2013 January » i3m Blog

Google Rolls Out Biggest Free Wi-Fi Network in New York City

Jan 082013

Google, in an expansion of its role as an Internet Service Provider, introduced Tuesday New York City’s biggest contiguous free public Wi-Fi network in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

Google’s choice of location for the giant network is no surprise: Chelsea is home to Google’s New York headquarters, meaning employees out at lunch breaks or area meetings will be able to remain productive even while out of the office. The network runs between Gansevoort St. and 19 St. from 8th Ave to the West Side Highway and in area public spaces, including the Chelsea Triangle, 14th Street Park and Gansevoort Plaza.

The secured network will also be used by businesses, residents and students in the area, and it will cover the outdoor areas of the Fulton Houses, a housing project owned by the New York City Housing Authority.

MORE: Google Rolls Out Biggest Free Wi-Fi Network in New York City.

3 steps to improve marketing productivity

Marketing 322 Responses »

Jan 082013

By leveraging marketing analytics, SMBs can visualize which campaigns are working and which ones are not. This helps SMBs allocate resources to the campaign activities with the highest payoffs. Below are three steps for how your SMB can turn marketing data into valuable information to improve campaign productivity and support better decision making in 2013.

Embrace the marketing analytics concept as a new way of doing business

The average SMB owner does not have a lot of time to investigate, evaluate, or pilot new marketing initiatives. She is starved for time and focused squarely on her business. In many cases, that business faces a fine line between success and failure, and marketing is a key factor in which side of the line the business lands. Outside of personnel, the average SMB’s largest investment is in marketing. And yet, the SMB owner is overwhelmed by the number of online marketing tools and their return-on-investment claims.

MORE: 3 steps to improve marketing productivity – iMediaConnection.com.

Is Java Losing Its Mojo?

Tech News, Web Design 350 Responses »

Jan 082013

Java is on the wane, at least according to one outfit that keeps on eye on the ever-changing world of computer programming languages.

For more than a decade, it has dominated the Tiobe Programming Community Index — a snapshot of software developer enthusiasm that looks at things like internet search results to measure how much buzz different languages have. But lately, Java has been slipping. In fact, it’s been overtaken by the C programming language — a 40-year-old dinosaur that’s still popular with Unix developers and people who develop software for simple embedded systems like DVD players or alarm monitors.

“C is not number one because it is rising, but it is because Java is falling down,” says Paul Jansen, managing director with Tiobe Software, writing in an e-mail interview. Jansen’s company compiles the programming index.

According to Jansen, Java — once the hottest of the programming languages — took a serious detour when Oracle bought it, along with its creator-company, Sun Microsystems, three years ago.

MORE: Is Java Losing Its Mojo? | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com.

Facebook turns off notifications users haven’t clicked in a while

interface, Internet News 206 Responses »

Jan 082013

Facebook has begun automatically turning off notifications for groups and close friends that users were not interacting with, a company spokesperson tells us.

When this happens, users will see a notice in their notifications window with the option to turn the notifications back on.

“This is part of our efforts to make sure that users are receiving the most meaningful notifications,” the spokesperson said.

MORE: Facebook turns off notifications users haven’t clicked in a while.

20 top web design and development trends for 2013

Internet News, Web Design 299 Responses »

Jan 072013

Predicting the future is tough, but with the fast-moving nature of the web, it’s good to know what lies ahead. Craig Grannell talks to top industry figures about the web design and development trends you should be mindful of over the coming 12 months

In our 15 top web design and development trends for 2012 we suggested 2012 would be a year of ongoing economic hardship and attempted internet censorship, and guessed web design and development would also be turbulent. Such predictions proved accurate, with the web industry battling censorship, native apps, and fragmented, rapidly evolving technology.

2013 won’t be any quieter. Our industry figures predict a year of design shifts, evolving device usage, and web consumption adjustments, all of which will impact on designers and developers. However, there’s also potential for an exciting year as RWD utterly takes hold, standards evolution brings more scope for layout and type, and tools wrench themselves free of print.

All these things and more are explored in our 20 must-know web design and development trends for 2013…

MORE: 20 top web design and development trends for 2013

Nvidia announces own ‘Shield’ gaming device at CES

Tech News 280 Responses »

Jan 072013

Project Shield is small — smaller than a Wii U controller. Fittingly, it looks like a portable Xbox controller with a small flip-up screen. It’s got analog joysticks, buttons, and controllers. Nvidia promises between 5 and 10 hours of gameplay on Shield.

Still a prototype, the final name and design could change before the product goes to market, as soon as in a few months, an Nvidia spokesperson said.

“It’s pure Android,” says Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. There’s nothing proprietary about it; all jacks are standard and the platform is open. It comes with a microSD card slot.

Shield can connect to the cloud to play Android games, TegraZone games, and PC games for PCs with compatible GeForce graphics cards. It also supports multiplayer mode.

MORE: Nvidia announces own ‘Shield’ gaming device at CES

IPO Lottery 2013: 10 Companies to Watch

Internet News 338 Responses »

Jan 072013

The Chinese calendar might have it pegged as the year of the black snake, but investors are already calling 2013 the year of the enterprise IPO. Not nearly as catchy as something reptilian, but hopefully a lot more profitable than the newly public consumer companies, Facebook chief among them, that took a beating in the public markets in 2012.

Consistent with the enterprise theme, we already know that data-center networking company Gigamon and solid-state storage business Violin Memory have filed their S-1 forms. Other enterprise plays will follow. And just because the smart money is betting on companies that get paid selling to other companies, doesn’t mean some well-known consumer outfits, including Twitter, Square, and Evernote couldn’t try their luck with an IPO in 2013.

We picked nine private companies with public market potential to watch in 2013. For each we weigh the odds of whether, market conditions permitting, of course, they have a shot or not.

MORE: IPO Lottery 2013: 10 Companies to Watch | Wired Business | Wired.com.

Examining Sony’s Internet-free method for blocking used game sales

Tech News 242 Responses »

Jan 042013

A newly published patent application filed by Sony outlines a content protection system that would use small RFID chips embedded on game discs to prevent used games from being played on its systems, all without requiring an online connection. Filed in September and still awaiting approval from the US Patent Office, the patent application for an “electronic content processing system, electronic content processing method, package of electronic content, and use permission apparatus” describes a system “that reliably restricts the use of electronic content dealt in the second-hand markets.”

Used game sales continue to be a major concern for many big-name publishers and developers, who see the practice as a drain on the revenue they earn from selling new software. Sony’s patent explicitly points out that suppressing the used game market will “[support] the redistribution of part of proceeds from sales of the electronic content to the developers.”

The used-game blocking method described in the patent involves a “radiofrequency tag” and a type of programmable ROM chip that are paired with each game disc and can communicate wirelessly with the game system.

MORE: Examining Sony’s Internet-free method for blocking used game sales | Ars Technica.

How to balance traditional, online, and social media

Marketing, Your Brand 279 Responses »

Jan 042013

In the past, marketing teams placed media “buys” in a limited number of traditional channels, such as broadcast or print ads. These channels acted largely independently. Measurements were straightforward, typically in the form of reach and audience. Social and mobile media are different in every respect. The new engagement channels are deeply inter-dependent, and their performance linked tightly to each other. This phenomenon has a name — its called media convergence.

Consider this data point. By 2013 lead management campaigns across four or more digital channels are expected to outperform single- or dual-channel campaigns by 300 percent. Thats because of the way customers use social and mobile media.

Yet CMOS are struggling. One study conducted by SapientNitro revealed that 82 percent surveyed believe improving marketing coordination across traditional, online, and social channels is moderately or extremely challenging. And the number one obstacle cited to digital marketing growth was lack of a single, cross-channel digital marketing platform.

Heres why. Customer behavior is extremely nimble across this landscape and buyers are influenced — and influence others — in buying decisions and brand loyalty as they move in and out of various websites, social platforms, and mobile media. For example, 83 percent of consumers globally are likely to visit a website recommended by a friend on Facebook, and more than half say comments posted on retailers Facebook and Twitter pages, whether positive or negative, also influence their opinions

MORE: How to balance traditional, online, and social media – iMediaConnection.com.

How Facebook’s latest monetization efforts may take shape in 2013

Internet News, Marketing 92 Responses »

Jan 032013

After eight years focused on user growth and building the foundations of its platform — News Feed, location and Open Graph, among others — Facebook went into 2012 prepared to go public and become more serious about monetization.

The social network launched several new ad types and began a number of other potential money-making ventures. Here’s a look at Facebook’s monetization efforts last year and how they might evolve in 2013.

News Feed/Mobile Ads

News Feed ads, starting with Sponsored Stories, launched in January. These same ad types came to the mobile feed in March, and over time, the social network began allowing page post units and other non-social ads. Mobile app installs came to the feed in August. Facebook previously allowed feed-based ads in 2007 but it had never shown ads on mobile devices until this year. Now, the social network is earning $4 million a day from News Feed ads, with three-fourths of that from the mobile feed.

MORE: How Facebook’s latest monetization efforts may take shape in 2013.

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