Sleek and Skinny Design

Most reviewers agreed that simply holding an iPhone 4 will increase feelings of self-importance. It boasts a sleek, satin-like design, and represents the thinnest iPhone yet. Measuring just 0.37″, it surpasses its 0.48″ predecessor.

Screen Streaking

You can certainly look at the new iPhone’s radiant design, but can you touch it? Although the screen survived the Wall Street Journal’s drop test unscathed, reviewers have reported spotting problems as well as a construction concern. Because of a drying issue with the bonding agent, yellow spots or streaks have surfaced across the screen. These blemishes reportedly disappear within a few days, but the construction concern is more permanent.

Screen Construction

Unlike previous models with screws releasing the front display assembly, the two screws on the bottom of the iPhone 4 release its back panel. This means that if the glass breaks, you’ll have to replace the entire phone rather than just the screen, since the display and touch panel are glued to the glass.

Superhuman Retina Display

With Apple’s Retina display, the iPhone 4 showcases a 960×640 pixel resolution that renders the human eye inferior. According to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, within this resolution, which is four times higher than that of the iPhone 3GS, there are so many pixels that the human eye is unable to perceive them all. Critics have praised everything about the phone’s display, from the impressively clear graphics to the bold, sharp text. The display’s quality has even been compared to that of a printed magazine.

External Antenna and Poor Reception

Considering the general sense of public dissatisfaction with the iPhone’s exclusive tie to AT&T, Apple sought to improve reception on the not-so reliable network with an external band antenna. The antenna was designed to pick up the least congested network band, or the one with the least interference in order to achieve the best signal quality, regardless of the actual signal strength. However, it may not pick up any signals at all, depending on how you hold it. In response to the public’s concern about the reception issues, Apple has deemed it a “non-issue” and offered two solutions: either hold the phone differently, or purchase a case to eliminate this performance-hindering contact.

According to Apple, iPhone 4 users should avoid grasping their devices around the bottom left corner, covering both sides of the band’s black strip. Despite being highly-publicized, these reception issues haven’t occurred often enough to increase the phone’s return rate, which stands at 1.7% since its debut, compared to the 3GS model’s 6% return rate shortly after its introduction last year.

Front-facing Camera and FaceTime

With the introduction of a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, self-portrait lovers will no longer have to use the bathroom mirror or a self-timer to snap photographs of themselves. Even better, this front-facing camera enables the iPhone 4’s impressive video calling application, FaceTime.

Although the iPhone 4 isn’t the first phone to feature video chatting, critics have already praised FaceTime for its user-friendliness and its ability to seamlessly function.  Outstanding issues with the picture-in-picture calling feature include its availability only over Wi-Fi networks, and only from one iPhone 4 to another iPhone 4.

Lack of Flash

Although the iPhone 4 showcases this innovative video-calling app, the absence of a Flash player will prevent you from viewing actual video and other interactive content online. Users hoping to catch up on their favorite television shows or watch the latest sports highlights via their mobile devices should opt for a different phone, since Apple has defended the exclusion of a Flash player on the basis of both security and performance.

Who hasn’t defended this exclusion? Google. The company’s Android 2.2 platform allows Android users to download Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1 beta, and access the abundance of interactive online content via the mobile web.

Multitasking

The iPhone 4 may not be able to play video online, but it certainly can do just about everything else - and it can do it all at the same time. Arguably the most remarkable feature of Apple’s new iOS 4 operating system, “multitasking” allows you to run multiple third-party apps simultaneously. With multitasking, reading an e-mail won’t stop your Pandora tunes from streaming and answering a call (if anyone still uses a phone for that purpose) won’t stop your GPS app from navigating. Convenient? Yes. But original? Not entirely. Apple’s introduction of multitasking represents an answer to Google’s Android, which pioneered the feature in 2008 with the release of its first version, the HTC GI.

Affordability

Not surprisingly, a device with features being deemed “mind-boggling” and “eye-wateringly impressive” won’t be a steal. Depending on your current relationship with AT&T, you’ll have to shell out anywhere from $199 to $699 for the iPhone 4. On the plus side, AT&T is allowing subscribers eligible for an upgrade any time in 2010 to purchase the phone before their actual upgrade day at the subsidized rate of $199 (16 GB) or $299 (32 GB).

Without a contract with AT&T, it will cost $599 or $699 to get your hands on Apple’s latest success. Spending $699 can get you the iPhone 4 — $699 can also get you two round-trip plane tickets from Boston to Los Angeles, a 5 Night Western Caribbean Cruise for two, or 214 grande lattes from Starbucks.

Geo-Location: Twitter and Facebook… A Promising but Murky Future- Part 2

To Tell-All or Not to Tell-All, That is the Question

In part I, the great marketing and business potential of geo-location was discussed. However, this promise hinges largely on the willingness of people to continue to broadcast their lives in great detail on social networking sites. We have all heard the cautionary tales of people losing their jobs over a post on their profile and the questionable online privacy practices of Facebook have been grabbing a lot of headlines lately.

“The marketing and business potential of geo-location hinges largely on the willingness of people to continue to broadcast their lives in great detail on social networking sites.”

Even though geo-location has the benefit of adding location-based context to people’s updates, will people feel comfortable letting a network of others (many of whom they may not know very well) know exactly where they are? There have been indications of user dissatisfaction with social networking sites’ privacy policies and greater discretion being taken by people with regards to their personal information.

These events clearly signal barriers that geo-location applications will have to overcome. Adoption of geo-location by the public will largely be a result of whether people will really want to share their location with others. Though people may see the merits of using geo-location features, the issues of privacy and personal information may be hard to surmount.

Sharing Useful Information, Not Just Location

Despite the threat that privacy and security issues pose to the success of geo-location in social media, the ability of this feature to let people share useful information may help it overcome hurdles to adoption. From citizen journalism to letting friends know about good deals, people appear to want to tell others about useful public information. Whether it be witnessing a public event or participating in a public happening like shopping, people may be more willing to share their locations with others.

In the end, the success of geo-location in social media may rely heavily on whether or not people start to rethink how much they reveal about themselves online and whether any possible uneasiness can be alleviated. The groundwork for businesses to leverage geo-location as a sales tool is being laid as it makes its way into social media, but will the people follow?

]]> http://www.buzzwordchasers.com/uncategorized/twitter-and-facebook-geolocation-issues-2/feed/ http://www.buzzwordchasers.com/technology/twitter-and-facebook-geolocation-issues/ http://www.buzzwordchasers.com/technology/twitter-and-facebook-geolocation-issues/#comments Fri, 02 Jul 2010 18:24:38 +0000 chas http://www.buzzwordchasers.com/?p=1463

Geo-Location: Twitter and Facebook… Promising but Murky Future- Part 1

Imagine reading someone’s tweet about the World Cup and being able to tell if they are watching the game on TV or are actually at the stadium. This is now a reality as Twitter announced on its blog Monday the introduction of a location identification feature to help provide context to tweets. Twitter Places essentially helps people know where a tweet is coming from and allows people to:

· Tag tweets with specific places

· Create new Twitter Places

· Click a Twitter Place within a tweet to see recent tweets from a particular location.

Unsurprisingly, its social media competitor Facebook was also making noise on the geo-location front Monday. Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed to the press that Facebook will be launching location-based features in the near future.

It’s clear that geo-location is becoming a very hot feature in social media, but the questions remain: what are its implications and will this trend catch on?

Geo-Location: Where the Money Is

One of the most promising applications of geo-location is for well, what else? Helping companies make money. Marketers will take keen interest in knowing where people are relative to their businesses or products. The ability to place highly targeted, contextual ads based on the real time location of consumers could be a real game changer. Companies could not only draw consumers towards their products, but also reach shoppers in a competitor’s store to try and draw them away. Geo-location integrated into social media will allow marketers to move people physically like never before.

“The ability to place highly targeted, contextual ads based on the real time location of consumers could be a real game changer.”

Companies leveraging geo-location will also be able to take advantage of the inherently viral nature of social media. Geo-location advertising is a perfect way to promote special deals or new products as companies could offer discounts, freebies, exclusive sneak peeks etc to people who are near their store or product. Then, if people wanted to share this useful information, they could go on Facebook or Twitter (or both!) and inform all their friends or followers of the promotion with their location automatically showing up on a Google Map.

In addition, geo-location has great promise for the marketing of unused or expiring inventory. Geo-location can help move people to buy an expiring product at a discount or attend an event they would not have otherwise attended. Opportunities include:

· Sporting Events. Geo-locally targeting people in sports bars or gyms and giving them unused tickets. This would help increase brand exposure for the team as well as bring in revenue from sources like concessions, souvenirs, etc.

· Hotels. Giving away vacant rooms so as to increase brand exposure and capitalize on potential accommodations like room service, mini-bar etc

· Destinations. Museums, zoos, and theme parks could give away free passes to people in the area and profit from any other sources of revenue like concessions, souvenirs etc.

What’s Next?

Companies are tapping and integrating into the highly influential social media platforms more and more. The big players like Facebook and Twitter are making serious forays into the geo-location game.

These moves clearly pave the way for an interesting future where businesses and marketers have a unique, highly targeted and potentially very effective way to sell their products utilizing highly contextualized ads and social networks.

As Twitter’s and Facebook’s recent announcements illustrate, companies and social media sites are anticipating big things from geo-location, but the big question is whether or not the public at large will actually utilize these geo-location features. Check back soon for Part II of this series where we will discuss likely factors that influence the public’s decision to use geo-targeted services.

In the technological world, it isn’t difficult to recognize Apple’s dominance. On June 21st, just two days before the highly anticipated release of the new iPhone 4, Apple launched a new series of improved software.

The updated software, known as iOS 4, boasts more than 100 new features and is available to owners of older iPhones and iPod Touch appliances, which may be rendered archaic with Apple’s release of ever-improving gadgets. But if all the new perks were available to owners of the older model, what would be the appeal of the iPhone 4? In Part I of this blog series, we will examine the iPhone 4’s new features and their compatibility with older models.

Giving New Meaning to Multi-tasking

Unfortunately for users of older models, “multi-tasking,” arguably the iOS 4’s most important feature, won’t function on the iPhone 3G or second generation iPod Touch devices. These users won’t be able to run applications in the background while simultaneously using different apps in the foreground-multi-tasking’s claim to fame.

“The iOS 4’s most important feature won’t function on the iPhone 3G or second generation iPod Touch devices.”

For those operating the newer devices, taking advantage of multi-tasking means first updating their current apps, which will create a task menu at the bottom of the screen. By double-tapping the “Home” button, iPhone users will be able to access all their new apps via this task menu.

Similar to switching from window to window on a computer, iPhone 4 users will be able to jump from one application to another-listening to music via the popular Pandora application while simultaneously playing games, messaging friends or answering e-mails. Equally convenient will be the ability to run a GPS app without the fear of interruption by a phone call.

Folders, Folders and More Folders

Before the introduction of the iOS 4 software, it was difficult for app-lovers to keep track of their hundreds-even thousands-of programs. Users with a penchant for the 200,000 applications Apple now offers can download and store up to 2,160 of them into different folders on their iPhones.

iPhone users can now download and store in folders up to 2,160 different apps.

An additional organizational tool the new software delivers is a unified mailbox, allowing users to manage multiple e-mail accounts from the same location. The introduction of the threaded e-mail feature, as Gmail users know, displays e-mails as a conversation instead of separate messages.

“FaceTime” Video Calls Bring Users Face to Face

Among the many new iPhone and iOS 4 features, the “FaceTime” application stands out, allowing users to make video calls to one another, and even better, to enjoy this communication for free. Unlike standard phone calls, video calls through FaceTime don’t count toward users’ allotted minutes.

Sound too good to be true? It is, for users who don’t plan to upgrade to the iPhone 4, since it is the only device on which the application runs. In other words, even if one caller owns an iPhone 4, he/she won’t be able to initiate a video call unless the second user also owns the latest iPhone.

Another potential problem with FaceTime is that it’s currently a Wi-Fi only application. However, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has announced that this is temporary, and that the application will be ready for use over cellular networks after this year.

For more information on the iPhone 4, its new software and new apps, check back soon for Part II of our iPhone 4 review.

How does it work?

Through Google Base and Google Merchant Center, you can describe any content you post with attributes. These attributes, which reveal characteristics of your item, help people find your posts when they do similar searches.

Google Base and Google Merchant Center serve as types of queries for Product Search, Adwords, and other Google properties. When users search for an item, Google will pull items that match the search from these listings. The attributes that were entered into Google will be given to the user to help them make a better product choice. The more relevant the item’s description is to the search at hand, the more likely that item will be selected.

A Golden Marketing Tool

Although a major component of the original Google Base was an online classified ads service, it can also be used to list things like current events, recipes, and profiles. You can list services on Google Base, as well. Virtually anything a person is trying to sell or promote can be listed using Google Base.

Google Base versus Google Merchant Center

In September 2009, Google released its Merchant Center to replace Google Base for product-type submissions. Google Base remains available for other, more content-based listings, but the Merchant Center is where Google will spend the time making tools and improvements for product listings.

The Google Merchant Center interface is very similar to that of Google Base, and you can access all of your feeds, items, and settings by logging into the Merchant Center with your existing username and password.

The Goal of Google Base

Although the role of Google Base has shrunk with the release of Merchant Center, the service is still the best place to list items like classified ads and professional services. Non-product items are best listed on Google Base.

What’s in it for me?

The benefits of Google Base and Google Merchant Center for everyday Internet users and businesses are innumerable.

Some advantages of Google Base and Google Merchant Center include:

- If the content is not yet online, Google will host it for you.

- There is no cost.

- The service is available in English and German interfaces.

- Items you submit to Google Base and Google Merchant Center may be found on Google properties like Google or Google Maps.

Google Base and Google Merchant Center allow the average individual with no HTML knowledge to list items online. These Google services also allow users to get their content into the search results without being reviewed by web crawlers and sitemaps.

QR codes have been widely used in Asia for some times, and Japan is going nuts over them! QR codes can appear on items such as food packaging, restaurants, bus stops, and real estate agents’ windows. When the codes are scanned, appropriate information is displayed on the smart phone, such as suggested recipes, calories and nutritional information, menus, bus timetables, and floor plans for real estate for sale.

Google wants the U.S. to be next to adopt! Starting this week, you’ll be able to scan away at up to 190,000 local businesses throughout the U.S. Google has mailed out window stickers with these QR codes to the most-searched for or clicked-on businesses in its local business directory. Anyone with a QR code reader in their phone can scan it to call up a Google Mobile local directory page . They generally include a map, phone number, directions, address, reviews, and a link to the store’s website. It’s pretty much a mobile version of Google Places. Google is also introducing the business coupons via QR codes. When the code is scanned the smart phone will display a coupon or voucher that can be redeemed in the store directly from the image on the screen. This will prove a great way to enitice someone who is standing outside your store to come in!

Google expects the QR code system to work effectively with the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android, but says it should work with many other smart phones as well. Google is giving away 40,000 Quickmark QR Code Reader apps for the iPhone, which normally cost $1.99 apiece. But you can essentially use any QR code reader. There are a bunch of free ones, and some on Android phones as well.

Find out more..

Everyone is talking about it on Twitter. Everyone is searching on Google and so far, everyone seems to love it!

According to several PC vendors, market acceptance of Windows 7 is already high - much higher than it was for Vista. This is good news for the new PC market and good news for Microsoft!

What are your thoughts on Windows 7, have you checked it out yet?

There are more than 60 million page views that come from mobile phones per month for Wordpress blogs, proving that your site needs to be mobile-ready.

To make your site render better on mobile devices, Wordpress has launched two new mobile themes that will automatically be displayed when compatible mobile phones attempt to access your site.

Smartphones with top notch mobile browsers (i.e the iPhone) will have a tweaked version of the WPtouch theme. WPtouch comes complete with all the standard Wordpress blog features: search, login, categories, tags, archives, photos, and more. It also offers many customization features through a beautifully designed WordPress admin panel. It even includes custom header image scaling, and AJAX commenting and post loading.

Other devices will sport a variation of the Wordpress Mobile Edition, which is a plugin that portrays your interface specifically designed for a mobile device. It a viewer do not have as sophisticated of a browser, this mobile theme will help sites load faster and display as much relevant information on the blog as possible.

It airs every weakness of the iPhone and plays on Apple’s ad campaign “I,” by saying things like, “I don’t have a real keyboard,” and “I don’t take pictures in the dark.” At the end of the commercial, the caption says, “Everything iDon’t…Droid does. November.”

Although we are suddenly made aware of all of the things the iPhone does not do, we are not really sure what exactly the Droid does. At first glance, it seems clever, but after viewers start to think a bit deeper, they are a bit confused.

At the end of the ad, you are prompted to the microsite, droiddoes.com. The copy reads, “Don’t you wish you had a robot sidekick that moved at light speed, could get you out of any problem and lived in your pocket? Soon you will. Input your email address and Droid will notify you when compromise has been deactivated.”

You then see some of the features, including high speed, hi-res, 5 megapixels, speech recognition, notification panel, directions, video, tunes, 10,000+ apps, the network, and multitasking, as well as a Verizon Wireless logo at the bottom. That’s where things start to come together.

With all of the new browsers that have come out and are available to us today, it is mind boggling that people are still using Internet Explorer. It is poorly supported, lacks security, does not support PNG transparency, CSS v2, HTML5, and much more. Browsers are free, so naturally, we should all have the best right?

We’ve always known that most people are afraid of change, but they cannot be in this situation. The new browsers (Firefox, Opera, and Safari to name a few) are so much better; but, unfortunately Internet Explorer is still the most popular web browser, holding down 25% of the market.

On a site specifically made as a result of frustration, www.ie6nomore.com states,

“Enough is enough. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 was released in late 2001. For its time, it was a decent browser, but in 2009, it is still in use by a significant portion of the web population, and its time is now up. As any web developer will tell you, working with IE 6 is one of the most difficult and frustrating things they have to deal with on a daily basis, taking up a disproportionate amount of their time. Beyond that, IE 6’s support for modern web standards is very lacking, restricting what developers can create and holding the web back.”

Google created another site, whatbrowser.org, to educate people on what a browser is, so that they can move on. 

Now all we have to do is hope people are listening.