With every major event we now experience as a country, whether it’s the Super Bowl or the presidential inauguration, it becomes more evident that the conversation on social media is as tied to the event as is the process of physically tuning into the broadcast. There’s nothing new about this — the rise of social media and the second screen has been clear for years — but as soaring numbers for social media sharing are revealed after each event, we shake our heads at just how quickly things have changed.
Social media is playing a major part in every once life ..

Have a look

Facebook – Who I am
Facebook is the perfect social media network to build your brand’s personality.  However, cultivating a great Facebook page is more than just posting photos and status updates.
    You have to post interesting content often. While this seems obvious, a lot of brands only post on their Facebook page a few times a month. To keep your fans engaged, you must post multiple times a week. It’s also good to keep in mind that posts should be a mix of content from your site and content that your fans would be interested in.
    Ask questions. To get your fans talking, ask a few questions! By asking them for their opinion on anything from featured content to their local sports team, you’ll get more community interaction and remain top of mind in an often overflowing news feed.
    Promote via email. There are now over 1 billion people on Facebook, which means there’s a great chance your customers are active users. Xyron used PinMail by PinLeague to help promote their Facebook page and grow their organic and viral reach. After only running a month long campaign, Xyron’s organic reach grew by 87%, and viral reach grew by 202%.

Twitter – What I’m Doing
Twitter is a fast paced, time sensitive, hashtag driven social media platform that has proven to be a great way for brands to connect with current and potential fans.
    Keep track of tweets about your brand. Apps like HootSuite and TweetDeck allow you to track hashtags and brand mentions on Twitter. Being able to see what users are saying about your brand allows you to pleasantly surprise fans with retweets and replies to Tweets.
    Act quickly. Since Twitter is trend based, staying up to date with what’s “en vogue” is incredibly important.  If there’s a trending hashtag that relates to your brand, jump on it before it’s too late!
 Get acquainted with Twitter for business. Twitter created a great resource for businesses, simply called Twitter for Business. With detailed explanations on everything from getting started on Twitter, to API integration, it’s a virtual how-to on being successful on Twitter.

Pinterest – Who I Want to Be
Pinterest is an overwhelmingly positive social media platform that’s driven by eye-catching, aspirational images and content. Pinterest marketing is also what PinLeague specializes in!
  Follow our directions on how to make the perfect Pinterest profile. In a recent blog post, the top Pinterest blogger and top Pinterest brand helped prove that our guidelines really do work.
  Repin! While it is important to pin content from your website, it’s also equally as important to repin your fan’s pins as well. By maintaining a healthy mix of repins from the community and pins from your site, you can build meaningful relationships with followers and NOT just show them an advertisement.
   Use PinLeague’s Pinterest Analytics tool to track your success. Knowing what your followers respond to helps you keep them engaged. PinLeague’s Pinterest Analytics tool shows you your most repinned content, top products from your site, most popular boards, biggest fans and influencers, and so much more



                                                                                                                           Image source : Facebook

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Sink your teeth into 'Le Vamp' game

The latest craze in mobile games is the free runner, which many smartphone and tablet owners have likely played if they're fans of Temple Run or Jetpack Joyride.

The genre features a character who automatically zips through environments while players carefully tap or swipe their touchscreens to dodge obstacles and grab power-ups to "run" as far as possible.

Studio High Voltage Software -- known for the Nintendo Wii series The Conduit -- attempts its own charming twist with the Apple iOS title Le Vamp (3.5 stars out of 4), a fun adventure featuring a cute star and complex yet exciting action.

Le Vamp follows an innocent vampire boy who yearns to go outside and play. However, his appearance scares the local townspeople, who chase the young vampire through the forest.

While Le Vamp automatically sprints across the forest, it's up to players to make sure he keeps ahead of the mob, avoiding obstacles such as streams that might slow him down.

Unlike most free runners, where players are performing very simple tasks to keep moving, Le Vamp is more sophisticated. Players must fling Blood Pigs to Le Vamp to keep up his energy, or tap rays of sunlight to block them from his view. Players also swipe tree trunks to create runways over streams or quickly tap piles of pumpkins to clear the path.

The game requires players to perform several different gestures at faster speeds as Le Vamp ventures deeper into the forest. It's enjoyable, but some might be turned off by the complexity.

Le Vamp sports an experience and upgrade system similar to Jetpack Joyride, where players complete certain in-game tasks to earn stars and advance in rank. They can also unlock items such as special gear or abilities to give them an added advantage.

Between the colorful art style, adorable lead character and more challenging mechanics, Le Vamp is a delightful addition to any smartphone or tablet.

Source : usatoday

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In defense of the Apple iWatch

"For better or worse, Apple has painted itself into a corner."

It was nearly two years ago when I wrote those words in a piece for Minyanville called What Will Be Apple's Next Big Thing? In it, I described how the releases of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad -- as well as the MacBook line and, to a lesser extent, the Apple TV -- have limited Cupertino's avenues for innovation. Although a credit to the overwhelming versatility to Apple's line of products, it's difficult for the company to develop and release a brand new product with similar groundbreaking features and promise.
Unfortunately, we're starting to see the fruits of Apple's complacency since then.

As the company began to rest on the laurels of the admittedly leafy iPhone and iPad, other companies like Google and Samsung scrambled to out-innovate what was once the market leader in a bright, new future. Today, with a depleted stock and a mobile line that's looked stale for a while, Apple is no longer the go-to name for innovation. In the last two years, there have been a few updates and iterations of its existing products, but it really hasn't released anything earth-shattering.
Apple has left that to Google.

Between Google Now, Google Glass, rescuing iPhone users from Apple Maps, and countless whiz-bang features of the latest versions of Android, Google has critics and consumers looking six miles north of Cupertino for the next big thing.

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But, ironically, it's the innovation that Google and Samsung have been championing that showcases the stuff Apple should and could be doing. After all, Apple is nothing if not open to "inspiration." And what Google Glass could mean for technology's future, the proposed Apple iWatch is a step in that direction.
The only thing is, for many, it's blatantly a baby step.
This week, Forbes contributor Haydn Shaughnessy lashed out at the Apple iWatch, dubbing it, "The Distraction That Will Drive Apple's Stock Down." Shaughnessy called it a "low-value, insignificant project" that a "start-up (like Pebble) could have thrown up onto a crowdfunding site."
He may be right about that, but Apple desperately needs to be innovating and an iWatch isn't the worst place to start.

Take a look at Google Glass, and given the mouth-watering promise the product has, you probably have. Already, it's the star of SXSW, the subject of many a glowing review, and the quintessential example of how wearable technology can change the game -- all months before it's in the hands of the public. Granted, we may be on the precipice of a Segway-level flop, but the world already had small, personal transports. We really don't have heads-up displays connected to the complete history of human knowledge. And honestly, folks are much more willing to look like Geordi La Forge than a dork on a giant scooter.

Even if neither of Google's add-ons for the head or feet (the company just announced a smart sneaker project) is a runaway success, that will certainly not impede the future of wearable technology. And who might be able to step up in that arena if Google is unable to lead? Perhaps one with a small project which tested the waters and paved the way for something much, much greater?

I'll give you a hint: It's only been two years since it was considered such a leader.
No, the Apple iWatch hasn't blown people away like Google Glass. Yes, Apple needs to debut something bigger for it to recapture its status as a leader in innovation. But it's something new. It's something different. And it's a product within a technology rife with promise and feature-rich development.

The Apple iWatch shouldn't be a discouragement for the company to branch out from middling updates to the iPhone, especially into a field where many, many others will enter soon. I just hope that it's not the only field Apple has in its immediate radar.
May I suggest home automation?   

This story was originally published on Minyanville

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Samsung Galaxy S4 announced: An Android phone you can control with a wave or tilt

Forget the touchscreen. Okay, maybe not entirely, but with the Galaxy S 4, Samsung is rethinking the way we interact with our phones. It has features that allow you to control the phone with waving and tilting motions.

"We focused on fun, relationships, convenience and health with the Galaxy S 4," David Park, marketing manager of Samsung Electronics, told ABC News.
Unveiled at a large event at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, the phone includes a number of upgrades from the Galaxy S 3, which has surged to become the bestselling Android phone on the market and the leading competitor to Apple's iPhone.


Improved Hardware
The software and gestures you use to control the phone may be the biggest story about the Galaxy S4, but Samsung has also freshened up the hardware.
The 7.9mm Galaxy S 4 looks a lot like the Galaxy S 3, albeit with a slightly thinner body and a larger 5-inch screen. The screen is also much crisper, with a 1080p, Super AMOLED panel. Internally, the phone has a quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. It has built-in temperature and humidity sensors, and a removable battery.

Focus on Camera
The standout hardware feature is the 13-megapixel camera (the S 3 had an 8-megapixel camera). The camera will take crisper and better low-light shots, Samsung says.
"We have brought the interface from the Galaxy Camera to the phone," Drew Blackard, director of product planning, told ABC News. "We have wanted to make it easier for people to know how the modes work with images."
In addition to the new interface, there are new features like dual shot and recording mode, which lets you combine photos and video from both the front-facing 2-megapixel camera and the rear camera into one shot or video.

Waving and Looking at the Phone
After you take those photos you don't just have the option to swipe your finger on the screen to look through them. Using Samsung's new Air Wave feature you can actually wave your hand over the screen to cycle through the photos. The software, which uses a sensor on the front of the phone, also works in the Web browser; wave to the left to go backward in the browser and wave right to go forward. You can also wave across the screen to accept a call.
And if waving isn't your thing, there's always tilting. While it had been rumored that the phone would use eye-tracking software, Samsung's Smart Scroll works a bit differently. Using a sensor and the camera on the front of the phone, the phone recognizes that someone is looking at the screen with facial recognition software. Then you can tilt it to scroll up or down. ABC News got to test both the tilting and waving features. Both worked as promised when we got the hang of it, but it really is an odd way of working with a small device.

S Health, S Translate and More S
Samsung has added a host of new features that might add to people's daily lives. S Health takes advantage of the accelerometer in the phone to track your steps and other fitness activity. Like the FitBit or Jawbone Up, Samsung is also getting into the fitness band or tracker market; its products will integrate with the app.
Other apps include S Translate, which can translate voice to text, and Samsung's remote app, which uses the IR blaster in the phone to become a remote control for your TV.
The Galaxy S 4 will be out in the second quarter of this year at all of the major U.S. cellular carriers, including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Samsung is not announcing pricing at the moment, but said it would be in line with what you would expect from a premium Samsung smartphone. The Galaxy S 3 costs $199 with a two-year contract

Source : news.yahoo.com

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Angry Birds get their own cartoon network

Video game publisher Rovio is starting its own cartoon network, right inside the Angry Birds game apps. The first episode arrives Sunday, March 15.

The first Angry Birds Toons can be viewed Sunday March 17 inside all current Angry Birds games – such as Angry Birds Space and Bad Piggies -- on iOS and Android devices. (Simply get an update now in the App Store or Google Play.) Each week, a new free cartoon starring the ever-battling birds and pigs will be available within a dedicated channel in all Rovio games.

"We are calling it, internally, a gamechanger because it really is changing our game into a game and a video proposition for us," said Andrew Stalbow, executive vice president for strategic partnerships.
 The Finnish game publisher announced its cartoon plans at a rooftop poolside party Monday night at South by Southwest in Austin. Attendees could watch cartoon video clips, snack on bird and pig-decorated cupcakes and get their picture taken in full-body bird character costumes.

A year's worth of cartoons (52) are planned; each is slightly less than three minutes long, Stalbow sayd, "designed for snack-sized viewing on smart phones and tablets."

However, there will be an Angry Birds Toons channel on all Comcast's Xfinity platforms, as well as Samsung Smart TVs and eventually Roku and other Internet TV platforms. "We're making sure all of our content is available no matter what screen you are on," Stalbow said.

Source :  usatoday.com

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Facebook 'Likes' reveal more about you than you think

Using a dataset of more than 58,000 U.S. Facebook users, University of Cambridge researchers predicted race, age, IQ, sexuality, personality, substance use and political views using Likes alone.

If you "Like" lots of people, places and things on Facebook, you may get rewarded with discounts and special offers. But new research out today shows that these public Likes reveal more about you than you may think.
Using a dataset of more than 58,000 Facebook users in the USA collected between 2007 and 2012, researchers at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom were able to accurately predict certain qualities and traits, such as race, age, IQ, sexuality, personality, substance use and political views using Facebook Likes alone.
The Likes include photos, friends' status updates, Facebook pages of products, sports, musicians, books, restaurants or popular websites.
"Likes represent a very generic class of digital records, similar to Web search queries, Web browsing histories, and credit card purchases," says the study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The participants gave researchers access to their Facebook pages and they completed a variety of online tests, including personality and IQ. Their Likes were fed into algorithms and researchers created statistical models that were able to predict the personal details using Facebook Likes alone. Results were corroborated with information from the Facebook profiles and personality tests.
"Each person, on average, liked 170 things," says psychologist Michal Kosinski, the study's lead author. "Some liked only one thing and there were people who liked thousands of things. We removed those. We looked at people who liked between one and 700 different things."
Sam Gosling, a psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin, calls it a "landmark study" because it illustrates "how things are no longer ephemeral." He has been studying Facebook behavior since 2006, and has seen this new study.
"You 'Like' something. You leave a comment on somebody's wall. They are now recorded in a way that machines can calibrate and measure them with great accuracy," he says. "Together, they add up to substantially more information from which you can make quite reasonably accurate predictions."
Fred Wolens, a Facebook spokesman at its headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., says the predictions are "hardly surprising."
"No matter the vehicle for information — a bumper sticker, yard sign, logos on clothing, or other data found online — it has already been proven that it is possible for social scientists to draw conclusions about personal attributes based on these characteristics," he says.Rebecca Lieb, a digital media analyst at the Altimeter Group, a consulting firm in New York City, agrees."Advertising and marketing focus on this, but it's important not to isolate this as only an online issue or a social network issue," she says. "Data is being collected at every stage of our lives. If you're using a credit card, you're opening yourself up to as much data collection as if you're using Facebook or searching online and getting cookies collected in your browser."
The study found the highest accuracy for ethnic origin and gender, with African Americans and Caucasians correctly classified in 95% of cases. Males and females were correctly classified in 93% of cases; Christians and Muslims in 82% of cases. Sexual orientation was easier to distinguish among males (88%) than females (75%).

The study also suggests that the findings may have "negative implications for personal privacy."
David Jacobs, consumer privacy counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a public interest research center in Washington, that focuses on civil liberties and privacy, says this study aligns with others involving predictions based on social networking information.
"This is not unique to Facebook and is not even unique to social networking in general," Jacobs says. "It's one of the implications of Big Data and in this case Big Data in a social networking context. Lots of information makes for certain inferences and sensitive predictions."

Source : http://www.usatoday.com/

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