thing

An Evolutionary Step In iPad Gaming [Ipadapps]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5582559/osmos-for-ipad-ambient-gaming-tailor+made-for-the-tablet

Osmos for iPad: An Evolutionary Step In iPad GamingWhen the iPad was unveiled and I started to imagine the types of games a 9″ touch screen might engender, I envisioned gorgeous, intuitive and, above all, immersive experiences. Osmos for iPad is one of the best I’ve found yet.

The game, which is adapted from a well-regarded PC version and costs $5 in the App Store, puts you in control of a tiny blue organism, a mote, which you direct around the screen, growing in size as you absorb the smaller blobs around you. Of course, all sorts of challenges, including bigger motes trying to absorb you, complicate that mission.

But what’s really special about Osmos is the experience of controlling that game play. Tapping behind your mote scoots him around the screen, predictably, but at any time you can pinch to zoom in or out, allowing you to navigate a tight passage or survey the level at a distance. Additionally, you can swipe with one finger to alter time—drag left and all the motes slow to a crawl, drag right and they shoot around like bouncy balls. Different speeds and levels of zoom have situations in which they’re uniquely useful, and these elegant controls are the perfect complement to the game’s polished visuals.

Osmos teaches you these gestures in early levels, but after that there’s little instruction. You’re given a basic goal and left to your own devices to go about achieving it. Depending on your style, the game play can be rambunctious or meditative, and often it’s both in the course of one level.

There’s not a huge variation in the game play, admittedly, and it’s so engrossing that I imagine most players will zip through the Odyssey track pretty quickly (there’s an arcade mode that lets you play levels one at a time, too). But in some ways this simplicity is the game’s biggest asset, because it allows for a remarkable cohesiveness between all of its elements, from game play and visual style down to the soundtrack and menus. It’s not only a “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” type thing; here, the whole is so dazzlingly packaged that you don’t really think of the “parts” as parts at all.

For me, Osmos on the iPad is an experience first and a game second, and it uses the iPad to achieve game play that would be impossible—or, at least, not nearly as compelling—on any other platform. At its best, the iPad isn’t just an app machine or a gaming device but a portal into some other environment all together, and I hope that developers will follow Osmos’ lead and strive not just to adapt familiar gaming experiences to the tablet but to create new ones for it entirely. [iTunes]

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Friday, July 9th, 2010 news No Comments

YouTube Gets It, Will Allow Ad Skipping

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5576453/youtube-gets-it-will-allow-ad-skipping

There’s nothing worse than watching a 30-second ad to watch some 30-second clip of something the world inevitably finds funnier than you do. Google/YouTube are acknowledging this phenomenon of the consumer psyche and will introduce an ad-skip button this year.

The idea is as simple as this: If an advertiser’s commercial isn’t captivating enough to watch in its own right, it’ll be skipped by viewers. If viewers don’t watch the ad, Google doesn’t charge the advertiser.

Now I know what you’re thinking: Why would anyone watch an ad voluntarily? See exhibit A, the lead video in which the god of the infomercial, Ron Popeil, does his thing. The only way that 9-minute clip could be more captivating is to put ANOTHER 9-minute Ron Popeil clip in front of it.

This skippable ad model will inevitably lead to better ads—at least in terms of catering the online attention span—and, for those of us* with the libidinal fortitude to turn a blind eye on GoDaddy-esque BOOBIES BOOBIES BOOBIES teasers, a lot more free time. [WSJ via Fast Company]

* OK, maybe I don’t skip every such commercial. But I only** watch them to be educated enough to write about them on Giz.

** This is a flat-out fabrication***.

*** What sort of monster have I become?

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Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 Uncategorized No Comments

Symbian^3 reviewed in exquisite and ruthless detail by Eldar Murtazin

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/symbian-3-reviewed-in-exquisite-and-ruthless-detail-by-eldar-mur/

10x0624nokian8xv0z088 Symbian^3 reviewed in exquisite and ruthless detail by Eldar Murtazin

No folks, those mythical N8 review units still aren’t on our doorsteps, but we can offer you the next best thing: a thorough (we mean thorough) overview of the Symbian^3 environment that will be front and center on Nokia’s next great phone. Eldar Murtazin of mobile-review reports on everything from the sophisticated handling of contacts and caller ID pictures, through the noticeable speed improvements, past the limited utility of online widgets that display only two lines at a time, beyond the “weak spot” web browser, and all the way to Symbian’s unhealthy habit of “clinging to continuity.” It’s an enlightening read, which pulls no punches with its conclusion: Symbian^3 is an evolutionary step up from S60 5th edition, which brings nothing new to the market and offers no comparative advantages. Strong words from Eldar, paricularly when he doesn’t disclose what build of the OS he’s using; his rationale, however, is that his analysis relates to overarching design decisions and ignores software bugs and version-specific foibles. Make of that what you will.

[Thanks, scotsboyuk]

Symbian^3 reviewed in exquisite and ruthless detail by Eldar Murtazin originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 06:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, June 24th, 2010 news No Comments

Made-Up Word Advertising — “Retina Display” — is how Apple Launches New Products

A made-up word “retina display” had every major blog and news outlet scrambling to help explain what it was. Nearly 1.1 Million search results in 19 hours. It was covered on every evening news; look closely at the thousands of related news articles, etc.  And all the major, powerful sites like Gizmodo, MacRumors, Engadget, etc. covered the event.  Similarly 1.2 million search results on the “one more thing” feature — video calling on the iPhone called FaceTime. All entirely free primetime coverage — talk about the tens of millions of impressions achieved with NO media cost — they can definitely used the money saved to ensure Steve Job’s next keynote will have sufficient WiFi bandwidth for all those live blogging the event.

Look at the following graph of relative search volume. The spike in search volume for All-You-Can-Jet (in red) is about 4X higher than the orange line (Footlongs). And the blue line for “retina display”  is 8X. Consider the cost of the paid TV media campaign supporting Subway’s Footlongs compared to the cost savings of the social media launch of JetBlue’s All-You-Can-Jet Pass and the no cost media for Apple.

retina display launch search volume Made Up Word Advertising    Retina Display    is how Apple Launches New Products

Of course, not all companies will achieve the same mass coverage, but the techniques for product launches can be the same. Footlongs is an expensive paid media campaign by Subway and note how low the orange line is compared to the TWO no-cost launches.

And one more graph that shows Drobo plus 2 social media success stories — Groupon and FourSquare that even blow away Apple’s retina display — all for FREE.

drobo groupon foursquare search volume Made Up Word Advertising    Retina Display    is how Apple Launches New Products

apple retina display iphone 4 Made Up Word Advertising    Retina Display    is how Apple Launches New Products

Other notable examples of using made-up word advertising include JetBlue’s All-you-Can-Jet Pass and Subway’s Footlongs. Further details about JetBlue’s launch of the All-You-Can-Jet Pass is here – http://go-digital.net/blog/2009/08/jetblue-all-you-can-jet-pass/

all you can jet footlongs search Made Up Word Advertising    Retina Display    is how Apple Launches New Products

Earlier unfiltered results on Google within 10 hours of launch — there are 3.9 Million results which will be de-duped overnight.

retina display search results Made Up Word Advertising    Retina Display    is how Apple Launches New Products

Day 1 Stats – page 1 position 3 in 44.6 million results

made up word advertising Made Up Word Advertising    Retina Display    is how Apple Launches New Products

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Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 Branding, integrated marketing 1 Comment

The Half-Life Of A YouTube Video Is 6 Days (GOOG)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-the-lifecycle-of-a-youtube-video-2010-5

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A video on YouTube gets 50% of its views in the first 6 days it is on the site, according to data from analytics firm TubeMogul. After 20 days, a YouTube video has had 75% of its total views.

That’s a really short life span for YouTube videos, and it’s probably getting shorter. In 2008, it took 14 days for a video to get 50% of its views and 44 days to get 75% of its views.

Why? In the last two years, YouTube has improved its user interface, which helps videos get seen early on. Also, the world has gotten more adept at embedding and sharing videos in real-time via Twitter and Facebook. (And there’s probably more video to choose from.)

What’s this mean for publishers? For one thing, publishers should have advertising/monetization schemes ready to go for their videos right when they’re published, because the hits come early.

It also means companies should be actively uploading videos to YouTube, says David Burch, a rep at TubeMogul. He notes that major companies like the NBA have been good at getting clips on YouTube quickly. If they didn’t act fast, then they could miss an opportunity to get eyeballs.

chart of the day, youtube video lifecycle, may 2010

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Friday, May 28th, 2010 news No Comments

Twitter gains mass awareness but usage remains light

AWARENESS

2010 – 87% awareness

2009 – 24% awareness

2008 – 5% awareness

USAGE

2010

- 1,500 million pageviews per month (71 pageviews per month avg)

- 162 million visits per month (8 visits per month avg)

- 21 million unique visitors per month

Arbitron Figures

2010 – 7% active users (use at least once per month)

2009 – 2% active users

Source: http://www.digidaydaily.com/stories/digital-content-today-arbitron-posts-twitter-numbers

Digital Content Today: Arbitron Posts Twitter Numbers

Media usage tracking company is reporting some surprising numbers on Twitter usage. According to a report in RadioInk, a webinar fromArbitron/Edison Research revealed that 87% of Americans are now aware of Twitter, up from 24% in 2009 and just 5% when the question was first asked, in 2008. But in looking at how many Americans are active users of Twitter — defined as using the service at least once a month — that figure came in at 7%, or about 17 million people, up from 2% in 2009.

Those are huge numbers to be sure, but less that what the blogosphere and assumed ubiquity of Twitter actually seems to be. Edison VP/Strategy & Marketing Tom Webster said awareness of Twitter has soared over a very short period. Webster compared Twitter usage to that of Facebook, the “10-ton gorilla” of social networking, with about six times as many users as Twitter although awareness of the services is roughly equal, and said, “Given that awareness per se is not a constraint, I think the smartest thing you can say about this particular graph is that Twitter has yet to articulate its value to mainstream Americans.”

Arbiron/Edson says that 18% of active Twitter users access the service several times a day and 15 % report they use it at least once a day, while 22% say they’re on Twitter at least once a month. But more than half — 53% — of active Twitter users don’t post tweets themselves and are instead, Webster said, “driven to go there as consumers of broadcast content.”

Other data:
•    About 51 % of active Twitter users are white, 24% are African American — about twice the percentage of African Americans in the general population. The study speculated that African Americans may use Twitter more “conversationally” than other users.
•    About 19% saying they’re “among the first” to buy or try new products, compared to 10 % of the population as a whole. 25% say they buy or try products before others, but not first.
•    They’re also inclined to access the Internet from several locations, and 63% access social networking from a mobile phone, compared to 35 % of all social-network users. And for Twitter users, Webster said, SMS is “pretty much like oxygen”: 92% use SMS, and 73% text multiple times a day.
•    About 42% of monthly Twitter users say they use the service to learn about products and services, and 41% use it to post their own opinions about products, while 31 % seek others’ opinions.

Active Twitter users report spending four hours a day online, compared to about two hours for the general population. But, Webster noted, “the other media here aren’t proportionately lower.” Twitterers spend two hours, 41 minutes a day with radio, compared to two hours, five minutes for the general population, and they spend three hours, 22 minutes with TV, compared to three hours, 25 minutes.

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Monday, May 3rd, 2010 Uncategorized 1 Comment

Android Market gets 9,000 new apps in March, world domination can’t be far behind

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/android-market-gets-9-000-new-apps-in-march-world-domination-ca/

8apr10androifd9b5v3v Android Market gets 9,000 new apps in March, world domination cant be far behind

Wanna know what exponential growth looks like? Try following Android’s progress over the past few months and you’ll be treated to plenty of rapidly ascending charts. This latest one from AndroLib is no different, illustrating as it does the ever-increasing influx of new games and applications for Google’s mobile platform. Developers must clearly believe Android’s growing market share is only going to keep expanding, as last month saw their most productive output yet, with a sweet 9,308 new additions to the Market. Naturally, the same proviso applies as with Apple’s inflated App Store numbers — quantity does not guarantee quality — but what we’re witnessing is surely the solidification of Android as a legitimate and fully fledged member of the smartphone OS upper echelon. And that can only be a good thing.

Android Market gets 9,000 new apps in March, world domination can’t be far behind originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 06:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, April 8th, 2010 news No Comments

A Whole Lot of Games [Ipad]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5511650/ipad-apps-by-the-numbers-a-whole-lot-of-games

iPad Apps, by the Numbers: A Whole Lot of GamesIt’s still very, very early in the world of iPad-specific apps, with less than 2,500 of them in the store compared to 150,000+ iPhone apps. But so far? It’s totally dominated by games.

App store analysts Distimo did a rundown of what you’ll find in the iPad app store, and a full third of them are games. The next closest category is “entertainment,” which clocks in at 11%, followed by “education” at 8.6%.

That seems like a whole lot of game playing and being entertained, but that proportion is even more heavy for iPhone apps, where a full 70% of apps fall into those two categories.

iPad Apps, by the Numbers: A Whole Lot of GamesBut with devs just getting the actual hardware into their hands a few days ago, we’re clearly just seeing the very beginning of the iPad apps craze. And depending on how people decide the want to use this thing, we could see even more games pop up or we could see the store balanced out with more content-based or productivity apps. But really, the smart money is on games, games, games. [Distimo via TechCrunch]

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Thursday, April 8th, 2010 news No Comments

The iPod Touch Is This Generation’s Tamagotchi

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/SM6HjEBs9Ok/the-ipod-touch-is-this-generations-tamagotchi

500x screencap 2010 02 25 at 3.17.35 pm 01 The iPod Touch Is This Generations TamagotchiAll these wonderful things we’re learning today, from data! First, we find out that Android is a guy thing. Now, we discover that the iPod Touch shares more demographics with glittering vampires than smartphones. iPod Touch: Kid stuff.

The age distribution makes a lot of sense, especially with the direct available comparison of the iPhone: the iPod Touch is a good gift, a plausible purchase, and a good investment for a young person right now. An iPhone with a $70-a-month minimum contract is a tougher sell, either to parents, or to kids mostly supported by their parents.

And these kids don’t just buy different gadgets than adults—they use them differently, too. For example, they looooove apps:500x screencap 2010 02 25 at 3.16.48 pm The iPod Touch Is This Generations Tamagotchi
But they’re stingy little bastards, these kids: 500x screencap 2010 02 25 at 3.17.09 pm The iPod Touch Is This Generations Tamagotchi
Buying an app can be tough without a credit card, so again, this isn’t shocking. But it does poke a little hole in the idea of the iPod Touch as a massive moneymaker for Apple. Hardware sales are tremendous and highly profitable, sure, but once the devices are in users’ soft little baby hands, they don’t keep raking it in like the iPhone does. [AdMob]

 The iPod Touch Is This Generations Tamagotchi

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Thursday, February 25th, 2010 Uncategorized No Comments