social media
Top 10 Apps of the week!
Apr 18th
For the penultimate Thursday of April, we bring you the latest in sleek messaging, droid customizing, web browsing and better yet, Apps that will turn you into a small Steven Spielberg. Check out our selected list for this week and let us know which you liked.
1. Sliding Messaging (Get it for your android) Free
Manage text messages in a new and up-to-date format compliant with the Android design guidelines and visually based on the stock messaging app from Google, with added features. Easily switch between conversations by dragging out the sliding menu on the left side of the screen. Start a new conversation by sliding out the menu on the right side of the screen.
2. Holo Icons (Get it for your android) Free
Holo Icons follow guidelines that Android should have implemented: a simple, sleek, flat, and unobtrusive design that is seen throughout the rest of the Holo UI. Holo Icons is an icon pack containing 350+ icons with a simple, holo-ish feel for Apex Launcher, Nova Launcher, Go Launcher EX, ADW, & others. More icons will be added!
3. Vu (Get it for your android) Free
Vū is a smart recommendation tool that helps you get the most out of your online experience. From the moment you sign up, Vū starts learning the content you like. The more you use Vū, the smarter it gets. By telling Vū the stories and topics you like, you get a just-for-you content consumption experience. Whether you’re looking at a large publisher site or a new blog, Vū works for you.
4. G Cloud backup (Get it for your android) Free
Phones get lost, stolen and misplaced every single day. In this hectic life we’re leading, it’s hard to remember where you placed your keys, so having a backup plan is always a must! With G Cloud installed, one can rest assured that all the precious contacts and data can never be lost. You can get up to 8GB of free storage, and if you want to backup all your app&game settings just download the key for rooted from here!
5. RoundR (Get it for your android) Free
RoundR serves a simple purpose: to round the corners of your screen. RoundR takes advantage of the fact that regardless of the device’s color, the screen is surrounded with a pitch black border, the corners of which are rarely ever touched. RoundR places four small overlays at the corners of the display, to simulate a rounded screen.
6. Basemark X 1.0 (Get it for your android) Free
Basemark X by Rightware is a professional performance evaluation tool for objective cross-platform comparisons of game graphics performance between Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8 devices. Basemark X produces high-quality and objective performance measurement score. It is a unique product, as the only professionally designed benchmark built on top of a real-world game engine, Unity 4. It contains heavy graphics content and pushes tested devices to the limit.
7. Droid Timelapse (Get it for your android) Free
A full-featured app for creating stunning time-lapse videos on your beloved Android device. Record high-quality clips easily thanks to the simple, fast and intuitive interface. The app is free and contains no ads so it’s worthy of checking out.
8. Tripomatic City Guides & maps (Get it for your android) Free
Tripomatic is a trip planner with an easy-to-use interface for trip planning on-the-go. Create your own personalized travel guide for more than 40,000 attractions and quickly find nearby sights. Full sync with www.tripomatic.com – fine-tune trips from your computer or change plans on the go.
9. Cinemagram (Get it for your android) Free
Cinemagram is a place to create and share beautiful short videos. Find out why millions of users love and use Cinemagram!
10. SendHub (Get it for your android) Free
Alternative to Google Voice. Get a free business phone line. Instantly. Free business phone line in any area code, free texting and calling right from the app, call transfer, call forwarding and shared groups, voicemail transcription and group texting. Works on the web, too.
80′s back! Thanks to YouTube!
Apr 15th
Oh no! You’ve forgotten the most important anniversary! Yes, YouTube’s 57th anniversary of commercial videotape recording! No need to worry, YouTube is here with a very clever reminder.
If you do some investigation you’ll notice that certain videos on the site itself can now offer you the option to watch them in “tape mode”, which brings back the booginess to the modern day viewing experience.
All of this nostalgia is in honor of the Ampex VRX-1000, which is generally regarded as the world’s first practical videotape recorder and astonished all the other competitors when it was first displayed on April 14th, 1956 at the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters Convention.
If you’d like to read more about the device’s historic place, LabGuy’s World has a transcript of lead engineer Charles P.Ginsburg’s presentation on its development.
Top April pranks of 2013
Apr 1st
We’ve brought you the latest in the web pranks last year in our post about not being an April fool. So, we’ve decided to bring you version 2.0 this year. Google never fail to impress and some other giants have vamped up the game. Check out our selection and let us know what you liked best.
A) Google’s collections of fibs:
1. Google nose: (Link)
2. Google Maps into a pirate treasure map : (Link)
3. YouTube has been an eight-year competition to choose the best video of all time, and the site is now ready to shut down and announce the winner : (Link)
4. Gmail blue : (Link)
5. Extreme Makeover: Google SCHMICK Edition : (Link)
6. Google’s Add Emotion Button : (Link)
7. Google Fiber to the Pole: (Link)
B) Tech/ Geeky fibs:
1. Twitter has announced, in an almost plausible spoof, that it will now be charging tweeters to use vowels. Consonants are free, and in addition, the social network explains, it will always offer Y for nothing, even when it is used as a vowel. That’s led some users to believe they can outwit Twitter : (Link)
2. Virgin has announced that it has created another world-first with the introduction of the technology required to produce the world’s first glass-bottomed plane. This technological innovation coincides with the start of Virgin Atlantic Airways’ first ever domestic service to Scotland : (Link)
C) Miscellaneous Fibs
1. Freedom bay: (Link)
2. The world’s first social toaster? (Link)
3. Sony Launches Headphones for Cats: (Link)
4. Guardian Goggles ; Move over Google Glass, The Guardian has its own version heading out the door for April 1, 2013. (Link)
Watch out ; Simon Cowell has a new trick up his sleeve!
Mar 19th
It’s no novelty what a rival to TV networks YouTube has turned into these past few years, but with the aid of media giants from the likes of Simon Cowell and Ridley Scott, Google has definitely established its video site as an adequate alternative to traditional television.
Adore him or detest him, it’s no denying what a hit-maker Simon Cowell actually is. He’s been able to captivate millions of viewers for TV networks, but now he’s deviating his attention to YouTube. Towards the end of this week he’s launching a brand new global talent contest on the viral service entitled “ The You Generation”. The new venture will hold 26 competitions for “potential” YouTube stars over the next year.
Cowell is not the only personage to manipulate his power on the YouTube platform. Just last week Ridley Scott, the English film director and producer best known for his commercial breakthrough with Alien, announced a partnership with top YouTube channel, Machinima, to produce 12 original sci-fi short films. Based on Scott’s previous success, we can easily see this turning into a modern version of “The Twilight Zone” that implements YouTube as its means of distribution.
What’s also noteworthy regarding the YouTube realm is a new web series unveiled by Reddit called “Explain Like I’m Five”. Reflecting the meme’s style, this endeavor covers a range of topics from Syria, Existententialism as well as The Stock Market by literally explaining these topics to 5-year-olds. Reddit’s enormous fan base should easily ensure ponderous view counts for the videos. The harmony between Reddit and YouTube is evident so we’d expect similar projects to b evolving quite soon.
YouTube: Get ready to rumble, Round two
Nov 12th
It’s hard to believe it’s almost been a year since YouTube rolled out its redesigned channels’ strategy in a bid to alleviate more professional and authentic content on the viral site that is heading towards a more TV-like trail. Of course the $100 million investment made the transition all the merrier.
Heading towards the TV trail means taking the same marketing steps; YouTube shall not renew all of last year’s programs. Only 30 to 40% of its 100 partners will enjoy the freshly brewed second round of funds.
Unlike the first round that seemed to take an arbitrary approach, with YouTube taking on a vast range of promising producers as well as notions. A year later proves that YouTube is wiser with a more objective vision; looking for more than just a celebrity name, but rather a successful channel who puts as much efforts into building the audience as creating original content.
Last year’s line-up of professional channels included celebrities and entertainers ranging from Madonna, Jay-Z, Deepak Chopra, Tony Hawk and Rainn Wilson. Yet, it turned out that it is not enough for a channel to be backed up by a celebrity to bring in sufficient revenue.
There are still a few weeks before YouTube actually contacts the lucky partners that will make the cut for this year, and no precise details have been granted as to shed some light on how much channel owners ought to expect. Speculations say that the funds will be around $1-5 million.
Don’t get too excited now and heading off to make your own channel; the money is not a free pass to the luxury life, it’s simply an upfront payment of one year of advertising revenues. The money ought to be earned back by each producer through ads that are attached to their content before any additional revenue can be earned. To exemplify it a bit further; $1 million comes in at around 50 million views on a $20 CPM (cost per mil/thousand) – quite high risks.
If you’re more statistical, let’s talk a bit more about numbers. YouTube proclaims that its top 25 channels have an average of more than a million views per week, while the top 33 have more than 100,000 subscribers- each of whom is more prone to visit the channel, browse through its content and hence make advertising dollars.
October also saw the service’s global expansion; with the scheduled launch in the UK, Germany and France in the upcoming months.
Even though YouTube is undoubtedly affecting TV ad budgets, it certainly is still in its infant stages; TV viewers watch more in one day (4 hours, 38 minutes) than YouTube viewers watch in a month.
“We’ve had some really great response from the advertiser community. As we continue to talk to advertisers and marketers, there’s a real sense that they’re looking at YouTube differently,” Jamie Byrne- YouTube’s director of content strategy- says. “But as we look at this initiative, we are taking the long view here. It’s not necessarily about immediate results.”
Be part of the smart crowd and download G Cloud today; it’s free!
Twitter and Vine; a good combo?
Oct 10th
In a venture that is parallel with the microblogging social network’s present business vision, Twitter is allegedly building its very own video service, as reported by AllthingD.
The social network is always searching for ways to maximize profit via official portals, and according to sources, a video solution is rumored to follow the photo-hosting service that arrived back in June 2011. Similarly to the latter, the in-house video service shall allow its users to upload video clips directly to Twitter instead of using third-party services such as yFrog, TwitVid, Mobypicture, or Vodpod.
Twitter, of course, does not expect people to be jumping at their feet and start virally using its native solution for all the videos they’ve got to share; it comprehends that the majority will still post links using the likes of YouTube, Hulu and Vimeo.
This move, of buying the New York-based video sharing company Vine is certainly consistent with Twitter’s bid to be more of “a steady experience”.
Surprisingly, Vine has not fully launched yet. It proclaims on its landing page:
“Vine is the best way to capture and share video on your iPhone. No editing. No rendering. No post-production. Video has never been this fun.”
Quora users who’ve tested the iPhone app discovered it allows people to create a 6-second video clip. This clip loops, as expected from an animated gif, yet with sound. To better state it, Jack Dorsey’s wishes have been answered:
Even though it’s still hazy as to when Vine’s product will be fully launched, Twitter seems to be just as interested in the startup’s originating team, Dominik Hofmann and Colin Kroll, both of whom used to work at JetSetter.
The app itself, interestingly enough, has the admiration of early adopters, from the likes of Kevin Rose to MG Siegler, who have already shared Vine videos on Twitter. Investors include David Tisch, RRE and High Line Venture Partners.
Be part of the smart crowd and download G Cloud today; it’s free!
Happy 14th Birthday Google!
Sep 27th
Who among us can remember how life was before Google? Well, 14 years ago, there was no brainy website answering almost all of our inquiries. To mark this special occasion, the company has baked us a chocolate cake doodle with “Google” inscribed on it. The cake has 14 candles, all of which are beautifully colored in Google shades of green, yellow, blue and red.
Google’s selection of the special celebrated day of September the 27th is interestingly enough one of convenience rather than precision; the company was actually founded in September the 7th. In 2005, the company decided to switch up the date to September the 27th to be in accordance with the record number of pages that the search engine was indexing.
It’s hard to believe that 14 years have passed since 1998 when the two brilliant Stanford university students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, collaborated to forever change the internet as we knew it.
Google has been working very hard to enhance all the features it brings us with such ease, the latest being their revolutionary maps adding the coral reef panoramas to Street View maps.
We’ve decided to make a collage of the best Google doodles for 2012; we hope you’ll enjoy them.
Be part of the smart crowd and download G Cloud today; it’s free!
Labor Day; Hurray?
Sep 3rd
Labor Day is upon us and for most of you reading, it means a day off, a little more quality time to spend with the loved ones or, since it’s practically a long weekend, a chance to get away, get some fresh air and rejuvenate.
Since everyone is being pessimistic about the economy, strictly talking statistics and layoffs, we decided to lighten the mood this Labor Day and entertain you with some interesting jobs!
Can any of you recall how many times we’ve heard the “So what do you do for a living?” icebreaker when engaging in a small talk? Quite a lot we bet, yet for an eclectic few of the world’s employees this signals and interesting twist to the conversation.
1. Egg Breaker/Smeller
The odor of rotten eggs is most certainly one of the less amiable, most vomit-inducing smells known to mankind. Remember those old school stink bombs we used to crack? Well, would you guess there were actually people out there to sniff out this awful stink? Here is their job description!
2. Shark Tank Cleaner
Regardless of what Jean-Michel Cousteau might have claimed about scuba diving, we’re pretty confident window cleaning in a tank full of sharks is not what he had in mind. Imagine having to be working with one of the world’s most dreadful predators while simultaneously entertaining a load of onlookers secretly hoping for some drama in the tank! Here is a video if you’re already visualizing such a profession!
3. Roadkill Cleaner
Dead animals are less dangerous than those live sharks and octopi, right? Maybe so, yet picking up rotten corpses off the highway is not exactly a breeze on a summery day. You’d think live skunks smell bad? Think again! Here is a little more about this interesting job.
4. Fortune Cookie Writer
“You will soon receive a receipt for a Chinese meal.” This as well as other pleasant sayings could be yours to draft if you can persuade fortune cookie manufacturers of your outstanding clairvoyance ( or simply your ability to translate Chinese sayings into English.) Here’s the source!
5. Virtual Gold Farmer
Who would’ve thought it would pay to be a nerd? Well, if you’re one of those sunlight haters, play station lovers, rejoice for this is the gig for you! Finally, all those endless hours spent playing World of Warcraft shall pay off; you can now slowly and laboriously farm gold, then sell it to other geeks who are not so lucky and forced to spend their time working real jobs. Here is the link for those of you who were intrigued.
We hope our post entertained you this Labor Day, and if you think your job is awful, remember there’s someone out there doing a much more challenging daily grind and yet happy about it!
Be part of the smart crowd and download G Cloud today; it’s free!
Euro 2012; Who did you cheer for?
Jul 2nd
We bet all Spaniards and Spanish fans are still celebrating yesterday’s magnificent 4-0 win over Italy in the European Championship football finale. From the data unveiled by Twitter, it seems soccer fans beat sports-related tweets after an estimated number of 15,358 tweets per second at peak.
The incredible record was achieved after the fourth goal scored by Juan Mata awarding Spain the Cup yet again.
Moreover, the behemoth blogging service declared that the finale that came after 3 long tournament weeks prompted an astounding number of tweets; 16.5 million to be exact from all over the world. Fans congregated to discuss and share their thoughts, commentary and of course loud rants.
The Euro 2012 related mentions were at their peak –accoring to a Twitter graph- after the two goals were scored, even though there was an extraordinary high number of tweets around the opening game, as well as the two semi-finals.
The graphic that provided this information is taken from Twitter’s very own interactive Euro 2012 site which explicitly shows how the tournament “played out” on the 140-character service.
Increased tration among all manner of fans from across the world has been realized throughout the help of many mainstream media such as BBC’s football team.
To exemplify BBC’s support; its website aptly contained acknowledgements and thoughts from their readers in live commentary feeds as well as a special feed dedicated to BBC’s football correspondents.
Yet, what intrigues us more is how footballers implemented the service and used it to make official comments and connect with their followers, or in Spanish star Andrés Iniesta’s case, celebrate victories:
It seems twitter has put some serious thought and work into covering this sports event, with the launch of the #Euro2012microsite and the continuous world breaking records. The next major tournament shall be in 2014, Brazil, when the FIFA World Cup will surely out beat all standing records. Yet, with the London Olympics set to start this summer, we are eager to view how tweeps from across the world shall react and interact.
Yet Twitter shall not stand alone in the Social realm with Facebook still wanting a bite of the sports apple, with the launch of their very own special Olympic hub as means of promoting the games, teams and athletes.
Who did you cheer for this Euro cup and who will you cheer for during these Olympics? Do let us know and keep posted for more interesting news.
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Hurray! It is Social Media Day!
Jul 1st
If you are one of the 56% of social media users that have admitted to using channels to spy on their partners, then you can rejoice; you have a special day to celebrate today since it is Social Media Day!
Mashable launched Social Media Day 3 years ago, in 2010 and both the event and social media use have grown tremendously in that time. The event has been declared official by 17 cities worldwide and three U.S. states.
Social media has bombarded our lives; from tweeting about the latest in politics, to rekindling old friendships on Facebook all the way to documenting our lunch on Instagram.
Yet Social media has served a far more influential purpose throughout the course of the past few years; from the behemothic effect Twitter and Facebook have had on the upheaval of the Arab Spring, to more local news when social media has proven to be vital in notifying the public of important information when the catastrophic wildfire hit Colorado just a few days ago. On Twitter, the hashtag #WaldoCanyonFire was a trending topic for several days. Using this hashtag, citizens along with Colorado Springs authorities and the media have been relaying pivotal, life-saving information. Colorado Springs was also a trending topic.
Yet, social media does not stop at Facebook and Twitter; Pinterest is currently the 3rd most visited website in the U.S with 60% of the users being females that is, and it seems everyone wants a bit from the social media apple; with So.cl, G+and Quora of course.
According to a website called The Social Skinny; half of the people that are active online, check into their preferred site first thing in the morning; ahh those annoying Foursquare check-ins, you know what we’re talking about!
Well, moving on to the world of Fashion, as Heidi Klum always says: “one day you’re in and the next you are out.” How have fashion designers and fashionistas reinvented the social media realm you might ask? Well, Oscar de la Renta was up to date sharing his runway show live on Tumblr as it was happening as well as pinning his bridal show, as well as many other brands that have aptly used crowdsourcing for the purposes of generating hype on social media in addition to sparking an emotional connection with their customers and curation to leverage influencers’ networks and create shopping experiences that merge editorial content with retail.
Remember, if all those social accounts get too over-whelming, you always have HootSuite and TweetDeck to come to your rescue and help you sort it out.
On a final note, we’d like to leave you with one fun fact on each of our favorite Social website:
1. Facebook: More than 350 million users suffer from Facebook Addiction Syndrome.
2. Twitter: Twitter handles more search queries per month than Bing and Yahoo combined (24 billion versus 4.1 billion and 9.4 billion respectively).
3. LinkedIn: LinkedIn has 161 million members in more than 200 countries and communities.
4. YouTube: YouTube was founded to share dinner clips of a party due to the files being too large for email.
5. Pinterest: Pinterest drives more referral traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined.
6. Instagram: President Obama is on Instagram, having joined in January 2012.
7. Google +: “Student” is the number one occupation of Google+ users.
8. The mobile Web: China is the No. 1 country in the world for Smartphone use, with approximately 1 billion users.
9. Blogging: 3 million new blogs come online every month.
10. Klout: Justin Bieber is the only person with a perfect Klout score of 100 (says it all, then).
Looking for a simple, elegant backup solution?
Genie Timeline 2012 is a new version of the number one continuous data protection program Timeline 2.1. It offers the first metro style user interface; enhanced performance, and added features. Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter for the latest news.
>Follow @Genie9backup