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App to look for, Stow a Virtual Packing List

Stow App sounds really cool from somebody who has major packing anxiety! It all stems from wearing contacts…I have consistant nightmares about forgetting my contacts on long trips!

Downside to this app is that it costs $1.99. Download it at the Appstore.

TBT, Major Changes in the History of the Mobile Phone

The history of the mobile phone dates back to 1973 when it was, for lack of a better word, invented. It was first available for commercial use in 1883. A graceful 30 years later and a lot has changed about the handy device. In honor of Throw Back Thursday lets take a look back at some of the major changes that have taken place…you know, the BIG changes, the ones we seem to recall as a turning point for the mobile phone.

Buycott, an App for a Digital Revolution

Buycott App caught my attention right away. As I was perusing the internets I skimmed over something called “Buycott,” from the name I assumed it was one of a million apps that reminds you not to spend too much money on clothes, or helps you find discounts. Not the case my friends, not the case. Instead, Buycott does something REALLY cool. The slogan on their homepage asks “Have you ever wondered whether the money you spend ends up funding causes you oppose?” “Maybe,” I said to myself, “Maybe, definitely I have once or twice…”

F.A.A. Reconsiders Long Criticized Mobile Device Ban

About a month or so ago I wrote an article about mobile devices on airplanes. The article I titled So What is the Real Deal with Mobile Phones and Airplane Safety? discussed the F.A.A rule requiring all mobile devices be turned off during landing and takeoff, and for cell service to remain off at all times. Many people(qualified–not me) argue that it is completely unnecessary rule while some argue that there are more than a few compelling reasons it is necessary. As I am

Responsive Web Design is not the Only Mobile Solution

Below the Business Insider’s Josh Luger describes some of the best options for making your business mobile-friendly. BI describes the pros and cons of each option as some are better suited for certain endeavors.

Responsive design, a technology that stretches or shrinks Web pages to fit differently sized screens, has emerged as the most-often recommended manner of optimizing content for mobile devices. This dominance was cemented in mid-2012 when Google recommended responsive design as the best strategy for smartphone-optimized websites.

See you later QWERTY, welcome the invisible keyboard

The first keyboard is from SnapKeys’ it is titled Si Evolution. To fully understand how Si Evolution works you really need to watch the video (eh maybe even then you wont fully understand); for those who do not want to watch the video here is Natasha Lomas of Tech Crunch’s description.

Apple’s iOS7 Software is a Sight to Behold

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As we all know Apple introduced iOS 7 (coming this Fall) at the World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco; and now that the dust has settled we decided it was time to discuss the new design. It seems that everyone is pleasantly surprised with the phone’s new look

Waze and Google sitting in a tree..

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According to Google’s official blog, Brian McClendon, Vice President, Geo, let’s us know that Google has purchased Waze. And Waze had their say too on their blog for all the users!

Breakfast Creates Interactive Street Sign Called Points

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Feast your eyes on this beautiful creation brought to us by Breakfast, a NYC digital-experience innovations company. The creation is called Points and it is an interactive street sign. The sign, besides looking really cool and futuristic, can mind-blowingly change and update based on a variety of factors. Jon Fingas of Engadget summarizes it nicely,

Will Square’s New Register Software Change How We Make Purchases?

This being said, I am very intrigued by the unveiling of Square’s new iPad Register. Square, you might recall, is the payments start-up that collaborated with Starbucks to bring us iPhone payments. The idea was to download the Square “Wallet” app, in which you connected your various cards, click Starbucks, and simply place your iPhone under the scanner, eliminating cards and cash from your Starbucks experience.

Super Cool Apps Help You Find Lost Items

For those of you who lose things, which I think is almost everyone(especially now that everything comes only in size miniature,) there exist apps that that help you keep track of your belongings. Two of these apps are , BlueBee and Bungee. They were recently described in a Forbes article.

Google wants to get into our Pants!

Google Wallet differs greatly from Square Wallet, but thats to be expected-google plays in a whole different ball park. Google will allow you to send money via Gmail. On Google’s site it says “This feature will be rolling out to Gmail users ages 18+ in the U.S. over the next few months. Look for the $ icon in your attachment options. You can also get earlier access if your friends have the feature and send money to you.

House Faces Bill that Legalizes Smartphone Unlocking

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Yesterday a bill dubbed the “Unlocking Technology Act (UTA) of 2013” was introduced by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO). The bill would legalize cell-phone and tablet unlocking. Currently this is forbidden under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. (DMCA) which was passed in 1998 when digital technology was in it’s infancy. DMCA was created in an effort to prevent copyright infringement via the internet. The UTA would not only legalize unlocking cell phones it would make legal the act of “jailbreaking,” which is currently illegal under DMCA. In addition it would make legal the act of selling jailbreaking and unlocking software.

Tinder, the Best Dating App in the Game

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Tinder takes the “weird” out of online dating. It uses your location to match you up with people around you. You can pick the mile-radius of your choice and it will show you the pictures of those in that radius. Tinder takes your picture, interests, and mutual friends from Facebook (which you have to connect to, but does not in anyway show on your profile.)

A New “Illness” for the WiFi Generation? The Nocebo Effect

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According to The New Yorker, a wi-fi nocebo effect is happening to more than a handful of people. These people experience “headaches, nausea, exhaustion, tingling, trouble concentrating, and gastrointestinal distress, among other symptoms” when in the presence of wi-fi or radio signals.

No More Drunk Dialing, an App

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I know more than a few of you out there have fantasized about an app that could stop you from sending those god awful late night texts. Well, alas, there is. The app is called Drunk Mode and it has just been approved by Apple Inc. An excerpt from the Cavalierdaily.com of the University of Virginia explains nicely how it works:

So What is the Real Deal with Mobile Phones and Airplane Safety?

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On the other hand, as my brain likes to over-analyze everything that is going on while suspended 10,000 feet above the air I have had the following thought more than a few times: “If a couple of turned on phones could potentially bring down an entire plane, WHY ARE THEY EVEN ALLOWED ON IN THE FIRST PLACE?” So as the doctors tell you to do(sarcasm) I decided to search the internet for the answer. With one Google search I easily gathered that there is quite the debate out there on the subject. Mohit Arora wrote an informative, yet lengthy, article on the subject. Here is an excerpt where he lists the main reasons for the ban:

Broadcast Your Drunken Data To The World With A Smartphone Breathalyzer

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Because what the world really needed was another way to post pictures of your inebriated tomfoolery. Whether you’re in a contest with your buddies over who’s the drunkest, or legitimately trying to determine whether your blood alcohol content is low enough to drive home (just take a cab, dude), personal breathalyzers can be pretty fun

The Most Immersive Virtual-Reality System Yet

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In your face! Palmer Luckey built his first virtual-reality (VR) headset for a simple reason: Every attempt he’d seen, including his own collection of 46 pairs of goggles, failed in one way or another—too heavy, too slow, too limited a field of view. So he set out to invent the perfect pair himself. Three years

Chipotle’s Long Awaited App Update Rocks!

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The most important trait, however, that Google and Chipotle share, is that they always seem to be one step ahead of their peers. That being said, let me introduce you to Chipotle’s most recent step forward; it is the revamp of there new app. BRIAN X. CHEN and JENNA WORTHAM explain how the app works best in their article for the NYTimes:

5 Lessons For Casting a Great Source

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Casting a great source into your story is one of the ultimate tricks of the journalism trade. A great source illuminates and strengthens a piece, adding intrigue and credibility to the facts at hand. Thanks to social media, Google, and services like Profnet, finding a source has never been easier. Yet, in an age of

Is EA The Worst Company In America

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The Consumerist says yes. We say otherwise. Gaming company Electronic Arts (nee EA) is unhappy right now. The launch of the much-anticipated SimCity got botched, after server demand overloaded EA’s systems, making the game completely unplayable. The company’s stock has been slowly plummeting for a while now, and gamers are using that as evidence that

This Is The Facebook Phone

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Facebook just announced its Android-takeover skin Facebook Home, and its first smartphone hardware. Right now, in California, Facebook is announcing its new phone–or, at least, it’s new homescreen. We’ll be updating this post live as events happen. So! What Facebook announced today is called Facebook Home. It’s a skin–a homescreen replacement, kind of like what

Twitter’s Underground, Angry Customers, Data Democracies

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The Strategist picks the day’s most interesting stories for the content aficionados who love the backstory and reading between the lines. Here are the gems you need to kickstart your Monday. Fake Twitter Followers Become Multimillion-Dollar Business (NYTimes) Yes, you read that right. This marketplace is so robust that some fake profiles are almost impossible to

How It Works: Self-Coiling Cord

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Coiling up extension cords by hand is tedious. Spring-activated spools aren’t much better; the mechanisms break easily and can cause violent snapback at the end of the cord. Engineers at Texas-based Great Stuff motorized the entire process. Using a combination of sensors and circuitry, the RoboReel neatly winds 50 feet of cable in 10 seconds,

The Art and Science of Typography [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Marketers know that content marketing needs more than great writing to take off — elegant design elements are equally important for motivating, engaging, and influencing your audiences. As a top-notch content strategist, you’re probably great with words and numbers, but what about your fonts Do you know when you should be using Times vs. Arial vs. Calibri

Smart Content, Twitter’s Big News, Privacy Gaps

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The Strategist picks the day’s most interesting stories for the content aficionados who love the backstory and reading between the lines. Here are the gems you need to kickstart your Monday. Intelligent Content: Soon Your Media Will Know You Better than You Know Yourself (PaidContent) Tablets and ebooks are extremely popular, but they’re far from the

Rumors that Google has hopped on the Smartwatch Train

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Google’s Android unit is reportedly working on a smartwatch of its own, the Financial Times reports. Just as we’ve heard about Apple’s supposed iWatch, Google’s device will serve as an extension to your smartphone, a source tells the FT.

HuffPo Takes Sponsored Content to a New Level

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Over the past year, the sponsored post has become the hot new marketing tool of choice for publishers and brands alike. For brands, sponsored posts allow them to tap into the audience of publishers like Buzzfeed, Gawker and The Atlantic; for publishers, sponsored posts provide a much-needed source of revenue. It’s a simple trade — cash for

McDonald’s Millennial Problem, Tech Events, Buzzword Addictions

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The Strategist picks the day’s most interesting stories for the content aficionados who love the backstory and reading between the lines. Here are the gems you need to kickstart your Monday. McDonald’s Has  Millennial Problem (Ad Age) The number one fast food chain is struggling to understand a core consumer segment — 18 to 32 year olds. What millenials

BlackBerry Z10 Review: If They Could Turn Back Time…

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The totally revamped phone that hopes to save BlackBerry is a damn fine first effort for a new platform. But can a new platform succeed in 2013 My first smartphone was a BlackBerry Curve. I have nothing but fond memories of it–the speed and ease of typing on that keyboard, the battery that lasted for

Cleveland Museum Finds Way to Beautifully Combine Art and Technology

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The Cleveland Art Museum has done something really cool.  They have found a way to take advantage of the new tablet technology to enhance, not distract from, the art in their Galleries. The New York Times believes that ,thus far, the Cleveland Art Museum has been the only art establishment to have successfully done so: “EVERY museum is searching for

GoNo, an Awesome New App for the Indecisive

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GoNo is a social networking application that answers life’s various questions. Connect with your friends or the public to ask and answer questions, then view results updated in real time. Send GoNo’s to your closest friends-or release your GoNo to the public for even more feedback.

Lessons From ‘Present Shock’ for Content Producers

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One of the most formidable challenges for contemporary writers, editors and publishers is grappling with what author Douglas Rushkoff calls ”present shock.” Douglas Rushkoff The term, also the title of his just-published book, describes ”the human reaction to living in a real-time, instantaneous, simultaneous, always on, timeless, goalless, post-linear reality.” Rushkoff’s concept is an updating of Alvin Toffler’s 70′s classic book Future Shock, in which he urged us to

Roku 3 Review: Yeah, It’s The Best Media Streamer

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If you want to play streaming video or audio through your TV, from Netflix or Hulu or HBO Go or Spotify or anything else, the new Roku is easily the right choice. The Roku 3 is the best media streamer. The hardware’s clean, the software’s snappy, the app selection is second-to-none, and it’s more stable

Content for the Senses, Journalism Meets Advertising, Consumer Lessons

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The Strategist picks the day’s most interesting stories for the content aficionados who love the backstory and reading between the lines. Here are the gems you need to kickstart your Wednesday. How Courvoisier and Unilever Manipulate the Senses (Ad Age) Technology is powering new ways to interact with consumers. Food and drink are at the forefront

Social Media Philanthropy, Ads Fight Ads, Branded Content Narratives

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The Strategist picks the day’s most interesting stories for the content aficionados who love the backstory and reading between the lines. Here are the gems you need to kickstart your Friday. Nelson Mandela’s Grandson to Launch Social Network to Mark Mandela Day (Pandodaily) Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Ndaba Mandela, will be bringing together two important virtues (philanthropy

How to Use Quora to Build an Engaged Audience

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Quora is one of content marketing’s biggest mysteries. First and foremost, the platform seems to be a smart-conversation engine. How can brand marketers join in Then, there’s the question of value. Can Quora yield an effect that’s directly translatable into the language of business — that is, revenue and sales “Quora has brand marketing value because it

Samsung Announces Galaxy S 4; It Has All Of The Features

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Reporting live from Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 event in New York City. At a massive event at Radio City Music Hall, featuring a live orchestra and a simulcast on a huge billboard in Times Square, Samsung showed off its newest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S 4, which is…not very interesting. But the Galaxy S line

Obama Finally Confronts China about Cyber Attacks

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Though it has been clear to the American public for some time now, the US government has not officially stated it’s belief in the involvement of China’s military in the recent cyber attacks on American companies

Phablets: Bigger is More, Bigger is Better

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Smartphones are getting bigger. People demand and companies supply. Our smartphones are getting bigger because of our evolving needs. Smartphones are turning into tablets – pocket computers, not pocket telephones – multitasking and jumping on the digital ride, be it shopping, social networking, browsing, gaming, messaging or streaming.

Watch This Pen Draw Objects In Midair [Video]

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We catch up with the brains behind the 3Doodler, a plastic-melting pen that lets you draw 3-D objects in midair. Even the best consumer 3-D printers require a whole lot of brains to create the simplest plastic tchotchke. Toymaker Maxwell Bogue doesn’t think creative expression in three dimensions should be so hard, so he created

Elevator Pitches Revamped, Content Marketing Nirvana, Good Grammar

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The Strategist picks the day’s most interesting stories for the content aficionados who love the backstory and reading between the lines. Here are the gems you need to kickstart your Tuesday: Your Elevator Pitch Stinks. Here’s How to Fix It (Inc.) Don’t bombard your partners, customers, and prospects with a paragraph-long sales pitch — tell a compelling

Samsung’s Bulletproof Business Software vs. Blackberry

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Since a short time after the release of the iPhone in 2007 the Blackberry has been hanging on by a thread. It has been the corporate world and I.T. managers that have remained devoted to RIM’s once groundbreaking mobile phone.

Twitter Valuing Tweets, AllThingsD May End, Web Design at It’s Best

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The Strategist picks the day’s most relevant and interesting stories about the world of content from around the web. Here’s what you should be reading today: Twitter Judging the Value of Tweets According to Mashable, Twitter is now determining how valuable tweets are on its website. Sam Laird writes, “The value judgements will be assigned to

After Hack, Burger King Needed a Brand Publishing Response

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On Monday, Burger King found itself in social media crisis mode when its Twitter account was hacked. The hackers changed the profile picture to the McDonald’s logo, and re-skinned the background with a picture of McDonald’s new Fish McBites (a sign that the hack was likely carried by a band of seafood-loving stoners). A new

Taboola Gets $15M, Meteor Video is Hot, Facebook’s Content Farm Problem

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The Strategist picks the day’s most relevant and interesting stories about the world of content from around the web. Here’s what you should be reading today: Taboola Garners $15 Million for Video Engine Paid Content’s Laura Hazard Owen writes that Taboola, a video recommendation engine, has received $15 million in funding. The site now has $35

Linux-Powered Pen Calls You Out For Crappy Grammar

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The training wheels of penmanship. In the digital age, we have barely any use for the common pen. What good is something that doesn’t even have WiFi Luckily, a European startup is creating a “learning pen” to drag penmanship lessons into the 21st century. The Lernstift digital pen vibrates to warn you that your handwriting

These LED Bulbs Can Shine With A Color You Select From Any Photo

And do other neat tricks. Smart lighting that’s as easy as screwing in a bulb. Smart lighting systems allow homeowners to control any bulb in their house, set timers, and dim lights—all from a single control panel. The systems aren’t perfect: They’re pricey, and setup often requires wiring fixtures, which also means professional installation. Philips’s

Could Your Next Doctor’s Visit Be On The Kinect

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Because why not mix medicine with some Dance Central Telemedicine–remote consultation with a doctor through technology–is the way of the future. Live in a rural area Need to see a specialist Just beam yourself to a doctor’s office and get a scrip written without leaving your home. Problem is, a video call isn’t always enough:

Basis Band Review: The Only Fitness Tracker Worth Buying

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The first fitness tracker that could actually help you get in shape, thanks to a goals system that works with your life and sensors that actually track your fitness. The Basis Band is the best fitness tracker on the market. It’s the best because it works with your life rather than requiring that a whole

5 Things Apple’s Smartwatch Needs To Do To Not Suck

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It’s so easy! Except for the fact that literally nobody else has ever gotten it right. Some hefty rumors have been tossed around lately about a smartwatch project supposedly in high gear at Apple. Smartwatches are the James Bondian ideal of high tech–a wrist-based gadget that can sync with your phone (or not), display information,

ebookers hotel-finding app launches for Android

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New into Google Play is “Hotels by ebookers,” which aims to provide users with money saving offers and hotel tips. According to the company, users of the application could save up to 65 percent when browsing for last minute deals – something not to be sniffed at. When looking for a hotel it makes sense

Nexus 4 wireless charger finally available for $59.99

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Google has finally put the Nexus 4’s official wireless charger on sale for $59.99, with a five-charger limit. The charger uses the Qi wireless technology, which juices up your phone without having to actually plug in the device. So you put it down to charge, pick it up and go. The tech specs list a