Absolut Creative

Clear: Why This Simple To Do List App Has Everyone Talking

2012-02-14T23:25:00.000-05:00

Clear the heavily-anticipated touch-based to-do list app, is launching in the iTunes App Store tonight. And by heavily anticipated, I mean this app was getting tech blog coverage based on demos, previews and teaser videos.

Why the big draw for what’s typically been a rather ho-hum app category, the lowly to-do list? Clear is pure eye candy, for starters. But it’s also representative of a major leap forward in smartphone app design, as it’s been built from the ground up for the touch interface. The app is based solely on the use of now-common gestures: swipes, pulls and pinches. There are no buttons with Clear, and yet, it’s surprisingly simple to use. In fact, that’s the point.

If your current to-do list app needs are complex, you may not be in the market for Clear. But if you’re regularly turning to a simple to-do list app, or even the iPhone’s built in notepad to make your lists, Clear is definitely going to wow you.

The app is unique in that it forgoes common navigational elements – like buttons positioned either at the bottom of the screen or towards the top – in favor of an all-gesture interface. If you don’t know how to swipe and pinch, you could be lost for a second upon first launch (err, mom). But Clear’s design is meant to tap into what’s already common knowledge among smartphone users: you can swipe, pinch and pull down on on-screen elements to interact. Who needs buttons?

Somewhere, Steve Jobs, no fan of buttons (obviously – look at the iPhone, there’s just the one) is smiling.

With Clear, there are only a few gestures you need to in order to use the app: pull down on a list to add an item, swipe to the right to complete an item or to the left to delete it, pinch apart two items to insert a new one in between, and pinch vertically to close the current list and see all the lists in the app. Lists are also color-coded with a heat map to show the most pressing tasks at a glance..

That’s it. It’s a quick learning curve, and what’s more, doing away with buttons can actually speed up the process of using to-do lists once you realize that’s how it’s done. Clear even pushes you to simplify here, too, by limiting to-do items to just 30 characters.

“There’s so much crap trying to get your attention in other to-do apps, you don’t even bother typing things in on the iPhone app version,” proclaims the app’s co-creator Phill Ryu, “with Clear it’s so fast it’s sometimes even fun.”

But is the world ready for a buttonless app?

“Yes!” Ryu says, “Have you seen babies play with an iPad? They love swiping and manipulating things directly one-to-one on the screen. There’s nothing more natural than that on a touchscreen device.”

He’s got a point. This weekend, I watched in amazement as a one-and-a-half year old unlocked the iPad, tapped a folder, launched Netflix, browsed the queue and launched his favorite cartoon. Jaw-dropping, really. Clear is the kind of app that’s been designed for him, and for this new generation of smartphone users who grew up with gestures. Forget backward compatibility for those sad sacks who remember Windows and other things with archaic user interface concepts like “menus” and “buttons.” Design for the future. How can you not love the idea?

The app itself has an interesting background, too. It’s a joint project between Realmac Software, Milen Dzhumerov, founder of The Cosmic Machine and Clean Cut Code, and a new studio called Impending Inc. This is the first launch for Impending, which was founded by tap tap tap partner, the above-mentioned Phill Ryu and David Lanham of the Iconfactory. Prior to Impending, the team has been involved with a number of high-profile and popular apps, including Twitterific, MacHeist, Classics and more. Not a bad way to kick off your studio’s debut.

Impending has also been working on another project for the past year and a half, but isn’t talking about the details just yet. They’re working with a very talented team, however, including some of the “usual suspects.” And yes, we’ll probably be obsessed with that app, too.

NYPD deploys TSA style Naked Body scanner to bypass 4th Amendment / Terahertz radiation blasters

2012-01-26T12:37:00.000-05:00

Twitter does a Flashback

2012-01-01T01:54:00.000-05:00

Technology's defining the hope agenda this year: Marian Salzman On What Were The Top Trends in 2011?

2011-12-31T02:43:00.001-05:00

In this year end interview with Andrew Keen on TechCrunch, the queen of trendology, Marian Salzman, [ CEO of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, and Euro RSCG Life PR. ] highlights the leading trends in 2011. Her answers are both stimulating and controversial. From men being the new women to technology defining the new hope agenda to the emergence of a public mycasting system, Marian’s observations about 2011 are bound to provoke discussion. So is she right? Will 2011 really be remembered as the year that the tablet revolution became the “ultimate transportation device” that finally enabled us to live in the cloud? One thing is for certain, 2012 is going to be a world changer.

Black Simon and Garfunkel

2011-12-21T18:40:00.001-05:00

The Year in Film | A trailer that's more awesome than any of the movies, yup.

2011-12-06T11:03:00.001-05:00

This video finally answers the question: What would the entire year in film look like as one massive, epic trailer? Mashup artist “hatinhand” stitched together pretty much every major film released in 2011 into this epic video, “The 2011 Portfolio” which is as much a retrospective as it is a glimpse into how similar films have become.

Hatinhand has put together a massive collection of supercuts and portfolios including a Pixar tribute, director portfolios (Chris Nolan, Darren Aronofsky) and thematic collections (power, end of the world).

The 2011 Portfolio combines an improbably large selection of films (Drive, Zookeeper, The Adjustment Bureau,Hugo, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Adventures of Tintin, Tyrannosaur, The Smurfs and more).

The video is both a high-octane trip and a heartfelt emotional journey, depending on when you tune into the video. The clips are pulled from all manner of films, so if you’re spoiler-adverse, watch with caution or wait until you see the film proper. Those that are unafraid, have a look and let us know what you think of the video. Can you spot and name every film it shows?

from Mashable

The NYC Skyline Has Just Been Occupied, Suckas

2011-11-17T23:57:00.000-05:00

As thousands marched across the Brooklyn Bridge tonight in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, someone put on a pro-OWS guerrilla projection show on the side of the Verizon building. Try evicting that, Mayor BloombNERD. What are you going to do? Cut off the power until everyone behaves again?

It’s Time For Google To Let Google Voice Live Up To Its Promise

2011-10-29T20:05:00.000-04:00

Last week TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington wrote a post highlighting the fact that iPhone users can get a surprisingly good experience using Google Voice if they’re willing to switch to Sprint. Google Voice on the iPhone typically has some hurdles, mostly because Apple won’t let the native Google Voice app ‘take over’ the dialer the way it can on Android (not to mention the fact that the iOS GV app is notoriously buggy). But Sprint has done some unique, deep integration at the carrier level that minimizes these issues.

His post got me thinking about my experience with Google Voice since I began using it exclusively in November 2009. My conclusion: there are a lot of areas for improvement. The latency and occasional cutouts range from mildly annoying to infuriating. Text messages sometimes seem to arrive much later than they should. And MMS simply isn’t offered for most people (Sprint just launched support, but none of the other carriers do).

But a few hours later, as I dealt with my carrier T-Mobile dropping two calls in succession, I realized there’s one simple feature that Google Voice could easily offer that would do a lot to make up for all of its quirks: VoIP support.

Between my home network, work, and coffee shops, my phone is connected to Wifi for the majority of each day. Wifi, as it happens, is really good at transmitting VoIP calls. Oh, and Android has supported native VoIP calling since Gingerbread was released last winter. So why am I still at the mercy of my carrier’s cell towers again?

It isn’t a matter of getting the feature working with Google Voice. Google Voice’s Gmail integration, which lets you make and receive calls from your computer, is done over VoIP, so the infrastructure is obviously there. In fact, Google actually had a functional Google Voice VoIP app for Android that was being tested internally by Google employees a year ago. But for some reason it never saw the light of day.

That reason is pretty easy to guess: the carriers would throw a fit.

Ever since Android started to take off with the Droid launch, Google has been in a balancing act between appeasing the carriers and giving users what they actually want. Case in point: Android devices support native hotspot functionality, but the carriers can disable it (unless you pay them more money).

Or, a more recent example: up until now it’s been impossible to delete carriers’ pre-installed apps (also known as crapware) from your phone, which is utterly ridiculous. Beginning with Android 4.0, you’ll be able to disable them. Not delete them, mind you — they’ll still be taking up space on your phone — but the phone won’t ever let them launch. Hooray…? Update: A commenter points out that these apps are baked into the firmware (i.e. Google can’t delete them entirely, though the prevalence of these apps seems like a big compromise in the first place).

Anyway, the point is that Google is treading lightly when it comes to improving Android in ways that could impact their relationship with the carriers. Google cares a lot more about getting as many Android devices as possible into users’ hands over the next few years than it does about giving them WiFi hotspots. And to boost that market share, they need the carriers on board.

Which brings us back to Google Voice. If Google were to enable Google Voice calling over 3G/4G connections, users would have very little reason to purchase their ‘voice minutes’ any more. This would obviously agitate the carriers, and isn’t going to happen any time soon. But Google could make another feature compromise: let us make and receive calls over our Wifi networks with Google Voice, and still use our ‘minutes’ whenever we’re on the go.

Some people may downgrade the number of minutes they buy, but they’ll still need a voice package. And the carriers will wind up with fewer infuriated customers, who’ll actually be able to make phone calls from their offices and homes without having their signal drop.

Zipcar Members Can Now Reserve A Car On Facebook

2011-10-19T19:54:00.000-04:00

Car sharing network company Zipcar this morning announced the release of a Facebook application that allows its members to ‘reserve their wheels’ on the popular social networking site without having to leave it.

The Nasdaq-listed car-sharing company warns that the app is being tested in public beta for now. Aside from booking a vehicle, members can also use the app to check car availability, view upcoming reservations and change existing reservations.

Facebook users who do not yet have a Zipcar account can use the app to find car locations or join Zipcar.

Zipcar says the app was built after member surveys showed that more than 88 percent of its members use Facebook. The company also offers a mobile website and native Android and iPhone apps.

NYC Subway Surfer

2011-10-12T04:45:00.000-04:00

A man was filmed riding outside a moving J train in a YouTube video appropriately titled "Idiot Rides Outside The Subway Car." The video records the enthusiastic young man channeling a Bart Simpson of sorts, as he surfs the train donning a backwards baseball cap and headphones.
Another man is heard cheering on the "professional" surfer and contemplates, "I'm wondering if he died, does this delay the train?" He also offers his reassurance to a group of girls who scream when they believe their daredevil lost his balance: "No. He crawlin, he ridin' dirty."
Fortunately, it appears as though the man ends up safely, but let's hope this is the last time he attempts such a stunt. Gawker chronicles a guide for subway surfers all around the world.
Huffington Post

Question Everything...

2011-10-09T08:45:00.000-04:00

Mad Men’s Don Draper to pitching Facebook's new Timeline feature

2011-09-28T22:17:00.000-04:00

Who knew that Facebook’s newest feature was originally conceived by the Mad Men of the 1960s? In all seriousness, the most compelling elements of Facebook’s Timeline are the ones that made Kodak’s Carousel popular. Reminiscing is a social activity. It always has been, and now Facebook is bringing that activity online.

Facebooks Timeline, a major re-imagining of user profiles [VIDEO]

2011-09-22T16:35:00.000-04:00

Facebook has unveiled Timeline, a major re-imagining of user profiles that allows users to build what’s essentially a visual scrapbook of everything they’ve done on the site.CEO Mark Zuckeberg showed off the new features in his keynote at the company’s f8 conference. It algorithmically organizes everything you’ve done on Facebook — from post photos to change relationship status to check in — and also allows users to fill out a “Way Back” section to add details that are omitted or pre-date the social network.Facebook expects to roll out Timeline in a few weeks, but you can see what it looks like in the video above.

Prepare Yourselves: Facebook To Be Profoundly Changed

2011-09-22T16:22:00.000-04:00

Prepare Yourselves: Facebook To Be Profoundly Changed

Women Dominate Men at Social Networking [STUDY]

2011-09-22T16:19:00.000-04:00

Women Dominate Men at Social Networking [STUDY]

On Campus @soulhornet

2011-09-17T15:08:00.001-04:00

Some afternoons it's just nice to get out and sightsee the DYT.

Over 1 Billion People Use Social Networks Today

2011-09-14T11:41:00.001-04:00

Social media around the world 2011

View more presentations from steven van belleghem

How Social Media Affects Content Relevance in Search

2011-09-12T15:17:00.000-04:00

Old school SEO pros cover your ears, or be prepared to adaptyour craft: Search engines are changing, and social media is a huge part ofthat change.

Bing, Google, and an increasing swath of nimble littlesearch engines like Blekko and DuckDuckGo are incorporating social data intotheir results. This is potentially great news for new businesses trying toachieve visibility in search. It’s less great news for sites that rely heavilyon link buying [illegal, but hard to catch], producing huge volumes ofborderline-useless content [long-tail, content farm approach], or just reallyold domains [previously an SEO trump card].

Both Bing and Google admitted in interviews that theirsearch results are positively affected by social signals, such as tweets,Facebook Likes, and +1s.

“As ideas, thoughts, questions and answers are shared morefreely and easily than ever, the increased amount of information from socialsources provides great benefits to users,” says a Microsoft spokesperson forBing [who asked to remain anonymous].

“The links that you build through social media, thereferences, the authority — all can have an impact in various ways on how youare ranked and listed even in ‘regular’ search results,” says Danny Sullivan,Editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, in an email interview. “Social mediaallows for people to provide more trusted signals.”

SearchEngines Adapt to Survive

Since the early Internet days of Excite and Webcrawler, theprincipal goal of search engines has been to help people find what they’relooking for. Google rose to dominate the industry by tracking better indicatorsof content quality than anyone else. It developed a complex algorithm thatmeasured which websites were “voting” for others by linking to them.

Essentially, it was social media, but for websites ratherthan people. If your site had lots of links from relevant sites, your Googlerank climbed. Plenty of other factors, like putting keywords into headlines andtitles, remained in play [and continually evolved], but the game changer of thelast decade was links. The Search EngineOptimization [SEO] industry emerged to help webmasters play the “me rankhigher” game with Google. On the one hand, website owners attempt to adhere toGoogle’s standards and prove they are high quality [creating relevant, highquality content and formatting it to Google’s taste]. On the other hand,shadier sites try to trick Google’s secret formula, “pretending” to be goodcontent without having to bother with creating useful stuff.

The spammers have done well for themselves. Over the lastfew years, searchers have increasingly complained about the number ofirrelevant or spammy results returned in searches.

The battle to the topof search keeps search engines on their toes. Every so often Google, makes anabrupt change in its algorithm, like the “Panda Update” of early 2011 thatwiped out a significant number of content farm results. Periodically, newsearch engines launch to try to outdo Google. Bing, Microsoft’s search engine,has climbed to 30% market share since its launch in 2009. Blekko, an“anti-spam” search engine, has climbed to a million searches a day since itslaunch in 2007.

And now, social mediais factoring in to make results even better.

Social MediaChanges The Game

Social networks produce an immense amount of data about whatreal people like enough to share with their friends. Today, people share 30billion pieces of content on Facebook and over 5 billion tweets — about aquarter of which contain links to content — per month.

In an industry whereknowing what humans like is crucial to success, search engines have figured out— and taken to heart — a delightfully simple mantra: If people share yourcontent, it’s probably pretty good.

In a white papercalled New Signals To Search Engines, Search Engine Strategies Advisory Boardchair Mike Grehan says, “End users who previously couldn’t vote for content vialinks from web pages are now able to vote for content with their clicks,bookmarks, tags and ratings. These are very strong signals to search engines,and best of all, they don’t rely on the elitism of one website owner linking toanother or the often mediocre crawl of a dumb bot.”

We’re already seeingproof of search engines taking social data into account when serving results.

Social DataIs Personalizing Results

Last year, Bing started incorporating Facebook like datainto its search results. Results for pages that a searcher’s own friends hadliked show up more prominently. And more recently, Bing announced better resultsthrough Facebook data and “collective IQ,” meaning that things popularthroughout Facebook [not just among your friends] rank more prominently.

“Search is better when it’s not just based in math andalgorithms, but also infused with the opinions of people,” writes the Bing teamin a blog post. Google answered back to the Bing-Facebook deal with its own +1button, and subsequently Google+. When searching as a logged-in Google user,you now see this social data personalizing your results.

Sullivan recounts how automaker Ford rose in his Googleresults after he added Ford to his Google+ account. “Ford gets into the topresults for cars not because of links, not because of the content on its page,but because I was ‘friends’ with it,” Sullivan says.

SharedContent Now Ranks Higher in Organic Search

Both Google and Bing have added real-time results to theirsearches, meaning Twitter [and now Google+] results show up prominently aboveother content. In addition, severalexperiments have shown that sharing stories on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+can dramatically affect regular search results as well.

In July this year,Rand Fishkin of search engine authority SEOmoz.org performed a series ofexperiments to see if 1] social shares affected Google search results, and 2]how quickly those results appeared. [Find the full details on the experimenthere.]

Spoiler Alert: Inevery test Fishkin performed, tweets and Google+ shares dramatically affectedthe rank of new, previously unindexed content. The results in most cases werenearly instant. “We’re experimentingwith clicks on +1 buttons as just one of the hundreds of signals thatinfluences the ranking and appearance of websites in search results,” says aGoogle spokesperson [who wished to remain anonymous], via email. “As with anynew ranking signal, for +1’s and other social ranking signals, we’ll bestarting carefully and learning how those signals are related to quality.”

A Microsoftspokesperson [who also requested anonymity], says via email that tweets andFacebook Likes do indeed positively affect a URL’s ranking in search results onBing. “To be candid,” she says, “we are experimenting with placements in orderto strike a balance between this new social signal and the other signals wehave honed to determine relevance.”

“Social signals thatsay quality are pretty straight forward,” says the Microsoft spokesperson.“Look to things such as likes, re-tweets, shares, etc. Beyond that, watch forthe sentiment surrounding the action. Are people sharing your content viaTwitter yet flagging it with #fail? If so, it’s a clue they’re displeased.”

When we go to asearch engine, we want to find what we’re looking for, immediately andhassle-free. It’s clear that social media is helping search engines delivermore immediacy and more relevant results. In the long run, this will helpSEO-directed businesses focus on what they should be doing: creating contentpeople love.

from Mashable by Shane Snow

Just what did your Social Media strategy accomplish today?

2011-09-09T23:37:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so what if it's Friday? Just what did your Social Media strategy accomplish today? Today is September 9th, by Monday morning you should probably MAKE CONTACT Creative Social Media Design by the One Man Wrecking Crew known as Anthony Chiles. @absolutcreative| Make Contact 937.286.8315 absolutcreative@gmail.com

New York Times & WNYC Launch SchoolBook to Foster Education Community

2011-09-07T10:46:00.000-04:00

New York Times & WNYC Launch SchoolBook to Foster Education Community

Yeah, so what if it's Sunday?

2011-09-04T18:58:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so what if it's Sunday? Just what did your Social Media strategy accomplish today? Today is September 1st, by tomorrow morning you should probably MAKE CONTACT Creative Social Media Design by the One Man Wrecking Crew known as Anthony Chiles. @absolutcreative| Make Contact 937.286.8315 absolutcreative@gmail.com

Otis on a Friday, can you dig it!

2011-09-02T06:58:00.000-04:00

9.1.11

2011-09-01T19:29:00.000-04:00

So just what did your Social Media strategy accomplish today? Today isSeptember 1st, by tomorrow morning you should probably MAKE CONTACT Creative Social MediaDesign by the One Man Wrecking Crew known as Anthony Chiles. @absolutcreative| MakeContact 937.286.8315 absolutcreative@gmail.com

Damn!!! @greenhouseNYc #bottlesUP! on Twitpic

2011-08-26T10:46:00.000-04:00

Damn!!! @greenhouseNYc #bottlesUP! on Twitpic

Say Something Nice NYC Style

2011-08-23T11:12:00.002-04:00

Founder of Office Hours Dispatch.io talks about Working the Cloud

2011-08-07T21:58:00.002-04:00

Old Version of Twitter To Be Killed Off This Week

2011-08-03T23:09:00.002-04:00

Twitter is finally retiring the old version of its social media service, nearly a year after the launch of New Twitter.

“If you’re currently using Old Twitter, we want to let you know that you’ll be upgraded to New Twitter this week,” the company announced in a tweet.

Twitter has been warning users since the switch to New Twitter that the old version would eventually be put to rest. In June, the social media company made its warning more urgent. Twitter informed us at the time that a permanent switch was impending.

Will you miss the old version of Twitter, or is this change long overdue?

Google Gets Ripped by Microsoft With Gmail Man

2011-07-29T11:56:00.003-04:00

In a nice break from Google‘s slick-but-cute explanatory videos and ads, someone at Microsoft has unleashed a rather vicious attack video targeting Gmail. The video shows Gmail Man, a delivery guy who has the creepy habit of scanning your mail for keywords and then showing you a related ad. You may be fine with that when you’re online, but when dramatized in real life, it might make you question the practice. If nothing else, the attack video makes a compelling case for going with Office 365 instead. Maybe Google had this coming, particularly after its own recent snarky video offering a Gmail Intervention.

Have words lost their power?

2011-07-19T11:01:00.000-04:00

“Steal this book,” wrote Abbie Hoffman in 1970. So, today, why should we pay for our books – especially in a digital age where intellectual theft is both ubiquitous and pretty much risk free?

According to Gary Shteyngart, the best-selling author of novels like “Super Sad True Love Story” and “Absurdistan,” paying for his books means that he doesn’t have to work at a gas station or a car dealership. When we pay for one of his books, Shteyngart explained when we spoke earlier this week, it “allows me to produce more work.” Buying a book, he insists, represents an investment in creativity.

And creativity – real creativity – may be at a premium today – at least according to Shteyngart. As he argues, the Internet may be killing our eccentricity and transforming all of us into 140-character conformists. Thus, in today’s networked age, he says, there is an acute need for writers who can grab our attention and drag us away from broadcasting our boring selves on Facebook and Twitter.

This is the second in a two-part interview with Shteyngart. Yesterday, he explained why, in the not-too-distant future, everyone will know everything about everybody.
Andrew Keen

Esther Dyson Notes Google+ Has “The Advantage Of Following Facebook” (TCTV)

2011-07-14T11:59:00.000-04:00

The Google+ project: A quick look

2011-07-06T11:06:00.000-04:00

Live Transit Updates in Google Maps

2011-06-08T18:56:00.000-04:00

Waiting for your bus can sometimes seem like slowly dying in a desert as you watch vehicle-shaped mirages glimmer on the horizon. As a remedy for that transit-parched feel, Google is integrating live transit updates into Maps for mobile and desktop.

Before you get all excited, the update is only available in four U.S. cities (Boston, Portland, San Diego and San Francisco) and two European cities (Madrid and Turin), and for Google Maps for mobile on Android devices (although it will work on mobile browsers, and it doesn’t require any downloads to access).

Residents of those cities will be able to see delays and alerts when clicking on transit stations or planning routes, as well as “live departure times.”

Introducing the +1 Button from Google

2011-06-02T11:38:00.001-04:00

WATCH: World Press Freedom Day Conference [LIVE]

2011-05-02T13:08:00.000-04:00

WATCH: World Press Freedom Day Conference [LIVE]

Greenpeace Video moves beyond the hype toward social impact

2011-04-22T14:22:00.001-04:00

This fragile Earth deserves a voice. It needs solutions. It needs change. It needs you.

This Greenpeace video for earth day is a striking, purposeful example of social media for the good cause. Now allow me to get political on earth day…

As Republican Congressional members seek to destroy and demonize the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] by supporting legislation that would block the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act, take this time to get the truth, not the facts.

The truth, The Tea Party Congress has dismantled EPA rules that protect against industry destroying our country with greenhouse pollution, mercury, coal ash, and mountaintop removal. By a veto-proof margin, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to prohibit Clean Water Act limits on pesticide pollution of lakes, streams, and rivers. Lobbyists for industrial agriculture polluters are cheering the measure which would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from requiring farmers or companies to comply with the Clean Water Act when using pesticides on or near water sources.

The truth, America's future cannot be shaped by the Tea Party, they’re fabricated and odious agenda is aimed at creating a class divide that would relegate millions of Americans to Second-Class Citizenship. Theirs [the tea party] is a neo-fascist movement to limit the legal rights, civil rights and economic opportunities for working class Americans, while at the same time destroying our environmental protections for the benefit of big business. The GOP and their Tea Party henchman have already begun the disenfranchisement of millions by injudiciously stripping the EPA of the ability to protect us from polluters who are poisoning our land, air, and water. Fight for the Environment. Fight for your rights. Fight the power.
Anthony Chiles

With YouTube, Advertisers Need More LeBron, Less Dogs on Skateboards But will original content spark an identity crisis?

2011-04-20T11:42:00.001-04:00

Earlier this month the buzz via The Wall Street Journal was that Google was preparing to pump $100 million into video subsidiary YouTube, all of it targeted at the creation of original programming and premium "channels" featuring recurring, made-for-YouTube Web series.

Sources familiar with the discussions dispute the dollar amounts reported and, in particular, what the money will be used for. But if the company’s investment in programming is anywhere near that, it's a whopping sum (though admittedly less whopping than the $100 million Netflix invested in Kevin Spacey's House of Cards) and represents a new frontier. Reaching it will require YouTube to navigate a challenging road: all that money may buy original content, but it also earns them one heck of an identity crisis.

Can the site stay true to its roots in user-generated content, or does that run the risk of scaring off advertisers on the new channels? Or will YouTube gradually transform itself into a premium video destination like Hulu? Plus, but with fives times the audience? Can it be both?

Online advertisers say there’s no question the site as it exists now has some real benefits (that audience, for example) but that it can be a tough sell to clients. "There are growing pains at YouTube. You need to retrain people to come to the site for premium content," says Dan Goodman, co-founder of Believe Entertainment Group, which is producing LeBron James’ full-length animated series The Lebrons for the site. "The large majority of video on YouTube … most advertisers wouldn’t want to be around," says Rich Kim of Rubin Postaer & Associates. "It's going to take time."

Google's hope may be that with enough premium programming, it can drown out the user-generated noise. As Goodman put it, "Once you [start to] have great content on YouTube, it does get you past the dogs on skateboards."
D.M. Levine Adweek

Twitter reportedly considering offering brands Facebook-style pages

2011-04-19T17:39:00.001-04:00

Twitter could soon offer brands dedicated Facebook-style pages on the microblogging service, opening up ways for advertisers to deliver tailored messages to their followers and serving as a central hub for companies to coordinate campaigns, Marketing Magazine reports.

Sources close to the subject have said Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and President of Revenue Adam Bain are championing the idea as one of the many plans it has to monetize the service. Providing advertisers and brands with more additional ways to interact with the Twitter userbase, adding to the existing Promoted Trends and free company accounts.

Weeks back, Twitter introduced the Quick Bar to its official app – which was quickly renamed the “DickBar”, after the Twitter CEO – aimed at increasing visibility of promoted topics on Twitter. The move was aimed at increasing interaction about hot topics on Twitter but also to highlight sponsored trends that otherwise may have been missed. It was pulled no more than a week later.

Having failed with its attempt to monetize existing services on its platform, Twitter is looking to create new revenue opportunities, turning its attention to an idea that has proven popular for rival Facebook.

It would be interesting to see how Twitter implements its new feature, should the rumours be confirmed. With the vast majority of users utilising the official website, the company can simply include links to new pages set up by brands. However, many active Twitter users have begun to make use of applications that utilise Twitter’s API – providing a consistent appearance and functionality amongst third-party apps would be instrumental in helping branded pages succeed.

Twitter is faced with the difficult task of introducing features, including branded pages, that help monetize its platform, whilst appeasing its users – something it has traditionally struggled with in the past.

Twitter has declined to comment on its advertising plans but has noted that ‘strong interest’ from brands is a key reason behind why it is looking to set up a UK office.

President Obama Takes It to Ryan and the GOP

2011-04-13T22:15:00.001-04:00

There's no reason for the establishment to fear me. But it has every right to fear the people collectively -- I am one with the people. Huey P. Newton...

Timelapse Flight Video Captures Aurora Borealis

2011-04-09T18:38:00.000-04:00

If given a whole row to themselves in a flight from San Francisco to Paris, most people would just sleep. Not this passenger, who set up his Canon 5D Mark II digital SLR camera on a tripod and attached a timelapse controller.

When he pointed his 16mm-to-35mm lens out his airplane window, the result was this remarkable timelapse video of his 11-hour flight.

Taking that Great Circle route above the polar regions, the video flies us through the aurora borealis, giving us a look at those spectacular northern lights.

Also remarkable is the fact that the Air France flight crew allowed the use of that bundle of electronic devices throughout the entire flight. At the end of this video, you’ll see the rig with which he snapped the 2,459 shots — one approximately every two miles. After the flight, they were edited together along with a few judiciously placed iPhone pics shot along the way.

By the way, you don’t even need to be flying that far north to see the northern lights — once on a night flight from Montréal to Detroit, I could see the aurora borealis out of the right side of the plane during the entire trip.

Altoids pays tribute to your friends on Facebook

2011-03-28T20:18:00.000-04:00

The curiously strong candy brand and ad agency The Evolution Bureau have released a song on Altoids’s Facebook Page, intended as a tongue-in-cheek “Curiously Strong Award” to “the stars of your social network.”

The archetypes include “The Like-A-Lot,” who “likes everything you do” and “The Friend Tycoon,” who tries to friend everyone he meets. “Let me tell you about The Oversharer,” goes another lyric, “treating that rash with aloe vera. Did he get it from hiking in the High Sierras or from a girl named Sarah? Yo, we don’t care-ah.”

Yes, it’s funny stuff, but as AdFreak notes, it’s also “a canny admission that while Facebook interactions can often be completely frivolous, for millions they’re also enjoyably meaningful diversions.”

Many writers have tried to catalog the various Facebook archetypes before, but none have been quite as catchy as this.

One qualm, however: What does this have to do with mints? On Facebook, after all, no one can smell your breath.

INCEPTION SOCIAL MEDIA MASHUP [ theOfficial Trailer ]

2011-03-26T13:58:00.000-04:00

Not long ago, while I was waiting in the airport and watching Inception on my PSP, I was infatuated with the notion that the plot echoed the emergence of social media.

Think social media. Now think of it as an idea. It would appear that the introduction of this idea [of social media] into our collective consciousness is something boarding on inception; and this idea has taken hold in a very real way. The everyday lives of millions have changed.

Ever wonder how this idea was introduced to you? Was it email? How about the first time you read about 'WEB 2.0'? Or was it instant messaging? Chat room? Fact is this idea [social media] has taken hold and is now influencing societal trends and has made information a viable, profitable, commodity.

Social media has become consensual policy.

Are we unnerved or giddily horrified that the premise of inception and the ends of social media are fundamentally the same? So what's the kick?
Anthony Chiles

SERENA WILLIAMS TOP SPIN 4 2K SPORTS NEW GAME WOW

2011-03-25T18:43:00.000-04:00

Social media rules. And Ms. Serena Williams is a social media darling.

Color’s Ambitious Photo App Seeks to Reinvent Mobile Social Networking

2011-03-24T11:36:00.000-04:00

Color Demo from Color Labs, Inc. on Vimeo.
Say hello to Color, a new mobile photo-sharing application with a star-studded list of entrepreneurs and an eye-popping $41 million in funding. Its goal is nothing less than to become the ultimate local discovery tool.

The app, which made its debut just a few hours ago on iPhone (and very soon on Android), is best described as public photo and video-sharing app for groups. Yet it doesn’t have the typical friending or following that you’ll find on Facebook, Twitter, Path or Instagram. Instead, Color chooses which pictures you see based on your location and how often you’re sharing photos with someone else. Every photo and video is public, not only to the people you consider your friends, but to any stranger within your proximity.

When you launch Color, the app delivers a stream of content from anybody within 100 feet of your location, as well as anybody within your “elastic network.” In Color, you don’t choose your network; instead, the app determines your social network by figuring out who you’re hanging out with on a regular basis. Every time two friends use the app near each other, Color’s algorithms detect it and use it to essentially rank your friendship. You can also curate your elastic network through actions such as asking the app to “Show More” of a particular friend or liking/commenting on a friend’s picture.

Keeping your elastic network takes work, though; if you don’t see a friend for a while, his or her pictures start to lose their color until that person eventually disappears from your network.

The result is that whenever you fire up the app, you can see what pictures are being taken around you, as well as the pictures friends in your elastic network are taking. Not only that, but the app will show you the pictures being taken by others within 100 feet of your friends. The app even has the ability to pull pictures that your friends took in the past, so long as you’re standing in the same location in which the pictures were taken. Imagine visiting the Statue of Liberty and then being able to magically see your best friend’s pictures from a different trip three year ago.

It’s the ultimate voyeur app for those who simply want to know what’s happening with their close friends or that cute neighbor that just happens to live next door.

from Mashable by Ben Parr

Yet again Facebook @ the center of another flawed social media strategy [but don't blame Facebook]

2011-03-23T15:12:00.000-04:00

Social Media is made for dummies. Social Media MGMT, not so much. And clearly the people behind the efforts of Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty are not really in the know when it comes to maximizing social media impact. In case you missed it [and you probably did] Tim Pawlenty yesterday became the first bona fide potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate to announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee. First bona fide potential?

He made this announcement on Facebook. You know Facebook. The Facebook with the 500 million users, etc.

Pawlenty told Fox News the decision to announce his committee on Facebook came from a desire to be on the "cutting edge" and called the social networking site "the wave of the future."

Mr. Pawlenty you've just wiped out. The Tim Pawlenty for President Exploratory Committee, never mind, this guy will never be president. I like Facebook. Yet, Facebook is not exactly the social mediasphere platform Mr. Pawlenty should be launching from right now. Let's face it; Perez Hilton has more fans than Mr. Pawlenty.

The big problem here is message, or the absence of. The video posted on Facebook is boring, trite, GOP rhetoric greased down in old school Madison Avenue slick. Announcing an "exploratory committee" is simply lame. If Mr. Pawlenty and his PR team think they can out maneuver President Obama in the social media arena with their current approach, they're crazy. The Obama social media machine is focused on message, not medium. Love him or not, President Obama's presence in the social mediasphere is the blueprint on how to deliver "the message."

Yo! Pawlenty! What's the message?! Hometown? Road trip? Ronald Reagan?! During a nearly 2min. video Mr. Pawlenty never even mentions his own name. Guess he's going on face recognition. Mr. Pawlenty and the rest of the GOP are going to have their collective asses handed to them by the juggernaut of Obama's Media Machine because they don't understand how social media really works. They [the GOP] will spend millions of Taxpayer-Funded dollars to achieve subpar results in the social mediasphere. They've been seduced by the aura of a medium they have no clue how to use effectively. For the record, Sarah Palin knows how to use social media [one of her fans did attempt the assassination of a U.S. Congresswoman, lest we forget.] Her message though is unintelligibly convoluted and xenophobic. Note to self: No one ever promised social media would be used for good.

Lesson learned here, commit to your message when entering the social mediasphere and don't be all wishy-washy like Mr. Pawlenty. So while your plotting your company’s next big social media gambit, remember this; on the long and wonderful road of social media the message drives the medium, so map out the message, this way you know where you're driving the medium.

FACT: The 3 GOP "exploratory committees" of businessman Herman Cain, former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer and Mr. Pawlenty have a combined fanbase on Facebook of less than 150,000 as of this blog post. The First Lady, Michelle Obama, has 4,112,104 fans on Facebook. Just saying...
Anthony Chiles

The Question is... can Buffer helps you tweet more consistently

2011-03-22T22:23:00.000-04:00

Introducing Buffer from Joel Gascoigne on Vimeo.
Buffer helps you Tweet more consistently.

There are just 3 simple steps:

1. Choose times to tweet.
[For example, 3 times a day at 9:30, 13:30 and 17:30]

2 Add tweets to your buffer.
[Manually or with our handy browser extensions]

3 Buffer does the rest. Relax.
[We tweet for you. Just keep that buffer topped up]

Sign up for free at bufferapp.com

SXSW 2011 - Adam Hirsch - COO Mashable

2011-03-19T21:45:00.000-04:00

Browser Test: Chrome 10 vs Firefox 4 vs Internet Explorer 9 vs Opera 11 ...

2011-03-17T23:07:00.000-04:00

webcam demo for darling kara xoxoxo

2011-03-15T21:36:00.001-04:00

Have you looked at Blogger lately?

2011-03-14T17:18:00.000-04:00

Does Broadband Create Digital Ghettos?

2011-03-09T15:38:00.000-05:00

Australia’s Special Broadband Service has warned that the steady increase in broadband speed, and its increasing availability, may lead to “digital ghettos.” The premise is simple: faster and more reliable broadband means that more and more people can participate effectively online. As affordable broadband access spreads to different ethnic groups, argues the SBS, these communities could form tight-knit “communities” online—ghettos, in other words. Instead of broadband, and more generally the Internet, bringing people together, it threatens to further separate different groups of people from each other.

The SBS warned, in speaking about Australia’s plan for a national broadband network, that broadband will encourage different ethnic groups to “retreat inward,” rather than embrace different peoples and ideas.

Such a phenomenon could also be described as narrowcasting. Rather than create programming that attracts a wide audience, you instead create programming that appeals only to a small niche. There are networks that only show sports, networks that only show movies, networks that only show reality TV, networks that only show the news. The same principle applies online: Web sites that only cover sports, Web sites that only cover tech, etc. Sirius XM has discrete channels that appeal only to a certain audience: I doubt very much that fans of The Boneyard listen to BPM all that often. (I listen Sirius XM, but I primarily only listen to The Virus. I have no idea what happens on the several hundred other channels on the platform.)

The danger, of course, is if this separateness moves beyond simple pastimes and becomes part of a community’s larger identity. Group A only visits Web site A for news, while Group B only visits Web site B. What happens if these sites have different editorial slants? Group A and B may see the very same story in two totally different lights, which could lead to problems down the line.

The point, I suppose, is that increased broadband availability won’t automatically solve the world’s problems. Just because you give people access to greater communication doesn’t mean they’re not going to use it as an extension of their already present communication channels or biases. And if people only see their opinion online, and see it constantly reinforced and validated, well, that could be problematic.

I understand this all sounds somewhat backwards—give people greater access to communication and they’ll merely turn inward—but let’s not pretend we can’t already see that happening.

[INFOGRAPHIC] Who’s Scanning All Those QR Codes?

2011-03-05T10:36:00.000-05:00

QR CODES are everywhere these days — in fine art exhibits, some cities’ building permits, wrapping paper and every imaginable kind of marketing campaign. QR code-focused startup JumpScan was kind enough to send along a graphically organized representation of some data they’ve gathered about QR codes — who’s scanning them, what kinds of devices they’re using and what brands are running QR code campaigns.

What is LIBOX animation

2011-02-16T19:45:00.000-05:00

How it Works: Libox is a social media manager that works on the Mac, PC, web and on iOS. Using Libox, you can access and stream content from other devices on your network or download files from your other computers without having to worry about configuring a bunch of settings. You can also share files and folders with friends using the web interface.
Price: Free
Why We Like It: Libox is very easy to set up and use and is a great way to keep your content accessible across devices. It is a great way to solve the “what computer is that video/photo/song on?” dilemma. The latest editions to the iPhone app make sharing and accessing media from a mobile device even easier.
Who It’s For: Libox is for users who primarily access content from a computer or a mobile device. Although TV apps are in the works, Libox is a computer/laptop/iPhone/iPad device for now.

HOW TO: Stream Your Media to Every Device in the House

2011-02-16T19:40:00.000-05:00

HOW TO: Stream Your Media to Every Device in the House

Twitter: discover what's new in your world

2011-02-16T19:25:00.000-05:00

Web 2.0 Summit 2010: Mark Zuckerberg, "A Conversation with Mark Zuckerb...

2010-11-17T17:28:00.000-05:00

2010-10-28T13:08:00.001-04:00

How To Set Up A Facebook Fan Page For Business

2010-10-07T22:01:00.001-04:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

How To Set Up A Facebook Fan Page For Business

View more presentations from Coco Design.

How to Use Twitter

2010-09-16T19:30:00.000-04:00

Girl on the Sidewalk with a YouTube Channel

2010-08-14T18:10:00.000-04:00

This is the very talented Ms. Jacinda Bridger introducing the world to her YouTube Channel. We here at Absolut Creative are hyped because Ms. Bridger does a lot of our voice over work for our clients. Jacinda, you go girl.

front row at Kanye West performance at Twitter headquarters

2010-07-29T14:41:00.000-04:00

How To Use Flickr

2010-07-16T19:31:00.000-04:00

Design and Build an Attractive Personal Homepage with Flavors.me

2010-06-08T13:43:00.000-04:00

Design and Build an Attractive Personal Homepage with Flavors.me

Oh not now!

2010-06-08T12:01:00.000-04:00

Twitter is over capacity.
Too many tweets! Please wait a moment and try again.

This is just not cool.

Ex-Twitter Employee Didn’t Want to Work for an “Ad Company”

2010-06-04T10:02:00.000-04:00

Ex-Twitter Employee Didn’t Want to Work for an “Ad Company”

NIKE WRITE THE FUTURE - FULL LENGTH VERSION

2010-05-21T10:37:00.000-04:00

Now this is a social media slam dunk. You can learn alot from those Nike dudes.

Introducing Google TV

2010-05-21T09:36:00.000-04:00

Who You Gonna Call?

2010-05-20T00:02:00.000-04:00

The Google Logo in 884 4x6 Photographs: Construction Time-lapse

2010-05-13T16:48:00.000-04:00

First Friday in the Oregon District

2010-05-07T10:04:00.000-04:00

Google Places

2010-04-20T23:38:00.000-04:00

HOW TO: Boost Your SEO with a YouTube Channel

2010-04-16T17:36:00.001-04:00

HOW TO: Boost Your SEO with a YouTube Channel

Posted using ShareThis

YouTube’s New Streamlined ‘Watch’ Page Boosts Engagement By 7%

2010-03-31T16:09:00.000-04:00

This morning, broke the news that YouTube would be rolling out its new, streamlined Watch page to all users. The aptly named page is the all-important portion of the site where you actually watch videos (it also features comments, ratings, and related videos). At an event at YouTube headquarters this morning, three of the key people involved with the launch — Senior Product Manager Shiva Rajaraman, UI designer Julian Fumar, and engineer Igor Kofman — walked us through some of the changes in the new design, the logic behind them, and some of the early results they’ve seen.

We first saw the new Watch page in January, when the site started allowing users to opt-in to it. To test the new design, YouTube also rolled it out to around 10% of its users. Among those users, YouTube says that it has see a rise in engagement (which includes actions like ratings and leaving comments) by 7%, and an increase in the number of videos watched by 6%. Those may not sound like huge numbers, but given that this is the world’s most popular video site, that translates into a lot of extra views.

So what changed? In short, everything is much cleaner. The YouTube team said that in 2009 the site added more features than they had in the two previous years combined, and things were getting cluttered. So they’ve decided to prune the hedges.

As we detailed when the redesign first become available, the new site has streamlined the page header to place a much greater emphasis on search. It has also abandoned YouTube’s long-standing five star rating system in favor of a binary thumbs up/thumbs down system (a change that YouTube has discussed for months).

Less obvious changes: the ‘more info’ button, which used to be a bizarrely small link nestled under the video description, is now positioned directly under the video, with a much larger clickable area. The video uploader’s screenname is now more prominently featured above the video, as is the ‘Subscribe’ button (there will be an opportunity for YouTube partners to brand this area). The related videos listing, which makes up the page’s right column, will now be more consistently positioned. And you can now access the site’s detailed viewing statistics simply by clicking on the viewcount (these used to be tucked under a ’stats’ menu).

Google Launches Labs For Ads

2010-03-31T15:54:00.000-04:00

When Google wants to try out a new consumer-facing product, it usually puts it in Google Labs. That is where experimental products can be found. There are separate Labs for Gmail, Calendar, Maps, Search, and YouTube (although sometimes they are called “experiments” or “TestTube”). Now Google Ads has its own Labs, which it is calling Ad Innovations. It is a central place where advertisers can “explore new marketing technologies.”

Some of the highlighted technologies include Google’s new remarketing option, which shows ads to people who have visited the advertiser’s Website as they visit other sites that serve up Google ads. Another feature highlighted on the Ad Innovations page is Google’s new Search Funnels analytics tool, which shows advertisers the history of interactions with their ads leading up to a click. The online advertising industry is trying to prove to advertisers that even ads that don’t get clicked on can lead to conversions. Search Funnels is Google’s way of making that argument. The page also highlights product listing ads, special YouTube ads, and mobile click-to-call ads.

It’s about time Google’s advertising products got their own Labs. But hopefully ad products that don’t work won’t be allowed to linger around as long as some of the consumer stuff in Google Labs proper. We’re talking about products designed to make money here, after all.

Absolut Creative

Clear: Why This Simple To Do List App Has Everyone Talking

NYPD deploys TSA style Naked Body scanner to bypass 4th Amendment / Terahertz radiation blasters

Twitter does a Flashback

Technology's defining the hope agenda this year: Marian Salzman On What Were The Top Trends in 2011?

Black Simon and Garfunkel

The Year in Film | A trailer that's more awesome than any of the movies, yup.

The NYC Skyline Has Just Been Occupied, Suckas

It’s Time For Google To Let Google Voice Live Up To Its Promise

Zipcar Members Can Now Reserve A Car On Facebook

NYC Subway Surfer

Question Everything...

Mad Men’s Don Draper to pitching Facebook's new Timeline feature

Facebooks Timeline, a major re-imagining of user profiles [VIDEO]

Prepare Yourselves: Facebook To Be Profoundly Changed

Women Dominate Men at Social Networking [STUDY]

On Campus @soulhornet

Over 1 Billion People Use Social Networks Today

How Social Media Affects Content Relevance in Search

Just what did your Social Media strategy accomplish today?

New York Times & WNYC Launch SchoolBook to Foster Education Community

Yeah, so what if it's Sunday?

Otis on a Friday, can you dig it!

9.1.11

Damn!!! @greenhouseNYc #bottlesUP! on Twitpic

Say Something Nice NYC Style

Founder of Office Hours Dispatch.io talks about Working the Cloud

Old Version of Twitter To Be Killed Off This Week

Google Gets Ripped by Microsoft With Gmail Man

Have words lost their power?

Esther Dyson Notes Google+ Has “The Advantage Of Following Facebook” (TCTV)

The Google+ project: A quick look

Live Transit Updates in Google Maps

Introducing the +1 Button from Google

WATCH: World Press Freedom Day Conference [LIVE]

Greenpeace Video moves beyond the hype toward social impact

With YouTube, Advertisers Need More LeBron, Less Dogs on Skateboards But will original content spark an identity crisis?

Twitter reportedly considering offering brands Facebook-style pages

President Obama Takes It to Ryan and the GOP

Timelapse Flight Video Captures Aurora Borealis

Altoids pays tribute to your friends on Facebook

*INCEPTION SOCIAL MEDIA MASHUP [* theOfficial Trailer ]

SERENA WILLIAMS TOP SPIN 4 2K SPORTS NEW GAME WOW

Color’s Ambitious Photo App Seeks to Reinvent Mobile Social Networking

Yet again Facebook @ the center of another flawed social media strategy [but don't blame Facebook]

The Question is... can Buffer helps you tweet more consistently

SXSW 2011 - Adam Hirsch - COO Mashable

Browser Test: Chrome 10 vs Firefox 4 vs Internet Explorer 9 vs Opera 11 ...

webcam demo for darling kara xoxoxo

Have you looked at Blogger lately?

Does Broadband Create Digital Ghettos?

[INFOGRAPHIC] Who’s Scanning All Those QR Codes?

What is LIBOX animation

HOW TO: Stream Your Media to Every Device in the House

Twitter: discover what's new in your world

Web 2.0 Summit 2010: Mark Zuckerberg, "A Conversation with Mark Zuckerb...

How To Set Up A Facebook Fan Page For Business

How to Use Twitter

Girl on the Sidewalk with a YouTube Channel

front row at Kanye West performance at Twitter headquarters

How To Use Flickr

Design and Build an Attractive Personal Homepage with Flavors.me

Oh not now!

Ex-Twitter Employee Didn’t Want to Work for an “Ad Company”

NIKE WRITE THE FUTURE - FULL LENGTH VERSION

Introducing Google TV

Who You Gonna Call?

The Google Logo in 884 4x6 Photographs: Construction Time-lapse

First Friday in the Oregon District

Google Places

HOW TO: Boost Your SEO with a YouTube Channel

YouTube’s New Streamlined ‘Watch’ Page Boosts Engagement By 7%

Google Launches Labs For Ads

INCEPTION SOCIAL MEDIA MASHUP [ theOfficial Trailer ]