Dancing Inmates - Michael Jackson's This Is It

Top 8 ways to use social media

Lewis Howes explains the top eight ways to use social media. Good advises on social media under 6 minutes. A must watch for all social media fans.

Gartner : Revenue for mobile apps set to quadruple from 2010-2013

According to a new report from Gartner, worldwide revenue from mobile applications will total $6.8 billion in 2010, an increase of 60% over the $4.2 billion spent in 2009. Growth in revenue from mobile apps can be expected to continue at a rapid rate, as more consumers purchase smartphones and more apps become available. Gartner predicts that in 2013, 21.6 billion apps will be downloaded, generating nearly $30 billion in revenue more than a fourfold increase over 2010.

Gartner forecasts that 82% of all downloads will be free in 2010, and that the share of free apps will increase to 87% by 2013. This leaves mobile advertising to make up for the loss in share for paid apps. Gartner claims that in 2010, 0.9% ($0.6 billion) of mobile app revenue will be generated by advertising.

My take is the marketplace for mobile will mature over the next three years, with increasing consolidations and company buyouts. Indeed, it’s already begun with Google’s purchase of AdMob and Apple’s purchase of Quattro Wireless and i m quite certain that more consolidations will take place this year.

Apple whips out the Magical iPad

It’s finally out! The long-awaited Apple tablet has been unveiled today, and it looks like a giant iTouch or iPhone.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Wednesday unveiled the iPad, the widely and wildly anticipated tablet-style computer that he called "a truly magical and revolutionary product."

"What this device does is extraordinary," Jobs said. "It is the best browsing experience you've ever had. ... It's unbelievably great ... way better than a laptop. Way better than a smartphone."

iPad features:

A 9.7-inch multitouch screen (resolution: 1024 x 768)
A 1 GHz A4 Apple-made processor
Wi-Fi / 3G connectivity
Bluetooth 2.1
A Mic
Speakers
Battery Life: 10 hours of constant use, 1 month in standby mode
iPad Pricing:

16 GB + WIFI: $499
32 GB + WIFI: $599
64 GB + WIFI: $699
16 GB + WIFI + 3G: $629
32 GB + WIFI + 3G: $729
64 GB + WIFI + 3G: $829

Having 3G mobile access will cost an extra $130 on each. Two mobile plans will be available through AT&T, and there will be no contracts, allowing customers to opt out at any time, according to Jobs. They are scheduled to begin shipping in 60 days!

More images of iPad below :

Video clip of Jobs launching iPad below :

So, will you guys rush to the nearest Apple store when the iPad comes out, or will you wait for the second generation of the device to be released before making the decision of purchasing one or not?

Below is the first official video of the new Apple iPad Tablet.

Nokia makes navigation FREE

Finnish handset vendor Nokia revealed what it’s been up to with location and mapping firm Navteq which it bought in 2008 for $8.1bn. The monster handset vendor is shaking up the mobile space by making mapping and turn by turn navigation available for free to a potential 83 million users.

The big attraction with this new service is that the maps are available in on and offline mode. They can either be downloaded on the fly over cellular or wifi, or sideloaded in advance from the PC. Any maps that are downloaded are also cached so they don’t need to be downloaded again, and this goes for all the maps available for 180 countries. The service also features car and pedestrian navigation features, such as turn-by-turn voice guidance for 74 countries in 46 languages, and traffic information for over ten countries. Through a partnership with Facebook, Nokia has also introduced a ‘share my location’ feature to use with the social networking service.

From today, ten Nokia models will be able to download the new version of Ovi Maps as a free update; the N97 mini, 5800 XpressMusic, 5800 Navigation Edition, E52, E55, E72, 5230, 6710 Navigator, 6730 classic and X6. Going forward, all Symbian S60 devices released by Nokia will boast this same functionality and the vendor will later make Maps available on its Linux-based Maemo platform. Devices will come preloaded with regional maps out of the box.

The news threatens to destroy the PND (portable navigation device) market, and also sticks the boot into any other paid for navigation offerings. It also makes an attractive alternative to offerings like the iPhone, which boasts native mapping using Google Maps, but does not allow for caching or offline usage. Nokia’s proposal allows the user to sidestep heavy data roaming charges by preloading maps before they visit a county and just using GPS, which is free, rather than the data network to find their location when abroad.

New Earning Record for Apple - 50% increase for the 4th Quarter

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 first quarter ended December 26, 2009. The Company posted revenue of $15.68 billion and a net quarterly profit of $3.38 billion. It sold 3.36 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.

The Company sold 8.7 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 100 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 21 million iPods during the quarter, representing an eight percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

More Stats :

• Record Breaking Quarter - $15.68 Billion
• 3.38 billion net revenue
• $3.57 earnings per share
• 33% year over year growth in Mac sales year over year.
• Sold 21 million iPods
• iPod touch up 65% year over year
• Over 3 billion app downloads in 77 countries
• 8.7 million iPhones sold
• 100% increase in sales over year prior quarter
• Value of those iPhone sold is 5.4 billion
• Added in 17 new carrier/markets
• Huge percentage of major corporations are using or trialing iPhones for deployment. 100% increase since the release of the iPhone 3GS
• Retail Stores $1.97 Billion in revenue
• 283 Stores in 10 Countries
• Average per store sales for quarter- 7.1 million
• Over 40% total gross margin
• Cash 39.8 Billion!!! An increase of $5.8 Billion in cash!!!

With the new Tablet announcing this week, Apple should be on track to perform better next year. Perhaps its a good idea to consider buying some Apple's shares...

Android accounts for more than a quarter of U.S. smartphone ad requests

Google's Android operating system generated 27 percent of mobile ad requests from U.S. smartphones in Q4, according to mobile advertising network AdMob's Mobile Metrics Report for December 2009. While Apple's iPhone accounted for 54 percent of U.S. smartphone requests in the previous quarter, AdMob notes that Android's market share grew throughout 2009, and its U.S. share is by far its highest penetration in any global region. Among device manufacturers, Apple is the U.S. leader with 40 percent of requests, followed by Samsung at 17 percent and Motorola at 11 percent.

AdMob reports that Apple's iPhone OS is also the leader in the Western Europe, Latin America and Australia markets, with its success coming at the expense of rival Nokia, whose share of requests across the AdMob network declined from 33 percent in Q4 2008 to 18 percent in Q4 2009. The iPhone and iPod touch generated more than half of total Western European requests in Q4, while Android generated 8 percent, second only to North America in terms of penetration. Nokia's Symbian platform still dominates across the rest of the globe, however: In Asia, Nokia smartphones generated 53 percent of mobile ad requests in Q4, with the iPhone at 27 percent--Nokia also leads in Africa, yielding more than 50 percent of requests throughout the year.

Despite smartphones representing just 14 percent of mobile devices shipped in 2009, they generated 39 percent of worldwide traffic on the AdMob network/

For more on AdMob's latest Mobile Metrics Report, you can check out the release here.

2009 - New CNNIC China Internet Survey

CNNIC (the China Internet Network Information Center) just released its 25th semi-annual survey report. Below are the summary from the report :

• China Internet users: 384 million, with a penetration rate of 28.9%
• Broadband Internet users: 346 million
• China mobile internet users: 233 million (60.8% of total internet users)
• Internet users in rural areas: 106.81 million
• Registered domain names: 16.82 million (80% are .cn domains)
• Male Internet users v.s. Female: 54.2% v.s. 45.8%
• 10% of China internet users don’t have income; 30.3% have a monthly income of over 2000 yuan.
• Average time spent on the internet : 18.7 hours per week online.
• Total search engine users: 280 million, up 38.6% from previous year
• Total bloggers: 221 million
• Social networking sites users: 176 million
• Online shopping users: 108 million, up 45.9%

Top 3 Internet applications

1. online music
2. online news
3. search engines.

Top 3 fast growing online applications

1. Online payment
2. Travel booking
3. Online stock trading

The definitive explanation of MARKETING

You're a woman and you see a handsome man at a party.
You go up to him and say, "I'm fantastic in bed."
That's Direct Marketing..

You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a handsome man.
One of your friends goes up to him and pointing at you says, "She's fantastic in bed."
That's Advertising..

You see a handsome man at a party.
You go up to him and get his telephone number.
The next day you call and say, "Hi, I'm fantastic in bed."
That's Telemarketing..

You see a man at a party, you straighten your dress.
You walk up to him and pour him a drink.
You say, "May I," and reach up to straighten his tie, brushing your breast lightly against his arm...
And then say, "By the way, I'm fantastic in bed."
That's Public Relations.

You're at a party and see a handsome man.
He walks up to you and says, I hear you're fantastic in bed."
That's Brand Recognition.
You're at a party and see a handsome man.
He fancies you, but you talk him into going home with your friend.
That's a Sales Rep..

Your friend can't satisfy him so she calls you.
That's Tech Support..

You're on your way to a party when you realize that there could be handsome
men in all these houses you're passing. So you climb onto the roof of
one situated towards the centre and shout at the top of your lungs, "I'm fantastic in bed!"
That's Junk Mail...

I hope you all have a complete understanding of Marketing now... that should clear any confusion...haha...

Skype, the World's Largest Long Distance Carrier

VoIP firm Skype grabs 12 percent share of international calling minutes, making it the largest provider of long distance calling in the world. Citing data from research firm TeleGeography, Skype says that, whilst international telephone traffic growth has slowed to “only” 8 percent in the past two years (growing from 376 billion minutes in 2008 to an estimated 406 billion minutes in 2009), its own VoIP growth has accelerated. Skype’s on-net international traffic (between two Skype users) grew 51 percent in 2008, and is projected to grow 63 percent in 2009, to 54 billion minutes.

The proliferation of alternatives to telephone calls including Skype for mobile devices, and Google’s gradual entry into the voice market will present ever greater challenges to international carriers. Indeed, Skype has enjoyed millions of downloads of its ‘Skype for iPhone’ software on Apple’s App Store, whilst Skype’s VoIP client has previously been embedded on smartphones from Nokia as well as 3’s Skypephone.

Not all of Skype's traffic comes at the expense of phone operators though. Skype's paid-for SkypeOut service, which allows users to make calls to standard telephones, generated about 12 billion minutes of traffic in 2009, and Skype relies on other wholesale carriers to connect this traffic to the telephone network.

In addition, Skype's growth is due to a sharp increase in the number of its users; the service has over 500 million registered users. Nobody could had imagined 15 years ago an online communication provider like Skype would take pole position today.

Gartner - Mobile web access will surpass PCs by 2013

Mobile phones will overtake PCs as the dominant web access device worldwide by 2013 according to a new forecast issued by research firm Gartner. Based on Gartner's PC installed base forecast, the total number of PCs in use should top 1.78 billion units in 2013 by that time, the combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones is expected to exceed 1.82 billion units, and the gap will continue to grow in the years to follow.

Looking even further ahead, Gartner anticipates that by 2015, context will be as critical to mobile consumer services and relationships as search engines are to the traditional web. Gartner argues that context will provide the key to delivering hyper-personalized experiences across smartphones in the same way search enables web users to organize information and services, adding context will center on observing patterns, particularly location, presence and social interactions.

Gartner also notes that while search is predicated on pulling information from the web, context-enriched services will typically prepopulate or push information to users.

The W Phonewatch from Kempler & Strauss

This cool little phone can be worn on your wrist and it’s touchscreen! Seriously, this phone takes pictures and can even text. The W Phonewatch is unlocked and retails for two hundred bucks. Those of us on Verizon can only watch enviously as you record video or text via your wrist. There are speakers and a microphone, but ideally the W Phonewatch would be paired with a Bluetooth headset for maximum gadgetry.

Check out the video below.

The Boxee TV Box by D-Link is Futuristic Entertainment

The Boxee TV Box by D-Link can stream your favorite TV shows and movies from the Internet or hard drive onto your TV. It was showcased at CES 2010. Using their remote control, users can pick and choose the best digital entertainment.

Boxee Beta from boxee on Vimeo.

Windows 7 Ad Campaigns Stress That it is Easy to Use

Terra Parental Control Tries to Hide Naughty Animations

This inventive banner takes interactive advertisement to new heights. The web banner for Terra Parental Control shows a beautiful women doing a slow striptease on the screen… but look out for the Terra Parental Control man! He does not approve of you and will fight you to stop the movie.

Check the video below.

Amazing Parkour Motion Reel

This amazing video was first illustrated, frame by frame, with a technical pen, and then animated, flip-book style, by vimeo user Saggyarmpit. Check it out:

parkour motion reel from saggyarmpit on Vimeo.

Video : Things are not always what they seem

New Tech : The 'Swing Your Energy Charger' is an Easy Way to Juice Up Your Mobile

A dying battery on your mobile phone can be a worst-case scenario for those of us that cannot be away from our mobiles for even a second. The Swing Your Energy Charger is a quick and easy solution for dying mobile batteries. Designed by Song Teaho and Hyejin Lee, the Swing Your Energy Charger just needs to be twirled around your finger to power back up.

Unfortunately, the Swing Your Energy Charger will only give your mobile phone enough juice to last you through your next conversation or until you get to your electrical charger.

A Sprint Commercial That Focuses on Statistics in an Entertaining Way

This Sprint commercial is all about about the numbers. This short and sweet television spot is entertaining regardless of your relationship with Sprint.

Get up to date on your stats by watching the Sprint commercial above.

Google Nexus One is OFFICIAL and Google is

T-Mobile, Verizon and Vodafone already signed up to sell it. After weeks of speculation, Google has officially unveiled its new Nexus One Android handset, which it claims "belongs in the emerging class of devices which we call 'superphones'".

As expected, the handset runs the latest version of the Android OS - version 2.1 - and has been made by HTC. It's got a 3.7-inch touchscreen and runs off Qualcomm's 1GHz Snapdragon chipset.

Google has launched its own web-store to sell selected Android handsets, starting with the Nexus One. It's being sold SIM-free for $529, shipping to the US, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong.
However, T-Mobile USA will be selling it for $179 on a two-year contract. One thing for sure, Google is nailing the Operator to the wall by directly selling to consumers. And I m sure some will be sold in China soon.

Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone will also be selling the handset from Spring, although no pricing details have been announced.

As you'd expect from a Google-branded phone, the Nexus One features all Google's apps, including Gmail, Google Voice and Google Maps Navigation. A new, whizzier version of Google Earth was also unveiled at the event, with desktop-like 3D fly-throughs.

Other entertainment-focused features include voice recognition integrated deep into the device, 'live' wallpapers, and a 3D photo-browsing gallery. The voice recognition was showed off at the launch by composing an email in Gmail by talking into the phone.

There's also a trackball for navigation below the touchscreen - interesting, given RIM's recent abandoning of trackballs in favour of trackpads. However, the fact that the trackball can pulse different colours to serve as notifications is a nifty selling point (for us ubergeeks, anyway).
One final note for app developers: Google confirmed at the event that it will soon drop its limit on the storage space available for apps on Android handsets.

Check out the promo video below :

Our day revolves around lots of Digits

Number from Gwen Francois on Vimeo.

‘Number’ by SKILLLAB is a supercharged short film that makes the viewer realize how often numbers appear throughout our day. Whether it’s time on a clock, portions of food or numbers on a spreadsheet at work, it’s clear that digits have permeated nearly every moment.

Happy New Year from MOBIZ

Happy New Year to you and yours from MOBIZ! May you have a safe and prosperous new year. I m thankful and grateful to all of you for reading and commenting on my blog. All the best to 2010.