Blog
News, insight and tips from the social web.
The Hoop blog covers the evolving digital landscape, social media, mobile communications, content marketing and also includes 5 top finds and Fish on Friday. Feel free to make comments.
< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 … 42 43 >
-
5 top finds #19 »
We've curated another five of our favourite web finds this week; Bandit Copenhagen's Passion of the Craft, an exciting new Apple patent, Google casually going on a shopping spree, the changing landscape of the music industry and some rather amusing photos. Yes, it's 5 top finds...
1. Google buys Motorola Mobility
Arguably the biggest technology news in quite a while; last week search giant Google went shopping and racked up quite a bill. $12.5 billion to be exact.
Their (biggest ever) purchase of the Motorola Mobility communications corporation puts a noticeable dent in their bank account but adds some serious firepower to El Goog's mobile hardware division. It also gives the search company a sizeable patent library (Motorola owned over 24,000 patents) to challenge the likes of Microsoft and Apple after their mutual purchase of the Novel patents earlier this year.
TechCrunch, GigaOm, Mashable and Engadget all have their takes on what the merger means for Google. Well worth a quick read!
2. Passion of the Craft
Ex-Hoopster Rob and the rest of the Bandit Copenhagen guys have just released the fantastic trailer to their new film, 'Passion of the Craft'.
"Passion Of The Craft is a short documentary about just that.
BANDIT, a strategic ideas agency in Copenhagen, work with clients daily that don't understand the real link between the lives of the consumers, and their brand. So they started on a journey to find like-minded individuals in fashion, branding, media, photography, marketing and design.
The result is 10 frank and open conversations with 10 influential people in modern culture.
Watch the trailer in full on Vimeo and follow Passion of the Craft on Facebook here.
3. Apple's magical trip chord
Apple's MagSafe connector is one of those inventions that prevents those of us who happen to be rather clumsy folk from doing thousands of pounds of damage to our Macbooks. Unfortunately, MagSafe has yet to appear on Apple's mobile devices. Until now...
Patently Apple has the juicy details. We can't wait!
4. 30 years of the music industry in 30 seconds
The music industry's sales model has changed drastically over the past three decades. We've seen the rise and fall in popularity of the CD, cassette, EP and LP – and have seen the slow but steady rise of digital sales.
We stumbled across this gif on Digital Music News the other day - "30 Years Of Music Industry Change, In 30 Seconds". Definitely worth a play.
5. An attack of the doppelgangers
It's Friday so forgive the final rather silly 5 top find. We spotted these celebrity lookalikes over at So Bad / So Good and they made us all giggle. Happy Friday!
Categories: 5 top finds
Tags:
-
Are group messaging applications a riot? »
After riots blazed across England last week, we take a look at how group messengers and social platforms could have fueled the fire.
The use of social media was applauded during the so-called Arab Spring riots and revolutions for democracy that took place earlier this year. After the English riots, there were calls to disable social media access if similar uprisings were to ever occur again – calls which alarmed technology media all over the world.
How did the riots spread across England so quickly?
In the days that followed the death of Mark Duggan, riots and looting spread across multiple London boroughs and the rest of England – reaching Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham. By the start of the following week, police across the country managed to restore order.
The finger was quickly pointed at Twitter and Facebook, two of the biggest social networks currently in the public domain.
If it wasn't Twitter, who was it?
However, it quickly became clear that another service could be to blame; Blackberry Messenger (BBM); an encrypted (i.e. private) social network found on Blackberry handsets, was apparently being used to arrange the riots. BBM is able to message groups of contacts – vastly increasing its ability to spread messages in a quick and viral nature.
At this year's South by South West (SXSW) technology and music festival, group messaging applications were the social platforms getting the most buzz. Group messaging apps allow users to share data like text and photo updates, their location and SMS updates to contacts without smartphones.
The rise in popularity of group messaging has continued as 2011 has progressed. OS-integrated services like Apple's iMessage (coming to market with iOS5) – with a similar native apps like Facebook Messenger (based on Beluga, a company acquired by FB back in March) coming from Mark Zuckerberg and co are striving to compete with previously uncontested BBM.
If we are to see a rise in the number of group messaging and social services coming to market, will we see a rise in the number of occasions where these services are used for ill rather than good? If so, the British Government sees no reason why they can't shut down social media sites and call in MI5 to crack any encrypted data.
The web is moving towards a more social future, and its users moving towards 24/7 connectedness via mobile devices. Will Western governments echo those of, say, Egypt or China who block access or simply shut the internet down if they don't like how its being used or what's being said? It's surely a painful thought to consider – but one we may have to in the near future...
What do you think about group messenger applications and social networks being used for ill? Will they be the death of free speech on the internet? Let us know via email, Twitter or in the comments below.
Categories: Insight
Tags:
-
5 top finds #18 »
This week we've got a Sony Ericsson Xperia arc being blooming awesome, an interview with Mark Zuckerberg, lovely typography, webvolution and the #UKriots. Yes, it's time for 5 top finds again...
1. Beautiful typography
Type is everywhere. Every print publication, website, movie, advertisement and public message involves the creation or selection of a fitting typeface. Online, a rich and artistic typographical culture exists, where typefaces are created and graphic design seeps in to every image.
We spotted this awesome mini-documentary from PBS arts the other day. Definitely worth a watch!
2. How things have changed
We're huge fans on infographics here at Hoop. We saw a pretty good one on the Kissmetrics blog covering the evolution of web design over the past two decades. Go take a look!
3. Replacing the sun... With a smartphone
If you've not noticed already, we keen champions of mobile devices here at Hoop. We were astonished when we heard about Sony Ericsson's latest challenge; seeing if their new Xperia arc handset's screen could make a flower bloom. You can see the outcome on YouTube - but we were definitely impressed!
4. Mark Zuckerberg and his blooming Facebook
Whilst we're on the topic of flowers blooming, and continuing with a rather ropey simile, we spotted this (fairly ancient but still interesting) interview this morning. Facebook's CEO sat down with The New Yorker to discuss pretty much everything. Read the full interview here.
5. #UKriots
This week has been a pretty messy and scary one for those of us living in London - or any of the other cities where riots have broken out.
89 year old Aaron Biber has been a Tottenham resident for 41 years where he ran his barber shop. On Saturday night, his shop was destroyed and then looted during the riots. Without insurance, he was facing closure.
But then social media and some internet savvy interns over at BBH stepped in and set up Keep Aaron Cutting. The site has acted as a crowd sourcing platform to help donate money to get Aaron's shop open again. And in just two days, they've raised over £25,000. A truly heartwarming story!
Categories: 5 top finds
Tags:
-
Fish on Friday says stop rioting, join the fight. »
It's been a rough week on the streets of English cities. It's been pretty ropey out at sea too, as fleets continue to throw away a huge percentage of their catches as directed by EU law.
Those looking for a cause should join Hugh's Fish Fight and bolster the +740k campaigning for an end to wasteful fishing practices. To find sustainable fish & dishes, and brilliant illustrations, download the fish fight app.
Without action there's (altogether now) no future, no future...
Categories: Fish on Fridays
Tags:
-
Net or native, you decide. »
After our discussion around going mobile, we take a look at the positive and negative aspects of developing mobile and web apps.
The market's going mobile and businesses need to catch up. Fast.
But should your business develop a native app (i.e. an app that needs to be installed on a mobile operating system) or a web app (i.e. a mobile-optimised site that's accessible on any operating system)?
You could follow e-commerce giants eBay or Amazon's lead and do both. They both have a fully functioning website, as well as a native app for iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows mobile devices. Amazon and eBay users are already using both platforms for purchase; in January eBay reported almost $2bn of the $53bn profit made from marketplace business was from mobile. Last month, Amazon announced that its customers had ordered more than $1bn worth of products on mobile devices.
But if you've not got the development or financial might to match the e-commerce powerhouses like eBay or Amazon, you'll have to decide which route to take. We recently had this discussion at Hoop HQ, so we thought we'd compile a list of reasons to go down either road. Which route you take entirely depends on what your app needs to do – as we've tried to explain below.
Web
Web apps operate through a phone's browser, allowing the app to function on devices running any operating system (i.e. Apple's iOS, Google's Android, Blackberry, Windows WP7, HP's WebOS etc). A web app, as it is accessible on any smartphone with a web browser, effectively has a larger reach than a native app. Developing a web app (rather than native) can be cheaper, as you're not developing multiple OS versions of the same app and can develop using standard HTML or JavaScript skills. A web app also allows you to release and update the app as and when you see fit (a process sometimes limited by native app stores).
With the rapid evolution of technology, web apps are becoming almost as fast as native apps. For example, Apple's latest Safari 5 mobile browser (released in 2010) was developed with a new JavaScript engine (Nitro) enabling it to run JavaScript 30% faster than the previous browser iteration.
Building a web app can (should) utilise web standards, which in time could unlock previously inaccessible features on the mobile device like the camera or address book (which currently only native apps can do). Web apps are subject to tracking and data gathering as with any website (using, for example, Google Analytics) and allow the developer to have complete control over monetisation (something that is limited through native app stores). Because you're on the web, your app's content is accessible and can be shared using the standard social share buttons. This social share function needs to be built into a native app and content (because it's locked into the native app) isn't searchable. Another plus point to web apps!
Businesses are starting to become more aware of the benefits of web apps – the Financial Times recently pulled their native apps from respective app stores and saw over 100,000 people access their web app in a little over a week post-launch. The FT may have created a web app to avoid Apple's 30% sales cut (their Head of Product Development told the Wall Street Journal that the benefit of developing a web app allows publishers to "un-tether ourselves from app stores"), to take complete control of their customers' data and to bypass app distributors to secure "a direct relationship with readers".
Advantages of a web app
- Accessible via the web, so can be used by anyone with a smartphone browser
- Cheaper to develop than a native app as it works on all operating systems
- No time delay on releasing the app or its updates
- Able to track user information via Analytics
- Content is searchable and shareable
- Developer fully controls monetisation
- Built with web standards
Native
Native apps are accessed via an app store but can also be sold via the web (iTunes has a web platform as well as a desktop program) and are therefore inherently more discoverable than web apps (which are limited to being found on the web). Selling an app (even for a nominal fee) through a store immediately starts generating revenue, which you can't easily do with a web app (users don't generally like paywalls, but in-app advertising and purchases seem to be acceptable).
Native apps can connect to a handset's hardware and sensors (like the camera, address book or calendar for example) allowing a richer and more immersed user experience than a web app can. Native apps are specific to the operating system of the handset it's running on – which requires native operating system-trained developers. Native apps also have a homescreen icon and so are a constant reminder of your content (although on iOS you can create a mobile browser bookmark that produces a homescreen icon to what Apple calls a "web clip" – but not everyone knows that).
Native apps lock users within the app, whereas on a web app one stray click will take users away from your content (and you'll probably not get them back). In a native app, this can't happen – increasing your connection with the native app's users. Native apps also support push notifications (if the user gives the app permission to send them), even if the app isn't open. Web apps are also capable of doing this - but it's just not as easy.
Currently, the biggest difference between a web app and a native app is that the latter does not need an internet connection to function (although if the native app requires data download then it will indeed need a connection). However, W3C are in the process of developing local storage capabilities in browsers using HTML5 - which would bring web and native apps level on this point.
Advantages of a native app
- Easier to find than a web app (sold via app stores and the web)
- Quick to generate revenue (in ways less likely to drive users away)
- Can connect to hardware and sensors giving a more immersive and connected experience
- Can send push notifications easily and has a homescreen icon
- Lock users into your content
- Generally doesn't require an internet connection
If you can't decide between native and web, fear not as there is a compromise.
Hybrid
[Watch the PhoneGap promo on YouTube here]
Companies like PhoneGap, Sencha and Worklight provide a development platform that wraps a standard web-based HTML and JavaScript codebase in an open source framework that gives your web app access to the native app's APIs for hardware and sensors, enabling it to act as a native app across multiple platforms. The best of both worlds!
There are definitely advantages and disadvantages (nicely summarised in the slide below from a presentation by Worklight) to developing an app on either platform, or both, but at the end of the day it entirely depends on your requirements and your resources.
Do you want to develop a mobile app or have you got any suggestions or points we may have missed? Feel free to leave us a comment below or let us know via email or Twitter.
Categories: Insight
Tags:
-
Fish on Friday sells stocks. »
The global economy may be in freefall but if you're already at the bottom nothing much changes.
It's a beer market out there.
Categories: Fish on Fridays
Tags:
