Apple Wins Patent for Noise-Reducing iPhone Case
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Apple has won a patent for a removable iPhone case that cuts down on background noise.
Touting what the company is calling a “windscreen” design, the concept aims to reduce distracting sounds picked up by the device’s microphone that may make it hard to hear a phone conversation.
“The windscreen is designed to reduce wind noise, air blasts, vocal plosives and other noise,” Apple said in its patent application. “This may enable the speech of a user of the device to remain intelligible despite the presence of such noise during a call, and without requiring the user to shout into the device’s microphone.”
Although the patent was filed on Jan. 11, 2011, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approved the application last week. The patent is good for all portable electronic devices that enable users to participate in a real-time two-way conversation.
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Toys using toy-sized Apple gadgets
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So, what could be cuter than toy-sized Apple gadgets? How about other toys using those wee gizmos? Artist and Instagram user @santlov has created an amazing series of photos that highlight that meme.
See Sheriff Woody cleaning the screen of his iPad with window cleaner or reenacting the classic photo of Steve Jobs sitting in front of his iMac, click this linkand enjoy. By the way, Toy Story’s Sheriff Woody isn’t the only character Santlov has created — Jack Skellington, C3PO and Star Wars stormtroopers can also be seen enjoying the best of Cupertino.
[via Gizmodo, Cult of Mac]
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HOW TO CREATE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING SUCCESS
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What do you need to create social media marketing success? Here a 5 ideas.
… Inbound marketing, is really just a collection of tools designed to DRIVE targeted traffic to your website and most of these tools fit the overall notion of social media marketing. So, let’s take a look at what some others are saying about social media marketing (inbound marketing) and how it compares to traditional marketing.
The CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Guide put together by Marketo shares some valuable information — besides infographics are a pretty cool way to share a lot of information really quickly.
HOW SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING DIFFERS
Mostly, this graphic summarizes some of the major differences highlighted in my post — but misses some major issues, such as how to measure success with social media and how important engagement is for social media success.
I do like the idea that traditional media “rents” attention by giving you something of value — entertainment — in exchange. This is more of a similarity than a difference — it’s just the medium of exchange that’s different because in both cases you’re using someone traffic built by someone else. That’s because we know most Fans NEVER return to your fanpage once they LIKE you. So, you’re really hijacking viewers from THEIR network to build your network and share your message.
Continue Reading…
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How Aussie marketers can get more from Social Media.
Social Media is the most unique and direct way for Marketers to target their audience yet many Australian companies in my experience are still hesitant to commit to the strategies that make a successful campaign. Everybody knows they need it in some form and everybody is willing to dip a toe in the social media pond however few companies that I have spoken too make it a priority amongst more traditional activities.
Is marketing on Facebook above the line or below the line? I personally believe it is both. It is an opportunity to promote to the masses and target your audience at the same time. This can be as specific as Gender, Location, Interest and Relationship Status. In addition to this you can engage in a conversation directly with your consumers. Social media is after all “Social” and the perfect medium to receive insights and feedback first hand. Lastly you can measure the ROI! As long as your objectives are clearly defined then you can measure in real time your campaigns and adjust them to suit. What other medium provides all of these things? Yet social media still receives significantly less budget within overall marketing plans than more traditional activities such as advertising on the Radio or Television. This is one reason that limits the success of campaigns.
The second reason social media campaigns in Australia don’t always kick the goals they are expected to is because those who are prepared to ‘give it a try’ want to do they same thing as everyone else. Numerous times now to my frustration, creative ideas and concepts planned for clients have been benched out of fear for the unknown. In order to get cut-through with any campaign you need to have innovation and this is no different online. In-fact it is more crucial, with users of the web and social media platforms exposed to new ideas and ways of connecting between each other and brands weekly, the company that pushes their brand in the most innovative way will win their attention. The most creative ways to connect the better.
Finally the last reason why a lot of social media campaigns just don’t work is that they need to be nurtured. Consumers don’t want a one-way conversation. Businesses that wish to use social media must commit the resources and do it properly.
Social media requires, strategy, execution, ongoing maintenance and measurement. If any of these areas in incomplete you can’t expect the campaign to succeed let alone exceed your goals. If you don’t know how to do this or don’t have the internal resources than engage the experts to do it. You wouldn’t film your own TVC, record your own voice over or even your own letterbox drop aimlessly, you get the people that know how to get the job done. Engage an agency that specifically does social media, some Public Relations companies can and some advertising agencies can but find the right one it is a very specialised skill with a balance between technical skills and marketing knowledge. Size does not matter you’re better off finding a small agency that thinks big, than a big agency that will fill in a template and do the same job you could do yourself.
Remember:
· Commit to Social Media Campaigns with time, resources and budget
· Plan and create the strategy you need to execute a good campaign.
· Understand what you want from it so you can measure your ROI.
· Don’t be afraid to be innovative and creative.
· If you decide to use an agency find the right one and create a partnership.
For more information or advice email: kelly@mercuryagency.com.au
or follow me on twitter @socialmediamum
(Source: mercurydigital.com.au)
Facebook has gone public in more ways than you think.
Facebook has just become a publicly traded company — and almost all its privacy settings are being switched to “public,” too, in a trade-off Facebook is making for access to the stock market and potential windfall profits for its biggest shareholders.
As a private company, Facebook was free to keep plenty of secrets from the general public. It could hide away, for example, how much money CEO Mark Zuckerberg took home in annual pay ($1.5 million in 2011) or the intriguing details of the Instragram acquisition — both of which have become known only from the company’s S-1 filing.
Now that Facebook’s selling stock to the general public, it’s going to have to report to the federal government’s agency for regulating public companies: the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Facebook will have to give the SEC three different kinds of reports: one quarterly, one annually, and one every three years.
The reports, which all publicly traded companies must submit, are designed to ensure that Facebook isn’t violating any federal securities laws. They’ll include anything that could have an impact on future business operations, such as advertising sales or business uncertainties. All of Facebook’s reports to the SEC will become a matter of public record, instantly available on the agency’s website for the whole world to read (and, perhaps, share on Facebook).
Professor James D. Cox, professor of law at Duke University, said those reports will give outside observers a look at Facebook’s inner workings that wasn’t possible while the company remained private — and Facebook might find that attention uncomfortable.
Clever Foursquare Hack Turns New York City Into a Giant Game of Risk
The board game Risk, in which players maneuver plastic armies on a map in order to achieve “world domination,” has firmly occupied one corner of nerdom for about 50 years. Foursquare stationed itself in another more tech-oriented corner of that same kingdom about two years ago. Now, at last, the two categories of nerdom meet. “World of Fourcraft” uses Foursquare and Google Maps APIs to turn New York City into a giant game of Risk. Users decide which team they are on by swearing allegiance to one of New York City’s five boroughs. Checking into a neighborhood on Foursquare is the online game’s equivalent to placing plastic man on a country in the board game. An algorithm decides who owns each neighborhood using the number of people who have checked into it on each team. There are currently about 100 players. “We wanted to make foursquare more compelling for long-term use,” says Ricky Robinett, one member of theseven-person team that created the game during a weekend hackathon at New York’s General Assembly. “[On Foursquare] you have a weekly total that gets swiped at the end of the week. This keeps adding up.”
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The History of Video Games in 100 Seconds [VIDEO] →
Commercial video gaming is a battlefield of consoles, franchises, huge corporations and highly opinionated individuals. In this motion graphic, we get a 100-second summary of the industry, from its genesis in the arcade games of yore to its current milestone: E3 2011. And along the way, th…
