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Tablets and Video Are A Good Fit

posted on June 8, 2012

The latest findings from comScore’s TabLens service (press release can be found here)are likely to confirm what many already suspect or can say that they know. Tablet users really like video. What we may not have known is just how willing they are to pay for video content.

First, a quick glance at the results. Tablet usage is certainly gaining momentum. No surprise there but when you see numbers it becomes that much more real.

While it’s important to know that tablets are becoming a ‘go to’ for many (and that many appear to be older and wealthier according to comScore’s findings), it’s just as important to know just how they use it. It looks like video gets a pretty strong amount of play with these folks (pun intended if you so desire).

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Nextag’s CEO Says ‘Darn You Google!’ in WSJ Op-Ed Rant

posted on June 8, 2012

It appears as if this talk of Google’s monopoly in search is not going away for whatever reason. I have made my feelings very clear on this subject in the past. To recap, I think all of the FairSearch efforts and lobbying the EU as well as the US government in an attempt to label Google a monopoly and thus try to somehow regulate it as pure junk at best and “finger nails down a chalkboard” like whining at worst.

If you decide to read the entire Op-Ed piece from yesterday’s Wall Street Journal by Nextag’s CEO, Jeffrey Katz, you can draw your own conclusions as to where his argument fits in the Google monopoly fray. For me it’s the same shrill whine that has been spewed by everyone who feels they have been ‘wronged’ by Google or has a crazy entitlement attitude in a free market system. But that’s just me. Here is a sample of what Mr. Katz feels and let’s just say it’s not where I land in all of this at all.

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Why Shoppers Love Online Most of the Time

posted on June 7, 2012

Nielsen published a simple chart today that defines how consumers feel about in-store, online, and mobile shopping.

What’s exciting to see, is that online shopping came out on top, beating the other two in three out of five categories.

Take a look at the chart and then we’ll talk.

Let’s work backwards starting with Safest. No surprise that mobile barely registers on the safe scale, but I’m surprised by how low online is as compared to in-store. It appears that people still worry about sending their credit card information into the great beyond, but they’re not afraid to hand their card over to a store. I’ve had my credit card information stolen only once and it happened when thieves siphoned off the data from my local grocery store.

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Foursquare Reinvents Itself as a Discovery Engine

posted on June 7, 2012

I suppose if I spent much of my life traveling to new places, I’d be excited by an app that easily allows me to tell people where I am. But I don’t, so I wasn’t and after a brief dalliance, I cut Foursquare out of my life.

Today, I’m reconsidering renewing our relationship because Foursquare says it’s changed and this time it’s not just playing games, it’s going to be helpful.

The new Foursquare, to use their own words, is prettier and includes a snazzy new Explore. Check-ins are still encouraged but the emphasis is now on discovering new places to visit relative to where you are right now.

Since it is first and foremost, a social app, it opens to your friends page with a quick look at the latest activity.

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Is Twitter Best Positioned To Win the Mobile Social Battle?

posted on June 7, 2012

Twitter is seeing success in an area that other social media players (yes we do mean Facebook) are wishing were not such a problem. That place would be in the mobile space.

We are all well aware of Facebook’s looming concerns with its abilities to capitalize on the fact that almost half of its user base is more mobile than not. The problem that Facebook faces is that there is precious little real estate that can be used for ads in the social presentation of the service. No ads means no money, which means no stock jump, which means no future. Well, no future is a bit dramatic but you get the point.

Twitter, on the other hand, is reaping rewards in the mobile space mainly because it is built to handle the needs of both mobile users and advertisers. Reuters reports

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LinkedIn’s Security Woes Pour Salt On Social Media’s Exposed Wounds

posted on June 7, 2012

LinkedIn is in the middle of a pretty bad run. Their latest problems are around the phishing attacks on LinkedIn users that can be attributed to hacked passwords being handed out like candy on a Russian hacker site.

This is the latest in a series of security issues that has plagued the social network choice of the professional set. The New York Times Bits blog reports

The phishing attack marks the third headache for the professional social network in 24 hours. On Tuesday, security researchers said that a LinkedIn mobile app had been leaking sensitive calendar information to LinkedIn’s Web servers without their knowledge. On Wednesday, the breach exposed vulnerabilities in LinkedIn’s data security practices, specifically that the social network did not isolate users’ credentials on separate, secure machines and failed to “salt” passwords by appending random characters to them before encoding them.

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Airtime Aims to Put the Surprise Back in Social

posted on June 6, 2012

Bored? Lonely? Want to spend a little time chatting with a total stranger who loves all the things you love? Fire up Airtime and in minutes, you’ll be talking live with a real woman who speaks your language.

Okay, so it sounds like one of those sleazy, chatlines they advertise on late night TV, but Airtime is actually the next big thing in online chatting. It comes to you from Napster founders Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, two guys who want to put the surprise and wonder back into internet hook-ups.

Let’s begin by looking at the cool, quirky, but slightly frightening banner they use on the site.