As a dedicated BlackBerry fan I’ve often felt that the iPhone — and to some degree, its cultish following — was somewhat full of hot air about the greatness of the gadget. Turns out, now it literally is.
There’s a new app out now called Blower, which developers claim can be used to “blow out candles, herbs, and refresh your skin during hot summer nights.” Um, wow. How lazy can you be?! Basically, Blower just moves air through the speakers of your iPhone to create, which is exactly how the speakers work when playing music. Sorry, but this sounds like the most superfluous app ever created. I’ll stick to my BlackBerry — and to breathing myself, for that matter.
He’s the leader of the free world and an unabashed Crackberry addict, but he can’t figure out…Twitter?!
U.S. President Barack Obama admitted to being Twitter-shy because he’s too clumsy to type on the phone, during a conversation with a group of students in Shanghai.
Some of our most beloved social media networks, including Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are blocked or censored by the Chinese government, which sparked an inquiry from one of the students about whether they should be able to use Twitter freely.
Obama’s reply? “Well, first of all, let me say that I have never used Twitter. My thumbs are too clumsy to type in things on the phone.”
I’ve long been a tad obsessed with personal finance, and on my most fastidious of days I check on my Mint.com account even before brushing my teeth in the morning. So this new site, Disciplanner.com, is intriguing to say the least. This online goal tracking program allows users to track long-term personal goals along the lines of “exercise more” or “learn piano,” and also encourages users to track those less-than-stellar habits, like how much time is being spent in front of the TV. Disciplanner keeps weekly and all-time records enabling users to keep track of their own progress and growth in areas that they indicate.
Best of all, Disciplanner will never nag you if you’re falling short of your goals one week. Unlike Mint, which I am convinced is trying to get me to forgo caffeine thanks to all their annoying text messages “reminding” me that I’ve gone over my monthly coffee budget. We won’t even go into the site’s opinion on my shoe closet.
I’m one of those people who kind of freaks out when Facebook makes any sort of change (News Feed vs. Live Feed? Still don’t get it…), and now Twitter’s at it, too.
First, Twitter announced that it would be adding location info to tweets and now they’re saying that twitterers will actually be able to check out trending topics in their geographical locales. There will be a listing of all locations that trends are available for, and a way to search the Twitterverse by a specific location. How cool is that?
It reminds me a bit of Google Analytics and I’m looking forward to seeing how marketers take advantage of Twitter’s evolution. Unlike the petty and almost annoying changes Facebook keeps insisting we need, this actually sounds like it could spur a cool effect. What do you think?
…about what to blog about today. I thought maybe I should talk about Google Chrome, and its new bookmark-syncing capabilities — but then I realized that I truly have no clue what Google Chrome is. (Let’s be honest, you probably don’t really, either.) And I kind of sort of don’t sync stuff, so that was pretty much out. But I do want to talk about widgets. Specifically, all the cool retailer widgets I’m about to download now that Halloween is over and Black Friday is 25 days away. So, yeah. It’s time to talk shopping, folks.
Gilt Groupe is one of my personal must-shop sites for impressive discounts on the best designer items. But it can be fickle, and thanks to its auction-oriented setup, the best garb goes quick. Just downloaded: Gilt’s countdown widget, providing a real-time countdown to the best sales. Geeeeniusssss.
Not that I do my holiday shopping on eBay or anything (okay, a few times, but just for my B-list recipients), but they’ve got a handy widget that allows you to easily monitor the auctions you’re watching — so nobody will outbid you on the Swarovski crystal duck paperweight you’re eyeing for your great aunt.
Shopping online is also almost always guaranteed to save you some cash, compared to in-store purchases. GoToDaily ensures that you’re always in the know about where to find the best cyber deals — all from the comfort of your very own desktop. Track down coupon codes, promo codes, printable in-store coupons and saving tips for thousands of stores. This coupon widget even comes with a mini search box that allows you to use to find your favorite online stores and coupons by keywords or store name.
There are 50 days ‘til Christmas Eve — get shopping!
File this away under, “Yes, there really is an app for that.”
Think of it like Facebook-meets-iTunes’ App Store. The newly launched AppBoy bills itself as “a social outlet for mobile app lovers.” Got a great app idea? Now you can submit it for review or trial to your online friends, who will provide feedback and vote if they like it. If your idea gets enough votes, you get a portion of the proceeds when your app goes on sale.
Too bad someone already thought of Shazam — I’d be all over that one.
Saturday was a wash — literally and figuratively. Thanks to monsoon-like rain, replete with thunder and lightning of Hollywood proportions, I literally only left the house to walk my dog. Sure, I kept busy by cleaning my bathroom, color-coding all the clothing in my closet and making guacamole…but eventually it was time to zone out and pick a new TV show to immerse myself in online. Yep, I turned to Hulu — the best companion to the boredom-stricken since YouTube.
I watched about five episodes of Modern Familyand caught up on my current fave, Glee. Now, in the interest of full candor, I happen to be one of those people who holds out on technology. I jumped from an old school cell to a BlackBerry, an iPod mini to the Touch, and Nintendo NES to Wii (yeah, I still have Duck Hunt). I have yet to cross over to DVR or Tivo fanaticism, but as I watched episode after episode (and let’s not forget all those commercials), I realized that it’s been a while since I saw my favorite shows in primetime. But how much is that convenience worth to me?
Hulu, owned by News Corp., NBC and Disney, announced this week that the site will start charging for content in 2010. According to a recent poll by Lifehacker, only 17% of Hulu users would still visit the site if they had to pay for content. Um, duh.
Sure, there may be a veritable blood bath going on over at Conde Nast, with more and more job losses announced every few days. But while the renowned purveyor of glamorous glossies like Vogue, Bon Appetit and Lucky is enduring troubling times with its print publications, the media mainstay is seemingly optimistic about virtual ventures.
Conde is aiming to offer digital versions of their most popular titles for iPhone and iPod Touch, beginning with GQ this December. Available on iTunes the same day the hard copy hits newsstands, each monthly magazine app will feature every page in its print counterpart, as well as related audio and video content.
When it comes to magazines, I tend to be somewhat of a traditionalist, I guess. From the age of 12, I knew exactly what day of the month Seventeen would hit my mailbox, and I promptly tore through it voraciously (quiz first!). To me, there’s no substitute for turning the physical pages of a magazine, but this platform sounds like something I’d be willing to test out before fully commenting — oh, actually, guess I’ll have to get an iPhone first.
According to a Nielsen survey conducted last month, the average American now spends 68 hours per month (combined home/work usage) online. Excuse me, what? Unless I’m more of a Web addict than I thought, that strikes me as shockingly low. I want to know who, exactly, was polled here to achieve such a paltry statistic. Amish toddlers? Tibetan monks? Miley Cyrus, now that she has denounced Twitter?!
Between staying current on celebrity gossip, paying bills, virtual shopping and Facebook alone, I’m definitely spending more than a mere 2.26 hours online per day — and that’s not even factoring in work-related usage time.
What about you? How much time do you typically spend online in any given month?
I, like many, adore online shopping. Actually, in the interest of full candor, it’s one of my favorite pastimes. Most often, I’m just browsing or comparing costs from store to site, but I’d say that I make most of my purchases – from groceries to pet food to shoes – from the comfort of my computer. The drawback to being such a devout cyber spender, though, is losing the social aspect of a day of clothes-shopping with friends. Answering that consumer camaraderie cry is Plurchase.com, a new, free site that lets you shop online with friends on popular e-commerce outlets like Amazon and Zappos.
It seems pretty simple, too: sign on to a Plurchase-supported site, send friends a link to where you are, and a sidebar will appear which displays who’s online with you and what items you’re each looking at. Plurchase then activates real-time chatting and you can even publish a desired item to your Facebook page, so no matter where you are or what time of day it is, you always have access to affirmation that, yes, that dress really is worth two months’ rent.
