September 2010
65 posts
Facebook Places now live in Australia
Just checked my iPhone and noticed that Places is now enabled here in Sydney and possibly the rest of Australia. Now, to find a service that will automatically check-in to both Foursquare and Facebook, or some sort of sync solution.
Recommend nxtgn+ →
tumblr.com
Because we have a mutual love and respect for each other.
Introducing Blackberry Playbook - the first iPad competitor
The is the Blackberry Playbook, which is the first device that actually competes with the Apple’s iPad. The tech industry excpected a Blackberry tablet, however the Playbook seems to surpass all expectations in both hardware and software, from the videos we’ve seen the interface has the fluidity and features of an Apple device. It is built from ground-up as a tablet, unlike the Samsung Galaxy Tab which is simply a scaled up version of standard Android Froyo 2.2, basically a big phone.
It’s especially surprising from Blackberry after they recently launched the disappointing Torch along with Blackberry 6 OS, which doesn’t seem to be much more than a cosmetic change. The Playbook however, uses a completely new OS based on QNX, which includes support for standards such as HTML5 and OpenGL - meaning a great browsing experience and the potential for some great-looking games.
Meet the multiprocessing, multitasking, uncompromised browsing, professional-grade tablet – BlackBerry Playbook
The Lowdown
The Playbook is designed to be an accessory to your Blackberry. From launch, the only way you can access a 3G network will be through a tethered Blackberry phone. The purpose of the Playbook is to augment the usual Blackberry experience, or as their marketing says, it’s blackberry - amplified.
Blackberry CEO Mike Laziridis describes the Playbook as “the first professional tablet”, clearly aligning what the niche of this tablet is. As mentioned, it features a dual-core 1ghz processor, 1gb of RAM, a 3 mexapixel front facing camera and a rear 5 megapixel camera. It’s capable of 1080p HD video as well as coming equipped with a HDMI port as well as microusb, Wifi 802.11 N, and bluetooth 2.1. The device measurein in at a small 5.1- by 7.6-inches, is only 0.4-inches thick, and weighs just 400g (or about 0.9 pounds). No word about onboard storage or battery life.
In terms of Apps, Blackberry announced that apps can be written in both Java and Blackberry native POSIX which means apps can be made for both Blackberry 6 devices such as the Torch and the Playbook. This is good news for app development on the platform.
Additionally, Adobe Air and Flash are supported in the browser, which means the tablet will have a fullly uncompromised browsing experience - however we’ve seen Flash run very poorly on Android devices so it remains to be seen how it runs on the Playbook.
The company announced the Playbook is due to launch in early 2011, so it will go right up against the launch of the iPad 2 in this timeframe. This iPad 2 is sure to even up the stakes in terms of hardware with certain features such as FaceTime and better specs, and possible a new size at 7 inches.
Get Great Creative Work...The Agency →
catherineadavis.tumblr.com
Catherine Davis has written a great article on what agencies should do to ensure their creative works for their client.
Last week, I focused on what Clients need to do to get great creative work. This week, I want to focus on the agency. Having worked on both sides on the fence (Diageo, Morgan Stanley, Discover Card, Leo Burnett), I recognize this is not always as simple as it seems on the surface.
Here are 9 ways to make it happen:
- Learn as much as you can about our business and competitors. Go beyond brand positioning and spend levels.
- Act as the voice of the consumer. Provide objectivity about our products and services. Sometimes we get too close to the category and our brands.
- Identify a consumer insight that uniquely connects our brand/product to the target. Help us to understand the more emotional, less rational associations with our brand. The Pepsi Refresh Project is a terrific example of creating an emotional link to a brand.
- Challenge our thinking. Tell us if you believe the product is not truly differentiated, the creative has been watered-down, or our expectations are not in line with our budget.
- Focus on a big idea that helps us drive our business vs even an amazing tactical idea (OK, if it is a really amazing tactical idea…)
- Understand the importance of the media channel and working closely with the media agency. The media channel has become a critical part of our message.
- Recognize that we have clients, too. The idea needs to be executable and be embraced internally. Trust that we will push as hard as we can for a great idea and trust that we know when to stop.
- Be objective and straightforward about your strengths and weaknesses. It is exceptionally rare to be best in class across all marketing disciplines. Not delivering on an a secondary discipline hurts your credibility.
- Focus on driving the business long-term vs. on short-term wins. This is increasingly hard to do on both sides. It may feel like there is little agency incentive as client turnover speeds up and margins get perilously thin, but it is ultimately good for both of us.
The result is great work that build brands.
Australian 17-year-old takes blame for Twitter chaos →
news.yahoo.com
A proud day to be an Aussie, with a young Melbournian causing the twitter chaos yesterday by implementing a ‘mouseover’ javascript hack on Twitter.
Delphin, who lives with his parents in Melbourne, said he tweeted a piece of “mouseover” JavaScript code which brings up a pop-up window when the user hovers their cursor over the message.
But the idea was soon taken up by hackers who tweaked the code to redirect users to pornographic sites and create “worm” tweets that replicated every time they were read.
“I did it merely to see if it could be done … that JavaScript really could be executed within a tweet,” Delphin told AFP via email.
“At the time of posting the tweet, I had no idea it was going to take off how it did. I just hadn’t even considered it.”
Source - Yahoo! 7
25 Brands Using Twitter Rather Well →
t4w.blogs.com
Here’s a bunch of brands that are using Twitter well, because the list of brands using it poorly would be too long to post.
Why is Apple lifting App Store Restrictions?
By Peter Petrovski
This weekend saw Apple allow Google Voice apps and a Commodore 64 emulator back into the App Store. Google Voice was initially rejected 18 months ago as it was competition to AT&T’s network and replicated iPhone functionality. The C64 emulator was rejected due to using the BASIC interpreter, not Apple’s native source code.
However now they’re both in, with Apple approving GV Connect, a $3 native Google Voice app for the iPhone. Google’s official Google Voice app should be coming soon, after it was rejected and led to Google creating a web-based HTML5 version to bypass the App Store.
This comes after Apple recently releasing it’s App Store Guidelines, which allows developers to understand why apps are rejected and how to avoid it happening to their app. Apple has previously been tight-lipped on this, seen as strict and ambiguous at times about which apps it approves and which it rejects.
Furthermore, Apple is “relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code”. This is a nod to recent game developers using their development tools to build their game, such as Epic with the Unreal Engine 3 demo at the recent Apple Event.
Why is Apple lifting these restrictions now? What’s changed?
18 months ago when these restrictions were outlined, Apple was at the top of the game with no peers. Every company wanted to make the iPhone-killer, all the carriers wanted something to compete with the behemoth that was the iPhone.
But then…
- Android started getting serious.
- Apple started becoming serious about gaming.
These are two major reasons why Apple are loosening their restrictions. Click Read more to continue.
15-year-old creates iTunes Instant
Nice work in creating an iTunes Instant by young Stephen Ou, I wonder if Apple will offer him a job? More likely, they may offer him a law suit.
First there was Google Instant, and then the novelty apps Google Maps Instant and YouTube Instant. Now, my friends, we have iTunes Instant. And the creator of said app, Stephen Ou, is younger than various pieces of my wardrobe.
iTunes Instant by Stephen Ou.
via Mashable
Tumblr Tuesday Recommendation
This week I’ve recommended Minimal Mac in the Tech section. Patrick Rhone does a great job on this blog where he focuses on stories to streamline your computing experience and generally be more productive. There’s always something interesting there and I enjoy reading about the minimalistic experience he advocates.
Check out his blog here.
29 Essential Social Media Resources You May Have Missed →
mashable.com
The weekend round-up from Mashable, always a good list with lots of interesting things to read.
Above you’ll find a section dedicated to our recent slew of Social Good resources including apps, trends, and several surveys of modern fundraising. We’ve also got all the classics in our Social Media section with resources on how Digg can survive, details on fashion week, and the future of social media journalism. Tech & Mobile has iPad apps for Twitter power users, and some guides on Internet Explorer 9. Finally, Business reveals details on popular startups, how to pick a great office location, and how to hire a designer.
