Archive for 'Green Tech'
How Green is that app?
Posted on 22. Feb, 2010 by admin.
1) GreenMeter GreenMeter measures your vehicle’s acceleration and computes engine power, fuel efficiency, your carbon footprint and how many barrels of oil you’re consuming. You can also input info on driving conditions, your driving habits, weather conditions and fuel type. Price: $5.99
2) GoodGuide With over 70,000 item ratings, GoodGuide recommends safe, healthy and green products, ranging from household cleaners to food to toys. Price: Free
3) Ecobee Smart Thermostat Use your iPhone or iPod Touch to remotely adjust your Ecobee thermostat temperature, schedule a vacation, change the system and fan settings and receive alerts. Price: Free
4) Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch The official list published by the aquarium to help make sustainable seafood choices wherever you are. Choose a region and it provides a list labeled “Best Choice,” “Good Alternative” or “Avoid.” Price: Free
5) Find Green Find Green assists you in locating green and sustainable businesses by industry (i.e., health and wellness), type (fitness, nutrition, doctors, etc.) and distance (walking, biking or driving). Powered by the GenGreenLife.com database. Price: Free
6) iRecycle Find recycling locations anywhere in the U.S. with this search engine, based on what item you need to recycle. Price: Free
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100 Million Users Access Facebook via Mobile
Posted on 15. Feb, 2010 by admin.
A recent entry on Facebook’s official blog states that more than 100 million people are “actively using Facebook from their mobile devices every month.” This figure is growing fast, and it’s not just limited to those entering via a Facebook app on the iPhone and AT&T. From the blog post: “This usage happens on almost every carrier in the world and comes less than six months after we announced 65 million people on Facebook Mobile.”
Contributing to the uptick in mobile users are the Facebook mobile apps available across a variety of carriers and mobile devices, enhanced Facebook mobile-ready Web pages (m.facebook.com, for example) and the ability for users to post to Facebook via SMS (including Facebook’s new link-shrinking capability with FB.ME). Should Facebook start providing analytics to users with their URL-shortening service, you might see even more mobile activity.
For businesses, this news puts even greater importance on marketing within the world’s largest social network. Mobile is a tricky proposition. But if you can merge mobile with social - and with Facebook, you can - you have a win-win situation. You gain access to the social sphere, as well as mobile users. Consider this when updating Facebook Pages for your business.
To target the Facebook mobile user, keep updates relatively brief and include mobile-friendly calls-to-action, such as brief blog posts, links to maps, and links to specific, mobile-friendly Web pages. Want users to call your business? Link to an offer on a landing page with a highly visible phone number. Many devices will automatically enable click-to-call. Brick and mortar businesses have a great opportunity here to drive foot traffic by providing instant coupons through Facebook updates, for example.
Source: Web Site Magazine
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Apple Announces iPad - Highs and Lows
Posted on 01. Feb, 2010 by admin.
Steve Jobs repeatedly talked about the iPad as a “third category of products” (between smartphones and computers) throughout his presentation of the new Apple tablet, iPad. He talked about netbooks, saying, “the problem is that netbooks aren’t better than anything!”
Essentially, Jobs argues that netbooks bring nothing new to the table.
That might be true, but neither does the iPad. Essentially, the iPad is a really big iPod Touch. It measures .5 inches thick, has a 9.7 inch display and weighs in at 1.5 pounds.
Highs
Like everything Apple, the user interface is slick, seamless and fluid. During the demonstration, the e-reader (dubbed iBooks, of course) looks like a step way above the Kindle - books are in color and videos can play right inside the book pages. Same goes for newspapers. That was demonstrated by viewing The New York Times - an interesting choice, as NYT announced they will start to charge for content. Coincidence?
Considerable time during the presentation was spent on an some unlikely flagship apps - iWork. All of the standard features were present with document creation, spreadsheets, data import, etc. Impressively, each iWork app is priced at just $9.99. That’s nice, if you want to work in the insulated world of iWork. Of course, you could always navigate over to Google Docs instead.
Video, of course, is second-to-none on the iPad, as is the gaming experience.
iPhone apps will run on the iPad (or at least most of them) but there will also be standalone iPad apps - a potential boon to developers, who can now get started with a SDK for the iPad.
Data plans start at $14.99 for 250 MB per month or $29.99 for unlimited data, with no contracts. And, all 3G models are unlocked.
Pricing. Many people are going to get really excited that the iPad is available for just $499. However, that’s a version with WiFi only, and just 16GB of storage. To get 3G (and what’s the point of this thing without a fast connection), you’re looking at a minimum of $629. Want to treat this thing like a working computer and not just a browsing device? You’ll need more storage … 64GB for $829. A full price breakdown can be found below.
The iPad is a beautiful, intuitive, convenient way to surf the Web. What’s more, the iPad naturally will have some amazing apps. iPhone apps will run on the iPad (or at least, most of them) but there will also be standalone iPad apps - a potential boon to developers, who can now get started with a SDK for the iPad. But the integration (or lack thereof) of all these killer apps might also be the iPad’s biggest downfall.
Lows
Astoundingly, there was no mention of multitasking with apps and browsing with the iPad - one of the biggest complaints users have with the iPhone. Does this mean I can’t stream music while reading the morning New York Times that I just paid for?
No Flash. Just like another iPhone shortcoming, the iPad has problems with Flash.
AT&T. Yep, the iPad is tied to AT&T - yet another iPhone shortcoming. It’s one thing to drop a phone call or not be able to get the latest sports scores while traveling. What happens when you’re trying to get some real work done and you lose your connection? The whole beautiful interface is next to useless until AT&T bulks up their 3G coverage.
There’s no camera. Wouldn’t it be nice to iChat with your friend in Itasca about the iBook you just read on your new iPad?
There’s no denying that this device is cool. But “magical” as Jobs suggests? In the end, it looks like the iPad is really just a large iPod Touch - look no further than the price as your first clue. But it does have a bigger keyboard. Which is nice.
