Thursday, 6 October 2011
Steve Jobs Has Died 1955-2011 RIP
Steve Jobs, co-founder, chairman of the board, former CEO of Apple and industry icon for decades, has died.
Apple released this statement:
We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.The front page of Apple.com displayed a picture of the late Steve Jobs, and the second page contained a tribute to the industry leader:
Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.
His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.
Steve Jobs
1955-2011
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who’ve been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve lost a dear friend and inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com.
“I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.Apple CEO Tim Cook released the following statement:
“I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.”
“Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com.
No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Laurene and his children during this difficult time.”Bill Gates, former CEO of Microsoft, was quoted by The New York Times as saying that he was “truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’s death.” He added: “The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.”
Steven P. Jobs is survived by his wife Laurene, their three children, and one child from a previous relationship.
Thursday, October 06, 2011 0
Friday, 2 September 2011
Patent Wars: A New Age of Competition
Patents are a source of constant lawsuits between large tech companies like Apple, Microsoft and Samsung. They’re one reason Google wants to pay $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility. And many entrepreneurs believe these documents stunt innovation rather than protect it.
Last year, 107,792 patents were issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Here are some interesting points on the history, process and recent impacts of this important component of the tech ecosystem.
Friday, September 02, 2011 0
5 Social Media Tips for Scoring Your Next Job
Marc Hoag, CEO and co-founder of Venturocket, is a California-licensed attorney with an econ degree from UCLA and a strong background in math and science. Marc’s mission with Venturocket, first conceived nearly 10 years ago, is simple: to help make the world a more productive place.
Unless you’re fortunate enough to be deliriously happy with your professional life, the odds are high that you’ll be looking for a different job in the future. On the bright side, the fact that you’re reading this article means you know how to navigate the Internet — a point in your favor. So how can you use that ‘net savvy to most effectively court the employer of your dreams?
Your cover letter and résumé may still be your opening gambit, but the life you lead online increases in relevance every day, especially as a resource for potential employers. Companies are turning to social networks and media more than ever. A recent study suggests that nearly 90% of companies will use networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for recruiting, and that nearly 80% will review a candidate’s online presence and behavior before making a hiring decision.
Since social media presence will likely be investigated and considered prior to your next hire, you’re going to want to put your virtual house in order.
1. Keep Your Profiles Clean…
The first step is a matter of common sense, but nonetheless a vital task: Do not make an idiot of yourself online. One would think this advice is hyper-obvious by now, yet it seems that all too often we encounter a new article profiling an employee’s shortsighted tweeting or a large company’s bafflingly insensitive Facebook status. A golden rule of television is, “When in doubt, your mic is always on.” The same applies to the Internet: Everything you post, tweet or comment on is being recorded, and will come back to haunt you. Not to mention, if a tweet can get you fired, it can also prevent you from being hired the next time around.
2. …But Show Some Personality
On the flip side, however, is the danger of being too careful. While you’ll want to avoid putting up those incriminating and obscene photos from your Vegas bachelor party, don’t let fear prevent you from posting anything at all. An employer will be looking for a candidate who is social and outgoing, who has a demonstrable knowledge of networking and communication. They’ll also be looking for somebody with character, who stands out from the crowd.
If all you’ve shared are the same bland qualifications that are already attached to your résumé, your potential employers won’t have the excitement of learning something new about you. Be bold, be opinionated, be unique — just do it without cursing or detailing your hangover symptoms. Take a tip from Nicholas Allegra, the iPhone “hacker” known better as Comex, who turned his notoriety into an internship with Apple.
3. Spread Yourself Around
When crafting a proper online appearance, you’ll have better luck sharing the right things once you’ve shared them in all the right places. Twitter and Facebook are essential platforms, but at a bare minimum, you should also maintain a fully fleshed-out profile on Google+, LinkedIn and About.me. Get your name out to as many sources as possible — you’re building strong SEO for a vital product: yourself.
4. Target Your Message
When an employer Googles your name, make sure that the first thing they find is a result you’ve handcrafted for their perusal. You may even wish to secure your own domain name and build a website about yourself. Witness the efforts of Eric Romer, who launched a blogging campaign that proclaimed his eagerness to work for a company (he was hired a day later). Or take a tip from Louis Gray, whose demonstrated love and dedication for Google+ got him hired as a product evangelist.
5. Connect With the Company You Want to Work For
This leads directly to the next tip regarding your online activity: Don’t be afraid to actively engage the company you’re courting via your tweets and status updates. Any business actively checking a potential hire’s online profile will most certainly have a social media presence of its own. Therefore, start following its tweets, “like” it on Facebook, etc. Be careful on LinkedIn, though; it’s something of a faux pas to add someone to your network if you don’t personally know him. Still, nobody says you can’t check out the LinkedIn groups and communities to which he belongs.
While you’re at it, don’t forget that a company’s social media isn’t just a place to make yourself heard — it’s also the perfect opportunity for you to observe the company’s actions. How is the company interacting with the public? What insight can you glean from its tweets and statuses? What kind of culture does it display, and what are its subjects of interest? Take meticulous notes, because these are the kinds of things you’ll want to keep in mind when sitting in the interview chair.
Start reinforcing your digital persona now. In the coming years, companies and recruiters will only become more thorough when evaluating new candidates’ online behavior.
Friday, September 02, 2011 0
Oprah to Appear Live on Facebook, Invites Your Questions
Oprah Winfrey is coming to Facebook next week. On September 8, the TV star will be the one answering questions rather than asking them, appearing on a one-hour Facebook Live streaming video interview on Sept. 8 at 10 P.M. South African Time.
To see the live webcast, go to Facebook Live on Sept. 8 and Oprah will answer questions shared by visitors to theFacebook Live event wall. Fans are invited to share their questions now, with the promise that “you might hear Oprah answer your question during the live show.”
Oprah is no stranger to Facebook. Her official Oprah Winfrey page is liked by more than 6.2 million fans. She’s also hip to the iPad-based magazine app Flipboard, where there is an official “Oprah” section.
Oprah has a burgeoning Twitter account as well, where she has 7.2 million followers. That number is dwarfed by the throngs of devotees the woman enjoys elsewhere. For instance, soon after she joined Twitter and featured it on her TV show in 2009, Twitter traffic was boosted by an astonishing 24% compared to day before the segment aired.
Friday, September 02, 2011 0
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Top 10 Twitter Trends This Month
A few recurring Twitter trends tussled for dominance in August, and if you’ve been following our weekly chart, you likely won’t be surprised by this month’s aggregate.
Soccer was strong week after week, and ultimately came out on top in August thanks to a variety of highly anticipated matches from around the world. This global trend has consistently been hard to beat.
It was anybody’s guess where Justin Bieber would land, but a few antics and appearances late in the month got his fans fired up. The Biebs hits number two in August.
And the British riots from early in the month had enough staying power to come in at number three on our chart.
See the full list below. Note that hashtag games and memes have been omitted from the data. You can check Twitter trends from the past in our Top Twitter Topics section.
Top Twitter Trends, August 2011:
Rank | Topic | Intensity | Description |
#1 | Soccer/Football | 3 | Topping the monthly rankings by an easy margin, football captured the most chatter this month, likely due to the start of the English Premier League season in August. However, the top two topics were a bit different, with one celebrating the founding in 1914 of Brazilian team Palmeiras, and the other the move of star player Cesc Fábregas to FC Barcelona. |
#2 | Justin Bieber | 3 | Singer Justin Bieber pretended to be “Derek Bieber,” fans waited (impatiently) for a Christmas album, and Bieber gave his friend Ryan Butler a haircut in the “Bieber Barber Shop.” |
#3 | British Riots | 3 | In the violence and chaos of the riots that gripped England, the three most powerful trends were #prayforlondon, #riotcleanup and #OperationCupOfTea. |
#4 | Super Junior | 3 | Korean pop group Super Junior returned to the stage with new song “Mr. Simple,” winning a number of award shows, including Inkigayo. |
#5 | Hurricane Irene | 3 | Hurricane Irene blazed a path up the U.S. East Cost, doing less damage than was feared in some spots (New York) and far more than expected in others (Vermont). At last check, more than 40 deaths are attributed to the storm. |
#6 | One Direction | 2 | British/Irish boyband One Direction released its debut single “What Makes You Beautiful.” Related trends included various requests for band members to disrobe. |
#7 | Jersey Shore (TV Show) | 2 | Jersey Shore returned to the air and was notable for many things, but mostly that clothing manufacturer Abercrombie and Fitch made an offer to the cast not to wear its clothing. |
#8 | Jonas Brothers | 2 | Fans wished the Jonas Brothers a variety of happy greetings, birthday and otherwise, but there are apparently still lingering rivalries between fans of Taylor Swift and her ex, Joe Jonas. |
#9 | Lil Wayne | 2 | Rapper Lil Wayne released his new album Tha Carter IV. While initially a number of fans tweeted their excitement, it was not long before some started trends such as #ThingsBetterThanTheCarterIV. |
#10 | Chris Brown | 2 | Chris Brown released his new mixtape titled “Boy in Detention,” but his trending is mainly the result of a halo effect from Justin Bieber rapping on the song “Ladies Love Me.” |
Thursday, September 01, 2011 0
Are We Approaching the End of the Daily Deals Era?
The golden age of daily deals, led by the unprecedented growth of Groupon, seems to be coming to its end.
That’s not to say daily deals won’t be sticking around for a long time — clearly there is a business in it — but when two major players withdraw from the space and its biggest player experiences a 50% traffic decline, it’s a clear sign that the daily deals market is no longer in its heyday.
Last week, Facebook killed off Deals, its Groupon competitor, after just four months. “After testing Deals for four months, we’ve decided to end our Deals product in the coming weeks,” Facebook told Mashable in a statement. “We remain committed to building products to help local businesses connect with people, like Ads, Pages, Sponsored Stories, and Check-in Deals.”
Facebook, with its 750 million users, couldn’t find a way to make daily deals work. And its not alone:BusinessWeek reports that Yelp is cutting down on its year-old daily deals product. Half of the sales staff will be cut and the company will refocus on its core business of local reviews.
Yelp’s slow withdraw from daily deals is more problematic. It started testing daily deals in July 2010 and has expanded to more than 20 cities since then. Still Yelp, which has more experience with local businesses than almost anybody in the business, simply couldn’t justify staying in the daily deals market.
Groupon Isn’t Doing So Hot
What about Groupon, the company that practically created this market? Surely with 115 million subscribers, it’s doing just fine, right?
According to web analytics firm Experian Hitwise, Groupon’s web traffic has dropped 50% since July 2011. At the same time its primary competitor, LivingSocial, saw a 27% rise in traffic in the same time period. If the trend were to continue, LivingSocial would become bigger than Groupon before the end of the year. [Update:Some readers have pointed out that these stats may be flawed. We'll know soon enough with Groupon's next quarterly statement.]
When it first filed for IPO, Groupon was hammered by the media for its unprofitability, high marketing costs and questionable accounting practices. In particular it used something called ACSOI (adjusted consolidated segment operating income) to measure its income without factoring in the staggering costs of its marketing and customer acquisition efforts. It was so convoluted that the SEC launched an inquiry and Groupon removed the accounting metric from its S-1 entirely.
Andrew Mason, Groupon co-founder and CEO, addressed these issues in a “leaked” internal memo, but the issues facing Groupon remain the same: It’s an unprofitable business that’s losing steam in a overly crowded market. When you consider those factors, it shouldn’t surprise anybody that major players are getting out of the space.
There are still a lot of daily deals startups in the market right now. My day isn’t complete without at least three pitching me for a story on Mashable. But while more daily deals startups may be getting off the ground, the big players are clearly realizing that this business is being commoditized by intense competition and fatigue by consumers and local businesses. Fifty-two percent of U.S. consumers say they feel overwhelmed by the number of daily deals emails hitting their inboxes.
This phenomenon is exactly why Groupon is betting the farm on Groupon Now, its location-based real-time daily deals service. Will it help differentiate Groupon in this crowded market? Can it generate enough income to justify the cost of sales and marketing? These questions will soon be answered as the company approaches its IPO.
It seems clear that the golden age of daily deals has passed. The question is: which companies will survive its inevitable collapse?
Thursday, September 01, 2011 0
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