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Posts Tagged ‘Apple’

Consumer Electronic Show Stand-Outs: Anna’s Social Media Picks of the Week

Friday, January 7th, 2011

The Consumer Electronic Show, the world’s largest consumer technology trade show, is upon us. Starting Thursday and running through Sunday, technology companies from all over the world gather in Las Vegas, Nevada to show off their best and latest technology products. Feedback has been following CES since it began, and this week I’ll share the technology that caught our eye.

Tech Trends of CES

Vizio's Theater 3D Experience

Cheaper 3D

Premium 3D video cameras, TV’s, and smartphones have been introduced at CES at premium prices. Vizio and LG, on the other hand, are taking a different approach to 3D: the inexpensive approach. Both companies will be offering less expensive 3D TV’s that use “passive 3D technology,” utilizing inexpensive 3D polarized glasses akin to those used in movie theaters. Although pricing hasn’t been confirmed, a 32” Vizio 3D HDTV is expected to come in around $300.

Smarter Cars

Innovative car technology is another trend we’re seeing at CES. Ford chatted about “teen-proof” technology that will allow parents to use MyKey technology to block explicit satellite radio programming and limit driving speeds. Hyundai discussed their Blue Link assurance system, which among other things, can drastically slow down a stolen car, and Toyota touted Entune, which allows cars to access smartphone applications such as Bing, Pandora, Movietickets.com, and Open Table.

More Tablets

LePad Tablet and Hybrid

A plethora of tablets have been announced at CES, all trying to capitalize of the success of the iPad. The tablets getting the most attention include the Motorola’s XOOM tablet, which uses Google’s Android 3.0 operating system codenamed Honeycomb, can be upgraded to use Verizon’s 4G LTE network, and has a duel-core processor. Another notable tablet is the LePad Tablet and Hybrid. This Android tablet can actually secure into a keyboard base and become a notebook. These new tablets will likely hold our attention, that is, until the iPad 2 is announced.

Apple Launches Mac App Store, 1 M Apps Already Downloaded

Although not at CES, Apple is still making attention-grabbing announcements. On Thursday, Apple launched the Mac App Store, essentially the desktop version of the iTunes mobile app store. Apple already has around 1,000 apps available for your Desktop. iPhoto, Keynote, iMovie, and Garage Band are now available for individual purchase (rather than an expensive bundle), and there are tons of other useful apps you can purchase. Apple announced that over 1 Million desktop Apps were downloaded in the first 24 hours after release.

Keep Up with CES

According to Mashable, “CES is mentioned as many as 5,267 times on Twitter every hour and yesterday [Wednesday] was mentioned more than 110,000 times in tweets.” So as you can see, there is a lot of buzz around CES 2011. Here’s how you can keep up with the latest news about CES:

Live Streaming
Follow the #CES Hashtag on Twitter
Official CES Channels: Facebook, Twitter, Social Circle
Gadget blogs such as Gizmodo and Engadget

-Anna (@alucas9)

Tags: 3d tvs, Apple, blue link, car technology, CES, ces 2011, ces social circle, CES Technology, CES trends, Consumer Electronics Show, desktop app store, engadget, gizmodo, Google Honeycomb, inexpensive 3d, innovative, lepad tablet and hybrid, lg, live streaming ces, mac app store, Motorola XOOM tablet, MyKey technology, tablets, teen proof technology, toyota entune, vizio
Posted in News & Analysis, Social Media | 1 Comment »

Anna’s Social Media Picks of the Week (09/03/10)

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Do you have time to search the web everyday to find the newest social media tools? If the answer is no, then you have come to the right place. I have searched the World Wide Web for social media information all week, and stumbled upon a few favorites along the way. Here are my picks of the week:

Ping:

Apple had a big event on Wednesday, where they introduced Ping, a social network for music lovers. Ping allows you to follow friends and artists, have custom music recommendations based on your followers, and share concert details. You can access Ping by downloading iTunes 10, going into the iTunes store, and activating Ping. Read our blog ‘Social Network, Meet iTunes‘ to find out more.

Twitter Usage Up:

Twitter usage went up 33% from May to August. In August, Twitter processed over 2.64 billion Tweets. Twitter now has over 145 million registered users, and activity has more than doubled this year.

Chrome 6:

For Chrome’s two-year anniversary, they are introducing Google Chrome Version Six. Mashable describes it as “The Modern Browser,” Chrome 6 does indeed boast a number of improvements, but as with previous updates, the focus remains on speed and simplicity.” Download it here: http://www.google.com/chrome

If You Can’t Beat ‘em, Join ‘em?:

Once the leading social network, MySpace is now syncing up with Facebook. This week, MySpace announced that users can now sync status updates with Facebook. You can also sync status updates with Twitter. Even with this new development, with the introduction of Ping, Myspace has to wonder whether their last niche, music, will be compromised.

Spot Trot:

I am including a local social media pick this week – this one derives from Richmond, Virginia. There are plenty of social media apps and tools being developed in Richmond, one of which is Spot Trot. Created by Joel Erb, Spot Trot has a big music twist to it. The app offers a customized mobile platform to artists, which they build for their fans. Clients include Dave Matthews Band and Tim McGraw. Partners include Live Nation and Apple. You can follow them on Twitter at @spottrot.

-Anna (@alucas9)

Tags: Apple, dave matthews band, DMB, Facebook, itunes 10, live nation, livenation, Music, MySpace, ping, Richmond, social network, Spot trot, time mcgraw, twitter, twitter usage, VA
Posted in News & Analysis, Social Media | No Comments »

Social Network, Meet iTunes

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Casual Internet users, we apologize. If you had difficulty accessing your favorite websites or email at approximately 1pm EST this afternoon, it was surely on account of the swarms of music geeks, Apple fans and tech aficionados (Feedbackers are required to be all three!), all huddled in front of their computer screens, anxiously awaiting the semi-annual revelations from our turtleneck-and-jeans wearing oracle of smart, stylish gadgetry, The Steve. Among the many involuntary ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ over streamlined iPods, updated software packages and a revamped AppleTV, was an added feature to iTunes 10 that makes so much sense, we may instantly wonder how we ever lived without it. Get a load of Ping…

Steve Jobs described it as ‘Facebook and Twitter, meet iTunes’.

The capabilities of Ping include:

Social music discovery: you can share music you’re listening to and see music your friends are listening to
Follow and be followed: you can follow, and be followed by, friends and artists
Share your thoughts and opinions
Custom song and album charts: See top 10 lists customized by what your followers are listening to
Over 17,000 concert listings: You can see upcoming concerts, and share concerts you are attending
Easy integration with the iPhone/iPod Touch
Available immediately

Our first thought? “Sorry, MySpace. It was nice knowing you…” Our second thought: Could anyone but Apple do this? Doubtful. When you have over 160 million active accounts already using iTunes, it’s easy to see how this could catch on. And before you cite Facebook’s half-billion users, consider that iTunes number doesn’t include the millions who download the software just as a music player/organizer/podcast feeder and never buy anything.

From the following screenshots, you can get a look at Ping, and see that it integrates seamlessly with the iPhone/iPod Touch.

The first screen shows an artist’s page, own-able by the performers themselves, which you can easily imagine would be a boon to the fan relations of all acts, big and especially small:

Next, the individual profile page, where you can share your musical taste with your friends and followers, even showing them what shows you’ll be going to. This represents a tremendous opportunity, again for artists, but also for fan meetups and peer networking:

Finally, the ubiquitous “feed” page, where you see the most recent updates from the people you follow, what they’re listening to and what they’re buying:

Still think “how did we live without this?” is a bit hyperbolic? Let us know your thoughts while we furiously refresh the iTunes download page.

- Thomas (@thomasmcdonald) & Anna (@alucas9)

Tags: 2010, Apple, Apple Event, iTunes, itunes 10, ping, September 1, social network, Steve Jobs
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Anna’s Social Media Picks of the Week (07/02/10)

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

Apple Addressed iPhone 4 Reception Issues:

Those who are lucky enough to have the iPhone 4 and unlucky enough to have reception problems along with it may soon have a solution…sort of. Apple has admitted that the formula they use to calculate signal strength is “totally wrong.” Basically, this issue could cause a person to see 4 bars on their phone when they are actually in a poor service area. Apple is now going to follow AT&T’s recommended formula and will offer a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. This new software will be available for free for the new iPhone, as well as the iPhone 3Gs and 3G.

Hulu Plus:

The online television website Hulu is now offering a paid subscription for additional episodes. The subscription will cost $9.99 a month, and will offer more episodes of shows to viewers. The tagline for this new service, called Hulu Plus, touts “More wherever. More whenever. Than ever.” Recent episodes from ABC, NBC, Fox & other network shows that were always free will still be of no charge to viewers.

New Facebook Stats:

Facebook has released some new interesting stats, the most astounding being that Facebook users spend 16 billion minutes on Facebook every day. A cumulative 16 billion minutes every day. Other stats include that 50% of active users log on to Facebook every day, about 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States, and more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices (and these users are twice as active.)

New Facebook Photo Feature:

Facebook is testing a new photo feature this week. This feature uses facial detection technology to make the photo tagging process easier and faster. Facebook also mentioned that there will be more photo features to come. View the official Facebook blog here: http://bit.ly/9j3kdh

Google’s News for You:

Google has revamped Google news by making it more customizable and sharable. This new feature, called News for You, tries to make the Google News homepage relevant to each user. You can go to the news homepage and edit personalization options to customize what subjects you want on your homepage – such as business, health, entertainment, or any subject you want to add. This new feature also makes it easier you to share stories on social networks.

-Anna (@alucas9)

Tags: 16 billion minutes every day, addressed, Apple, Facebook, facebook stats, facebook tagging, facial recoginition software, google news feature, google news for you, hulu plus, hulu subscription, iPhone 4, online videos, photo feature, reception issues
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