the 140 character limit constraints, he lets loose and gets lavish with his insightful thoughts. Who doesn’t love an opinionated man once in awhile?

11. RowenaCherry

@rowenacherry is an author with a goal: give good value. And we are so happy that SmakNews is one of the mediums chosen in giving off such great value!

12. WereCatf

This user from Finland packs a powerful smak-talk on all sorts of stories, and despite what her profile states, you’re wrong - we do read everything. And we enjoy it very much so.

13. YourTango

Serving news straight up from YourTango.com, each and every link submitted has gotten Hot already– how’s that for a good batting, err… smak-submitting average?

14. SDL

Barry is the founder and editor of SingleDadLife.com, and just because most men would view posting on here as an uphill battle, we salute him (as well as all men, too)!

15. JennyFromTheBlog

Jenny has also been with us since the start (April) and here and now she makes an appearance to share some interesting stories from her witty womanly blog.

16. YosefSolomon

Yosef may be brand new but already he seems to have a handle on submitting the right kind of news stories and talking smak-back to the ladies. We’ll be looking forward to some more smak out of you.

Whew, that was quite a long list, but you know what, I wouldn’t mind at all if it had to be longer. Thank you so very much to our fantastic users… whether you’re mentioned here, or you just happen to quietly read without smakking back, I have nothing but appreciation and gratitude for you.

Yours truly,

Gina Mom
Chief Editrix of a lovely thing that made “it” on the web- thanks to you.

Hey every one!  Our team created these cool photos for all you site owners to post as a 404 error page, please tell us what you think of these photos and which one should we use as our error page?

Have a great weekend.

We’ve been keeping rather busy at SmakNews since the last time you so graciously landed here on our blog.

Our beauty give-away went well but luckily the kind people at ELF generously gave and so we still have some more! Anybody still interested for some new cool make-up can just leave us a comment here with your sweepstakes submission.

Still growing every day by the minute, tweet, visit, and membership, we are monitoring the heightened activity of SmakNews like a mom records her baby’s weight changes. Having outgrown our infantile stage past 3 months now, we are excited to move on to bigger and better pairs of toddler shoes that’ll bring us many steps closer to true awesomeness.

The last month we have seen some surging successes in our Editorials’ department. Although we are still seeing tons of interesting links being shared in the standard social news way, we are proud that members and readers are becoming just as thrilled to see our open blogging platform be utilized to express some thoughts and collect some interesting smak talks.

Here are some articles that have gotten some Smakkin’ hot attention lately:

Top 5 Weird Aphrodisiacs That Don’t Make Any Sense Cause there are some aphrodisiacs that do make sense, but these aren’t it.

Divorced and Detached? Let Cut’s The Cake! Any excuse to eat cake is a good excuse to take.

Who Are You Calling Crazy? Oh, These Women. Normally in the name of fashion we are permitted some “crazy” passes, but these call for the insanity police more than the fashion police.

Chew On This: Semen Recipe Cookbook. Yes, you read it right, semen.

The Most Beautiful Tranny In The World, And Other Terribly Weird Beauty Pageants Little Miss Sunshine? Try Little Miss Legless Landmine.

Are You Going Goo-Goo For GaGa’s Fugly Fashion Sense? Or… are you just gagging?

And the semen subject pops back out again: Unfolding the Myth, Is Semen Good For Complexion? Or was it all just invented by the one with the erection?

And of course, Life Lesson #42. The best is yet to come. For SmakNews.com, it’s a coming alright… and it’s not going to do it on your face either.

Sorry, couldn’t resist the joke. But do come again! We have more updates up our sleeves for you…

SmakNews is running an awesome promotion with e.l.f. cosmetics — together, we’re giving away some cool make-up kits to make sure you have the latest looks for Summer

Contest Rules:

1. All you need to do is make sure we know you’re “talking smak” on SmakNews.com by having an active user profile (signing up here).
2. Let e.l.f. know how much you love them too by signing up for their newsletter from their site www.eyeslipsface.com
3. Final step is to make sure you grab both of our attention by sending us the following tweet (click the image below)
   Twitter: @askelf I entered “She’s a Beauty” @smaknews http://bit.ly/s2j8 for #ELF cosmetics! They’re selecting random winners daily, fingers crossed!
   

Be sure to check out www.eyeslipsface.com for some pretty predictions on what we’re giving away… add your email and always stay on top of awesome deals from .e.l.f- the latest recession-proof beauty trick

Good luck!!

Forgive us for updating at 3:30 in the morning (or later if you’re on the East coast) but we just launched our 2.0 version!!! Check out our new specs here and be sure to tell us what you think

Who can believe that just one month ago, SmakNews.com came alive?

Since launching in Beta some 31 odd days or so, we have a lot to be thankful for, a lot to be proud of, and a lot (still) to look forward to. Our entire team have poured some Springtime sweat over building SmakNews, something we all would formally consider as only a part-time occupation (some would even say an internship-like learning experience) but for those still remaining, and still sweating, SmakNews has blossomed into what we know now as our full-time passion.

Being able to do something just because you love it (and believe in it) is definitely not as easy as having to do something because you’re told to and know you’ll receive compensation shortly for it.

But we do it, and we keep on trucking just because of our users. Capping at almost 500 activated profiles within the first month of a “soft launch” and with a growth rate that promises more to come each day, many of us would like to believe that we can’t stop working until we satisfy our mission in pleasing our direct supervisors: our users.

We’re going to be launching SmakNews version 2.0 very soon, and with that, we’ll be unveiling some amazing new stuff–all because we feel like giving back and making it much more fun to “talk smak” on here. We’re asking for everyone’s on-going feedback and support (meaning, we’re taking requests!) and hope that with our new upgrade, you’ll constantly want to stay on, invite more friends, and enjoy having a good time on here.

From the bottom of our smak-talking hearts, we thank you for the support, the love, and the growing interaction that proves just how worth this entire experience has been for all of us.

Thank you,

Xx Smaks xX

I can’t believe 3 weeks past since we launched. Time, as always, passes very fast. We had a great week with the 10 hottest guys @ twitter article, which went pretty viral (thanks to our amazing supporters on Twitter). And of course, some great new users came on board too.

We are not much without some of our top users. The users who are constantly submitting and writing great content are contributing hugely to the growth and success of SmakNews. The following is a list of our newest and most notable smak-talkers:

1) Kate Lawrence (Kate), She wrote 3 articles over the weekend, all of which were really great.  We are very happy she started writing on Smak Its exciting to see that users are beginning to utilize our “write your own news” option as well as submitting great content; we hope she continues serving us great news.

Here are the 3 articles she wrote, enjoy:

Spears Family Car-Wreck Horror
Heidi Montag Marries Spencer Pratt – For Real!
Golden Girl Lights Up The Heavens

Our 2nd top user of the week is:

2) Phoebe Chin (BuzeeBee)

If you read SmakNews then I don’t need to say any thing more about BuzeeBe. A natural Smak -talker, Buzeebee knows all the hot buzz and isn’t afraid to put in her 2 cents–talk about a busy worker bee! Submitter of virally “Hot” content, we love you Pheobe

Our 3rd top user is brand new but already making a name for herself on SmakNews:

4) Missy  (Missmissea) Establishing herself as Smak’s first power user, we thank you again this week, Missy

If you have any suggestions for the site or feedback please leave them in the comments below or send an email to our main girl- Gina Mom at gina@smaknews.com.

BTW, We’re working very hard on releasing Smak 2.0 which will be coming very soon. You will see some great surprises.

Have a great week.

One of the “Hot” stories here at SmakNews today - Move Over Jessica Alba, Honor Steals The Show, spurred a conversation about weird celebrity baby names.

I don’t totally agree that Honor is a weird name.  I mean, Faith, Charity, Hope and names of the same ilk have been popular for years.  And in my opinion, Honor kind of falls into the same category.

Go check it out and join in the conversation.  We would love to hear your opinion.