Spokeo People Search Pushes Personal Privacy to its Limit

With social networking sites getting tons of heat for privacy issues, Spokeo People Search seems to be asking for it. Spokeo was originally set up as an Internet White Pages, but now seems to be crossing the line with their amount of accessible information.

When Spokeo was first created in 2006, the site’s format allowed users to access information on what social networking sites their e-mail contacts were on. Now, Spokeo People Search reveals much more. By entering a name, you can see e-mail addresses, Picasa images, an appearance description, and the number of people in their household. If you are a paying customers, you can really do a deeper search. Bye bye to privacy...

Free White Paper - Make money from your mobile apps

Bango, a company known for its mobile analytics and billing solutions, recently published a new whitepaper aimed at helping developers monetize mobile apps, which the company says is in response to the fact that over 80 percent of the 180,000 apps in the marketplace are free.

The comprehensive whitepaper does a good job breaking down the various aspects of mobile app monetization using various methods and overcoming the various problem that can arise. The paper looks at issues such as multiple platforms/fragmentation, ad-funded models, payment issues, in-app sales, promotion and measurement, among other things.

The paper goes over every aspect in much greater detail, and can be downloaded for free here. It’s definitely worth a read.

Apple is the No. 1 Tech company by market cap

The moment came today when Apple, the maker of iPods, iPhones and iPads, shot past Microsoft, the computer software giant, to become the world’s most valuable technology company. This changing of the guard caps one of the most stunning turnarounds in business history for Apple, which had been given up for dead only a decade earlier, and its co-founder and visionary chief executive, Steven P. Jobs.

As of Wednesday, Wall Street valued Apple at $222.12 billion and Microsoft at $219.18 billion. The only American company valued higher is Exxon Mobil, with a market capitalization of $278.64 billion.

A little more than a decade ago, Apple, which had pushed out Mr. Jobs in 1985, was widely believed to be on the path to extinction.

Michael S. Dell, the founder and chief executive of Dell computer, went so far as to suggest that Apple should shut down and return any money to shareholders. (The computer maker is now worth about a tenth of Apple.) Around the same time, Microsoft’s chief technology officer called Apple “already dead.”

But with the return of Mr. Jobs to Apple in 1996 — and an investment by Microsoft of $150 million — the company began a slow path to recovery. Apple’s rebirth began in earnest with the introduction of the iPod music players, and Mr. Jobs began to gain a reputation for anticipating what consumers want. Congrats Apple...

Google Job Experiment - Brilliant Job Hunting Idea

The Google Job Experiment was conducted by Alec Brownstein, who came up with this outstanding idea to hunt for a job. Using only $6, Brownstein created an ad referring back to his website and contact information, which would show up as the first Google search result if his potential employers were to Google themselves online.

Of the five individuals he created ads for, he landed an interview with four of them, and got offered a job from two.

Interesting China Stats at a glance

Future of Smartphone according to Microsoft

How will smartphones work in the future? Microsoft provides a vision of how various futuristic devices and systems will be working seamlessly in the future.

The Google Chrome Ad is Faster than the Speed of Light

This creative commercial promoting Google Chrome works quickly to get you in on the Chrome action. In demonstrating the speed of this renovated search engine, the commercial presents how the system works if it were in physical form, giving its viewers an extremely fun-to-watch visual. Not sure whether its really as fast as its being demonstrated but i m sure the message is clear, Chrome is lightning fast!!

Microsoft Touchscreen uses Stylus, Voice, Gesture & Touch

Considering the fact that gadget consolidation is happening already for devices such as cameras and cell phones, I’m not surprised that it is finally happening with computers and gadgets like the Microsoft ‘Deskerity’ drafting table. Combining the use of pen, touch, gesture and voice in one place, this drafting table will rock the world of designers, techies and artists alike. Another iPad killer!!

Facebook Video Cam to The Fitting Room

With over 400 million active users, Facebook has become a prime spot for brands to advertise and promote themselves. Over 1.4 million local businesses have a presence on Facebook, reaching out to consumers through pages, events and applications.

Diesel Spain is taking social marketing to the next level, taking Facebook off the Web and putting it in their dressing rooms by introducing Diesel Cam, an interactive installation that allows shoppers to photograph themselves and post the pictures immediately to their Facebook profiles. Shoppers can photograph themselves as they try on clothes and ask their Facebook friends for advice about which garments they should buy, or they can publish photos to show off all the new clothes they are buying.

Shoppers connect to Facebook via Facebook Connect, using a touch screen monitor on the installation. They then have the opportunity to photograph themselves in Diesel clothes and publish their photos immediately to Facebook. The photos come complete with a Diesel logo in the corner, so it’s great advertising for the company, not to mention tons of fun for shoppers.

Facebook Connect has given third party websites the opportunity to connect with users through Facebook, but Diesel is taking it to a new level. The Diesel Cam gives live users the opportunity to enter social media directly from their stores. What a great idea, allowing all your friends to help you to decide on what looks good on you.

Cosmote Open Space Internet TV Commercial

This entertaining Cosmote Open Space Internet commercial has a point to make about the future of internet use. The commercial uses a simple comedic point, but their point is effective. In the Cosmote Open Space Internet ad, we are taken on a tour through a little town without walls or ceilings. Neighbours see each other as they watch television, cook, clean, and bathe.

With internet, the world is an open space....

LG Ally epic commercial

This LG Ally commercial is hilarious, check it out!



LG Ally is a high-end Android 2.1 smartphone, running the renowned 1GHz Snapdragon chipset and packing a 3.5-inch WVGA AMOLED screen, side-sliding QWERTY, and 5MP camera.

Nokia is still No.1 with RIM and Apple charging

Global sales of smartphones surged by 50%, growing from 35.9 million units in the year ago quarter to 54 million units in the first quarter of 2010, the strongest growth rate in several years according to a report by Strategy Analytics.

Smartphones now accounts for 18% of all mobile phone sales. Nokia is struggling to retain its leadership position by focusing on emerging markets. The company sold a record 21.5 million smartphones in the first quarter, but it largely sold cheaper models "in regions including China and South America, while North America remained a problem market for the company.

Behind Nokia, RIM sold 10.6 million BlackBerries, keeping Apple in third place globally with its record 8.8 million iPhone sales for the quarter. Apple's growth in the first quarter made it the number one mobile vendor among all US phone makers. Globally, Apple reached a record high of 3% global market share among all mobile phone makers. RIM's second-place share, at 19.7%, remained relatively static, falling slightly from its 20.3% of the smartphone market in the year ago quarter.

Apple takes top spot in the US ahead of Motorola

Motorola has dominated the American market ever since mobile phone was invented but today the story is very different. Not only Motorola no longer dominates the segment, it has also fallen behind to Apple who had came into the game some 3 years ago. Both companies are not even listed on the top 5 of biggest mobile phone manufacturers. Motorola at one time used to helm the top position for many years.

During the first quarter of this year, Motorola sold a total of 8.5 million phones, but Apple was able to post record sales of 8.8 million iPhones over the same period. In the same period last year, the Moto sold 14.7 million phones. Going back just four years, during the period when everyone and their mother (quite literally) had a Motorola RAZR, they sold 46.1 million phones.

The DROID hasn’t been quite as big a seller, pushing just 2.3 million units in Q1 though earning per device is a whole lot more higher than selling those low end Moto phones. Well done to Steve Jobs and team. Moto has a steep mountain to climb and it not going to be easy for them to pull the same feat that IBM did years ago. Perhaps their answer is to relinquish the mobile device business just like IBM who sold their PC business to Lenovo and focused on what they are good at.

China's online users above 400 million

The online population in the world's most populous nation has reached 404 million, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the State Council Information Office. That compares with 384 million users at the end of 2009. Users accessing the Internet with mobile phones was steady at 233 million while the number of people with broadband access reached 346 million.

The growth of users arent going to stop anytime as more and more will be accessing from the mobile. With 3G launched and better mobile internet devices, accessing the internet while on the move will a thing of the past.

1 Million iPads in 28 days!

Apple today announced that it sold its one millionth iPad on Friday, just 28 days after its introduction on April 3. iPad users have already downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore.

“One million iPads in 28 days—that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

Well done Apple, its going to be a buying spree once the international version is out this month. Its surely going to change how we consume digital information and entertainment.

Use your mobile phone to hunt for food at McDonalds

Advertising agency DDB Stockholm has created this interactive McDonald’s billboard game where you hunt for treats. The billboard game has the viewer attempting to capture an image of McDonald’s menu items with their camera phones. If the viewer manages to successfully take a picture of it, they only need to present the photo to the nearest McDonald’s (where the billboard will direct them to) to claim their prize.

This is pretty neat idea, as I can imagine tons of people in front this billboard waiting for their chance to catch a picture. Really good publicity!! Not too sure about those old Nokia camera phones with poor response...hehe..

Global handset market grew in the Q1 with RIM in No. 4 for the first time

The worldwide mobile phone market grew 21.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, according to new figures from IDC. Vendors shipped 294.9 million units in the first quarter of 2010 compared to 242.4 million units in the first quarter of last year, which had seen a 16.6 percent year-on-year decline.

IDC attributed the growth to increasing demand for smartphones and the global economic recovery. Growing demand for smartphones also helped BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) move into the top 5 vendor rankings for the first time, replacing Motorola and tied with Sony Ericsson at fourth place. This is also the first time Motorola has dropped out of the top 5. The entrance of RIM into the top 5 underscores the sustained smartphone growth trend that is driving the global mobile phone market recovery.

Though Nokia is ahead by a huge margin in position No.1, Samsung, the world’s second-largest handset vendor shipped 64.3 million mobile phones in the first quarter, up 40 percent from a year ago, is hot on the heel of Nokia. What is worrying for Nokia is while Nokia is KING when comes to number of devices sold, Nokia is lagging in the sales of Smartphones as their market share had continued to drop quarter by quarter and their latest flagship model, the N8 hasnt been getting good review.