Wednesday, December 29, 2010

19 new stories on The Next Web today

19 new stories on The Next Web today

Link to The Next Web

10 Things We Learnt About Smartphones In 2010 [TNW Mobile]

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 03:37 AM PST

We were lucky enough to witness another bumper year for new smartphones.

Mobile handsets that are almost as powerful as computers that are doubling as satellite navigation devices, keeping us connected with friends via a number of different networks and bringing much amusement with some hilarious auto-correct messaging suggestions.

Not all news about smartphones was necessarily good over the past year, but it wasn’t all bad. Here are ten things that we learnt about smartphones in 2010.

1. Antenna Placement Is Vital

When Apple launched the new iPhone 4, it received overwhelmingly positive reviews.Soon after owners spent some time with their devices, it became apparent that hardware issues were being reported with alarming frequency.

At first, users were reporting yellow lines or dots on the iPhone 4′s much-vaunted retina display. Soon after, a bigger and ultimately disastrous problem for Apple was discovered – if the phone was held in a certain way, it lost signal.

The signal problem on the iPhone 4 (now referred to as Antennagate) occurred when touching the antenna on the side of the phone in such a way that would induce interference due to the electro-conducive nature of skin.

At first Apple denied it was a problem, Steve Jobs went as far as to say iPhone 4 users were holding it wrong. Then came a dedicated page on the Apple website that showed smartphone owners to replicate signal issues on other smartphones which was pulled not soon after it went up.

As complaints mounted and the media started to report on the signal issues, Apple then gave its customers the option of ordering a free case to cover the offending antenna and stop the interference altogether.

The signal issues only provided a momentary blip on Apple’s radar, it still sold 1.7 million units in three days. It just went to show that a company as successful as Apple, a company that poured millions of dollars into design and antenna placement, could still falter.

2. Smartphones Are Soon To Become Gaming Consoles

We knew that smartphones were already credible gaming platforms, just look at the success of Angry Birds. What we didn’t realise was that manufacturers such as Sony Ericsson were looking to bridge the smartphone and the games console, creating what came to be known as the PlayStation Phone.

The PlayStation Phone, going under the possible name Xperia Play, is an Android smartphone with a joypad that can be extended out from the body of the phone. It is thought that owners of the device will be able to wirelessly download gaming titles, utilising a Playstation dashboard on the device that will connect them to leaderboards and friends.

The device is expected to be formally announced at CES 2011 in January and it has been suggested that the handset will be released in April.

3. Smartphone Users Have A Lot Apps To Choose From

Part of the success of smartphones is down to the number of high-quality applications available on the various smartphone app marketplaces. In 2010, Apple’s App Store grew to over 300,000 applications, just yesterday it emerged that the Android Market had (unofficially) eclipsed the 200,000 applications barrier with Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 operating system hitting 5,000 apps not more than a month after launching.

As manufacturers continue innovating the hardware available in its smartphones, app developers have been able to develop applications that can push the limits of what smartphones can offer. With technologies like NFC making their way into smartphones, we could see another wave of exciting new applications that can connect and interact with other devices wirelessly, pushing the boundaries of what smartphones can offer.

4. Manufacturer Locks Can’t Stop Users Modifying Their Smartphones

Whether it’s Apple playing a cat and mouse game with the jailbreaking community or smartphone users thinking Motorola has set up its Droid X to blow up if the bootloader is tampered with, locks placed by manufacturers on smartphones are almost certainly going to get circumvented.

HTC and T-Mobile worked to stop modders tampering with the T-Mobile G2 – each time the firmware was changed, the device would roll back to its original settings. It took developers just over a month to achieve root privileges on the device but root was obtained all the same.

Each time the iPhone gets a firmware update, the jailbreaking community immediately gets to work sourcing new ways to achieve root access and unlock their iPhones. Not a new process by any means, its the techniques that are getting more and more complex.

5. The Nexus One Was A Successful Flop

Launching in January, the Nexus One was Google’s first attempt at selling a smartphone directly. Manufactured by HTC, the handset was one of the most powerful Android devices on the market at the time, offering a vanilla version of Android that would bring with it regular updates directly from Google, not the manufacturer.

Google called the retailing of its own phone “an experiment”, selling the device online only. Google didn’t do much in the way of promotion, instead relying on the more technologically aware to help drive demand for the device (a few writers have a Nexus One here at The Next Web). The device sold over 135,000 units in its first 72 days, the iPhone selling one million and the Motorola Droid 1.05 million – compared to its competition, the Nexus One flopped.

It wasn’t all bad for Google, as it said, it was an experiment. Google didn’t partner with many operators and it didn’t allow the device to be offered in bricks-and-mortar stores, limiting its sales potential (this was reserved for HTC with the HTC Desire, the same handset minus the Google branding).

The device is successful because it still holds its own. Ask Nexus One owners if they will be swapping their phones soon, many won’t until something truly game changing comes along.

6. 4G Is The Future

Fourth-generation services are known by different names and are offered by a number of different operators, all we need to know is that it is definitely a step in the right direction for mobile. Back in June, HTC and Sprint unveiled the first 4G Android smartphone, the HTC Evo 4G, a phone that was able to take advantage of high-speed data and voice transfers at the same time.

As devices have become available, operators have been pumping money into developing their high-speed networks, especially across the US where 4G adoption is starting to gain momentum.

With a range of 4G smartphones available from Samsung and many more 4G-enabled devices coming in the new year, 3G could soon be a thing of the past in more established regions.

7. The Emergence Of Android

The release of Android 2.2 (FroYo) breathed a new lease of life into some Android devices with speed improvements, exchange capability, a faster browser, new API’s and new additions to the Android Market. Some devices were able to then run Flash as a result, something that Apple users could only dream about.

Google is now thought to be activating 300,000 Android devices a day, the operating system is said to be the most popular smartphone OS in Asia and is eating into Symbian’s dominance worldwide, now holding a 25.5% share of the worldwide smartphone market.

Android 2.3 is just around the corner, having been incorporated into the new Samsung Nexus S. It’s possible 2011 could be an ever bigger year for Android.

8. The iPhone Can Finally Multitask

"We weren't the first to this party but we're gonna be the best." said Steve Jobs at Apple's April event, addressing what was quite possibly the most desired missing iPhone feature – multitasking.

The iPhone finally got multitasking, a feature that had been available for quite some time on other devices. Instead of running application icons in a toolbar like on Android, Apple went with a hidden menu that could be brought to focus with a simple double tap of the home button.

Whilst its not full multi-tasking in the true sense of the word, the feature does help many iPhone users that were frustrated with losing progress in a game or having to exit an app to find some extra information.

9. Symbian Is [Almost] Dead

We noted above that Android was dominating its rivals, growing immensely in 2010. On the flipside, Symbian suffered a rotten year, mainly because key members supporting the platform resigned, it lost a great deal of its market share, the Symbian Foundation passed over development of the platform to Nokia and many manufacturers dropped support for Symbian completely.

Nokia has said it will continue supporting Symbian whilst developing a new smartphone OS called in MeeGo, in a collaboration with Intel. There are also reports that Nokia is looking to work with Microsoft to develop new Windows Phone 7 handsets. If true, Symbian’s days could be numbered.

10. Windows Phone 7 Is Slick But Has A Lot Of Catching Up To Do

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 opertaing system launched in the UK at the end of October and at the beginning of November in the US, signalling the Redmond giants intention to claw back some of the smartphone market.

The OS and the devices from HTC, Samsung and LG were generally well received, Microsoft has said that 1.5 million have been sold to operators since launch. However, the operating system still lacks important features like copy & paste, true multitasking and a limit on notification messages.

That said, Windows Phone 7 does a very good job of displaying information where it needs to be, reducing the need for extra button presses and wasted time using the device. The marketplace is growing rapidly and Microsoft is sinking millions of marketing dollars into the platform to boost its profile.

Apple and Google will be launching new additions to their operating systems in the near future, Microsoft will need to make sure its updates drop when planned and continue to innovate for risk of losing out to iOS and Android before it even got the chance to compete.

Conclusion

Its been a big year for smartphones, you can’t go for long without hearing about a new handset leaking on the internet. With so much news we will have missed some developments and this is where you come in. Do you think we have missed something or did something happen that you don’t think we adequately covered? Let us know, the usual way, by dropping us a line in the comments.Image Credit (1)



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The Bermuda Triangle of Productivity [TNW Shareables]

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 02:11 AM PST



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New Year’s Resolutions: Dynamically Update your Copyright Notices (includes all code samples) [TNW Lifehacks]

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 01:32 AM PST

happy_new_yearOnly a couple of days left until we celebrate the new year. Champagne, parties, fireworks and yes, new years resolutions.

One thing that is on a lot of web professionals todo lists is to update their ‘Copyright’ notices. Or at least it should be.

A lot of websites take hours, days or even years to update. Google generally takes up to 48 hours to update all their footers but it is not unlikely to find “Copyright 2006″ on some websites even today.

So why not automate the whole thing like we did for our blog? A few lines of code are enough to just print the year there. As long as your server’s internal clock is on time you will always display the current year.

Since you are going into code anyway you might as well change that “2010″ to one of the dynamic code snippets below and you will be forever up-to-date:

PHP:
<?php print date("Y"); ?>

ASP:
<%response.write("Current Year: "&Year(Date))%>

ASP.NET:
<%Response.Write(System.DateTime.Now.Year.ToString());%>

Javascript:
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
document.write(new Date().getFullYear())
//-->
</script>

Ruby:
Date.today.year

Java
import java.util.*;
import java.text.*;

public class Apollo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Date date = new Date();
SimpleDateFormat simpleDateformat=new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy");
System.out.println(simpleDateformat.format(date));
}
}

Unix Shell
date +%Y
Go (golang)
package main
import ("fmt"
"time")
func main() {
var t = time.LocalTime()
fmt.Println(t.Year)
}

Python
from datetime import date
print date.today().year

x86 Assembly
jmp start
year db "0000$"
start:
mov ah, 04h
int 1Ah

mov bh, ch
shr bh,4
add bh,30h
mov [year], bh
mov bh,ch
and bh,0fh
add bh,30h
mov [year+1],bh

mov bh, cl
shr bh,4
add bh,30h
mov [year+2], bh
mov bh,cl
and bh,0fh
add bh,30h
mov [year+3],bh

mov ah,09h
mov dx, offset year
int 21h

mov ah,4Ch
mov al,00
int 21h

Lua
print(os.date("*t").year)

Clojure
(let [date (java.util.Date.)
sdf (java.text.SimpleDateFormat. "yyyy")]
(println (.format sdf date)))

Objective-C
#import
int main (int argc, const char * argv[]) {
NSAutoreleasePool * pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
NSLog (@"%d", [[NSCalendarDate date] yearOfCommonEra]);
[pool drain];
return 0;
}

Tcl
set year [clock format [clock seconds] -format {%Y}]
puts $year

Delphi
ShowMessage( IntToStr(YearOf(Now)) );

Haskell
import System.Time
main = getClockTime >>= toCalendarTime >>= print . ctYear

Any other code snippets that are useful?
Let me know in the comments so I can add them.

@redfeet: @Boris Asp.Net: <%=Now.Year.toString%> Classic ASP: <%=Year(Date())%>
all the best for the 10


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Photos of HTC Thunderbolt emerge, Verizon’s first LTE 4G handset [TNW Mobile]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 11:46 PM PST

The HTC Thunderbolt is all but official after new images leaked showing the device in all its glory, highlighting the fact the device will be the first LTE 4G device to be offered by Verizon after it is unveiled at next months CES 2011 conference.

The photos show just how similar the Thunderbolt is to the HTC Evo 4G and the HTC Desire HD – similar in shape, even sporting a kickstand on the back. Initial reports suggest the device will not feature a dual-core processor, but the Thunderbolt does have the distinctive Google branding suggesting that we could be looking at a Verizon device that doesn’t feature any Microsoft products (i.e. Bing).

Photos, first posted by Droid-Life, are embedded below for your viewing pleasure:

Image Credit



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Skype teases its mobile video function with a new landing page [TNW Europe]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 10:29 PM PST

For the past few days, we’ve been hearing some whispers about Skype bringing a video chat function to the mobile sphere. It seems that those rumors were not so far off, as Skype has just released a new landing page that teases the question of “what’s next?”

With nothing more than a collection of videos that appear to be shot on mobile devices, the page shows scenes that you’d want to share with your friends and family. However, nothing in the videos appears to be actual chats, rather they are merely videos that you’d otherwise send via MMS or email.

While we certainly hope that we’ll see video chat on the go from Skype during CES, the page leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Of course, that’s likely the point. While we’ve been hearing about video chat functions for months, we’ll all just have to wait and see.



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Could the next MacBook Pro be the best Windows laptop yet? [TNW Apple]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 10:15 PM PST

MacBook Pro Keyboardphoto © 2010 Tyler | more info (via: Wylio)Back before I owned a Mac, I was always jealous of the build quality and feel of the MacBook Pro line. For that matter, even the plain MacBook line seemed to be of a higher quality and tighter standard than almost anything else on the market. Now that I own mine, I can’t really imagine using a different laptop, even if I do occasionally run Windows on mine. But my current model (and likely yours) will pale in comparison to the proposed new MacBook, and I think this might be part of a greater plan.

A few months before I actually got my Pro in hand, I went through a phase where I decided that I’d go for a Windows machine instead. Of course they’re almost always cheaper, so that was one huge point. Beyond that, I thought that surely there had to be a Windows machine that could “feel” like a Mac. In months of looking and playing, the closest that I found was a Sony Vaio, but even that didn’t live up to the touch of the Pro.

Then there’s the computer itself. Sure, the Pro is a bit dated in its hardware choices, even with the newest version. The optional components are hugely overpriced, and I don’t think that even the most die-hard Mac fan will deny that. But the newest version, if rumors we’re hearing are correct, might be the proverbial straw that will break the back (pocket) of Windows users.

What are we looking forward to in the next version? There are two things that stand out, and they’re both huge.

Light Peak

There’s been some talk about these massive, 1,000 CPU system that can out-clock anything on the market. However, that doesn’t take into account that every computer system has a bottleneck — an area that is the slowest point. At present, even with super-fast SSD’s and screaming processors, we’re limited by the amount of information that we can transfer across the system.

Light Peak, if it comes to fruition in the new Pro, will solve a big part of that issue. In practice, Light Peak could transfer data across the system at 10 Gbit/second, with a theoretical ceiling of up to 100 Gbit/second. That, my friends, is incredibly fast. It’s also going to be in the Pro before it goes anywhere else. Sure, it’s built by Intel and will eventually end up in other systems, it’s slated to start with Apple.

Oh, then there’s another selling point — Light Peak is meant to replace every single connection in your computer. HDMI, SATA, eSATA and even USB can all be covered by Light Peak technology, eliminating the need for multiple cables and connections.

SSD Cards

If you’ve missed the news, the new MacBook Air line is kicking some serious tail. With specifications that are considerably lower than even the newest Pros, users are reporting that the Air has become their machine of choice for daily use because it simply seems to be running faster. The question, of course, is why.

The numbers don’t lie — The Air actually does beat the 13″ Pro, which was equipped with a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo. Beyond that machine, the Pro wins hands down, as long as you’re talking about a Pro that’s equipped with an SSD. Pitting any standard 4200, 5400 or even 7200 RPM drive against an SSD is just an unfair comparison.

Regardless of the numbers, though, the reason that the Air seems speedy is likely due to its SSD card. Instead of being a standard SATA drive, the SSD plugs directly into the logic board and as such should have higher potential throughput. Given a few months to tweak the workings of this interface, it’s almost certain that an SSD card-equipped MacBook Pro would run circles around anything else on the market.

The Boot Camp Factor

Ever since Macs started using Intel CPU’s, and then intervention of Boot Camp, running Windows natively on a Mac has been a breeze. There are even scripts that will allow you to reboot directly into Windows with a few keystrokes. Anymore, it’s not an issue of making things work out, it’s a matter that it just works and works very well.

So don’t write off the idea of purchasing the new MacBook Pro to run Windows. Shop around all you want. It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find a machine that’s built as well and would run your Windows installation with such “magical” ability.



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10 Gadgets & Tech we can look forward to in 2011 [TNW Gadgets]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 08:52 PM PST

The following gadgets aren't on the market yet but if you're attending CES 2011 next week, you'll have a chance to get a  peek at a few of them. In no specific order, here are some goodies expected to come out next year.

Oxygen O Series iPhone Dock Car Receiver

Oxygen O SeriesOxygen Audio will be releasing a new car entertainment system that fully integrates with your iPhone.  With this new product, the iPhone slips into a small dock and fits into the front, turning it into the system's interactive faceplate. Oxygen Audio currently offers a few car stereo apps in the app store so we're assuming the Oxygen O series will also be coupled with the same or newer user-interface app.  The O series line provides access to the iPhone's entire iTunes collection, hands free calling and access to apps such as GPS, Google maps and Sirius/XM Satellite Radio.  Oxygen claims that while connected to the system, the device will charge the battery and allow users access to any app aside from the aforementioned titles.

ElectroHub

electrohubElectroHub is a new charging station that will offer compatibility for a huge amount of devices including the TV remote, toys and smartphones.  Similar to the Powermat chargers, ElectroHub requires additional add-on cases to make your smartphones compatible although it will charge tons of other gadgets with its use of AA and AAA batteries.  It will charge up to six devices at one time (including smartphones) and works by replacing a gadget's original AA & AAA batteries with ElectroHub branded batteries. By doing this all of your AA & AAA supported devices will become compatible. Overall, ElectroHub supports lots of gadgets, a handy tool if you're juggling multiple gizmos that require AA/AAA batteries; remotes, digital cameras, toys etc.

LG Optimus 2X aka LG Star

The LG Optimus 2x will be the world's first dual-core smartphone and will be running Gingerbread (Android 2.3) when it’s released. We're expecting this phone to be crazy snappy with a 1GHz dual-core processor and Nvidia Tegra 2 chip. The display is 4 inches, will play full HD video and has HDMI mirroring for output to a bigger screen.

Under the hood, the Optimus has a 1500mAh battery, 8GB of memory with the option to expand up to 32GB. It also has accelerometer and gyro sensors with both a front (1.3MP) and back facing (8MP) camera and LED flash. And, we expect it to record in 1080p. All in all, this device looks pretty sexy on paper. Engadget released a short video of the device below.

Ultrasonic Touchless Input technology

Elliptic Labs is demo-ing their ultrasonic touchless input technology this year at CES and it looks super cool. It's similar to the technology built-in to Microsoft Kinect that allows users to execute actions without physically touching the device or a controller. This isn't the first time we've seen these type of concept-demo, however, we might be seeing the touchless technology actually integrated into a lot of devices in 2011. Elliptic Labs will be showing off their touchless gesture user interface on monitors, tablets, iPad docking stations and stand-alone USB devices.

Elliptic Labs is creating new and intuitive ways of interacting with computers. We want to bring the user closer to the device, focusing on the user experience when designing our solutions. By combining expert knowledge from multiple disciplines, such as signal processing, consumer research and interaction design, Elliptic Labs seeks to develop unique and human-centered interactions. -Elliptic Labs

PlayStation Phone

Sony Ericson's new Android-PlayStation phone, code-named Zeus Z1 is said to offer five free games and a gorgeous AMOLED display.

From what we've seen of the design from the leaked videos, this device may be packing some serious fun for gamers although there hasn't been much info released yet. Gamers will likely be able to download gaming apps from the PlayStation library and will possibly get some nifty integration with Sony consoles. As we mentioned in an earlier post, "It is thought that Sony Ericsson will be using its established Bravia brand name from its high-quality flatscreen TV's" This will be a device to watch in 2011. The prototype has a PlayStation app and seems to be running Android Gingerbread OS.

iPad 2

ipadThe iPad rumour mill is now completely full, and from what we've heard, the new specs sound great. Based on the rumours, the newest iteration of the iPad will sport both a front & back facing camera, a lighter & smaller body, USB ports, a newer display technology and a new 3-axis gyroscope.

If that doesn't sound sexy enough, versions may be getting CDMA support opening the options up for more carriers. The latest news released today, stated that Apple may be answering our prayers with a new anti-smudge treatment. It's probably my biggest complaint with the iPad, the constant wiping of the screen is somewhat annoying and kinda gross. Along with the anti-smudge treatment, there may also be an anti-reflective coating that aims to reduce the glare in direct sunlight.

Samsung Galaxy Player

If your main method of communication is email and Twitter, you'd be better off with a data-only device like the new Samsung Galaxy Player. This device is a paired down version of the Samsung Galaxy S minus the phone and with more of an emphasis on the music player.

I'm one of those people who removed the phone icon from my dock and replaced it with email and Twitter so I'm personally a fan of devices exclusively for data nuts. The Samsung Galaxy Player has a Micro SD slot, 4inch Super AMOLED display, 1Ghz processor, front & back facing camera and runs on Android 2.2. It will also comes in 3 flavours; 8GB, 16GB or 32 GB.

MacBook Pro

MacBook ProApple fans are dying to get a peek at the new MacBook Pro likely slated to be showcased in April. As we mentioned, we're expecting the new MacBook Pro to drop the standard hard-drives and move to SSD (solid state drives), possibly even giving users a bump up in storage. There's also another juicy rumour that Apple will be adding a new high-speed connection type; Intel's Light Peak. The new technology (Light Peak) will give users a super fast way to transfer data. Based on the information we have on Light Peak, transfers can get up to about 10 GB per second bi-directional. And, like we've seen in the new Macbook AIRs, going to the SSDs means more room for batteries and additional goodies.

3D mobile TV

lg-mobile-3d-tvLG has designed a tiny 3D TV that appears to be approximately the size of an iPhone, and is LG's smallest 3D TV in the line up. While we don't have much information on it now, we do know it will be powered by a LG2161R MDTV chip with NRT (non-real Time) technology, and its display will be in 3D. Based on the pic, LG's mini 3D TV also sports an external retractable antenna.

LG has said the device will be able to receive 3D TV broadcasts — even while flying down the freeway in your Lamborghini. LG's new device will receive a 3D broadcast while users are moving at speeds of up to 200/km per hour. This means your daily commute on the subway just got way cooler.

Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo brings gamers the 3D experience without the use of corny 3D glasses. This new 3DS will come with six augmented reality cards, a touch pen, 360 degree trackpad, 2GB SD card, WiFi and gyro & motion sensors along with a 0.3 MP camera. It looks similar to past versions of the Nintendo DS however the 3DS will reportedly stream 3D TV. Sweet!

Games will be downloaded from the 3DS Virtual Console but will also work with DS and DSi cartridges. I've never owned a DS but the idea of downloadable games and 3D TV makes this device really appealing. We should note that Nintendo recently warned consumers that children under the age of six should not be using its 3D technology, in fact they won't even allow children under 6 to try their demos. Kids under six can however play the device in 2D.

What new 2011 gadgets are you most geeked about? Please let us know in the comments.



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Podcasting Microphone Showdown: 3 Blue Mics Compared [TNW Gadgets]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 04:47 PM PST

It’s almost a new year and maybe you, like many, are considering doing a podcast. While this isn’t the time or place to go into the finer details of podcasting, it’s certainly the time and place to look at your most important piece of equipment — your microphone.

While many people simply settle for the included microphone on their laptop, or maybe spring for a $20 headset from the local Target, you’re not one of them. You want good sound, right? We thought so. You also want portability, so you’re likely going to use a USB mic that will offer you both quality and the ability to pack it away and get on the road. That said, when it comes to USB mics, it’s hard to beat what comes out of the Blue Microphones company.

We’ll take a look at 3 of Blue’s best USB mics and then you can decide which one is right for you. From budget-friendly to “please get me this for my birthday”, Blue makes mics that are some of the most impressive on the market, and the company’s USB mics are no different. Each of the embedded recordings below was recorded at the same time, using a bit of trickery on the part of my MacBook Pro. So what you’re hearing are 3 identical tracks, saved with the exact same standards and compression, for a true side-by-side comparison.

Snowflake

$59 MSRP

The Snowflake is the entry level microphone from Blue. Designed to be portable and stashable while still offering great quality, it does a pretty decent job. I initially purchased the Snowflake a touch over a year ago as an alternative to lugging around a Snowball which is far less bag-friendly.

It’s a cardioid condensor microphone which means that it’s going to pick up background sound considerably more than what you’d find in a typical handheld microphone. However, that’s also good for setting the Snowflake on top of your laptop’s screen while you podcast. It folds up rather compactly, and even stashes its USB cable into its base. Now that is bag-friendly. Want to hear it? Here you go:

Snowball

$99 MSRP

For the past few years, the Snowball has stood as the standard for many podcasters. It’s unique, in the fact that it’s a switchable microphone that will allow you to do either omnidirectional (sound from everywhere) or cardioid (sound from in front of the mic) patterns. It even includes a 3rd position to the switch which will give you a -10 dB pad (lowers the recording volume) in omnidirectional mode.

Roughly the size of a softball, the Snowball isn’t as portability-friendly as the Snowflake. Rather, it’s intended to sit on your desk, via a tripod stand (there are shock mounts available, as well) and not be moved around too often. If you’ve listened to The Next Web Podcast, I’ve recorded a few of the episodes on the Snowball and I’m a big fan of its sound, for the price. For most podcasters, it’s a great choice. The sound? Here it is:

Yeti Stereo

$149 MSRP

First thing’s first — the Yeti is a beast of a microphone. It stands tall, at nearly 1 foot in height and weighs a touch over 3 pounds when attached to the included stand. It is a multipattern, THX-rated microphone that is good enough for even discerning audiophiles to enjoy (speaking from 15 years of microphone experience, it’s amazing). Inside the top, you’ll find 3 of Blue’s 14mm condensor capsules which can be switched into a multitude of functions via a knob on the back.

Cardioid, Bidirectional, Omnidirectional or even Stereo modes can be selected simply by turning the knob. While you’re recording, you can use the included zero-latency headphone jack on the bottom of the microphone to hear what’s going on. The sound from the mic is, quite literally, second to none. The depth of sound that can be picked up via the Yeti is astounding. Need proof? Here you go:

Recommendations

I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed in the Snowflake. It simply didn’t offer the bottom end of the frequency range that I’d like to have seen. In fact, for the price, there were headset microphones that were simply better. But if you really want a Blue mic and you want one that’s easy to take on the go, then the Snowflake is great. Otherwise, save a few more cents and go for the Snowball.

The Snowball is still a favorite of mine. I’ve played with a lot of microphones over the years, and it’s honestly hard to beat the sound that you’ll get from a mic that  you can pick up for less than $50 (if you shop around). Combine that with the sexy factor that it has on your desk and the Snowball is still a winner. You just can’t go wrong with this mic.

The Yeti? It blew me away. I’ve heard, literally, thousands of microphones over the years. I’ve never in my experience heard a microphone that sounded this good and had this many features for $150. While there are other great choices on the market, from other manufacturers, I’ve yet to see one that can offer the same quality and price point. If you’re serious about podcasting, but you don’t want to do a full-fledged mixing board setup, the Yeti absolutely can’t be beaten.

So there you have it. Three microphones, side by side, so that you know what they sound like before you make a purchase. Have something else you want us to review? Let us know in the comments.



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Canadians Love the Internet, Eh? [TNW Canada]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 03:09 PM PST

girl onlineAccording to The Canadian Press, comScore, the marketing intelligence service says Canadians are leading the way in hours spent online.

Canucks are spending an average of 2,500 minutes online per month which translates to over 41 hours, that's an entire full-time work week spent surfing. And that’s apparently more than any other country in the world. Based on this data, it seems that Canadians are rapidly adopting the digital lifestyle and seem to be wildly passionate about online video, social media and Wikipedia.

If you take a look at how many Canadians are visiting YouTube, per capita, the great white north is smoking the rest of the world with 21 million Canadians visiting every month. That might not seem like a lot but considering the size of Canada's population (34,238,000) that's a lot of YouTubing.  YouTube is obviously deeply embedded in Canadian culture and it's clear by the data.  Not only are Canadians hitting YouTube more (per capita), they're also viewing an average of 147 videos each month: that's 47 more than American users.

In the last month, Canada was ranked #10 on Socialbaker's Facebook user list. It's reported that Facebook has penetrated 51% of the Canadian population with 17,288,620 users.  When you view the penetration rates of the top 10 countries, Canada once again takes first place.  Americans came second in the top 10 contenders coming in a 46.98% penetration of the population.

While the exact number of Twitter users by country isn't available yet, we know that Twitter has been gaining momentum in Canada throughout 2010. Twitter stated  "What we can share is that the number of Twitter accounts in Canada has increased by 75 per cent since the beginning of the year, and the number of daily tweets more than doubled.." And, we're also seeing Canadians are using the user generated site Wikipedia more than any other country.  This data is based on 16 Wikipedia page views per month on average coupled with 217,000 Wikipedia edits a month.

The Canadian Press article highlights the fact that back in April of this year, comScore estimated that 68% of the Canadian population is online. The proof is in the pudding folks, Canadians are a group of highly progressive and tech savvy people.  Canucks might not get the hottest gadgets on release date but they're poised to drive their gadgets online more than anyone else.  What do you think is the cause of this obsessive online behaviour.. Are Canadians just too cold to go outside?The Globe and Mail, Image: Girl Online



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Resolutions? Apple’s New Year, New You section of iTunes helps you keep them. [TNW Apple]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 02:39 PM PST

We all know how this goes — you make the resolutions, keep them for a few days (or hours) and then it’s back to the same routine once more. With the rise in popularity of health applications, Apple is seeing a door to help you to keep those resolutions firm.

The New Year, New You section of the iTunes Store features a selection of the newest and hottest applications to help you manage time, mind, body and money. What’s the catch? Nothing, apparently.

Of course you’ll have to purchase the majority of the apps. A quick scan shows only a few free ones. But really, isn’t your resolution worth parting with a couple of dollars?

Have a suggestion for something that’s not in the section? Let us know in the comments and we might review it on TNW Apps.Via Macstories



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Love poetry jams? Try Figment: an online community created for writers by writers [TNW Apps]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 02:28 PM PST

Figment is a community for writers: the idealist, creative, poetry scrawling kind who are just starting to make the leap from moleskin to MacBook.

It’s an experiment in online literature; a free platform where anyone can share their writing, connect with readers and discover new stories by young authors. Figment offers a library of “thrillers, heartbreakers, cellphone epics, and everything in between.” Users can post their own stories, read other people’s stories and comment and share feedback.

Dana Goodyear, a staff writer at The New Yorker, is one of the site’s co-founders. She says the inspiration for Figment came from a story she wrote about young Japanese women who compose fiction on their cell phones. Figment’s other co-founder, Jacob Lewis, is the former managing editor of The New Yorker. “I really went into it and thought, 'We'll be the social network for young-adult fiction,’” said Lewis to the NYTimes. “But it became clear early on that people didn't want a new Facebook.” What they wanted was a writing workshop experience- online.

Signing up is relatively easy, either with a Facebook or Twitter log-in, followed by a few personal contact details. Warning: The confirmation e-mail is a tad alarming because it looks so random. But once you get there and play around, the site is well designed and really well built with cute comments and detailed features. Users can follow writers and amass followers a la Twitter. You can also engage in live chats with up and coming writers and published authors. The interface for writing is clean and simple, currently boasting a holiday theme. You can add details, a cover design and page design to give your work a published feel when you’re done.

One of the most intriguing parts about Figment are its forums. They are filled with advice that you’d normally have to pay NYU’s creative writing school thousands of dollars for like trendspotting, myth busting, information about writing classes and publishing help.

Someone once told me that the only way to be a successful writer was to hang around other successful writers. This seems like a great place to start. Interested? Check out their New Years Eve contest on the site’s blog.



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5 Tips for better wifi at home [TNW Lifehacks]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 02:07 PM PST

More and more of us have wireless networks at home to connect not only computers, but smartphones, game consoles, TVs, even picture frames and DVD players. While setting up a wifi network at home has gotten pretty easy, there are still a few things that can make the difference between having a good network at home and a great network at home. Here are my five favorite tips for tuning your home wifi network so you can get more out of it.

Learn the control panel. I know it's seems a little much, especially as more and more devices are essentially plug-and-play, but knowing where the security settings are, how to set the channels, change frequencies, and switch settings around, comes in very, very handy.

Router placement. Okay wireless routers aren't at the height of home decor, but they aren't ugly so don't hide them in some dark corner of the house! Try to put your router in the thick of things. Essentially, place your router in a central location where you use your computers.

Check the interference. This is a little geekier, but basically if you have a lot of wifi networks around you, your router and devices might have a hard time "hearing" each other in the din. One solution is to use a tool like NetStumbler (PC) or iStumbler (Mac) to see how many networks are around and what channels they are using at set your router to use a channel that is either not in use or use a channel from the weakest signal around.

This works great except for one little detail: lots of routers can auto-adjust the broadcast channel they use to adapt to interference. Right, which means that if you set your router to use channel 5 one day (ostensibly because it's a clear and open channel), it might not be the next. So my advice is if your router has automatic channel switching available—use it.

A lot of phones and monitors operate in the 2.4GHz band which is also the same band that 802.11g operates in. Some phones also work in the 802.11n 5GHz band too, but those seem to be able to manage keeping out of the way (I think it's because of the way 802.11n antennas work). So, if you're having issues with your 802.11g router, it could be your phone or a neighbor's phone. Honestly it might be time to pick up a new 802.11n router on sale this Holiday season. Often that's easier than trying to great 802.11g routers and cordless phones to play nice with each other.

Turn off unneeded bands. This is a cool trick that let's you get a lot more performance out of your router, don't make it use and transmit what it doesn't need to! Let's say you have a router than uses 802.11n (or an "N router") and all the devices in your house can also connect using 802.11n (most newer laptops, game systems, and a lot of phones can), then you don't need to broadcast 802.11g. Letting the router focus on a single band and protocol gives it an efficiency edge and it won't have to (potentially) spread signal across several different frequencies.

Turn on encryption. The last thing isn't a "trick" but something that you should be doing anyway—turn on your router's security to require a passcode to connect. Yes, turning on encryption (and use WPA or WPA2 and not WEP) does add some overhead to the signal that can degrade performance, however so can someone leeching off your network downloading tons of stuff. Putting on security means you know who is connecting to your network and keeps the bandwidth for you. Sharing is great for cookies, not so much for your Internet bandwidth.

Are there more than 5 tips for improving wireless networks? Of course there are. Things like:

  • Keeping your router's firmware updated
  • Looking for tips on settings for your particular router for how to get the most out of it
  • Using high-gain antennas for better reception

In reality though, starting with these 5 points is a great place to start at keeping your router running as fast as possible.Photo credit



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2010: The Year of Epic Photo Sharing Apps [TNW Social Media]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 01:47 PM PST

All the stats are pointing towards a huge upsurge in the uploading of photos through mobile applications for next year but I wanted to drill down and see who was involved in that battle and what went down in 2010. The quality of the cameras on smartphones is the main driving force behind this new trend and people are choosing to share their photos in all sorts of socially media driven ways.

There are a slew of apps on the list including apps that let you share photos in a very private way, some that help promote your photos and some that turn your photos into useful information or tips for others. I'd expect 2011 to be an even bigger year for photo sharing through phones. Not only will all of the apps below expand further but I'd expect lots more companies to join the fray. All in all as you can see form these apps it was a very exciting time for photo sharing apps.

Flickr

The old kid on the block. Their photo app is fairly simple and essentially offers you some of the more basic features from the site including the ability to upload photos and view your contact’s photos as well as seeing your latest activity. There is nothing innovative or groundbreaking in this app but the fact that Flickr has established itself as such a huge player in the photo market means that it is automatically a player in the market.

Facebook

The giant among the list. Facebook has said that the early success of its photos product was one of the main reasons for its growth. You can now upload photos through the various apps that they offer for the different phones and more and more people are adding photos while on the go. It's easy to create new albums and add photos directly to different pages etc on Facebook and the fact that your social graph is already there will mean that Facebook will continue to dominate this market. Photos by their very nature are social and Facebook will continue to exploit that fact.

Foursquare

Foursquare just announced their new photo feature. And how it did not have this functionality before is beyond me. It makes sense that if you are reviewing places and leaving tips that photos are a natural add on to bring the tip to life. Some of the other location based services had this baked in for a while including Gowalla. With Foursquare expecting over a million photos in the first couple of weeks you can see how they could become a major player in this market especially given the fact that they already have 5 millions users. I have never been a great fan of Foursquare but the fact that it has added photos might just make me have a look at it again as I can now see how it could become useful.

Path

One of the start ups with the most buzz around it because their CEO is Dave Morin, the former Senior Platform Manager at Facebook, who pretty much built the Facebook iPhone app from scratch. Path is all about private sharing and having photos that only your inner circle of trusted friends can see. It's an interesting concept and although nothing like the size of the others on the list yet this will be an interesting app to watch.

Niche Apps

There are tons of apps out there who are not aiming for the overall prize but still want your photos. A prime example is Foodspotting which is an app totally dedicated to food and drink. On Foodspotting you leave tips and photos of places that you have eaten so others can come along at a later date and find photos and tips by browsing through the app. These niche apps are not used by as many people but they can be massively useful if it's a niche that you are interested in. Expect apps to pop up covering lots of different areas in the next year as people start to share every facet of their lives through photos.

DailyBooth

Dailybooth burst on to the scene with huge growth and immediately became popular with a much younger audience who shared very random photos of what they were up to at the time. The app can best be described as a Twitter for photographs where people share their photos in a very social way, gain followers and engage and comment on the photos of others. You are not going to get the high quality professional photographers here but it will be a bit of a laugh and very social.

Picplz

The biggest competitor to Instagram who has also raised a bucket load of cash and offers pretty much the same features including filters, sharing with your network and a social layer to your photos.

Twitter Photo Sharing Tools

The likes of Yfrog and Twitpic have been huge over the last couple of years as they’ve piggybacked on Twitter's success. These sites are useful for people who want to share photos via apps to Twitter with the bigger Twitter clients building them into their offering. While Yfrog and Twitpic are great for hosting your photos the truth is they don't really do a lot more than that to be honest. What we really need is for Twitter to create its own photo app.

Instagram

Instagram just passed a million users less than 10 weeks after launching and has the most buzz with the early adopters. It’s very simple in that it allows you to follow friends who share photos and that anybody can take good looking photos thanks to the filters. The interesting thing with Instagram is that all of its functionality sits within the app itself and the app is only available on the iPhone. The fact that they have reached these stunning numbers within weeks means that this is an app with some serious legs and I fully expect it to grow in to something far bigger than a simple photo sharing app on the iPhone. Serious potential here.



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Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8 each control more market share than all Chrome versions combined [TNW Microsoft]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 12:58 PM PST

We recently wrote a piece on the impressive momentum of Chrome, and how it is slowly but surely eating market share from both Internet Explorer and Firefox. We decided to flip the script, as it were, and look at the situation from the other perspective: how big is IE compared to Chrome?

We were somewhat surprised to see, according to the preeminent market share tracking service  (Hitslink), that Internet Explorer version 6, 7, and 8 each control more market share than all versions of Chrome combined. That is to say, Internet Explorer 6 is bigger than Chrome 1 through 10, as is IE7 and IE8.

According to Hitslink, Chrome controls a sizable 9.26% of the browser market. Let’s compare that to the current market shares of the top IE versions:

  • IE6: 13.72%
  • IE7: 9.53%
  • IE8: 32.70%

While the Internet Explorer 6 market share number may make you cringe, you have to marvel at the browser’s longevity, long the bastion of the poor cubicle dweller in the big office. That stickiness of IE6, a program that companies refuse to upgrade, is why IE7 in fact has less market share than it; the companies that were going to upgrade to IE7 did, and then moved to IE8.

Still, that aside, IE7 controls more marketshare than Chrome (versions 1-10). The most popular Chrome version, Chrome 7, controls 8.02% percent of the market. Yes, we think that Chrome is the best browser, but that does not mean that it is the controlling force by any means. For now, even IE6 matters more than Chrome.



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The digital side of the luxury industry in 2010 and beyond [TNW Social Media]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 11:40 AM PST

Luxury Society, a social network for those working in the luxury sector, has recently released The Digital Agenda report on the state-of-the-industry regarding digital presence and innovation. According to the report although almost 80% of luxury executives believe that the industry has been late to embrace digital media, more than 75% feel their company is now prepared to make the most of them.

2010 has been a tipping point, as this year we've seen high end brands using social media for one of a kind campaigns, like The Poppy Project by Coach, the use of latest technologies for impressive events, like the 4D shows by Ralph Lauren, the use of AR to amplify the customer experience, mostly by luxury watchmakers, virtual fashion shows that revolutionize the way buys are placed, like Burberry did with the "Retail Theatre" and many more examples of the most fast paced year for luxury in digital. Let’s take a look at what 2011 seems to hold for the luxury industry in the digital space, based on the statistics presented in The Digital Agenda:

Pressure for measurable results: Even if most luxury executives admit to being late in joining the digital sphere, the majority still feels the wait was partly justified as there was a lot of confusion around customers’ online behavior and the ROI was unclear. In 2011 having now committed to online media and innovation, the heads of digital will have to focus on setting goals and deciding on what they will measure to define their success online.

Facebook vs. Twitter: Most brands– apart from their official site– seem to be focusing on their Facebook presence ( 70.8%) and e-mail marketing (69.3%) while only 53.9% of the brands make use of Twitter. It will be interesting to see how this balance will shift in 2011 with Facebook messages and Twitter investing in its relationship with businesses, providing them with valuable tools for an effective use of the platform. Will Twitter manage to catch up with Facebook and compete with it in popularity as a communication platform for brands in 2011?

Customer Relationship Managment: Brands like Best Buy and Zappos have been pioneers in using social media for customer service while other brands like Moxsie and Starbucks leverage online communication tools to gain and retain the loyalty of their customers, but luxury brands so far seem to put less emphasis on Customer Relationship Management (only 50.8% use CRM). In 2011 and beyond they aim to build a luxury CRM culture with 69% of luxury brands stating the improvement of customer service as their priority and 67% said they use digital media to gather feedback from their customers.

The evolution of product information: Luxury brands' top priorities are: brand awareness (92%), communicating product and services information (90%) and sharing their company’s history, values and expertise (88%). The challenge in 2011 will be to find new ways to share product and brand information in an engaging way and also in a convenient way for the shopper online, offline and on the go.

Opening Up: One of the obstacles on the digital path of the luxury brands has been the fact that marketers have been highly protective of their brand image and messaging, finding it sometimes challenging to trust and collaborate with third parties from the tech world. The majority of luxury executives are now retaining control of digital strategy, content production, email marketing and management of social media, choosing to outsource digital design, SEO and more technical tasks. With collaboration and crowdsourcing as two of the hottest trends for next year, high end brands will have to find ways to open up without having to lose their status of exclusivity. In 2010, we've seen some great examples like Burberry's Art Of The Trench and Giorgio Armani's Frames of Your Life. Next year it’s up to luxury brands to allow their customer to become part of their tradition and shape their future together.

Digital Marketing's domination: Today a mere 23% of luxury executives spend more than 25% of their total budgets on digital marketing. In 2013 this figure is expected to almost double, weakening further traditional media as a marketing platform. The shift from traditional to media is a rapid one; it remains to be seen if it will be a mere shift of platforms or a shift of marketing philosophy. People have different expectations online and they expect dialogue from brands and not just broadcasting from them, which is something that is acceptable in traditional media.

The growth of e-commerce: Although e-commerce (both company owned and externally retailed) doesn't yet account for a significant percentage of total sales, The Digital Agenda reports that in the next 3 years e-commerce is expected to grow fast. Luxury brands have a tough year ahead in order to lead the e-commerce race, considering that most of them only run US, UK and Europe stores, failling to tap into emerging affluent markets like China and Middle East. Very few brands, like Hermès, Jimmy Choo and Tiffany & Co ship globally while certain brands like Lanvin, Marc Jacobs and Oscar de La Renta ship only to the U.S. Will luxury brands push the envelope in 2011 and maybe try alternative platforms as sales points, like Tumblr and Facebook? And will they beat e-tailers like Net A Porter and Gilt to the emerging affluent markets, especially China, where Yoox is already planning to open in 2011?

Digital PR: Digital PR is in the fog mostly because luxury brands are undecided on how they should handle their relationship with bloggers and are slow in adapting new ways to communicate their press releases. 2011 will be a banner year for digital PR, if PR departments can't find ways to evolve and embrace digital media they could face the same crisis that advertising did in 2010. Again opening up and collaborating with new forms of publications and independent creatives will be key to survival.

Branded content: 58% of luxury executives are already using branded content on platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. This year Dolce & Gabbana launched Swide, an online magazine with subtle references to Dolce & Gabbana products, while LVMH's Nowness impressed with the high quality videos. Tumblr has emerged as the choice platform for fashion brands to share content, like backstage moments and has invested back to its fashion following. The battle for 2011 as more and more brands act as media outlets to rise above the noise, stay relevant and keep their fans engaged.

The rise of M-commerce: So far only 35% of luxury brand executives have implemented m-commerce and marketing solutions but most retailers plan to change this in the immediate future. Still in 2010 there were some bright examples in m-commerce like Tommy Hilfiger's iPhone app and Polo Ralph Lauren's Rugby Ralph Lauren Make Your Own app. Mobile works as a selling point, as a trigger for in-store purchases and plays an even more pivotal part in raising luxury sales and establishing a brand's position in countries like China, where mobile is already king in brands' communication and commerce.

You can read further stats and analysis by downloading The Digital Agenda on Luxury Society.

Speaking of digital luxury, have you see the world’s most high-tech dress? What are your predictions for 2011 and what case studies stood out for you from the luxury world in 2010?Image Credit



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Android Market Unofficially Surpasses 200,000 Apps [TNW Google]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 11:30 AM PST

According to statistics collated by third-party Android Market tracking service AndroLib, the Android Market has unofficially surpassed 200,000 applications, doubling the number of apps on the marketplace in just two months.

In October, we reported on Google’s official tweet stating that the Android Market had 100,000 apps – it seems the continued growth of the platform has brought with it keen developer interest with an incredible number of apps available for the platform.

Compared to Apple’s App Store, the Android Market is still some way off – the App Store is thought to have over 300,000 applications available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The App Store is somewhat older than the Android Market but there are a huge number of Android devices accessing Google’s app marketplace, AndroLib puts the number of Android apps downloaded at 2.5 billion.

Microsoft’s marketplace, on the other hand, has just passed 5,000 apps in under two months.

Google has not confirmed the figures so we must reserve judgement as to whether the Android Market currently holds 200,000 applications, we expect Google would want to publicise the fact that its marketplace has surpassed that figure, hopefully it won’t be too long until it does.

Softpedia, Image Credit



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Opinionaided. Instant advice and opinions on anything using your iPhone [TNW Apps]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 11:07 AM PST

TNW Quick Hit

Opinionaided (free) lets users get advice and opinions on anything, in real-time, using an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Hits: Dead simple to begin getting and giving swift advice and opinions on what matters most to you.  ”Results” feature provides instant information on the items users post.

Misses: Finding friends on Opinionaided is a feature which could use additional options.  The app needs the ability to search for friends on Twitter and Facebook who are using the app, an option which would make opinions received more personal than they are at present.

Overall: 4/5

The Details:

You may have recently received gifts from friends or family for the holidays, a birthday or simply because you (unlike some, me) have generous individuals surrounding you.

Alternatively, with the new year approaching your preparation for a party, gathering, dinner or other, may include seeking advice on what to wear, how to celebrate the dawn of another year, resolutions you are considering attempting to stick to, ect.

If you’re currently presented with any of the aforementioned problems, Opinionaided from Kurani Interactive, harbors the ability to receive the help you need through use of an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

Getting started on Opinionaided is easy.  Add personal information you’d like to share, select an avatar, populate your bio, and connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts should you desire.

Opinionaided for iPhone Home

Once setup, add friends by emailing, posting a Facebook Wall message, a Tweet, asking them to join you on Opinionaided.  Conversely, if you know users already on Opinionaided, once can search for them by name and add them as friends.

Completing your profile and adding friends, one can begin voting and commenting on friends’ questions or by selecting categories of interest which provides users with random items to vote and comment on related to one’s categories.

If you have a particular question you’d like to ask and receive opinions on, doing so is just a quick and easy.  One can ask a question, add an associated photo, select a category, make the question public or only for friends, and share the question on Facebook and Twitter.

Opinionaided for iPhone Ask

After asking a question users begin voting and commenting.  Results are provided instantly, with users able to view how many up, down or neutral votes you’ve received, total votes received, and the ability to engage in conversation with users who’ve left comments.  As the below indicates, I asked a question, and within minutes received 16 votes, and a comment.  Super neat.

Opinionaided for iPhone Results and Interaction

Categories on Opinionaided vary from Technology and Pets to Fashion and Design.  With Opinionaided personal advice is now in the palm of your hand, with those who provide really solid opinions and advice rewarded by the community with "Good Advice Stars."

The only issue I have with the app is locating friends.  Emailing, posting to one’s Facebook Wall, or Tweeting out an invite to join you on Opinionaided is a good start, but the app needs to add the ability to find Facebook and Twitter connections who are already using the app.  Adding that feature would enhance the ability to get advice from those whose opinions you value most.

Despite lacking that feature, Opinionaided is a grand app.  The ability to instantly discover what others think regarding your questions is an invaluable resource, making it an app you’ll certainly want to check out.



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In 2010: The 10 Best Ways to Consume the News [TNW Apps]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 10:36 AM PST

While I started to put together a list of the ten best news apps of 2010, I paused to think about how drastically our consumption of the news has changed over the past year. Fortunately, my brilliant colleague Martin Bryant has written a post about just that, “How Online News Evolved in 2010.”

Essentially, the iPad and Twitter have brought new media back to rock and roll status. In response, media companies who were still mourning the twilight of print, can now experiment with ways to make a buck again. The best media companies have been on Twitter for years and are now tailoring their sites for mobile, developing Web apps for Web stores like Google Chrome’s and pushing out super slick apps for the iPad and other reader devices.

We consumed a lot of news in 2010. But how did we consume it? On your tiny iPhone screen? Hopefully not. The best way to consume news this year was in a socially curated, real-time fashion with big pretty pictures and video. Here’s how:

1) Replace Morning Coffee with Google Reader

It’s a classic. If you need to drive across a desert, drive a Hummer. If you need to aggregate the Internet, use Google Reader. A fellow blogger PSFK writer, Kyle Cameron Studsill once told me that he kicked his caffeine addiction by replacing his morning cup with 30 minutes of Google Reader bliss. The Web-based aggregator, released in 2005, is still a rushing news stream in 2010. It reads Atom and RSS feeds online or offline and makes for easy sharing.

2) Twitter via Lazyscope

According to Compete, Twitter had 26 million visitors this past November with over 50 million tweets a day. The two greatest aspects about consuming news on Twitter is that one, every important media outlet is on Twitter and two, you can choose your news as it streams in front of your eyeballs. For a quick look back on the past two years of Twitter, read here. But with millions of tweets per day, monitoring Twitter for real-time news can be stressful. Enter: Lazyscope. Lazyscope describes itself as “x-ray vision for Twitter.”

Watch this video to see it in action: (And see if you can spot the big boss @ minute 2:04)

As the video points out, you can subscribe to as much or as little information as you want. If someone only posts great pictures, but has annoying tweets, you can subscribe to their photo service and view it in Lazyscope. Someone has a great YouTube channel? Add that too. It's truly lazy content aggregation, brought to your desktop.

3) Best News Aggregators: Techmeme and Mediagazer

Techmeme is a ranked list of tech blogs and less-bloggy news sites ordered by how often a site appears on Techmeme. According to Gabe Rivera, Techmeme’s founder, “This is shaped by Techmeme’s view of tech news, which is short on stuff like developer technologies, video games, clean tech, space tech, etc, and heavy on web/internet/mobile/Apple news.”

Mediagazer is to Media as Techmeme is to Tech. This March, Techmeme launched Mediagazer “to focus on the content production and distribution business, organizing topics as wide as journalism, blogging, video production, e-books, and digital distribution technologies.” When we get a story on Mediagazer or Techmeme, we shout “boom!” and it kind of makes our day.

4) Best on the iPad: BBC for breakfast and The New York Times for lunch

For breakfast, the BBC app features an organized grid on the left and a column on the right, so it’s great for skimming the morning news or diving into specific stories easily.  Users can view news stories by geographic region or by categories including business, technology, entertainment and sport. The news ticker at the top keeps the reader up to speed in realtime and the one minute videos are a digestible way to watch the news. The app is available in English, Spanish, Russian and Arabic. You can also download content for offline browsing. Download the app here. (Free)

First, I have to say that the revamped Times app is a vast improvement over their the Editor’s Choice version, which had a lot missing. Their new App consists of the entire newspaper with all the sections, articles, videos and photos you expect from The New York Times. It’s free for now, but n.b. that they will start charging in early 2011 for a subscription. Download it here.

5) Save it for later: Instapaper for the iPad

Let’s say you suddenly find yourself overwhelmed with the amount of online content you want to read. When you have no time to digest, and want to save it for later try Instapaper. The app lets you mark a document so that later (when you’re at home in a cozy chair by the fireplace) you can go through all those documents in a clear, clean, easy to read format. The paid version of the app allows you to archive Web pages for offline reading in an iPad-optimized format that makes reading long-form content a pleasure. Download it here. ($4.99)

6) Best Tumblr: The New Yorker

The New Yorker isn’t for the weak in the knees. It’s a time-tested magazine written by New York’s most brilliant minds. Admittedly, I’ve never been able to read an entire New Yorker. I stick to the more conversationally [read lighter] written pieces, anything with pictures and anything with a Brooklyn bent. And that’s why I love their Tumblr. The New Yorker promotes their content on Tumblr with quotes, video, pictures, to-do lists and tips. First, it displays the current issue’s artfully designed front cover alongside the Cartoon of the Day. Tumble down the page, and you’ll find all of the essentials of the magazine in bite size, digestible posts.

7) Best Mobile Site: YouTube

Video consumption ruled in 2010. This year there were more than 35 hours of video uploaded to YouTube each minute; more than 700 billion playbacks and there were more than 13 million hours of video uploaded during 2010. If you’ve suddenly found yourself in a predicament where you can’t download the YouTube app- say if you are still rocking the good old multimedia Nokia phone, check out YouTube’s mobile site, because it rocks. In fact, some have gone so far to say that its mobile site trumps its app. YouTube agrees, and so fittingly, they’ve made a video to prove their point.

Don’t miss 10 most watched YouTubes of 2010, read here. And although I’m not a sports fanatic, I’d like to give ESPN’s mobile site a runner’s up award. One of our TNW readers pointed out that their mobile site is far more efficient at browsing headlines than the app.

8) Best Infographics: GOOD Magazine

GOOD magazine made huge waves in 2006 when Ben Goldhirsh, son of entrepreneur and Inc. Magazine creator Bernie Goldhirsh launched the magazine “for people who give a damn.” As rumor has it, the media mogul left his son with loads of money and just said, “Do something good with it.” And he did. GOOD Magazine blossomed into a “media platform that promotes, connects, and reports on the individuals, businesses, and non-profits who are pushing the world forward.” The site’s many beats include the environment, urban planning, design, food, politics, culture, and health. One of its shining features is its GOOD Transparency site, which is entirely dedicated to infographics. Check out their list of this year’s most popular infographics here.

We also expect great infographics from The Guardian in 2011 since they’ve recently launched their own “Data Journalism” site.

9) Best Social News Site: reddit

reddit thinks of itself as “the voice of the Internet.” The social news website, (unfortunately owned by Condé Nast Digital) lets users browse and submit links and images to the site. Submissions are then voted up and down by other users, with the most successful links prominently displayed on the front page. The reddit community is a free-thinking, liberal bunch that borders on anarchism and uses LOLcats for therapy. In short, I love them. Expect a lot of WTFs, political conversations and brilliant ideas, like this recent Kindle wrapping job and hilarious photos like the one below. N.B. Reddit was founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, who have since moved on to create the awesomeness of flight search that is Hipmunk.

10) Best App to Hit Play: TED Mobile

Want to know what “reversible metabolic hibernation” is? Or how about a philosopher’s perspective on “the influence of dogmatism, superstition, and bigotry in our world”? Want to hear Christopher Poole, founder of 4Chan, talk about anonymity and censorship? Then download the TED mobile app gives users access to the wealth of inspirational talks from the TED annual conference. The videos are grouped by themes, talks and tags. Download it for the iPhone here. It’s also available on Windows Mobile and Android. (Free)

Web apps, which I mentioned at the start, were purposefully left off this list, because currently the “apps” out there are little more than repurposed HTML websites. Looking forward to 2011, when we’ll have to start paying for The New York Times’ and the Washington Post’s apps, expect web apps to play an ever-increasing role in how we consume news. More news consuming predictions for 2011 to come.

How else did you consume news this year?



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There are now over 5,000 Windows Phone 7 apps, and they just keep coming [TNW Microsoft]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 10:35 AM PST

All eyes have been on the Windows Phone 7 application marketplace as an indicator of the platform’s health. Now that we know that the phones are indeed selling, having already shifted some 1.5 million handsets, will the developers come?

Indeed they will, the app count for WP7 gadgets just keeps on growing. Despite a slight slowdown through the Christmas season (to be expected), the number of apps on file for Windows Phone 7 has been growing at a very steady clip, now breaking the 5,000 mark.

To put that number into perspective, these are the dates of the 1,000 app milestones (via WPcentral) for the marketplace:

  • October 25th: 1,000
  • November 8th: 2,000
  • December 1st: 3,000
  • December 15th: 4,000
  • December 28th: 5,000

Indeed, if you look closely, you can note that overall development seems to be picking up slightly over the last few weeks.

Finally, as we noted before, the Windows Phone 7 application store is growing more quickly than Android’s did when it first came out, and is only growing slightly slower than the iOS application store when it was brand new. Now, let’s hope that those sales numbers pick up.WPCentral, WMPoweruser



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Spam email sees sharp decline, but don’t celebrate just yet [TNW United States]

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 09:58 AM PST

Earlier today Boris posted a piece here on The Next Web (half) joking that the only way left to deal with spam email is to kill spammers. However, maybe it isn’t such a problem after all.

Figures from the Cisco IronPort SenderBase Security Network state that spam has seen a sharp decline since the summer, dropping by more than a half.

The figures show that during November, 134.3 Billion spam emails were detected, down from an 18-month high of 339.2 Billion in June 2010.

It certainly looks impressive on the graph but should we be celebrating the impending death of spam? Most probably not. Although the raw number is now less than half what it was six months ago, it’s now back down to the level it was in April this year, indicating an unusual spike during summer 2010. Looking at a perhaps more meaningful figure, the current figure still accounts for 85.4% of all email, that’s down just 2.7% from in mid-2009.

So, what’s going on? As Cisco says, changes in its figures can be affected by “The variety of methods used by spammers and capture rates due to the ability (or inability) of anti-spam solutions to keep up with rapidly changing techniques.” In other words, it may simply be that we’re sending less email and the spammers are following us to other online communication methods.

Yes, social networking spam is where it’s at now. 78% of Facebook users see spam on the network as a problem, according to an F-Secure poll last month. It’s not alone – Twitter is similarly blighted by accounts that pump out unwanted junk messages.

Facebook and Twitter (unsurprisingly) don’t give specific numbers for their spam problems but they’re certainly proactive in stamping out any problem accounts and apps that catch their attention. Still, both networks are still a long way from spam-free.

So even though email spam appears to be on the decline, it’s not time to ditch those murderous fantasies just yet.Image source



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