Have you ever wondered what social networks are dominating in what parts of the world? Well over at Vincos.it they have put together a great map that illustrates which countries are using what, and it seems as though Facebook is easily in control of the world!
I was wondering how O&M created the popular Zoozoo ads for Vodafone without using computer animation, here are some behind the scenes video clips that will give you some good idea about the whole production process.
You may also want to check these photographs from a studio in South Africa where these videos where actually shot. Pictures are courtesy the official group of Zoozoo on Facebook.
For instance, here’s the original Zoozoo phone backup ad that’s currently getting aired on television during IPL cricket breaks:
Google Labs has a new toy for us to play around: Google Squared. This lab it is focused on giving you, with the same results that you can find on a regular Google Search, an enhanced layout and data presentation. The results are shown in a spread sheet form with related fields to your search that can help you to receive the information that you are looking for in a quicker manner.
Let’s try it: I’ll use a simple search “mountains“. Here’s the result:
Pretty nice. On the “Description” field I can find (bold text) the name of common mounts and mountains around the planet, the “Image” section with an accurate image for each result. And here’s the catch, each search will have related fields shown in the sheet; for our case: “Height“, “Location” and “First Ascent“. Another cool thing, you can add columns to be introduced to your search.
Of course this new type of search takes about one or two seconds more than a regular Google Search, and since it is part of Google Labs, it is completely experimental for now; so you shouldn’t expect that this one could replace your common searchs.
Give it a try!
With updates to Flock, Firefox, Opera, and even IE, browsers are becoming key factors in how we choose to integrate our online experiences with our daily lives. Each of the above mentioned browsers have key factors that stand out and make them useful to someone, all depending on our tastes. What if you could find a search engine that learned, adapted, and showed you extra content that you would not have found otherwise?
Worio is the social search that has somehow found a way to intelligently learn from your search habits and adapt itself to your likes and dislikes. Worio creator Ali Davar focuses on the search as a form of discovery. He comments that Worio will show you things that you perhaps never even thought of, but are related to your initial search.
The idea of discovery is key to Worio, and information is collected and saved on your habits. The mechanism can be turned off and it will simply function like any other search engine, but the uniqueness also comes in being able to share your favorite links and sites right from the search, without having to rely on social bookmarketing efforts or emailing people. Anyone within your network can see your habits and you can see theirs. Taking this concept a step further, Worio now supports Facebook connect. Now you can directly share your passion, your searches with friends in Facebook and open people up to a whole new world of discovery.
The search looks very promising and has a bright future, we’d love to hear what you think.
TinyChat recently did a massive update that propels this online application into the forefront of the video chat options. This past weekend they released not just an updated product, but a new site that really highlights their offerings and the creativity of the team behind it. Looking under the hood first, here’s what we find with the update:
*taken from TinyChat’s blog.
This most certainly makes the service that much more attractive to the already booming user base it has established. Their understanding of the social space is also helping them develop strong ties to their expanding community, listening to the request being made by their supporters. Already in the plans for the next update are things such as country flags associated with the user, private messages via command, recording playback, and the ability to boot people from the chat that are not participating effectively.
There is no doubt that TinyChat is going to experience continued growth and their site welcomes its users and new members alike to interact with them. This easy and free to use application is a must have for anyone who continues to have group chat via IM, and does not want to pay for an account with Skype. With the added benefit of embedding it into your site and sharing it across various social networks, this is definitely an option for the vid-curious.
Do you ever wish you could DJ some of the hottest clubs from around the world? Spinning tracks and creating beats that livened up the party and got the people dancing? Not all of us have that opportunity to be an infamous DJ, but thanks to Grammy-nominated artist, DJ, and label owner, Paul van Dyk, his mobile application can put you on a global stage to make your own hot tracks.
There is no doubt that van Dyk is one of the hottest DJ’s around, appearing on Top 10 lists, featured in some of the biggest music publications, and with popularity the world over. His new iPhone/iTouch app gives you the controls that he uses to make your music on the go. Paul van Dyk’s specially created application by Zip Design, developed by Yuza Mobile will appeal to fans, music enthusiasts and professional DJs alike, featuring a BPM Counter, Frequency Analyser, Decibel Meter, Seismic Reader, Virtual Glow Stick, DJ Check List and an Itinerary Manager. This is no doubt the biggest iPhone app for DJ’s, artists, and music enthusiasts to hit the market, and with over 1 Billion apps already sold in the iPhone App Store, there is definitely going to be increasing demand for this product.
“I have had great fun being a part of the development team for my app over the past few months and think that both aspiring and professional DJs will have great fun using it. On a practical level, it includes everything that a DJ needs.”
(Paul van Dyk)
Watch Paul van Dyk’s introduction to the app here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES8Km5UUn8U
For those of us that have had to make PowerPoint presentations time and time again, using the same templates over and over again, it becomes increasingly frustrating because you think there is only so much youc an do. Well luckily, with some savvy searching, and perhaps a little creativity on your end, Powerpoint can become something new, thanks to the bevy of templates on TemplatesWise.com.
Powerpoint presentations can get a fresh face lift with these new, unique backgrounds that can ressurect the drab into the fab. By what I can tell, this site has hundreds upon hundreds of new templates for you to use, that are easy to find based on their categories. You can preview them, and download the ones you like. They also include packs for charts and graphis, looped music, and other creative for your presentations that will keep your presentation visually attractive while you share the important information.
I’ve used this site for a few public speaking engagements already, I’ve been very impressed with it, and I recommend you give it a try. As PowerPoint has gotten on in age, it’s nice to see creative sites like this offering the facelift that it has so badly needed.
You can follow them on Twitter as well.
PayPal seems to have established itself as the premier method for online payments. I have a paypal account which I use on a regular basis myself, but the process can actually complicate even the simplest of situations. In some cases PayPal seems a bit overkill when something easier could be used. This is where Paystr comes into play.
The online application allows you to set up your own web page for collections purposes. The customization far outweighs the impersonal requests that PayPal creates, with the invoices they allow you to create. Instead Paystr really want you to customize your efforts and your attempts to collect funds for a variety of things. The site declares that its services are great for parties, events, games, gifts or whatever it might be you are collecting for.The focus of Paystr is for the user to focus more on the actual project and less time on the actual collections.
The site is free, creating an account is easy, but standard “PayPal” fees apply. The online site accepts credit cards also, to make it easier for you to collect your funds ahead of time. You can set up multiple payment methods and multiple levels of products or services giving your audience options, ease of use, and safety of knowing their payments are secure.
You can also follow Paystr on Twitter, @Paystr, or connect with them via Facebook.
Grooveshark is an application that was reviewed here on Crenk sometime ago. At the time, I didn’t see the relevance of
Grooveshark awarded CNET's Top 100 Webware Award
the application, though it had some good aspects, I just did not feel comfortable with the entire package. It was not long after that post that officials from Grooveshark contacted me for a dialogue encouraging me to take a look at the offerings again, highlighting features I had not really seen the first time around. In the year that I’ve had with Grooveshark, I’m impressed with the continued efforts it’s making to establish itself as a viable music service for users.
CNET was obviously impressed enough to award it the 2009 Webware Winner for Audio and Music. Grooveshark has indeed come a long way and its user base has grown significantly. With this announcement comes features that again make Grooveshark heads above the rest. For starters their partnership with Ping.fm to build Tinysong API, which allows users to take the code and develop webapps that provide access to Groovesharks extensive library of music. It will be interesting to see what developers come up with as we’ve seen with various other online applications, the opening of the API makes it easy for supplementary apps to proliferate the net.
The second feature that was announced deals specifically with the blogging community. Grooveshark has announced that is now has a Wordpress plugin that allows integration into blog posts for users to set up their favorite songs for specific posts. You can set up just one song, or a playlist of songs for your readers on your site. An interesting option, at the very least you could create a small station of songs on your, possibly with a widget.
Grooveshark is definitely expanding its platform and appeal, and it should be interesting to see how much further they go in 2009!
A while ago I used to check out a new lads site SaltyMilk in which talked about the latest and greatest models on the planet. SaltyMilk used to post pictures from models profiles and photoshoots. About 3 months or so ago the site was sold and since then the owner has just been posting images straight from Magazines. Since this time I have completely gone off the site. I dont really see the point of just posting pictures from magazine photoshoots on a blog and hope for as much traffic as possible from Google. Whats your thoughts?
There are so many user generated video sites available on the internet these days, but sometimes you might not want to see user generated content. Thus, I thought I would put together a very quick list of the best places to view the news online as if you were watching it direct from your television at home.
Livestation – Livestation is a free downloadable video players that streams live news, events, shows from some of the world biggest media companies. Livestation includes services like the BBC, CNN, Fox, MTV, Al Jazeera and more. The service is easy to download and it great to use. The player itself can be changed to any size and you are able to add additional news and radio sources that can be found on the Livestation website.
BBC iPlayer – The BBC iPlayer has been around for quite some time now, and even though they got a lot of harsh press at launch they have been quitely improving the service and it actually now isnt that bad. The iPlayer is a great place to head when you are looking for what has been happening from around the world in the last few days. On the iPlayer they have a dedicated section to BBC News in which will keep you up to date with the major headlines.
Hulu – Hulu is a partnership between News Corp and NBC Universal. Hulu is for USA users only at the moment and it allows them to watch their favourite TV shows, movies and of course news programs all for free. Hulu was born when News Corp and NBC werent happy with the revenues they were receiving from YouTube, so they formed a strategic alliance and launched a free online television service that has been growing at a rapid pace. Hulu has a dedicated news section which allows users to view news from major USA sources as well as smaller sources like Cnet.
