The Push is On: Apple Turns on Push Notifications. Even though the iPhone 3.0 OS update went out successfully yesterday, the #1 feature many users were still waiting for was the ability to receive push notifications. While a couple of apps had already been updated with this functionality over the last few days (Zillow, AP Mobile, Weather Alert, etc.), no push notifications went out yesterday. Only this morning, around 10am, did Apple enable push notifications and the first alert went out to the AP Mobile app. After thinking about how Apple has implemented notifications, however, we think that while this is a great feature, there are a couple of areas where we would like to see some changes.
No Going Back For one, there doesn't seem to be an option to review which notifications have come in after dismissing them. So if you mistakenly close a notification instead of clicking on 'View,' there is no way to go back to see where the message came from. No Quiet Time We Still Love Push Push Enabled Apps. Amazon, CloudMQ Create “Social Data Cloud” Chrome now works on Linux and Mac. Everybody loves Googles great browser, Chrome. Heck, I do too. It’s really one of the best browsers out there, and it really has a strong chance of toppling down Firefox. Really. Oh, wait, there’s a bit of a problem: you can’t use Chrome if you’re not on Windows.
Oh yeah. That. For the longest time, Linux and Mac users have been badgering Google to make an official Chrome build for their respective OS’s. You see, Google has already rolled out the alpha versions of Chrome for Mac and Linux. But the real reason Google doesn’t want you to download that version is that many of the functionalities do not work just yet. So if you’re willing to wait it out, the complete browser will be out by “sometime in the middle of 2009.” Geolocating Your iPhone Users via the Browser - O'Reilly Ra. Hallelujah! Geolocation is available in the iPhone’s browser. I was thrilled to finally have this app ask to use my location. This is only true for the new 3.0 version of the browser (oddly, geolocation is *not* available in the Mac version of Safari 4).
Adding the ability to geolocate users via the browser opens up a whole new range of web apps. If you’re eager to start catering to the legion of iPhone users ready to tell you where they are, Adam DuVander (the fellow behind the Portland Wifi Finder among other things) has written up an excellent post on how to access their location. The code itself is very simple as Adam’s sample demonstrates: (you can get more information on the behavior in Adam’s post) Apple was smart about the user experience and kept the user in control. Iran’s Election As Seen Through the ISPs. The protests in Iran that have come in the wake of the country’s June 13 election results, which returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power, have showcased the rise of social media like Twitter, Facebook and even cell phone video taken in the streets and uploaded onto YouTube.
Arbor Networks, a company that provides security and deep packet inspection equipment to ISPs, has taken a look at the implications of the conflict — not at the social media level, but at the packet level — and found that Iran’s web censorship is different from those of other regimes. Whiles some governments block certain web sites with a heavy hand or cut off web access entirely, Iran has taken a far more subtle approach. The state-owned Data Communication Company of Iran (or DCI), which acts as the gateway for all Internet traffic entering or leaving the country, has slowed web access down to a crawl.
I can only speculate. But DCI’s Internet changes suggest piecemeal migration of traffic flows. Google Mapping Out Its Search Results. Seems Google has gone crazy integrating its map application into the search results these days. At first it required a town reference to be included in the search words to invoke a mapped response, but now it seems any number of things can cause Google to show you a map. One would think they are monetizing the views they get so much play. And these results are not in the usual third spot – pushing down (to many of my clients’ complaints) regular listings to below the fold. But hey it is their company and their presentation – we can always go elsewhere….
So what is happening? This had me curious to see what other gems I could come across. First I did one for New York search conference and as you can see below Search Engine Strategies pulls off the number one spot with a map – am starting to think it is like music charts and they should be thought of as bullets. So I continued on the search conference quest and this time did Philadelphia. What is going on here Google? 61% of Americans Seek Online Health Info. Keeps the scurvy away While Americans still turn to traditional sources most often when seeking medical advice or information, a majority (61%) now say they also look online for health advice, up from only 25% in 2000, according to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project (via MarketingCharts).
The study, "The Social Life of Health Information Online," (pdf) also found that though social networking is not a dominant activity for these so-called "e-patients," e-patients are more likely than non-epatients to visit social-networking sites in general: They are increasingly using mobile access to discuss health topics. Top Health Sources When asked about the sources they turn to when they need information or assistance in dealing with health or medical issues, an overwhelming majority of American adults turn to health professionals and trusted friends and family: E-Patients Seek Similar Cases Social Networking Lags for Health Online Inquiries Have Positive Effect.
Seth's Blog: Circles of Convenience. Allan points out that Warren Buffet and Benjamin Graham invested in Circles of Competence. The idea is to buy what you know. Too often, organizations confuse this with circles of convenience. They stick to the tactics, products, people and channels that they are comfortable with, instead of rethinking what the market demands. When Amazon offered the New York Times millions of dollars in affiliate revenue a decade ago, the paper turned them down because they feared losing Barnes and Noble as an advertiser. This is a convenient decision, but clearly not a smart one. When companies look to hire new talent, they often go where they've gone before, because it's convenient.
Convenience is hugely attractive in organizations because it is easy to defend and easy to approve. Google Voice opens to the public tomorrow? : Boy Genius Report. Microsoft says Google tool breaks Outlook. Silicon Valley rivalries between tech firms are serious. But they rarely break out into fistfights. Those of us who long for a rumble are forced to settle for cranky late-night blog spats. At 1:56 am this morning, we got one. Outlook product manager Dev Balasubramanian posted a bold-font-laden bug report about Google’s Apps Sync plugin for Outlook, which allows Outlook to interoperate with Google’s email and other hosted services. “The installation of the Google Apps Sync plugin disables Outlook’s ability to search any and all of your Outlook data. I’m sure it’s hard for some to believe that Google would ship, of all things, a buggy search tool. Gizmodo - Ahmadinejad Lying Again With Photoshop - Ahmadinijad.
Where Does Real-Time Matter? In Viewing the Stream or Searching. "Real-time" - as in the "real-time web" - has certainly become the buzzword du jour. It's even possible that the move of web services to support a real-time, immediate flow of information is what will ultimately define the next version of the web...if you're someone who likes to attach version numbers to something that's in as much constant change as today's Internet, that is.
Still, it's easy to see the benefits of real-time in action, especially when it comes to disseminating news...as was apparent when the immediacy of Twitter trumped CNN's coverage of the Iranian elections and subsequent riots. Yet exactly how a company should integrate "real-time" into their service is something that's not always easy to grasp. It's clear that Facebook, for one, is still trying to figure it out.
Facebook Tests Real-Time Search In a Facebook blog post, the company announced that a limited, private beta of a new search interface is being rolling out to a small group of folks on the social network. 7 Ways You’re Screwing Up Relationship Marketing | Cop. Amazing mobile app lets you see the world ‘through onl. While the tech blogosphere goes iPhone 3.0 crazy today, here’s a reminder that there’s a lot to be excited about elsewhere in the mobile world too. Layar is a new ‘Augmented Reality Browser’ for Android phones. Forget everything you’re used to about searching the internet, Layar throws that all away. By holding your phone in front of you and looking through its camera lens you can actually see the world ‘through the eyes of the internet’.
Imagine you want to know which houses in your area are for sale – just hold up your phone and Layar will point out which ones around you are on the market and how much they are. Phoning the estate agent is just a touch of the screen away. Created by Dutch firm Sprxmobile, Layar offers a range of different ‘layers’ of information that can be displayed. Layar is due to launch today in the Netherlands on the Android App Store. This video shows just how exciting Augmented Reality in mobile devices can be. YouTube Blog. Last Friday marked a long-anticipated Election Day in Iran to choose the next Iranian president. While the voting process itself ran smoothly, widespread violence has since broken out in protest of current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim to a decisive victory over challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
Mousavi supporters, who believe Ahmadinejad rigged the election results, refuse to accept the verdict and have been openly protesting since Saturday. Video clips that capture the chaos and rioting in the streets of Iran's capital, Tehran, have been streaming into YouTube for the past four days. Even though YouTube appears to be blocked in Iran -- the site is experiencing a small fraction of the traffic levels it normally receives from Iran (around 10%) -- we continue to see videos being uploaded to the site that document city streets crowded with angry demonstrators, violent clashes between protesters and state police, and visceral scenes of mass unrest. TED Blog: Q&A with Clay Shirky on Twitter and Iran. NYU professor Clay Shirky gave a fantastic talk on new media during our TED@State event earlier this month. He revealed how cellphones, the web, Facebook and Twitter had changed the rules of the game, allowing ordinary citizens extraordinary new powers to impact real-world events.
As protests in Iran exploded over the weekend, we decided to rush out his talk, because it could hardly be more relevant. I caught up with Clay this afternoon to get his take on the significance of what is happening. HIs excitement was palpable. What do you make of what’s going on in Iran right now. Which services have caused the greatest impact? Do you get a sense that it’s almost as if the world is figuring out live how to use Twitter in these circumstances?
Talk some more about the sense of participation on Twitter. When I see John Perry Barlow setting himself up as a router, he’s not performing these services as a journalist. There was fury on Twitter against CNN for not adequately covering the situation. YouTube Adds the Wonder Wheel. YouTube added the "wonder wheel" visualization tool for exploring related searches interactively. The feature has been launched last month for Google search and it's now available in a different context. Type a general term in YouTube's search box, click on "Search" and then click on "Wonder wheel" to find some suggestions. As you click on the suggestions, YouTube shows the search results next to the wheel and it lets you go back to the initial search terms. "The Wonder wheel visually presents connections between related searches and your search term as an interactive diagram. Click the different nodes in the diagram to see how searches can branch out," explains Google.
While the idea seems interesting, I didn't find the "wonder wheel" very useful. Facebook Pilots Real-Time Search Terracing Features - MarketingV. Dell: social media business or the just good marketers? Dell is the social media super-hero these days and one of the most named examples of social media intelligence. At least, if we believe in a lot of blog posts… Last week, Dell reported in a blog post that their Twitter account @DellOutlet earned more than $2 million US dollars in revenue.
Money that can be attributed directly to their Twitter activity. This does not surprise us, having heard that Dell broke the $1 million US dollar barrier some months ago. Nevertheless, let’s think a minute about the ‘social aspect’ of this Twitter account. The funny thing about it is that Dell is just using old marketing techniques to generate revenue via Twitter. Or is the use of coupon codes a marketing innovation of the web 2.0 era? These couopons come flying into my mailbox at home every day – quicker than I have time to throw them in a bin.
“Dell Outlet sells refurbished Dell products at great prices, but inventories fluctuate, making it difficult to know when products are available or on sale. Why B2B companies need social media too. Social media is an excellent vehicle for connecting with consumers. But what about other businesses? This question has surfaced many times in the last few months, and I'd like to respond to it here because I think a lot of people can benefit from the answer. Business-to-business companies, like business-to-consumer companies, still have decision-makers and influencers that contribute to a sale. They also have a need to be personable, responsible, and communicative. If your company has something to say, social media can be a vehicle for you. Now, the concern generally has been that people might actually talk back and you'd have to respond. If people are already saying negative things about you, then you're currently not satisfying them with an answer that might squash further disparagement.
Social media is necessary for your business if your primary target is regularly online. Remember, you don't have to have just one Twitter feed, one blog, etc. Facebook Fixes Search (But Only In Beta) 9 Ways to Build Your Own Social Networking Site | Traffikd. Humans prefer cockiness to expertise - life - 10 June 2009 - New. Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive - State Department to Twitt.
Target vs. Wal-Mart: Online Conversion Battle Heats Up. Social Business mobile edition. Clean Tweets: The Search Spam Solution Twitter Should Build. 10+ super geeky ways to use Twitter. Hands-On with the iPhone 3.0 OS; Search is the Winner - O'R. Opera "Reinvents the Web" with Unite, Makes Every Comp.
Why the iPhone will never be the biggest money generating platfo. No description available. iMedia Connection: Context is the new king. 100 Firefox Add-Ons to Create a Truly Brilliant Browser | Select. Twitter Postpones Maintenance as Iran Furor Builds. Take Your Sites to the Cloud (for Free) with Force.com. The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan. Dear CNN, Please Check Twitter for News About Iran. Blogfa.com (Iranian Blog Network) Down Due to Iranian Protests a. Looking Behind the Curtains on the Social Media Stage: Humans Do. Social Media is Dead Paying Attention. Facebook URL Madness: I Got Mine, But So Did Haywood Jablome | E. Influential Marketing Blog: 4 Reasons Facebook Won Big Last Nigh. Google to Launch a Microblogging Search Engine. 5 Ways a Community Manager Can Help Your Media Outl. Everyday Sociology Blog: How to Think Like a Sociologist.