And yes, it's the Gangnam song. I'm sick of the song but it's worth it to watch the video below.
As if that was not cute enough, check out her older sister laughing so hard she started to cry. Both very adorable.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Asleep Baby Wakes Up Instantly And Dances To Gangnam Song
This is too funny. You have to watch this baby named Amaya. Apparently, she can sleep through anything but once a particular song comes on, she wakes and dances to it. Even in the car seat.
And yes, it's the Gangnam song. I'm sick of the song but it's worth it to watch the video below.
As if that was not cute enough, check out her older sister laughing so hard she started to cry. Both very adorable.
Enjoy!
And yes, it's the Gangnam song. I'm sick of the song but it's worth it to watch the video below.
As if that was not cute enough, check out her older sister laughing so hard she started to cry. Both very adorable.
Enjoy!
Security: Murdoch Said WSJ Still Being Hacked
Source: Venture Beat.
According to Rupert Murdoch, all around rich guy, said that hackers from China, are still going after his Wall Street Journal. This is a string of reports regarding Chinese hacking activities that the New York Times first reported last week.
Since then, Twitter, WSJ, and the Washington Post have come forward about being hacked.
The thing for Murdoch is that hacking isn’t something that is new to his media empire. His own people at the now closed News Of The World tabloid was at the center of a hack scandal that likely killed a little girl and sent people to prison.
So, hacking is okay as long as he’s the one doing the hacking but it’s not okay if he’s on the receiving end of it.
Jokes aside (just a bit), I’ve said we can expect more of this from Beijing, Tehran, or anyone else who does not like Western media putting them in bad lights. It's too disrupt operations and, ultimately, a form of intimidation.
Movie Clip: Getting Hit By A Bus
Source: Blastr.
Getting killed off in TV or movies is a regular happening. But apparently, getting hit by a bus, car, or cart is something that happens quite often. So often in fact that some dude put together a Youtube video, 12 minutes worth, of people from shows and movies getting run over.
Enjoy.
Getting killed off in TV or movies is a regular happening. But apparently, getting hit by a bus, car, or cart is something that happens quite often. So often in fact that some dude put together a Youtube video, 12 minutes worth, of people from shows and movies getting run over.
Enjoy.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Social: Users Want A Break From Facebook
Source: NYT.
I've sometimes put away my gadgets and pull out a book, go out and enjoy the outdoors, or something that doesn't have to do with technology. At the end, I always come back.
Apparently, is the same for Facebook users. Pew Research found more than 60% of FB users take up to several weeks just to get away from Facebook violating their privacies.
As a former FB user, I get it. For me, there is an added dimension to this. Facebook doesn't offer the same kind of engagement that I get from Twitter or Google+. And they've offered me no incentives to want to go back after a while. There's only so much baby or food pictures my friends post that I can take.
On Google+, I've been able to follow an engage in more talented and interesting people.
Pew's study found a variety of reasons why people are pulling pack from Facebook. Whatever those reasons, today's social media users are beginning to adjust how they fit social networks into their lives.
This is what's scary for Facebook. Their users, regardless of numbers, will end up using it less or, like myself, find it offering very little value and end up not coming back.
- Posted using BlogPress
I've sometimes put away my gadgets and pull out a book, go out and enjoy the outdoors, or something that doesn't have to do with technology. At the end, I always come back.
Apparently, is the same for Facebook users. Pew Research found more than 60% of FB users take up to several weeks just to get away from Facebook violating their privacies.
As a former FB user, I get it. For me, there is an added dimension to this. Facebook doesn't offer the same kind of engagement that I get from Twitter or Google+. And they've offered me no incentives to want to go back after a while. There's only so much baby or food pictures my friends post that I can take.
On Google+, I've been able to follow an engage in more talented and interesting people.
Pew's study found a variety of reasons why people are pulling pack from Facebook. Whatever those reasons, today's social media users are beginning to adjust how they fit social networks into their lives.
This is what's scary for Facebook. Their users, regardless of numbers, will end up using it less or, like myself, find it offering very little value and end up not coming back.
- Posted using BlogPress
Social: Google And Facebook Bigger But Twitter Wins Super Bowl
Source: CNBC.
This is a very good lesson for advertisers and businesses. Users as well if you like live-event comments and updates from users. Both Facebook and Google+ have higher monthly active users but it's Twitter that has more engaging ones - especially during live events.
In last year's Super Bowl, both Facebook and Twitter tied at eight mentions. During Sunday's Super Bowl, XLVII, Twitter was mentioned sixteen times while Facebook plateaued at eight mentions.
You have to wonder about how Twitter can take advantage of their inherent real-time feature that is lacking in competing networks like Facebook. On top of that, Facebook simply cannot enjoy the engagement that Twitter has. Sure, Facebook has more active members but they're not on at the same time.
I have posted Facebook updates about elections, football games, and news events but none of that ever got the sense of community that I have had with Twitters. I'm able to reach out and connect with others talking about the same things I was. You just don't get that on Facebook.
And with mobile, Twitter is the easier platform to send out updates, 160 characters or less, than other social networks. It's quick and to the point.
As far as I know, Facebook and Twitter are both baked into most platforms, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. Twitter has far more reach with apps than Facebook has as well.
The CNBC post has it right. Twitter is the go-to second screen. Nothing Facebook can do to replicate that.
Oh, and with Facebook fatigue settling in, it'll only get worse.
This is a very good lesson for advertisers and businesses. Users as well if you like live-event comments and updates from users. Both Facebook and Google+ have higher monthly active users but it's Twitter that has more engaging ones - especially during live events.
In last year's Super Bowl, both Facebook and Twitter tied at eight mentions. During Sunday's Super Bowl, XLVII, Twitter was mentioned sixteen times while Facebook plateaued at eight mentions.
You have to wonder about how Twitter can take advantage of their inherent real-time feature that is lacking in competing networks like Facebook. On top of that, Facebook simply cannot enjoy the engagement that Twitter has. Sure, Facebook has more active members but they're not on at the same time.
I have posted Facebook updates about elections, football games, and news events but none of that ever got the sense of community that I have had with Twitters. I'm able to reach out and connect with others talking about the same things I was. You just don't get that on Facebook.
And with mobile, Twitter is the easier platform to send out updates, 160 characters or less, than other social networks. It's quick and to the point.
As far as I know, Facebook and Twitter are both baked into most platforms, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. Twitter has far more reach with apps than Facebook has as well.
The CNBC post has it right. Twitter is the go-to second screen. Nothing Facebook can do to replicate that.
Oh, and with Facebook fatigue settling in, it'll only get worse.
5-Inch iPhone: Rumblings, Cravings, And Lots of Speculations
I’m sure Apple has iPhone prototypes in Jony Ives’ lab ranging from 3” all the way up to 6”. It makes sense that Apple would play around with different screen sizes and UI to see what is best for users. Now, it’s anyone’s guess whether Apple will ever release an iPhone with a bigger than 4” screen current on the iPhone 5.
Momentum/Issues
However, momentum is building within the Apple blog circle that Apple could conceivable release a 5” iPhone and they speculated how Apple could go about it. The way they’re doing it is through mockups, speculating about resolutions, DPI, and icon sizes. I read just about every post I could find on it and love every one of them and hope to God that they’re right.
Here are the more recent ones in the last week or so (Marco, iMore, Daring Fireball).
There are just a few problems. One is Tim Cook saying that they found the perfect size with the 4” screen that is great for one handed use. However, Apple has a history of saying one thing and doing another. What Apple tells us today is what they want the media and its customers to think for today. Tomorrow is another matter. It’s an issue but not a major one. Apple has been known, rather notoriously, for saying one thing only to do the complete opposite a moment later.
The second is that many of these mockups and speculations talk about the 5” DPI being less than the Retina Display. If falls somewhere between the iPad mini and the iPad Retina Display. Between this issue and the one-handed use, I think this is much more problematic. It would not be Retina anymore by Apple’s own definition (as it is today). Okay, fine. Neither is the iPad mini or the iPad 2, two Apple products on sale that do not have Retina Displays.
However, a 5” iPhone will be considered a flagship device that will go just against competing flagship phones from Samsung, HTC, Nokia, and RIM. And basically any punk on the mobile mean street looking to knock off Apple. By keeping the same as the 4” at 1136x640, Apple leaves itself to cheap marketing shots by its competitors.
In fact, the upcoming Galaxy S 4 will have a 5” 1080p display. That’s about 440 dpi. If Apple keeps the 5” display at 1136x640. I see the marketing from just about everyone who wants to tear one into Apple even if they don’t succeed in destroying iPhone’s good name.
What I Like Apple To Do
What Apple has to do increase the resolution again to keep the DPI within the parameters so that it can call its 5” iPhone display a Retina Display. Go even as high as 2272x1280, twice the resolution of today’s iPhone 5 display and 4X the number of pixels. There will be added cost but Apple is free to price this higher than the regular 4” iPhone display. I’m okay with even a 1.5X increase in resolution at 1704x960. It’s quite feasible from a technical standpoint. As for the apps, well, I believe app developers will fall in line.
And you know what? I’ll buy it. Tens of millions of Apple fans will buy it. Millions will wait eager wait in line for it. At 2272x1280 or 1704x960, it would blow my socks off!
It would be Apple’s crowning achievement in mobile but it would cost more. For instance, I see Apple release a 5” iPhone with a $100-150 premium over a comparable 4” iPhone. And it’ll come with a 32 GB as a base model rather than 16 GB and go all the way up to 128 GB. Depending on Apple’s willingness to absorb some margin hit and it has shown that in the last couple of financial quarters, Apple could really take the 5” and up segment of the market from Samsung.
My guess is that Apple has already laid the ground work for this. For one thing, Apple already has the chips capable of running in the iPad 4 when it refreshed the 9.7” iPad with a better CPU just before the Christmas. According to Apple, the A6X chip inside the iPad 4 has about 50-100% the processing and graphics power as the iPad 3. And they both run the same display. So you have to ask yourself what kind of awesomeness this chip will do in a 5” iPhone. (If you like tech analysis and benchmarks, check out BareFeats and Anantech on the A6X chip.)
Will It or Won’t It?
All these speculations aside, which I’m loving it, it’s hard to say if Apple is going to go for it. Times have changed since the original iPhone came out of Steve Jobs’ pocket in 2007. A lot. The incumbent leaders in mobile have come and gone with Palm being gone and Blackberry look at its new Blackberry 10 devices as make or break for 2013. Microsoft has yet to mount a comeback (though I think Redmond’s patience will win the day eventually). Nokia is in the same bed with Microsoft.
For the Android device makers, they’ve gone the bigger screen route and with a lot of success. Apple’s biggest foe, Samsung, has differentiated itself from the rest of the Android pack with brilliant branding, copy Apple’s success to one degree or another, and really innovated with the bigger screens in the Galaxy Note line.
On top of that, the 5”-ish Galaxy S line is lighting up the high-end segment of the market where Apple usually like to have all to itself.
More than just phones getting bigger, so are the habits of mobile warriors and their behaviors towards their smartphones. Calling is out. Texting and other forms of social communication is in. Twitter, Facebook, blogging as well surfing the Web or using apps take up more time than before. Bigger screens helps.
We simply don’t use our phones to make calls as much anymore. Our smartphones are for absorbing information.
I think Apple will eventually relent just as they have with the iPad mini. However, when it happens, it’ll be on Apple’s terms and parameters. It will not because investors, pundits, or market forces dictate it so.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Social: Twitter Was Hacked - So Were Others LIke the NYT. Expect More Of This
All Things D.
More than 250,000 Twitter accounts were hacked. Luckily, mine wasn't among those but I'm sure that day will come. And this happened via Twitter, not individuals who were phished or something.
With today's short term media attention, I want to remind ourselves that earlier in the week, the New York Times claimed to have been targeted by Chinese government backed hackers. I know there is no evidence that Beijing had a direct hand in it but, come on, it's China we're talking about.
Later, the Wall Street Journal as well as the Washington Post revealed that they too had the honor of the Chinese probing them from the back.
Needless to say, it's only February and we've for 11 more months to go in 2013. We're looking at a lot more of this for the rest of the year and beyond.
It won't be just social media sites or media giants. I think government sites are next as are public facilities like water, gas, and power facilities.
So ATD is right. It isn't who will be the next to be hacked but who will admit to being hacked.
And what's also right is that there are companies out there that are not aware of security breaches into their networks.
So it kinda makes you wonder about any PC, phones, or tablets you own.
For mobile users, our fear isn't necessarily about our smartphones or tablets. However, it's the data that apps you download and install that we have to worry about. We simply don't know what kinda of data these apps are pulling from our devices. On top of that, we have to trust Apple, Google, Blackberry, and Microsoft to police their app stores on our behalf. The trust we put in Google is doubly more important because it make money off user data.
Just this week, up and coming social network Path was fined $800,000 by the FTC for violations. The fine was for allowing children onto their network and collecting their information. And this is a very good iPhone app that we thought Apple would have done its vetting before allowing the app into the store.
So whether it is companies or individuals, hacking is going to be the norm and the only one thing to know about this and one defense we users have.
We have to know that companies we give our information to will most definitely get hacked. And the only defense we have is common sense.
- Posted using Mobile
More than 250,000 Twitter accounts were hacked. Luckily, mine wasn't among those but I'm sure that day will come. And this happened via Twitter, not individuals who were phished or something.
With today's short term media attention, I want to remind ourselves that earlier in the week, the New York Times claimed to have been targeted by Chinese government backed hackers. I know there is no evidence that Beijing had a direct hand in it but, come on, it's China we're talking about.
Later, the Wall Street Journal as well as the Washington Post revealed that they too had the honor of the Chinese probing them from the back.
Needless to say, it's only February and we've for 11 more months to go in 2013. We're looking at a lot more of this for the rest of the year and beyond.
It won't be just social media sites or media giants. I think government sites are next as are public facilities like water, gas, and power facilities.
So ATD is right. It isn't who will be the next to be hacked but who will admit to being hacked.
And what's also right is that there are companies out there that are not aware of security breaches into their networks.
So it kinda makes you wonder about any PC, phones, or tablets you own.
For mobile users, our fear isn't necessarily about our smartphones or tablets. However, it's the data that apps you download and install that we have to worry about. We simply don't know what kinda of data these apps are pulling from our devices. On top of that, we have to trust Apple, Google, Blackberry, and Microsoft to police their app stores on our behalf. The trust we put in Google is doubly more important because it make money off user data.
Just this week, up and coming social network Path was fined $800,000 by the FTC for violations. The fine was for allowing children onto their network and collecting their information. And this is a very good iPhone app that we thought Apple would have done its vetting before allowing the app into the store.
So whether it is companies or individuals, hacking is going to be the norm and the only one thing to know about this and one defense we users have.
We have to know that companies we give our information to will most definitely get hacked. And the only defense we have is common sense.
- Posted using Mobile
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