Collaborative Strategy Guild

Google+ Is Better Than Facebook | Matthew Murray | PCMag.com

Peter O'Kelly — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:15:00 +0000

Check the full article for some useful insights. I suspect most people will eventually use both Facebook and Google+ (and Twitter, and Quora, and Google Reader, and...); this isn't a winner-takes-all domain

"Yes, I just said that Google+ is better than Facebook. And yes, I meant it. Google's upstart offering launched last year, and despite experiencing some difficulty competing with other sites, it has been slowly if steadily improving in popularity. It's still a long way from being a household fixture, but in almost every way that matters it surpasses Facebook."

Google+ Is Better Than Facebook | Matthew Murray | PCMag.com

Continue reading: Google+ Is Better Than Facebook | Matthew Murray | PCMag.com

Report: Amazon touting ad space on the Kindle Fire home screen – GeekWire

Peter O'Kelly — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:42:00 +0000

I assume this means there may soon be a price-discounted Kindle Fire with advertising (as there already is for other Kindle device types, with the price discount ranging from $30 for the basic Kindle to $50 for the Kindle Keyboard 3G, if you accept "special offers & sponsored screensavers"); if the discount percentage is similar, that could mean ~$149 for a "special offers" Kindle Fire

"We’ve known for some time now that Amazon.com wants to get a bigger chunk of the high-margin advertising business, a counterweight to its low-margin e-commerce business. And here’s one very interesting method to do it.
According to AdAge, Amazon.com is currently pitching the home screen on the Kindle Fire to potential advertisers, offering a two-month ad deal that starts at $600,000."

Report: Amazon touting ad space on the Kindle Fire home screen - GeekWire

iPad Retina display: Thanks to my new tablet, I don’t read anything on paper. – Slate Magazine

Peter O'Kelly — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:12:00 +0000

A Retina reality check, coincident with rumors that Apple is about to introduce Retina-equipped desktop and laptop Macs

"It’s taken time for the magazine industry to catch up to the new iPad—only in the last few weeks have some of my favorite magazines, including the New Yorker, released apps that take advantage of the Retina display. But now that they have, the iPad has become transformative. The Retina display has brought iPad magazines up to par, as a reading experience, with their print counterparts. And when you consider the other advantages of iPad mags—you can have lots of them on hand, you can read them in the dark, you never lose your place—the electronic version wins the day.
In fact, since getting the new iPad, I’ve pretty much stopped reading on paper altogether. Now, other than greeting cards, I’ve got no use for the stuff. When I do page through print newspapers and magazines, I feel something novel—the sensation that I’m experiencing an inferior product."

iPad Retina display: Thanks to my new tablet, I don’t read anything on paper. - Slate Magazine

Kindergarten Teacher Earns $700,000 by Selling Lesson Plans Online [Mashable]

Peter O'Kelly — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:31:00 +0000

Entrepreneurial education

“Teaching isn’t known to be a lucrative profession, but online marketplace Teachers Pay Teachers is changing that for some educators.
Deanna Jump, a kindergarten teacher from Georgia, has made $700,000 selling her lesson plans on Teachers Pay Teachers, an ecommerce startup where teachers offer their lesson plans to fellow educators.”

Kindergarten Teacher Earns $700,000 by Selling Lesson Plans Online

Continue reading: Kindergarten Teacher Earns $700,000 by Selling Lesson Plans Online [Mashable]

Samsung Galaxy S III hits 9m pre-orders worldwide – SlashGear

Peter O'Kelly — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:27:00 +0000

Samsung essentially == Android, for smartphones

"Say what you will about the Galaxy S III, but Samsung is going to sell mountains of phones. The Korea Economic Daily is reporting that the Samsung Galaxy S III has already amassed around 9 million pre-orders with over 100 global carriers. That’s made even more impressive by the fact that the phone isn’t even ready to go in the United States yet. Samsung revealed that 20 million Galaxy S IIs had been shipped worldwide back in February, so the sequel is firmly on track to break that number."

Samsung Galaxy S III hits 9m pre-orders worldwide - SlashGear Continue reading: Samsung Galaxy S III hits 9m pre-orders worldwide – SlashGear

Sorkin says Jobs movie won’t be straight biography – chicagotribune.com

Peter O'Kelly — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:20:00 +0000

I doubt Sorkin will find anything more epic than the Jobs/Gates rivalry

"Sorkin noted that "The Social Network" saw the Facebook story through the lens of an acrimonious lawsuit that pitted CEO Mark Zuckerberg against his Harvard friends over the creation of the social media network.
"Drama is tension versus obstacle. Someone wants something, something is standing in their way of getting it. They want the money, they want the girl, they want to get to Philadelphia - doesn't matter ... And I need to find that event and I will. I just don't know what it is," Sorkin said."

Sorkin says Jobs movie won't be straight biography - chicagotribune.com Continue reading: Sorkin says Jobs movie won’t be straight biography – chicagotribune.com

The Facebook Offering: How It Compares – NYTimes.com

Peter O'Kelly — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:58:00 +0000

Check the link below for informative and interactive insights

The Facebook Offering: How It Compares - NYTimes.com

Continue reading: The Facebook Offering: How It Compares – NYTimes.com

Are We Addicted to Facebook? It’s Complicated. – NYTimes.com

Peter O'Kelly — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:50:00 +0000

Excerpt from a timely Facebook reality check

““Everything we do rewires our brains, but Facebook is having a very strong impact on our society and social fabric,” he said.

He explains his work in his new book, “iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession With Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us,” in which he concludes that Facebook is “both good and bad for us.”

For example, Facebook is efficient at dispensing virtual empathy — the good feelings that people get when all their friends wish them happy birthday through the service — as well as teaching people how to be more compassionate and share those feelings offline.”

Are We Addicted to Facebook? It's Complicated. - NYTimes.com

Can Anything Take Down the Facebook Juggernaut? | Epicenter | Wired.com

Peter O'Kelly — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:15:00 +0000

Excerpt from a timely Steven Johnson reality check; tbd if Google's Knowledge Graph will be more open than Facebook's Open Graph

"This reluctance to link to the outside is, to say the least, hard to reconcile with Zuckerberg’s paean to open connection. Hyperlinks are the connective tissue of the online world; breaking them apart with solicitations to download apps may make it easier to share data passively with your friends, but the costs—severing the link itself and steering people away from unlit corners of the web—clearly outweigh the gains. Surely we can figure out a way to share seamlessly without killing off the seamless surfing that has done so much for us over the past two decades."

Can Anything Take Down the Facebook Juggernaut? | Epicenter | Wired.com

iOS 6 “Sundance” Siri API and iPad support tipped – SlashGear

Peter O'Kelly — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:43:00 +0000

I’m guessing iPad Siri’s answer to “What is the best tablet ever?” has already been specified (for an iPhone Siri tangent, see Nokia Accuses Apple of Siri Bias over Smartphone Answer)

“Apple’s upcoming iOS 6 won’t just mark a shift to a homegrown mapping system but finally see Siri, the company’s personal virtual assistant technology, show up on the iPad, according to the latest rumors. iOS 6 is currently being referred to as “Sundance”, so TechCrunch‘s sources claim, with the codenamed platform update marking a significant shake-up in new and tweaked APIs that developers will be particularly keen on. As well as new mapping APIs, to hook into iOS 6′s new location app, Sundance will also supposedly see the launch of the Siri API.”

iOS 6 “Sundance” Siri API and iPad support tipped - SlashGear