iPad Mini

Is it an iPod Touch or an iPad or something in between?

This past week Apple launched their newest product, the iPad Mini. The iPad mini is basically a smaller iPad or a larger iPod. Unlike many of their older products, which defined the handheld tech world, the iPad Mini is not the first small tablet. There are many critics out there saying that Apple has lost their touch and, since the death of Steve Jobs, the company as a whole is going downhill. I don't think this is completely true; however, the iPad Mini was not as good of an idea as their past products.

Do you think apple is running out of good ideas?
Do you think that since the passing of Steve Jobs apple will be on the downward slope as a company?


To Buy or learn more about the iPad Mini go to Apple.

Google, Android Ties APPLE?????

Apple has always had a few advantages when it came to the smart phone.  They had the iphone, which was the first phone of its kind.  It was original, sleek, and effective.  It was the most popular phone on the market by far.  They also had the largest and most prestigious selection of Applications for their smart phone.

Things are starting to take a competitive turn for the mobile phone market.  Android powered phones have come out with a couple of phones that are outperforming the prestigious iphone 5.  And just recently, the Google powered App market for Android has tied Apple with a total of 700,000 Apps.  It seems that the mobile phone market is becoming more and more competitive as time is moving on, especially with Apple's loss of Steve Jobs.  Apple vs. Google, iphone vs. Android...who do you think will be the leader of mobile phone and mobile phone networking in 5 more years???

Link to Article

iPhone 5 or iPhone 4s

Would you pay $ 399 instead of $ 99 for the same phone? However, a lot of people do this. What I am talking about is the new iPhone 5 compared to the previous iPhone 4s. Obviously, there are some differences between them since people are purchasing the iPhone 5. For example, the iPhone 5 is 4.87 inches wide instead of 4, 5 inches, it is 0.30 inches deep instead of 37, its display has a little bit better resolution, and its video and battery time is marginally better. Yet, these differences are at least for me unnoticeable when I am playing with the new iPhone 5, but apparently that is not the case for the people that do buy the iPhone 5. On the other hand, I understand that people who love new technology products can tell the differences, but in general I feel that the only reason apple launches new models this often is to make people spend money when they do not need to; a very smart way making money, that is for sure.

However, the other day I went in the an apple store in hope of a new iPhone, and the seller I spoke to claimed that the differences between the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4s was massive which I found after my researches was untrue. Therefore, my question goes to you guys is the differences between iPhone 5 and iPhone 4s big enough for buying iPhone 5 or no?

http://www.apple.com/iphone/compare-iphones/

Is Check In Advertising Worth It?

I remember the first times a saw people check in at Facebook. First, I thought it was a great invention, that I could follow my friends and family without talking to them. However, it did not take long time until I changed my mind. I just thought it was too much to see what people had for lunch, what places they were going to and who they were going there with.

However, a lot of businesses have found this check in function to be a great way of promoting its businesses. For example, the McDonalds from my home town in Sweden had advertising campaign where they gave a drink a way to people who checked on Facebook. However, after a couple of weeks the canceled the advertising campaign without really explaining the reason. However, my personal opinion was that their campaign did not create enough awareness since people where checking in to so many places that the McDonalds franchise could cut through the clutter and reach enough people. In Contrast, next to this McDonalds franchise there is a sport store called team sportia which did a similar campaign on Facebook where they gave a 5 % discount to people checked in which actually resulted in a increases in sale during the month they launched their campaign.

Do you having deals related to check ins social medias like Facebook is beneficial to businesses or is it just a waist of money?

http://www.mcdonalds.se/se.html

Share Your Comments with the World

                                                    Share Your Comment With the World


The other day I was watching the television show Yukon Men, and noticed little bubbles kept popping up on the bottom of the screen. After seeing a few of these bubbles I realized that they were tweets from people who were watching the TV show. What this channel allows you to do is tweet your comments on all of the shows that are playing for the first time (not on re-runs). I thought that this was a pretty cool way for people from all over the world to share what they were thinking on what was happening at that exact time.
I have seen similar things like this on other TV shows. I cant remember specific shows, but they have numbers you can text or people you can tweet with questions and you will get responses that answer your questions.
Both of these are ways to keep ideas flowing and people from all over the world connected, can you think of any ways this could boost viewer numbers, or possible hurt the TV stations?

If you would like an account with twitter click the link. 

Presedential Campaigns Using Social Media to Get Those Darn Kids to Vote

An article in the New York Times this week highlighted how the different Presidential Campaigns have been using social media to connect to the younger voters and get them to vote.  Some of the social media outlets include Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, and Spotify.  This seems like the natural thing to do in order to get at the younger voters to get to the booth, but I have a different question that doesn't have the most obvious answer.

Most of the young people that are being targeted in this article are the ones that do not watch the news, read the paper, or have a factually verified source to get their information.  They get all of their information on twitter and facebook.  The presidential candidates aren't tweeting about their policies, they're trying to win a popularity contest.  Obama is sending videos from the movie "Mean Girls" and Romney is Instagram-ing pictures of him playing Jenga with his family.  The young voters are getting the most biased information from the most biased of sources.  Which leads to my question...


Is it Okay that these candidates are just trying to get these young voters to notice and like them as people?  Shouldn't they be trying to get them to pay attention to the issues and form their own opinion?  And if young people are voting without proper education, is it better that they don't vote?  I have attached the article at the bottom of the page.

Link to Article

Can Tecnology Becaome Reality

I remember it as it was yesterday and I sat on the floor in my house and played FIFA 1998 on my new PlayStation (for you guys who do not know what FIFA is; it is a soccer video game). The reason to that I recall how it was to play FIFA 1998 almost makes me scared when I yesterday tried the new FIFA 2013 at my friends place. The development of the game is incredible; it is just ridiculous to mention the two in the same sentence. In fact it is a big difference between FIFA 2013 and FIFA 2012 as well. The boll control is better, the dribbling’s are better, and the shots are harder. The whole experience of playing almost makes me believe I am playing myself.

These improvements I have seen during the fifteen years I have been playing FIFA makes me think about what it will look like in another fifteen years. Will it literally be like watching a game live? Will you be able to monitoring your players exactly the way it is in reality? Is there ever a stop where the technology cannot get closer to reality? What do you guys think? 
http://www.ea.com/fifa

Apple's iPhone 5 still elite?

The iPhone 5 was recently release worldwide by Apple.  As we all know, if you're an Apple user, you could not imagine going a single day without owning this most precious of all items.  Here's the problem, the phone sucks.  When I say it sucks, I mean that it's the same phone they've come out with for years.  Yeah, a slightly bigger screen (that actually makes it look kind of stupid).  I'm not just saying this as an Android phone user.  When I was shopping for smartphones, the iPhone 4s was my top choice.  Unfortunately, my carrier didn't have it.  One of the biggest problems with the iPhone 5 was the experiment they made with the Apple Maps system.  Basically, Apple tried to fix something that was broken, and then they broke it.  I attached an article below that explains some of the biggest (and funniest problems) of the new maps system that replaced the prestigious Google Maps system that everybody everywhere uses.  I would like to know your thoughts if you are an Apple user and have the new iPhone.  If you do not, feel free to share your opinion anyways, because there's nothing funnier than the "Apple vs. The World" argument.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2012/09/27/apple-maps-six-most-epic-fails/

-Kyle Swanson