What exactly is an ultrabook? It is an ultra slim laptop that is no more than .8 inches thick, similar to the MacBook Air. The next generation Ultrabooks due the end of this year will have Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors. These new processors will provide betters graphics and battery life compared to the previous i7. These laptops are expected to have an instant on function, similar to tablet PCs. Intel is partnering up with voice recognition company Nuance to add speech controls similar to Apple's Siri. Some of these ultrabooks will be tablet/laptop hybrids ready for Microsoft's new Windows 8 touch-focused interface. Get ready for the ultrabook push!
WordPress is an online blogging tools that can easily be set up literally within 5 to 10 minutes. WordPress is easy to use for non-tech savy users who wants to start a blog of their own. In addition, WordPress is SEO ready so keywords is optimized for searching. Therefore, people are able to search your blog by typing the keywords you created for the blog. WordPress is also social media platform ready which means social media websites cam be integrated with few touches. WordPress is perfect for tight budget users and it does not require a lot of effort to start. If you want to start a blog, WordPress is the way to go! You can visit WordPress here.
Google's AdWords is a Google program to promote keywords advertising for small businesses to enterprise businesses. Business owners are able to select keywords and determine when, where, and how to their advertisement are display on the web site. Owners have complete control during the course of their campaign. AdWords is one of the new essential tools for online business as people are searching their wants by keywords. As long as the keywords matches, Google is able to generate your advertisements to the selected user and promote them to click on the the company's advertisements.
Skype allows you to communicate with people through video chat or conferencing. All you need to do is download the program onto your system and have a functional webcam and microphone. The service is free as long as you don't make calls to actual landlines. It has actually been around since 2003 and is owned by the same people at eBay. This program allows friends and family to keep in touch for free, saving users thousands of dollars in cell phone minutes. It allows you to have a conference with business partners halfway around the world through its ability to video conference. Video conferencing also allows you to build a stronger relationships with customers, colleagues, and business partners.
For more information visit their web site: click here
Can you believe the very first iPod was released back in 2001 and only had 5 gigabytes of storage. The 2nd generation iPods launched one year after and had 20GB of storage and most importantly, windows compatibility. The next major launch was the iPod Shuffle, a screen-less and smaller version of the iPod. The iPod nano came out in 2005 and it had a slim frame along with color interface. Also that year, the 5th generation iPod had video playback features and a bigger screen. Their biggest release was the iPod touch back in 2007, the same year the iPhone was released. It came with a multi-touch interface, Wi-Fi, and a browser. Today's iPod touch has all the features of an iPhone except calling ability. It comes with retina display, facetime, and high-definition video recording. What new features would you like to see on the next generation iPod?
Ping was introduced by apple in 2010. Apple integrated the social network into iTunes to function as a ‘social music network’. It launched with already 1 million users in 23 countries. Steve Jobs explained in 2010 that Ping was sort of like Facebook and Twitter integrated into iTunes. Originally it was build with a Facebook integration but soon after the release Apple removed it. Facebook didn’t authorize Ping to access FB since Apple didn’t agree on terms and conditions. Right after its launch Ping was flooded with spam. As Apple didn’t set up a spam or URL filter in the first place. Ping also had to deal with fake accounts.
LinkedIn is a professional social networking website that is
extremely valuable to us students. You create a profile and post your resume in
hopes of landing a job. You can add your professional website, blogs, or any
other content that makes you look good. You can connect to old friends and
colleagues from the past and even ask for recommendations from them. Joining
groups also allows you to gain new information and connections you would never
have known. Hiring companies use LinkedIn profiles to find individuals who are
a good fit for the company. Hiring managers can look at your connections and
are able to see if your previous connections are linked to them. Creating a LinkedIn
profile is vital for any student who is about to start their job search.
Why
should your company switch to cloud computing? Cloud is the offering of
technology as a service rather than as a product. This gives users
access to exactly what they need for any particular task and it also
cuts out the management of hardware and software. Businesses are moving
to the cloud because it allows for a more efficient way to collaborate.
The cloud offers a wide range of services that can be implemented to
make your business more cost efficient and accessible to your employees.
If you want a better understanding of the cloud, I have included a
video from Salesforce.com:
YouTube isn't just a large video-sharing website. It has slowly evolved
and incorporated more social media into the website. Video feedback can
be seen in the comments section and are even talked about on other
forums on the web. Users can subscribe to their favorite video creators
and follow them on their profile pages. Profile pages now have recent
activity such as what users like and comment on. When the creator of
videos comments on their own video, it shows up first on the comment
feed. I even use YouTube as a video search engine now. Instead of having
to read through tutorials, I just search for an introductory video on
YouTube. For all the latest advances to YouTube:
Past decade, gaming industry was focused on Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) video games. However, the trend is climbing to a whole new platform. Companies are investing their time into the social media and incorporating their resources in social business. Therefore, gaming itself is morphing into gaming within social networks. FarmVille and Mob Wars are one of the few successful social games online and it has attracted more than millions of people as well as generating millions of dollars in revenue.
Among all, Zynga is a social network gaming company that recently went IPO. Its user base is massive. People all around the world plays the same games they have created. It's not surprising to know that social media and social business has become a complementary structure to online games because of the addictive element of social network and games.
As you all know, Google launched its own social networking website last June called the Google+ or Google Plus. It is designed to compete with the renowned Facebook. Google's main approach was to address the lack of privacy in Facebook. Google allows user to let them choose what they want to share. For example, every sections in the profile have the ability to select public, private or specific few. In Google+'s platform, user's friend are separated by "Circles." It is comparable to Facebook's new smartlist where it filter user's friends by category such as work, acquaintance, or close friends. Additionally, Google+ has a place called Hangout. It allows users to have a group chat in voice as well as in both voice and video. Hangout is an exclusive feature that only Google has, but it wont be long when Facebook catches up. Speaking from experience, a lot of people seems to use Google+ in the the technology industry. Perhaps, Google may one changes his vision with Google+ some day.
Facebook is growing faster and faster. By now it is way beyond its original services like sharing user comments and images. Users are now able to listen to music, watch movies and read news. Cooperation’s with the music industry include: Spotify, MOG, Rdio, Rhapsody, Turntable.fm, VEVO, Slacker, Songza, TuneIn, iheartradio, Deezer, Earbits, Jelli and mixcloud. Facebook also has partnerships in the movie industry for example Netflix, Hulu, Blockbuster, IMDB, Dailymotion and Flixter. And the last main partnerships are with newspaper companies: Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Slate, the Associated Press, Reuters and Yahoo News. These services enable Facebook users to access all theses services right from their profile without having to leave the Facebook empire.
Further information about possible cooperation’s with governments: here
Facebook had no choice but to go public earlier this year due to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Under the SEC's rules, a company with more than 500 shareholders must adhere to he same financial record requirements as public companies do. They have to make their records available to the SEC. Going public gives Facebook more money to better the company and become more profitable. The only downside to going public is having to please the new shareholders and this is going to be done through advertising which will ultimately affect the users. Mark Zuckerberg knows this so he decided to sell away only 10 percent of the company which allows him to keep a big chunk of ownership and power in the company.
Vimeo is a video sharing website very similar to YouTube but
far less popular. It was actually created two months before YouTube and it is
known for its quality, catering more to the advanced user. Playback use to be
much better on Vimeo but YouTube has caught up in that department. There is no
time limit on video uploads on Vimeo whereas YouTube caps all their videos at
10 minutes unless you’re an affiliate of the company. YouTube’s advantages are its user friendly interface
and popularity. Uploading a video on YouTube is simpler and it is much easier
to spread your content around due to the larger audience.
Since we read a lot about the positive impacts of social media to customers and businesses I want to discuss some downsides today. I guess most of you can remember the brutal actions only six month ago in North Africa and the Middle East. This huge action was greatly supported by social media – young leaders used online platforms to organize the protests and other actions. But what is the right action to avoid incidents like these? In 2011 in San Francisco, the Bay Area Rapid Transit authority shut cell phone networks on the trains down because they expected a protest. Are interventions like this too excessive?
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