Technobedouin

Social Media Report: Spending Time, Money and Going Mobile

2011-10-14T03:22:00.001-07:00

Social media not only connects consumers with each other, but also with just about every place they go and everything they watch and buy. Nielsen’s new Social Media Report looks at trends and consumption patterns across social media platforms in the U.S. and other major markets, exploring the rising influence of social media on consumer behavior.

Highlights of Nielsen’s “State of the Media: The Social Media Report”

Social networks and blogs continue to dominate Americans’ time online, now accounting for nearly a quarter of total time spent on the Internet
At over 53 billion total minutes during May 2011, Americans spend more time on Facebook than they do on any other website
Tumblr is an emerging player in social media, nearly tripling its audience from a year ago
Nearly 40 percent of social media users access social media content from their mobile phone
Internet users over the age of 55 are driving the growth of social networking through the Mobile Internet
70 percent of active online adult social networkers shop online, 12 percent more likely than the average adult Internet user
Across a sample of 10 global markets, social networks and blogs are the top online destination in each country, accounting for the majority of time spent online and reaching at least 60 percent of active Internet users

For a more in-depth look at the social media landscape and audience, view the complete State of the Media: The Social Media Report.

Source: Nielsen Wire

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The Rise of Mobile In-App Ads [INFOGRAPHIC]

2011-07-21T06:24:00.001-07:00

If mobile apps are all the rage, then mobile in-app ads are causing rage.

In one recent example, the popular franchise Angry Birds saw in-app ads added to its HD version, and fans and players were in an uproarover the change.

But like them or not, mobile marketers are turning more attention toward in-app advertising. Right now, in-app ads account for around 5% of mobile ad spending, and that number is only expected to rise over the next few years.

One of the reasons in-app ads are taking off is their effectiveness. In spite of the fact that the majority of 18-34-year-olds actively dislike mobile in-app ads, the majority will also be able to recall those ads at a higher rate than the ads they see while browsing the mobile web.

And for app makers, the ads are a good bet, too. After all, Angry Birds publisher Rovio says that by the end of 2011, it’ll be making $1 million each month from in-app ads on the Android platform alone.

While we’re hoping to see better in-app ads as the ecosystem becomes more sophisticated, it’s interesting to monitor in-app ads in today’s relatively nascent state.

Article source: Mashable

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DougSchneiderPhoto

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Study Reveals Why Consumers Fan Facebook Pages

2011-05-31T04:59:00.001-07:00

Have you ever wondered why people decide to become fans of Facebook pages? Understanding the reasons people become fans can help your business or brand develop better strategies.

In this article, I take a look at two studies.

The first reveals why consumers fan businesses on Facebook. The second one examines how marketers are keeping up with the ever-changing world of social media.

#1: Nearly 40% of Consumers “Like” Companies on Facebook to Publicly Display Their Brand Affiliation to Friends

As Facebook grows, we’re able to learn even more about the behaviors and preferences of its users. As Facebook continues to change, new stats surface to give us an even better idea of how consumers on Facebook prefer to interact with brands and companies. A new report released by ExactTarget and CoTweet found that discounts and “social badging” were the primary reasons consumers Like brands on Facebook.

Nearly 40% of Facebook users who become fans do so to receive discounts and promotions and 39% become fans to show their support for a brand to their friends. Just as interesting is how these stats compare to Twitter and email marketing. Only 23% of respondents said they follow brands on Twitter and about 10% say they subscribe to email notifications for the same reasons.

Here are some other interesting facts from the report:

43% of the Facebook users surveyed said they Like, or are fans of, at least one brand on Facebook.
34% of Facebook users say they Like brands in order to stay informed about company activities.
33% say they Like brands to get updates on future products.
Among Facebook users who Like at least one brand, only 17% say they’re more likely to buy after Liking that brand on Facebook.

“Consumers use Facebook to interact with friends, be entertained and express themselves through their public affiliation with brands—factors that combine to create a potent viral marketing platform,” said Jeff Rohrs, principal, ExactTarget’s research and education group. “By engaging consumers on Facebook in a way that keeps them entertained, brands have an unprecedented opportunity to mobilize Fans and get introduced to their friends.”

#2: Marketers Are Challenged to Stay Up-to-Date on the Latest Social Media Developments

It’s no surprise that marketers are struggling to stay current with the constantly fluctuating social media trends. In a recent survey by The Creative Group, 65% of U.S. marketing executives considered it at least somewhat challenging to keep up.

The graph above shows the breakdown of how challenging respondents viewed staying current with social media trends.

In addition, 23% of respondents cited the best resource for staying up-to-speed on social media is conferences or seminars. Surprisingly, and coming in second at 18%, was attending networking events or industry association meetings.

Only 14% cited Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn posts as their resource of choice for staying current, while a low 7% cited blog posts as their main resource.

The chart above shows the leading resources marketers cited for staying current with social media trends. Notice how social media sites were less popular than in-person events as key resources.

“Networking becomes even more important during periods of rapid change,” said Donna Farrugia, executive director of The Creative Group. “Many marketers are aware of broad social media trends, but they need nuts-and-bolts information on how to most effectively use new channels. That’s where insight from peers on what worked and did not work for them can be most valuable.”

By Amy Porterfield

Source: Social Media Examinor

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AdMob survey data on Tablet usage released

2011-04-11T02:07:00.001-07:00

Key points of report:

Most important trend was that tablets are replacing time spent with PCs. 43% of respondents said that they're spending more time with their tablet than their PCs now.
People are spending ~1 hr/day on their tablet, mostly at home and on weekday nights. This has implications for campaign management / optimization.
Tablets are most often used for games, searching for information & email.

US tablet owners use the devices mainly for games, says a Google survey

Google survey finds games trump all other uses for tablets

Research finds that 84% of tablet owners are playing games, versus 51% who are consuming music and videos.

A survey of more than 1,400 tablet owners in the US by Google's AdMob subsidiary has found that gaming is the most popular use for these devices, considerably ahead of music, video and ebooks.

According to the survey, 84% of tablet owners play games, ahead of even searching for information (78%), emailing (74%) and reading the news (61%). 56% of tablet owners use social networking services on their device, while 51% consume music and/or videos, and 46% read ebooks.

AdMob does not break out which tablets were owned by the users, but the survey was conducted in March this year, at a point when Apple's iPad accounted for the lion's share of the tablet market in the US – although Samsung's Galaxy Tab had also been available for a few months.

The survey found that 38% of respondents spend more than two hours a day using their tablets, while another 30% spend 1-2 hours. It appears that tablets are predominantly domestic devices, with 82% of people primarily using their tablets at home, versus 11% who say they are used primarily on the go, and 7% who said at work.

28% of respondents say their tablet is now their primary computer, while 43% say they spend more time using their tablet than they do their desktop or laptop computer.

It's the games stat that provides the biggest surprise though. It's not shocking that games are popular on tablets: the App Store charts for iPad apps make that crystal clear already. However, this is the first survey where games have come ahead of email as a usage for tablets.

What's missing from Google's survey, though, is data on time spent doing these various activities – for example, comparing the proportion of heavy tablet gamers with heavy emailers.

Source: Guardian Tech

Full AdMob report can be downloaded from here.

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Amazon Cloud Player steals march on Apple and Google

2011-04-11T01:38:00.001-07:00

Online retailer surprises rivals with launch of music streaming service and Cloud Drive 'digital locker'

Amazon has unveiled its ambitious music streaming service, Cloud Player, which allows users to play songs across a number of computers and Android smartphones.

Music lovers will be able to upload most of their existing music library – including tracks bought through Apple's iTunes – to Amazon, as well as buy new songs for digital playback.

The online retailer has stolen a march on rivals Apple and Google with the service, known as Amazon Cloud Player, with both internet giants planning their own forays into music streaming. The move also represents Amazon's repositioning as an entertainment destination, rather than just an online marketplace.

Another element of the service, Amazon Cloud Drive, works like a "digital music locker" where users can upload thousands of songs and listen to them via Cloud Player on any computer or Android smartphone.

"Our customers have told us they don't want to download music to their work computers or phones because they find it hard to move music around to different devices," said the Amazon vice-president of music and movies, Bill Carr. "Now, whether at work, home, or on the go, customers can buy music from Amazon MP3, store it in the cloud and play it anywhere."

As an introductory offer, Cloud Player is free to Amazon account holders, although users can pay to increase the amount of music able to be stored on Cloud Drive. Customers start with 5GB of storage space – equivalent to just over 1,000 songs – and those who buy an MP3 album from the Amazon store will be upgraded to the larger 20GB service.

Apple and Google are said to be planning similar ventures, while Sony's Music Unlimited also offers a digital music locker, but charges upwards of £4 a month. Agreements with all four major record labels are thought to be the sticking point for Apple's and Google's streaming services, with rights owners apparently unhappy with the idea of a one-off payment each time a track is played on any device.

Beyond Oblivion, an online music site partly owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, is proposing to woo rights holders by paying them a royalty each time their music is played. The service, which secured $77m (£47m) on investment earlier this month, is yet to launch and negotiations with music labels said to be at a "very advanced stage".

Amazon said it has sidestepped legal uncertainties about allowing users to upload music from their computer – some of which may have been downloaded illegally – by being the equivalent of any other storage device, such as an external hard drive.

The Amazon director of music, Craig Pape, said: "We don't need a licence to store music. The functionality is the same as an external hard drive."

• Amazon's online retail rival eBay yesterday stepped up its attempt to become the primary destination for internet shopping by buying GSI Commerce, an online services firm, for $2.4bn. The acquisition will allow eBay to expand beyond its network of small retailers into the larger retail market.

Source: Guardian Tech

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CONTROVERSIAL Wiki Leaks - American view on Greek media

2011-04-05T01:28:00.001-07:00

media.pdf Download this file

ID : 71198
RefID : 06ATHENS1805
Date : 13/7/2006 6:50:00 πμ
Origin : Embassy Athens
Classification : UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

SUBJECT: HOW TO READ THE GREEK PRESS: A GUIDE FOR THE UNINITIATED

ATHENS 00001805 001.3 OF 003ENTIRE TEXT IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY

1. (SBU) SUMMARY. At first glance, the Greek media may resemble the media in the U.S., with a mixture of broadsheets and tabloids, national and local television and radio stations, and constitutional guarantees guarding the freedom of the press. Closer inspection reveals a Greek media industry controlled by business tycoons whose other successful businesses enable them to subsidize their loss-making media operations. These media operations in turn enable them to exercise political and economic influence. The result is that the media often provides an image of national and international events that is almost uniform but for its division along party events that is almost uniform but for its division along party lines. Similarly, a uniform anti-Americanism is injected into nearly every issue, but has little effect on the bilateral relationship. END SUMMARY.

The History of the Greek Media, from Homer to the Home Page

2. Homer reported on the Trojan War a few hundred years after it happened, and used the facts of the war to create a poetic tale of battles among gods, with men as pawns. Current Greek media uses the same blend of fact and fiction, with an equally judicious dose of deus ex machina (outside forces) that controls events. The first modern day Greek-language newspapers were established in Vienna and Paris in the 18th century and were an important factor in the Greek fight for independence from the Ottomans. With the founding of the modern Greek state, the tradition was established of blaming an outside power (first the Great Powers and then the U.S.) for all ills that befell Greece.

3. Greece currently has about 160 newspapers, 180 television stations, 800 radio stations, 3,500 magazines, and just 10 million people. (Portugal, with the same population, has 35 newspapers, 62 television stations, and 221 radio stations, according to the "World Factbook" of 2004). How can all these media outlets operate profitably? They don´t. They are subsidized by their owners who, while they would welcome any income from media sales, use the media primarily to exercise political and economic influence, and therefore care marginally less about turning a profit from their media operations. Because there are no subscriptions or home deliveries in Greece, newspapers have to sell themselves from newsstands by grabbing the attention of the casual passerby. This means that even the occasional calm and partially accurate story will have a misleading or untrue headline that often has nothing to do with the story. Still, the media utilize sensationalist headlines and stories to capture readers and the all-important television ratings that determine the distribution of advertising revenue. Newspapers also use such tools as DVD and book giveaways.

READ MORE OF THIS VERY INTERSTING & FRANK INSIGHT INTO A MEDIA WORLD by downloading the PDF attached..

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The Oscars, On Twitter: Over 1.2 Million Tweets, 388K Users Tweeting

2011-03-01T04:45:00.001-08:00

Twitter has changed the way we watch television. Say what you will about the 83rd Annual Oscars (and thus far the consensus is “meh”), you’ve probably already said it on Twitter. Mass Relevance and TweetReach, a Twitter analytics service with commercial access to the Twitter API, have teamed up to make a data map of yesterday’s mass conversation.

Over 20 Oscar-related terms like “Oscars,” “#Oscars,” “Academy” (but no specific names of celebrities or movies) were tracked between the hours of 5:30 and 8:45 PST during the show’s live airing. Total damage? 1,269,970 tweets, 1,663,458,778 potential impressions, and 388,717 users tweeting.

@TheOnion
The Onion
How rude — not a single character from Toy Story 3 bothered to show up. #oscars

about 20 hours ago via HootSuiteRetweetReply

The honor of most retweeted tweet of the night went to The Onion with the above zinger (sorry @parislemon). And the highest tweet peak was shortly after the internet friendly Auto-Tune montage at 7:20 pm PST, clocking in 11,780.

And while that 1.6 billion impressions number may seem high, TweetReach CEO Jenn Davis tells me that the volume was actually lower than she expected, “We were prepared for big spikes, and we just didn’t see those.” Davis told me that the event paled in comparison to the Super Bowl and The Grammy, where TweetReach saw 17,000 tweets in a single minute. In contrast, the spikes topped out at 12,000 at the Oscars.

Davis guesses that this is because the movie industry has not yet found its Twitter groove, “All of the celebrities that generate a lot of the converasation on Twitter are musicians like Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, so I don’t know if [The Oscars] appeals to a Twitter audience in the same way The Grammys or The Superbowl does. “

Thanks: TweetReach
CrunchBase Information

Twitter

Information provided by CrunchBase

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/28/the-oscars-twitter/

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Facebook pokes into Groupon’s territory

2011-02-04T14:30:00.001-08:00

Canadian consumers who are becoming addicted to deep discounts through so-called daily deal sites like Groupon and Living Social now have another reason to keep their eyes glued to their mobile phones when they’re out shopping: Facebook Deals.

The social network’s Canadian division unveiled a scheme on Monday by which users who post their location to Facebook when they’re out and about can access special offers from nearby retailers. Facebook Deals, which launched in the United States last November, also rolled out Monday in France, Italy, Spain, and the U.K.

Users access the deals on their touch-screen smart phones through the Facebook Places function, which they then show to a cashier during the purchase. Currently, only consumers using iPhones, Android phones or BlackBerry Storms can participate.

Facebook’s 11 Canadian partners for the so-called public beta period include Chapters Indigo, H&M, Wind Mobile, and Town Shoes. Deals range from a free small popcorn and small drink for patrons of the four participating AMC Imax Theatres, to free access to the Plaza Premium lounges at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport (regular price: $35), to jeans for $5 (normal retail price: $19) at freestanding Joe Fresh locations.

As with most of the online coupon merchants, Facebook Deals will limit the number of people who can claim the individual offers.

Elmer Sotto, the head of strategy for Facebook Canada, said the Deals system reintroduced “serendipity” into the shopping process, which the daily deals sites can’t offer with their current models. “If you are on [Toronto’s] Queen West, and you’re literally just shopping and you click on Places, you see a deal at Kiehl’s or H&M on Queen Street, that’s something that’s highly relevant at that very moment, and you can then walk in and claim a deal – which can’t be replicated by something that you print out of your computer three or four days before you even want to go shopping.”

And the scheme is an enticing one for businesses seeking to increase foot traffic without paying the hefty commissions charged by the leaders in the daily deal space, like Groupon: Facebook says it is not taking any revenue from its Deals partners, except for businesses choosing to tout their deals through purchased ads.

Both Facebook and its partners are counting on people to do most of the advertising for them: When someone claims a deal, it shows up in their Facebook news feed, spreading the word to that user’s friends and effectively turning their post into an ad.

The move represents a long-awaited move by some Canadian retailers into technology-enabled location-based marketing. While that is one of the hottest marketing trends in the U.S., with retailers, sports teams, and other businesses using mobile devices to engage people on the go through such services as Foursquare, Canadian businesses have been slow to show interest.

By Simon Houpt

Source: CTV http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article1889409.html

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The future is beautiful.. Facebook friendships around the world highlighted in stunning map

2010-12-15T03:55:00.001-08:00

Spreading its tentacles across continents, this image shows just how the influence of Facebook has enveloped the globe.
A mass of white in North America and across much of Britain and Europe shows the dense network of friends built up on the social networking site.

The Facebook social graph was created by Paul Butler, an intern at the site, who wanted to see if geographical and political borders affected friendships as well as which cities had the most social connections.

He started by using a sample of 10million friend pairs, correlated them with their current cities and then mapped that data using the longitude and latitude of each city.

Not surprisingly, the US has the highest concentration of Facebook friendships and Africa the lowest.

‘It’s not just a pretty picture, it’s a reaffirmation of the impact we have in connecting people, even across oceans and borders,’ said Mr Butler.

Source: Metro.co.uk

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The real Mega Monday: Online consumers spend almost £1million in a single MINUTE for the first time

2010-12-07T02:04:00.001-08:00

A record £831,000 was spent online in only one minute yesterday.

Sales peaked at 1.15pm in what has been dubbed Mega Monday as shoppers took to the internet to secure gifts in time for delivery well before Christmas Day.

Sales levels have been steadily increasing since Sunday 28th November, with today's sales far higher than that of Monday 29th, which was called Cyber Monday in the US.

Amazon workers pack goods ready for shipping at the Amazon distribution centre, Swansea, Wales. Today is the biggest day for online shopping in the year

The first week in December is thought to see the peak in online buying, because it comes after people have received their November salaries but before they are too worried to buy online in case their gift does not arrive in time.

The £1million mark was passed at 12.58pm, when 128 transactions per second were processed by retailers. In last year’s busiest minute, on December 7, £732,000 was spent.

Research carried out by eDigitalResearch recently found that 26.6% of people intend to do more shopping online than they did last year.

Analysis published by the IMRG, the UK trade association for online retailers, forecasted a £0.5bn online spending binge on Sunday December 5 and Monday December 6, and that total online spending for the Christmas period, over the course of November and December will be £12.4bn.

The volume of buying over the internet has been boosted this year by the extreme cold and snow, which has kept many buyers from venturing onto high streets.

eBay attributed their record-breaking Super Sunday sales figures to the weather. Sales on the UK's site were up 18% on the same day last year with around 17 gifts being purchased every second.

Jody Ford, Director of SME Businesses, eBay UK said: 'It’s encouraging to see sales up so considerably, despite the tough economic climate.

'We tend to see a sharp rise in sales on the first Sunday in December as people start to think about their Christmas shopping list, although this year’s cold snap has clearly led to even more people choosing to shop without the hassle of the high-street.'

David Smith, Managing Director at IMRG, said: ‘2010 looks set to be another bumper year for online, with sales for Super Sunday and Mega Monday estimated to reach over half a billion at the end of a week when the festive spend really kicked in.

'We estimate that £6.4bn will be spent in December alone, with total online sales for November and December set to reach £12.4bn.

'Consumers have looked to spread the costs of Christmas a bit more this year due to the economic climate, but December 6th is the day that our retailers expect sales activity to be at its highest.’

The most popular gifts being snapped up by internet shoppers are the Mini Micro T-bar Scooter, the Nintendo Wii Fit Plus game, Lego’s Winter Toy Workshop and the Apple iPod Touch, according to analysis by online fraud prevention company Retail Decisions.

Robin Goad, Research Director at Hitwise UK, said: 'Last weekend was certainly the busiest of the pre-Christmas season so far this year, but the clue that we are not quite there yet is the comparison between traffic levels on Sunday (November 28th) and Monday (November 29th).

‘For most of the year, UK Internet visits to retailers peak on the Sunday and drop off on the Monday, and only on Mega Sunday / Monday do the traffic levels match. This didn’t happen this Sunday and Monday, implying that Mega Monday is still to come.’

But retailers were warning consumers not to get carried away online and to be vigilant against fraud.

Dominic Blackburn, Product Director of 192.com said: 'It’s easy to get carried away in the Christmas rush, but if legitimate e-retailers are going to be busy, then so will fraudsters.

'If you’re buying from members of the public or from small businesses, we urge you check out their validity as businesses or their identity as individuals – and the best way of doing that is by confirming their address. If their address cannot be found there is reason to question their authenticity.'

Selfridges said its online sales soared 50 per cent last week, while John Lewis said sales through its website were up 62.2 per cent.

Posted via email from Victoria Alexis

Google publishes online book to explain the internet

2010-12-05T01:49:00.001-08:00

Marking the 20th anniversary of a crucial paper in the web’s development, Google has published an online book on 'things you’ve always wanted to know about the web and browsers but may have been afraid to ask'.

Google has produced a book on browsers and the web in association with illustrator Christoph Niemann

Search engine Google has commemorated the 20th anniversary of a paper crucial to the web’s development by producing an online book to explain how the internet works.

Writing on the Google Blog, Chrome Product Marketing Manager Min Li Chan wrote that the book aimed to answer basic questions.

She wrote “how do browsers and the web actually work? What is HTML5—or HTML, for that matter? What do terms like “cookies” or “cloud computing” even mean? More practically, how can we keep ourselves safe from security threats like viruses when we’re online? To help answer these questions, we collaborated with the wonderful illustrator Christoph Niemann to publish an online guidebook called “20 Things I Learned about Browsers and the Web.” This handy guide is for those of us who’d like to better understand the technologies we use every day”.

The book uses HTML5, the latest web language, and is consequently available offline once the site has been downloaded. “We built “20 Things” in HTML5 so that we could incorporate features that hearken back to what we love about books—feeling the heft of a book’s cover, flipping a page or even reading under the covers with a flashlight,” wrote Min.

Source: The Telegraph

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Google targets fashion market

2010-11-18T08:41:00.001-08:00

Search company prepares to launch fashion-dedicated website, believed to be called boutiques.com

Google is hiring Sarah Jessica Parker to set up a personalised shop. Photograph: Alessandra Benedetti/CorbisNot content to revolutionise online search and email, Google is preparing to enter the fashion business on Wednesday with a website believed to be called Boutiques.com.

The attraction is obvious: with conservatively estimated revenues of $500bn (£310bn) worldwide making it the fourth largest industry globally, and estimated to be worth £37bn to the UK economy alone, fashion represents a potential e-commerce honeypot to the search company.

The fashion industry publication WWD reports Google is not itself planning to be a vendor; instead, its fashion-dedicated website will direct customers towards existing retailers such as Net-a-Porter and Asos, or designer's sites. It has also asked mostly American designers such as Tory Burch, Oscar de la Renta and Marchesa to set up virtual shops within the site.

In addition, Google is hiring Sarah Jessica Parker to establish a personalised shop and has invited other celebrities, including Tom Cruise's wife Katie Holmes, to do the same.

The fashion industry is moving more of its promotional and sales business online. It hopes shoppers will create profiles describing their preferences and make it easier to focus advertising and marketing efforts. In theory, Google's revenue will come from advertising and it could charge click-through fees or take a cut of sales.

Google is not alone; eBay recently launched fashion-specific areas. But industry executives say Google is more compelling. One noted in WWD: "Isn't that a lot sexier than eBay? Google owns the world … and it's a different platform than eBay."

Some executives see the push online as a further step in the democratisation of the business. Last week, plans leaked out for an art-sales website, Art.sy, backed by Rupert Murdoch's wife Wendi Deng, Google's Eric Schmidt, Roman Abramovich's girlfriend Dasha Zuhkova and super-dealer Larry Gagosian.

But the extent to which sophisticated consumers of art or fashion are prepared to buy online remains open to question. As one fashion executive told WWD: "It's incumbent upon us to be open to and explore new areas. In the business sense, the bricks-and-mortar business is not growing by leaps and bounds. It's become more of a market share question."

By Edward Helmore in New York, Monday 15 November 2010

Source: guardian.co.uk, Article history

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With Google TV, I May Never Leave The Sofa Again

2010-11-16T06:08:00.001-08:00

I’ve seen the future and it begins on my sofa with Google TV.

It isn’t uncommon among geeks to have your PC (or Mac) wired to your TV. A decent audio-out cable, an HDMI cable and you’re good to go. With this simple setup and a few tweaks to your TV’s input and display settings, you can watch YouTube videos (or anything else)—and that’s pretty cool.

But Logitech’s Revue with Google TV takes the integration between television and the web to a whole new level. I was able to play with one for a few hours. Here are my five favorite things about the Logitech Revue with Google TV as well as a brief review of the functionality.

1. The Web—Only Bigger, Better and On Your TV

If you’ve ever wished that you could use the web on your 47 Inch hi-def TV, you’re probably going to want Google TV. Web pages are rendered quickly, clearly and with their full functionality right on your TV. (Although Hulu might be a problem).

Not only can you browse the web, but you can interact with it just like on your Mac or PC. This means you can easily enter text—whether that’s a tweet, a search term or even a full blown blog post.

For those of you wondering how you can possibly do this using your TV remote control the answer is simple—you don’t have to. The Logitech Review comes with a fully functional wireless keyboard that includes a touchpad pointing device that even allows you to scroll with two fingers just like on a Mac.

You can also get a smaller mini-controller that features a thumb keyboard and much of the same functionality. Get both and you can finally prove to your kids that a keyboard is faster than sending texts on a phone—maybe.

In addition, you can even control Google TV using Logitech’s Harmony technology with your iPhone or Android device but more on that in a minute.

2. Seamless Video Conferencing—although I put this second on my list, it really is one of the coolest features of this new platform. Not only is the video big, bright and clear, it also allows you to place calls to and from the TV via Skype and other video calling platforms as well.

In a prior post, John Biggs of CrunchGear worried that calling on Google TV using the Logitech Revue wouldn’t be as simple as it is using Skype. Well, he can stop worrying because it is. Click, connect, talk (and see); it really is that simple.

One other great thing about Google TV using Logitech’s specifically designed camera is that when your TV is off and you receive (but miss) a call, a light comes on that tells you that this has happened. While you can’t yet leave (or receive) a video voice mail, enough people have been asking for this feature that either Google or Logitech should add it later or an enterprising application developer will build an app for it without a doubt.

3. Your Phone is Now Your Remote Control—In my distant past when I wrote for MobileCrunch, I said more than once that eventually your mobile phone will become the remote control for your life. With Google TV this reality has come one step closer, at least if you have an iPhone or an Android device.

Logitech has developed free software that you can find on either the iTunes Store or the Android App Market that allows you to totally control the Logitech Revue (and thus your interaction with Google TV) with your mobile.

Not only can you navigate with a mouse, you can also use verbal commands for things like searching Google. While I was watching, people threw some pretty rough stuff at the recognizer but it seemed to work every time from what I could see. This is a far cry from other voice to text or voice to command interfaces. My host said “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and Google TV was actually able to get this right. Beyond this, the system even seems to be able to understand people with accents—even heavy ones.

Cooler still, using the built-in share function, you can start watching a video on your mobile and if you like you can share it directly to your Google TV and the video will pick up where you left off, only now it will be bigger, brighter and better.

4. Search (– DUH – It’s Google!)—You’d expect any television platform with Google’s name on it to have great search and the Revue does not disappoint. Not only can you search what is on TV and what’s on the web, you can also search your DVR as well as on any other networked storage device on the same subnet. Family photos will never be the same.

5. Android Apps—Okay I saved the most intriguing and potentially exciting aspect of Google TV for last. Google TV is built on the Android platform and many people, myself included, believe that we’re not only going to see an explosion in app development as a result, but also a quantum leap in what Android applications can deliver. Android apps are not expected to come out until 2011, but it will be worth the wait.

With the high bandwidth of your home connection (which is going to be a lot better than any current 3G network) as well as the much larger format your TV provides (not to mention the full fledged keyboard), Android apps have the potential to get very exciting indeed.

One potential app could be a fantasy football application that can run in a picture-in-picture display and can give you realtime updates on what is happening with your fantasy football team while the game is happening—plus with the video calling capability you can call and heckle your losing friend right in the middle of his ignominious defeat. That’s just one idea off the top of my head.

The Wrap Up

Google TV has been hyped an awful lot—by bloggers, analysts, and even some mainstream media. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t deliver. In fact, if anything I was surprised by just how capable, functional, fun and intuitive the Logitech Revue is, not to mention how much better Google TV makes plain vanilla television.

My Few Complaints: As with many brand new product (the one I tested was still in beta), there are a few bugs to be dealt with. The first problem is how Google TV handles Flash. Some pages that render partially or completely in Flash don’t display properly and in one extreme case, a page I was trying to browse that renders fully in Flash crashed the unit completely. The Logitech team told me that they were aware of this issue and that it was being worked on, but as of last night it was still a problem.

Secondly, while the interface is fairly intuitive that cannot be said for every feature. Out of the box some features, and especially advanced features like contolling the camera via the control keyboard, might not be that easy for a first-time user (and especially one that isn’t really tech-savvy) to figure out.

That said, I found the whole experience to be a lot better and a lot more interesting then I had anticipated prior to actually getting my hands on the unit. I’m not much of a gambler myself but I’d be willing to bet that Google TV has a good chance of finally changing the way we interact with our televisions.

Written by Oliver Starr. He was the original blogger at MobileCrunch and is currently the evangelist for Pearltrees.com. You can find him @owstarr on twitter.
Source: TechCrunch

Posted via email from Victoria Alexis

Google TV sets unveiled by Sony

2010-10-15T04:31:00.001-07:00

The first televisions with Google TV built-in have been unveiled by Sony

Sony's new connected TV sets are the first to include Google TV

Manufacturer Sony has released details of the first televisions that will include Google TV. The sets, launching this autumn in America, do not yet have a European release date.

Retail prices will start from $599 for the 24” model, ranging to $1,399 for the 46” model. Version in 32” and 40” are also currently available for pre-order, with the range billed as “the world’s first HDTV powered by Google TV”.

Unveiled earlier at a press event in New York City, the new models feature 1080p edge-lit LED screens in all cases except the 24-inch model. They all feature four USB ports, four HDMI inputs and Wi-Fi capabilities. Google TV itself was unveiled at Google’s I/O conference earlier this year.

Internet TV software also brings Hulu, Twitter, Netflix, YouTube and Pandora direct to the television. Web surfing is powered by Google Chrome, while apps are powered by the Android operating system.

According to Sony, “Google TV delivers a new experience by bringing the TV and internet together. Using your existing cable or satellite service and at no additional cost, Google TV gives you access to more entertainment options and simplifies the process of finding what you’re looking. Plus, you can enjoy both TV and web content at the same time, on the same screen”.

By Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor

Source: Telegraph

Posted via email from Victoria Alexis

YouTube tests live video streaming

2010-09-13T06:18:00.001-07:00

Google is testing live video streaming on YouTube, in a move that will challenge the likes of Livestream, UStream and Justin.tv

Google has launched a two-day livestreaming trial on its video-sharing website, YouTube

The two-day trial, in association with a number of content partners, including Rocketboom and Young Hollywood, is aimed at testing YouTube’s ability to deliver consistent live streams, and to experiment with live comments, to which content providers can respond in real time.

The alpha testing, which starts today, is Google’s first step towards providing a full live-streaming service through its YouTube website. Live streaming has been mooted for years, and YouTube has broadcast one-off events live, including U2’s concert at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, cricket from the Indian Premier League, and a State of the Union address from Barack Obama.

CitizenTube, a channel on the YouTube website dedicated to political discussion, has also regularly hosted live streams.

"This is just an initial trial, a first step," said Josh Siegel, a product manager at YouTube. "We're going to look at a whole bunch of data about the performance of our new platform and then, based on that, make decisions about how we'll open it up, with the goal of opening it up to all of our partners over time."

However, industry experts believe any live-streaming service will be limited to professionally produced content provided by YouTube’s partners, rather than live videos uploaded by users.

“This isn’t surprising – there’s obviously a big infrastructure hurdle involved with streaming content from so many people,” said Jason Kincaid, a reporter with industry blog TechCrunch.

“But, more importantly, there’s also a greater risk that someone will stream a suicide, or something similarly awful.”

Google said that live streaming was “a natural evolution to online video” and added “an extra level of engagement” for YouTube’s audience.

YouTube is the biggest video-sharing site on the internet, with 24 hours of video uploaded to the site every minute, and an average of two billion views per day

By Claudine Beaumont, Technology Editor

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Posted via email from Victoria Alexis

Google adds sat nav for walkers on Android ((tag: Google, Android, Google Maps 4.5, Streetview)

2010-09-10T02:33:00.001-07:00

Specially designed for the lost pedestrian in us all

Google has announced it will be bringing out Google Maps 4.5 for Android today, complete with satellite navigation for walkers.
Speaking at a small Google Mobile event in London, Hugo Barra, director of products for mobile at Google announced that the new update will be available in 'just a few hours'.
Google wanted to offer walkers the same free and easy way to find their ways around cities that cars are afforded, and has come up with a number of feet-friendly features:
"We had the idea that people are now navigating using Google Maps, getting turn by turn navigation in your car, so now we're launching a walking version of that."

Hilly

"The new version of Google Maps will choose routes that are pedestrian only, such as not going down very hilly roads if there's an easy way to get around.
"It will also turn on satellite view automatically, which is really helpful for getting your bearings so you can know what's around immediately.
"You can also mute navigation voice guidance; sometimes you might not want Google telling you to turn left when on the street, so you can turn it right down, and it will vibrate every time you need to look at it and get a new instruction."

Enhance!

Google will also be bringing new features to Streetview on the mobile, where 3D animations and interaction will be offered.
Users can zoom around the map by clicking on almost any part of the picture, and it will zoom there in a much slicker way than before.
Android lovers can search for the new update in a few hours, so keep your eyes peeled for Google Maps 4.5 on your handset.

By Gareth Beavis

Source: TechRadar.com

Posted via email from Victoria Alexis

Google Instant keeps the search giant at the head of the pack

2010-09-09T07:38:00.001-07:00

The 'fundamental change' that will save the world's web users 111 years per day is just the first step in the search giant's

Google's new way of searching the internet, called 'Instant', starts predicting results as soon as users begin typing

The way we find information on the internet underwent a “fundamental change” last night, as Google announced a product it calls “Instant” search results. In essence, it means the web giant will now “autocomplete” our every word.

So as soon as users start typing in the Google search box, results will begin to appear. Press “w” and collected data tells Google that you’re most likely to be searching for “weather”, and a results page will immediately offer you the top results for weather. Carry on typing and the results will constantly update: so if you’re searching for “War and Peace”, you’ll see a stream of suggestions for search queries from weather to war to, probably somewhere around the second letter “a”, results for Tolstoy’s epic novel. Top suggestions will be listed as you type, and users can scroll to the one that matches what they’re after. You need never write a whole search phrase again.

The move, much trailed via changes to Google’s logo on its home page, is the first fruit of the company’s bid to work out not just what its users are thinking, but also what they’re going to think next. With one billion searches made every day, this new evolution will save up to five seconds per search; globally, they work out that this will save the world’s web users a total of 111 years per day.

It will take the average search from around 24 seconds to around 20. On very slow internet connections, Google will push users to the original service, but bandwidth is not being anticipated as a problem.

For now, the new feature is limitted to users who are signed in to Google, but it will be extended around the world in the near future. The service is based simply on the data that Google has collected, anonymously, from its millions of users around the world, rather than on individual search histories, however, so the company hopes that concerns of privacy campaigners will be limited.

As Jonathan Effrat, Google’s search product manager, told European journalists, however, it remains to be seen what advertisers think of this innovation. Google is, it should not be forgotten, an advertising company, and so faster search results mean users will spend less time looking at the paid-for search results. And “it remains to be seen”, too, what website builders and those paid for “search engine optimisation” will make of it. Google hopes that the new results will not only ensure an element of serendipity into searching, but will also prevent website designers tricking the system by working out which words make their web pages rise to the top of results.

Although Google has also announced this week that its much-publicised television service will launch by Christmas, searching the internet remains its core business. This new product, once again, puts it firmly at the head of the pack.

By Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor
Published: 5:59PM BST 08 Sep 2010

Source: Telegraph

Posted via email from Victoria Alexis

Google offers free voice calls via Gmail

2010-08-31T02:36:00.001-07:00

Google is taking on internet telephone companies like Skype by allowing users to call from its free web-based email service.

The service allows users to make calls to land lines and mobiles from inside their Gmail account.

Phoning anywhere in the US and Canada will be free until the end of the year, while calls to the UK, France, China and Germany will cost 2 cents a minute.

Until now Google offered computer-to-computer voice and video chat services.

"This is a real big deal becausenow hundreds of millions of Gmail users can make phone calls right from their Gmail page," Craig Walker, product manager for real-time communications told BBC News.

"They don't need to download an additional application or anything to start making really high-quality low-cost calls. For the user it means much more efficient and low-cost communications."

The product will initially be rolled out in the US, the firm said. However, for a brief time, international users were also able to use the feature because of an error.

"Unintentionally we briefly made the service available to non-US English users," a spokesperson said. "We do hope to bring it to our international users soon."

When it rolls out the product link will appear on the left hand of the Gmail page within the "chat" window. A "call phone" option will pop up along with a number pad to let you dial the number of the person you want to talk to.

Google said money raised from international calls will pay for the free US and Canadian calls.

"What surprised me was that they actually said they hope to make money off the calls," said Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of technology blog SearchEngineLand.

"Normally Google is like 'We don't know how we are going to make the money' or 'We will make money down the way, don't worry about it' and this stands out as a big benefit that they get actual revenue early on."

Competition

Skype, which is the most successful internet phone offering, claims to have over 560 million registered users. The firm said 124 million used the service at least one a month while 8.1 million were paying customers.

The company is planning to offer shares to the public later this year. Observers said that it is too early to say whether companies like Skype should be worried.

"Skype is a well known company in this place and they are almost like a verb in the internet calling world in the way Google is with search. You Skype someone. So I think there is some inertia there to get over and I am interested to see how Gmail users respond," said Tom Krazit, senior writer with technology news site CNET.com.

"But you always have to worry when Google comes after what you do. They don't do things half way and bring a lot of resources to any problem they try to tackle. It doesn't mean you are doomed.

"Google's product won't work on your mobile browser so Skype has an advantage there but I don't think it is a stretch to assume Google will come out with a mobile version pretty soon," said Mr Krazit.

The company plans an eye catching way to get non-Gmail users to give the product a go. It is in negotiations with a number of university campuses and airports to install red telephone boxes around the country to give users the chance to dial and try.

By Maggie Shiels, Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11092212

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Victoria Alexis

Revealed: the YouTube rich list

2010-08-26T07:26:00.001-07:00

For many it's a source of fun, but for these 10 people the video-sharing website is a serious business

Millions of people watch them each day around the world. Their audiences are young and tech-savvy and most people over 30 would be forgiven for never even having heard of them.

New research has revealed the names of the ten highest earning independent acts on YouTube. True their earnings may be miniscule compared to Steven Spielberg, James Cameron or Ben Stiller, but they have done something which for a long time nobody in the mainstream media industry believed was possible - turning what was essentially a bedroom hobby into serious money by uploading video or vlogs (video blogs) on the site.

It is estimated that 60,000 new films a week are added to YouTube - the equivalent of 12 hours of footage joins the world's most popular on-line video community each minute. But there among the vast digital landscape of bad lip-synching singers and unfunny TV bloopers are some emerging stars yet to be snapped up by an established media company or brand.

The research by TubeMogul, an analytics and internet advertising company, has revealed that at least 10 performers, writers and producers earned more than $100,000 (£65,000) each over the last 12 months from their short films which have achieved popularity largely through word of mouth.

Under a special partnership deal with the site, which is owned by search engine giant Google, original content creators are able to generate advertising revenues from their work and enjoy the same promotional benefits as more established stars. YouTube splits the revenue from banner ads 50-50 with its partners.

Nine of those that appeared in the top 10 are comics, including Shane Dawson, 22, a committed Christian who eschews sex before marriage, drugs and alcohol who was number one having earned an estimated $315,000 in the last 12 months from his near-the knuckle satirical videos.

Dawson, like many on the list, grew up with vlogging and see it as the natural arena for his talents. But many of the biggest names - such as The Annoying Orange created by Dane Boedigheimer - are already being eyed up by established media companies. In the two years since he has started posting his unique brand of humour, Dawson can lay claim to the fourth and ninth-most subscribed channel in history on YouTube, with total upload views of more than 249 million.

Increasing a website's number of hits is a notoriously dark art. Some on the list have been accused of so-called "tag loading", a process whereby vloggers can increase the number of hits they get by tagging material with search terms such as "Xbox" - which though unrelated to their work can drum up hundreds of thousands of extra views.

While some industry commentators suggested the earnings could be on the conservative side, other sources suggested they were close to the amounts earned. But Greg Benson of Mediocre Films, which came in at number seven in the survey, fiercely dismissed the figures. He said he loved his job and worked extremely hard - between 60-80 hours a week arranging shoots and working in front of his computer. He said: "I get asked this a lot. It's a fair question but it's kind of rude to ask someone how much money they make," he said.

"It's so wrong everything in the article appears to be wrong... I would be thrilled if I actually had any business being on that list or if I actually made that much money or had that many viewers that they say I have. That would be awesome. It would also be awesome if I could shit diamonds. But I can't do that either."

The $100,000-a-year stars

1. Shane Dawson

Estimated earnings from YouTube advertising on his video clips in past 12 months: $315,000 (£200,000). Views in that time: 431,787,450

Describing himself as an "innocent guy with a dirty mouth", the 22-year-old Californian's sketches include one of a vampire drinking menstrual blood and have earned him more than 250 million uploads. Success on YouTube has enabled Dawson to move out of his mother's house.

2. The Annoying Orange

$288,000. Views: 349,753,047

The obnoxious fruit that irritates the pips out of its fellow foodstuffs has proved a huge success for its creator, Dane Boedigheimer (daneboe), who recently celebrated one million subscribers to his own YouTube channel. The Orange is set to go mainstream with talks under way about a TV pilot.

3. Philip DeFranco

$181,000. Views: 248,735,032

Voted the world's sexiest geek by Wired.com readers in 2008, DeFranco created his Sxephil channel for YouTube while studying at East Carolina University. His eponymous video blog focuses on politics and gossip.

4. Ryan Higa

$151,000. Views: 206,979,909

Also known as Nigahiga, the Hawaiian-born Japanese-American evolved from lip-synching to original comedy and has had more than 150 million hits. VideosHow to be Gangster and How to be Ninja went viral for him and his Yabo Crew.

5. Fred

$146,000. Views: 200,656,150

Lucas Cruikshank, 16, is the creator of the precocious, helium-voiced six-year-old whose videos shot with a $100 camera are said to have earned him more young fans than Hannah Montana. Soon to appear on Nickelodeon.

6. Shay Carl

$140,000. Views: 192,309,247

Behind the Shaycarl channel is a father-of-three from Idaho who used to be a radio DJ. He first broadcast his comic routines on YouTube in 2008 and has since produced more than 100 films. He now has three channels of his own.

7. Mediocre Films

$116,000. Views: 159,030,703

Comedy channel created by Greg Benson in 2006. Benson dismissed the findings of the survey as wrong, insisting he should not be in the Top 10. His best known work is Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show, written with his wife, which appeared in 2007.

8. Smosh

$113,000. Views: 154,936,876

Described as the Saturday Night Live of YouTube by Time magazine, shaggy-haired comedy duo Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox uploaded their first video in 2005. They were the No 1 YouTube channel in 2007 and are now the fifth most popular.

9. The Young Turks

$112,000. Views: 153,807,362

Hosted by Cenk Uygur, the longest-running online (liberal) political talkshow in the US was started in 2002 and averages 13 million hits a month. The company believes it can take on the networks at breaking stories.

10. Natalie Tran

$101,000. Views: 138,871,829

The 24-year-old Vietnamese-Australian is the No 1 Down Under. Her most popular video is How to Fake a Six-pack, parodying internet users' apparent obsession with getting a flat stomach. She has had 250 million hits worldwide.

By Jonathan Brown

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/revealed-the-youtube-rich-list-2062197.html

Posted via email from Victoria Alexis

The Wizard of Oz celebrated by Google doodle

2010-08-12T08:11:00.001-07:00

The 71st anniversary of the Wizard of Oz, the 1939 film starring Judy Garland, has been commemorated with a Google doodle.

Article Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/7940227/The-Wizard-of-Oz-celebrated-by-Google-doodle.html

Posted via email from Victoria Alexis

J-Lo officially withdraws from the concert in occupied Cyprus. Nice one.

2010-07-26T14:49:00.001-07:00

By Εμπροσθοφύλακας Συντακτική Ομάδα

J-Lo officially withdraws from the concert in occupied Cyprus!! Thank you Jennifer!! You are true champion of Morality, Human Rights, Democracy and Freedom!

http://hellenicvanguard.blogspot.com/2010/07/j-lo-officially-withdraws-from-concert.html

It is now official people! Thanks to the efforts of thousands of grassroots activists, people who care about human rights, freedom and democracy, Jennifer Lopez has reconsidered and she has OFFICIALLY withdrawn from the concert! She will NOT be making a favour to the Turkish occupation army, Neo-Sultan Tayyip Erdogan and Neo-Ottoman imperialist Ahmet Davutoglu. Congratulations to the Cyprus Action Network of America for their enormous efforts!!

Thank you Jennifer!! You are true champion of Morality, Human Rights, Democracy and Freedom! Yes, you are still "Jenny from the block", and do you care about "Eleni from Keryneia", "Anastasia from Ammochostos" and "Georgia from Morphou" that in 1974 they were made refugees, they were raped, they had their husbands executed in front of their eyes, and they were made refugees along with 200,000 other Greek-Cypriots.

Thank you Jennifer you putting morality, ethics and human rights above the blood-dripping money and fame that the rapists, the murderers and the invaders promised to you.

Η δράση χιλιάδων απλών ανθρώπων απέδωσε: Η Τζένιφερ Λόπεζ ακύρωσε την συναυλία της στα κατεχόμενα!

Σύμφωνα με την έγκυρη TMZ.com η Τζένιφερ Λόπεζ έχει ακυρώσει την συναυλία της στα κατεχόμενα. Η πληροφορία διασταυρώνεται με τον πιο επίσημο πλέον τρόπο από την προσωπική της ιστοσελίδα! Συγχαρητήρια λοιπόν σε ΟΛΟΥΣ μας! Όλους εμάς τους απλούς ανθρώπους, που με την δύναμη της αλήθειας, της θέλησης και της άρνησης υποταγής καταφέραμε να ξεσηκώσουμε όλο τον πλανήτη, καταφέραμε να στρέψουμε τα μάτια τους πάνω στην μικρή μας Κύπρο για να δουν το πρόβλημα μας και τις πραγματικότητες του βιασμού, της παραβίασης των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων, της προσφυγιάς, της κατοχής, της λεηλασίας, της καταστροφής του πολιτισμού μας, της εθνοκτονίας.

Διαβάστε ολόκληρο το άρθρο:http://www.efylakas.com/archives/7191

Posted via email from Victoria Alexis

Britons spend nearly 'one day a month online'

2010-05-30T06:00:00.001-07:00

British web users are spending 65% more time online than three years ago, according to research of net habits.

The average surfer spends 22 hours and 15 minutes on the net each month, according to the UK Online Measurement company (UKOM).

The lion's share of that time is spent on social networks or blogs, which accounts for nearly a quarter of users' time online.

Instant messaging (IM) has been one of the victims of social network growth.

Three years ago 14% of online time was spent using IM but that has fallen to just 5%.

But e-mail, also predicted to suffer as more people used Facebook and its rivals, is still healthy and accounts for 7.2% of time compared to 6.5% of time three years ago.

Networking, communication and playing games remain the most popular online activities.

"These are the pillars on which the internet are built," said Alex Burmaster, a spokesman for UKOM.

The use of online classified adverts and auctions is creeping up the usage table, accounting for 4.7% of time.

Online news has also seen strong growth with 2.8% of online time spent browsing such sites compared to just 1.5% three years ago.

TIME SPENT ONLINE

Social networks/blogs - 22.7%
E-mail - 7.2%
Games - 6.9%
Instant Messaging - 4.9%
Classified/Auctions - 4.7%
Portals - 4%
Search - 4%
Software info/products - 3.4%
News - 2.8%
Adult - 2.7%

Source: UKOM (Powered by Nielsen)

People spend more time on news sites than they do on adult content, the survey shows.

"It is a bit of a digital myth that everyone online visits adult sites," said Mr Burmaster.

"We divide the internet into 85 different sections so the fact that adult content is in the top 10 shows it is still one of the most heavily used sectors," he added.

He puts the rise of social networking down to its organic nature.

"It is like an organism, feeding off itself and getting bigger. People are plugging more and more of their lives into it," he said.

Article source: news.bbc.co.uk

Sent from my Gmail™

Posted via email from Victoria Alexis

What's the connection between a soda that tasted better than Coca Cola and the failure of programming languages?

2010-03-14T01:51:00.001-08:00

Losing Big Is Easy

What's the connection between soda and the failure of programming languages? I would have thought "zero" had I not recently stumbled across a wikipedia article about a little-known predecessor of Coca-Cola. As it turns out, in 1879, a scrappy Norwegian immigrant named Jan Kjarti (who, incidentally, also coined the term "artificial sweetener") started a soda company. His company, Slug Cola (the motto was "you'll love to Slug it down!"), produced a soda that cost a little more than Coke but which actually tasted much better (note that it didn't actually use artificial sweetener, either). It's hard to even find out what it tasted like anymore, as none of the small but loyal customer base of Slug Cola are still alive. Fortunately, a noted Boston historian and Slug researcher has found a few scattered journal entries and newspaper clippings from the era. By all accounts drinking Slug, relative to drinking Coke, was something akin to a transcendent experience. Of course, since you've heard of Coke and haven't heard of Slug, you can probably guess what happened: Coke kicked their ass. One of Jan's protégés (one Richard Angel) later wrote a newspaper editorial entitled "Coke is Better", about the failure of their company. It was both heartfelt and poignant, and included a frank assessment of why Slug Cola failed. He pointed to the fact that, just as Slug was making a few gains in the marketplace, the US entered what became known as the "Soda Winter", a period of about 10 years where the public became irrationally convinced that carbonated water was bad for your stomach. Coke survived this period relatively unscathed, in part aided by the fact that people felt that some of Coke's ingredients actually offset the purported stomach-damaging properties of carbonation. Aside from that, and perhaps more importantly, Coke was cheaper to produce, allowing Coke to expand more rapidly into new markets. Try as they might, the proprietors of Slug Cola just couldn't convince members of the public (who had invariably tasted Coke already) of Slug's merits.

Well, that's most of the story, at least. At the very end of the wikipedia article, the author points out a fact that, once I read it, I could have kicked myself for not having figured out myself. I mean, it was a long article and went into all this detail about how the company failed. And not once did it dawn on me, and this is the part the author pointed out, that the name of the product might be the most significant factor in its downfall. Slug! Duh! Of course nobody wants to drink something called Slug! I mean, you can try to tell them that Slug refers to the concept of eagerly drinking (i.e., "SLUGging down") a transcendent carbonated beverage. But I just don't think you can overcome first impressions. And, let's face it, the first impression of Slug is of, well, a slimy, oozing insect. Of course, I'm guessing all of you reading this were way ahead of me this whole time, so I bet you think I'm pretty dumb. All I can say is, go read the article and you might get a sense for how I could have failed to notice the obvious. The story just got so poignant, convoluted, and interesting, that I experienced a momentary lapse of common sense.

Naturally I couldn't help, at this point, thinking about other poignant and convoluted stories that I've read about, and, like a flash, something that has probably been in my mind for years now hit me like a ton of proverbial bricks! The reason why my 3 favorite programming languages failed is that their names sucked ass! Just like Slug! I don't know why this didn't hit me before, but it just seems glaringly obvious now. What's more, I did a bit of research, and determined that there seems to be an almost inverse correlation between the coolness of a language's name and the coolness of the language itself. This might explain why we're still writing code using the equivalent of blunt, hollowed-out turtle bones, bits of twigs and leaves and stuff, just like our primitive Neanderthal ancestors.

If you don't believe me already, let's look at the all-time coolest programming language names:

C. Yup. C. C is cool. It's mysterious. It's cryptic. It's one syllable. It could even stand for Cool. In my mind, there is no better name for a programming language, and never will be (any attempts to replicate its coolness by picking other, single letters of the alphabet, such as D, will come off as mere me-too-ism). I remember in college, everyone wanted to know C. People would ask questions in CS211 that they already knew the answer to, just so they could mention some feature of C that they'd learned. I think the name has a lot to do with it. The language itself was my favorite programming language for many years, until I finally started learning more about real programming languages.

C++. You can't improve upon the name C, but C++ was about as good as you can get. I think C++ kicked the ass of its nearest competitor due to its name. What would you rather use (if you didn't know anything about either language's technical merits): "C++" or "Objective-C". Obj-jeck-tive-See. Talk about clunky. I write code in Ob-jeck-tive-See. By the time you get to the third syllable you've just lost people's attention completely. They'll be staring off in another direction asking questions like, "is there a breeze in here?"

FORTRAN. Yup. You may hate it, but it sure is popular, even to this day. FORTRAN always sounded cool to me, before I learned anything about it. It sounds like "fortress", but with a cool sci-fi twist to it.

Java. Gotta hand it to Sun for picking a kick-ass name. It's short, it's cryptic, it's friendly; it implies a connection with a caffeinated beverage, something near and dear to many programmers' hearts. Its success tracked the explosive growth of upscale coffee shops, such as Starbucks. Yep, Java's stratospheric success has much to do with its name.

Now let's look at the all-time loser names.

Coming in with the 3rd worst name for a computer language, of all time, is Erlang. I write code in Ur-lang. I am caveman. I grunt and say Ur a lot. After laughing at you for a while, anyone you're trying to convince of Erlang's merits next question is, "Why is it called ERlang? Does it stand for Ericsson Language?" You're pretty much sunk at this point. It would be like if you were trying to get people to use MicrosoftLanguage instead of C#. Wouldn't happen. They'd just feel too silly.

Coming in with the 2nd worst name of all time is... Smalltalk. This list just gets sadder as we get towards number one, doesn't it folks? Because the languages just keep getting better. Let me ask you this, folks: Smalltalk was designed by some of the best and brightest computer scientists of all time. Numerous of them have won Turing awards and other accolades. Why wasn't someone amongst them smart enough to point out this dead obvious fact: something called SMALLtalk is never going to be successful? I remember when I took Intro to Programming Languages and we were supposed to use SMALLtalk at one point. I just couldn't believe it. This is America, folks. Bigger is better. I wasn't about to use a puny, wimpy language that went so far as to point out its diminutive nature in its own name! I remember I just suffered through the SMALLtalk portion of the course and didn't pay the slightest attention to any of the language's merits. I mean, even if you ignore the SMALL aspect, what does "small talk" actually mean? It refers to trivial, banal conversation. Who wants to engage in banal conversation? Does that mean the messages you send between objects are trivial and banal? Sigh. It only gets worse. Smalltalk's latest incarnation is called Squeak. That's right, it's named after the sound a small rodent/pest makes. Might as well call it Slug.

Last but certainly not least, here is the worst programming language name of all time: Lisp. OMFG this is a bad name. Bad bad bad. What does "lisp" mean? Lisp means "speech impediment"!! Do you want a speech impediment!? I don't think so! Back in college I had even less patience for Lisp than I did for Smalltalk. I mean, when it came down to it, I'd rather at least be able to make small talk, at a party, without having a lisp. Hint to John McCarthy: next time you come up with something brilliant, name it after something POSITIVE. Geez. And, as with Erlang, it just doesn't get any better when you try to explain why Lisp is called Lisp. It's short for LISt Processing... Get it? Isn't that funny? I don't hear you laughing. Yeah, 'cuz it's one of the worst puns ever. And not only is it not funny, guess what, most programmers don't actually think they're going to do much "list processing", so they're like, "maybe it IS good at List Processing, but I could give a flying monkey's posterior because that's just not what I want to be working on" (these programmers would much rather be working on their ORM layer, ironically).

Phew. So there it is folks. One of the great tragedies of modern computer science turns out to have such a simple, prosaic explanation. I would be more surprised that nobody else has ever mentioned this before, except that it took me 16 years and an obscure wikipedia article to see the light, so I guess I shouldn't expect anyone else to have done so, either.

Posted via web from Victoria Alexis

Sorry, Rupert Murdoch...Content Will Remain Free. Here Are the Facts:

2009-12-22T07:31:00.001-08:00

Rupert Murdoch, in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, once again proclaimed the advertising business model dead and the era of free content over. There is no doubt that Murdoch is an astute business man. He has made a fortune in media, much of it in tabloids and by cozying up to dictatorships in cou

via digitaltonto.com

Great cover of this story Greg!

Posted via web from Victoria Alexis

What a Gorgeous afternoon in London. Sunshine and rain makes rainbows <3

2009-12-12T22:16:00.001-08:00

Posting to Gorgeous made easy and driving along the Kings Road..

Sent using BlackBerry® for Victoria Alexis

Posted via email from Victoria Alexis

Nielsen wins “most innovative approach” at the best of business intelligence (BOBI) awards

2009-06-01T01:58:00.000-07:00

Fax

Nielsen’s BuzzMetrics analysis of consumer experience to influence marketing decisions for Pfizer’s smoking cessation product – Champix – cited by judges as a unanimous and clear winner

The Nielsen Company today announced it received the award for “Most Innovative Approach” from the British Healthcare Business Intelligence Association for creating a bespoke research methodology commended for its business impact, cost effectiveness and novelty.

The methodology, utilising Nielsen‟s BuzzMetrics analytical solution, was developed for Pfizer enabling it to investigate what consumers say online about their brands – in this case, smoking cessation aid, Champix – without compromising European Union regulations unique to the prescription healthcare industry which have resource implications that effectively prohibit pharmaceutical companies from benefitting from the consumer-generated realm.

The regulations centre around the requirement to “make every effort” to follow up all ‘Adverse Events’ – consumer comments around experiences not intended by the drug or its usage – including contacting the consumer concerned as well as notifying the Drug Safety Group. The research was able to comply with these regulations as well as provide a unique new source of business intelligence for Pfizer.

The BOBI judging panel comments: “This was a unanimous and clear winner. Overall, we felt it was a smart, innovative, cost effective piece of research which demonstrated the business impact and could be used elsewhere in the business. It demonstrated innovation in two ways:

· Overcoming internal challenges to the research, which are faced on a regular basis and delivering a pragmatic, practical solution

· Learning from the consumer by using an emerging methodology to monitor online consumer discussions (Consumer-Generated Media)

Michael Goff, Business Intelligence Manager, Pfizer U.K., says: “Apart from the obvious relevance for our brand, the general value to the pharmaceutical industry of understanding consumers‟ opinions of prescription medicines is evident for all to see. The research offered us the opportunity to understand what consumers were hearing about our brand, how this was being interpreted, and what impression of the brand was being created on-line for potential future users. Its most obvious business impact was that a potentially expensive marketing program was demonstrated not to be necessary.”

Brad Little, Director of Industry Solutions, Online, for Nielsen says: “Our BuzzMetrics‟ dataset of over 100 million CGM sources is used by companies across the globe because they recognize the incredible value in harnessing this content to learn about and improve their products. Regulations have made it difficult for prescription healthcare companies to harness this type of research so we worked with Pfizer‟s brand and market research teams, the Drug Safety Group and legal teams to establish a methodology that enabled Pfizer to monitor this content and, consequently, improve their strategy, marketing, consumer insights, and many other critical parts of the business.”

EDITOR’S NOTES

About Nielsen Online

Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, delivers comprehensive, independent measurement and analysis of online audiences, mobile, advertising, video, consumer-generated media, word of mouth, commerce and consumer behaviour. With high quality, technology-driven products and services, Nielsen Online enables clients to make informed business decisions regarding their Internet, digital and marketing strategies. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-online.com. Also, visit our blog at www.nielsen-online.com/blog.

About The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com

2008-02-07T05:50:00.001-08:00

BASICALLY, here's the story.. I'm in Revolution Magazine’s Valentines League of 2008! LOOK!!!

I only found out recently, but I want to win now! :) I cant help it my competitive streak has been brought out!!

Digital issue Link (P.69, I no I no :P)--> http://cde.cerosmedia.com/1A4798bf0c97c5c658.cde

VOTE!! FOR ME!! (and not Katrina on P.70 hehe)

HOW: by emailing the Editor mairi.clark@haymarket.com

Deadline: 14 February, doh.

Stand out from the 'AdWords' crowd!

2008-02-07T04:20:00.000-08:00

The problem with Google AdWords are they all look exactly alike. One blue headline and a few lines of copy looks exactly like the next one. But those crazy German’s went back to the old school and figured out a clever way to get their ads to stand out ASCII graphics.

Surprise, Surprise, the response rate went up!

The best solutions are always so simple when they've been laid out in front of you.
SIXT 'ASCII GTI'

ShakespeaRe-Told

2005-11-07T18:09:00.000-08:00

Wow. I have to write about his. Today I saw one of the best shows on TV I have seen in years. Much the reason why I don't bother with TV drama these days. BUT!! BBC1 8.30pm 07.11.05 Much Ado About Nothing by Nicholls. A tale of love and deception in the studios of Wessex Tonight captured my heart.

With all the hype recently criticising the lack of imagination and flare on TV shows, especially targeting series like Footballers Wives (I have to agree though!) this show was a valiant attempt. Ever engaging, embracing incessant emotions and ideas of Shakespeare, 'Much Ado About Nothing' modern style interpretation by the BBC served him justice. Thoroughly enjoyed, well done!

Can’t wait till next Monday same time, where BBC1 will be showing the next Shakespeare's tale of Macbeth!