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PayPal Wallet's Take on Payments

tia@newmediaplus.com (Tia Delong) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:54:24 +0000

The idea of a world where consumers are free from carrying multiple debit and credit cards with them has picked up a head of steam over the last year. The biggest push for this concept may have come from Google Wallet, the company’s NFC-based payment solution. Google’s dream of a future where everyone uses Google Wallet won’t come to fruition if PayPal has any say, though.

PayPal recently unveiled its new PayPal Wallet interface. Like Google Wallet, the service lets consumers spend anywhere that PayPal Wallet is accepted using a unified account. All a person needs to do is select what account they want to spend from, and either key in a PIN or use a PayPal credit card. The rest is handled by PayPal, without the buyer needing to carry around a card for each of their spending accounts.

The Release of Siri: What You Need To Know

katya@newmediaplus.com (Katya Small) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:19:57 +0000

Of all the many upgrades and new features included in the latest iPhone 4S, the most highly anticipated has got to be Siri. In a nutshell, Siri is a digital personal assistant program that's included in iOS 5, the latest and greatest version of Apple's much-lauded mobile operating system. Relying on natural language recognition and artificial intelligence to respond to queries from the user, Siri can do everything you would do yourself automatically without having to push a single button. While there are many similar programs on the market, few attain the level of polish and sophistication that Siri achieves.

Main Features and Benefits
Siri is like having a digital personal assistant within your phone. Using natural language recognition melded with cloud database storage, Siri responds to a user's commands and questions and learns as it goes. In order to launch Siri on a new iPhone 4S, simply hold down the home button. Once activated, you can ask Siri nearly anything you can think of and it'll answer you to the best of your ability. Simply ask Siri “What can you do?" if you're unsure where to start. It'll give you a rundown of the available options and capabilities built in to the service.

Wall Street Protests

tia@newmediaplus.com (Tia Delong) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:19:34 +0000

Back in August, the self-proclaimed ‘culture jamming’ Canadian magazine Adbusters launched a call to action to all disenfranchised Americans. It was time for the USA to have its ‘Tahrir moment’ they said, and they began a movement to ‘Occupy Wall Street’ with at least 20,000 people.

On September 17, the date finally arrived, and fewer than 1,000 people showed. Only a small shadow of what the original call was. Come next morning hundreds had left, and by Monday the 19th, only two days into the Wall Street protest, a mere 150 committed people remained.

Those who followed the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement expected it to fade out into the background and disappear, obscured by a mainstream media blackout. Now, 20 days in and contrary to early forecasts, the movement has not only grown, but snowballed nationwide beyond the already high expectations of the original organizers.

‘Occupation’ actions are being held and organized in over 200 US cities, including Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco and the District of Columbia. It has also grown internationally, with ‘Occupations’ taking place in Spain, Canada, France, Brazil and Greece to name a few.

The occupation movement was originally met with derision and condescension by the media, due in great part by the lack of a cohesive and unifying message. But it may perhaps be this lack of a clear demand what is the most telling about the Wall Street Protests.

The Loss of a Visionary, the Death of Steve Jobs

katya@newmediaplus.com (Katya Small) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:38:46 +0000

Hailed as both a visionary and creative genius, Steve Jobs passed away Wednesday night after a long and mostly secret battle with cancer. In addition to his friends and family, Steve Jobs leaves one the most successful technology companies and a host of innovations that will forever change the world. His family issued a short statement Wednesday, informing the public that he had left peacefully. Although many knew him as a creative genius, the release noted that he cherished his family. They requested privacy as they mourn his loss and committed to setting up a website dedicated to honoring his memory.

In response to the tragedy, many have begun to take a second look at Jobs fantastic life. Some have begun to assemble at Apple retail stores as they remember Jobs and his profound effect on the world. This effect was most recently realizied in the development of some of the most celebrated technological devices, the iPod, iPad and iPhone. The personal device revolution they have inspired is not dissimilar from the success Apple first experienced in the realm of personal computers.

Take Your Best Shot!

katya@newmediaplus.com (Katya Small) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:07:34 +0000

It used to be that anyone who wanted to take good display-quality photos would need to invest a lot of money in serious photo equipment. Most people who took photos did so with instamatic-type cameras and were happy to just have personal records to keep for memories’ sake and not to necessarily display.

With the advancement in today’s technology, though, it is now easy and relatively inexpensive for anyone to explore their creative talents with photography. Today, a digital camera comes with almost every cellphone made. For example, the latest iPhone comes with a 5 megapixel camera and an L.E.D. flash. You will find cellphone cameras in use by many teenagers today. They love to send pictures to each other via the Internet and to post them to social networking sites. You will even find many of them sporting iPhones. Whether it be an iPhone or another type of cellphone camera, no child today feels complete without their digital camera.

Why Facebook Needs a Hit

nathan@newmediaplus.com (Nathan Johnson) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:36:31 +0000

While Facebook still reigns over the social media kingdom, boasting over 750 million subscribers and $4 billion in sales so far in 2011, the site seems to have hit a snag. Essentially, Facebook hasn't come up with anything innovative in recent years, and is unfortunately falling victim to the curse that so many businesses have fallen victim to; getting too big for your own good. Facebook, it seems, has begun to stray away from their core audience; people that want to interact with their friends. Instead, the site has tried to incorporate a litany of options to do so, leaving many people to wonder just what Facebook is anymore.

In the beginning, the concept was simple. You signed up, filled out some info about yourself, uploaded a picture, started adding people, and before you knew it, you were stalking your friends. Most people enjoyed the fact that it was simple, as the "less is more" approach is a key element to survival on the web. Google has proven this time and time again by remaining minimalist in almost all of its offerings. However, as Facebook has grown in popularity, the site's developers seem to want to cram anything and everything into the site and it seems that no one has told them that the vast majority of users really don't care about this stuff.

Google Plus Open To Everyone

katya@newmediaplus.com (Katya Small) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:15:36 +0000

Google has opened the doors on its new Google+ platform allowing anyone join. Over the summer, they had been beta testing this platform to compete with Facebook, and users could only get in by invitation only.

This shift to being open to everyone coincides with recent changes that have frustrated Facebook users. Some of those unhappy Facebook users are seeking an alternative, and Google has opted to be available to those seekers.

Google+

Google+ is a social media platform designed to compete with Facebook. Google's version offers many features that Facebook does not yet offer, or did not offer until very recently. Google+ distinguishes itself with circles, hang-outs, and search capabilities far beyond other social networks.

California New Cell Phone Laws

tia@newmediaplus.com (Tia Delong) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:42:41 +0000

In California, as well as in many areas of the Western world, law enforcement agencies are having to adjust to changes as a result of new media sources like cell phones, mobile media devices, and laptops. In the past, California authorities were able to obtain evidence without a warrant from mobile media devices taken from anyone arrested for a crime that carried such a device, but as a result of recent legal developments, that approach may soon change.

California Sen. Mark Leno has sponsored a bill in the California legislature that would make it illegal to obtain data off of mobile devices such as cellphones without a warrant in the event of an arrest. Previously, due to a January ruling by the California Supreme Court, authorities could conduct warrantless searches of these devices in the event of an arrest, even if the device and the data it contained had nothing to do with the case, and even if no criminal charges were ever filed. The bill has already been unanimously passed and is awaiting the signature of Governor Brown.

Facebook Changes

nathan@newmediaplus.com (Nathan Johnson) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:50:27 +0000

Along with the September 2011 changes made to Facebook came many angry users. While Facebook has had complaints about changes it has made in the past, the latest round of changes has drawn criticism from even the most supportive Facebook fans, and many users have even vowed to leave the social networking giant for good as a result. The reason for this is because Facebook essentially changed the way the site operates, leaving many users in the dark as to how to even navigate the new system, let alone enjoy its new features.

For many regular Facebook users, the draw to the site was its simplicity. Users posted status updates and could read their friends' status updates in a real time, chronological order via a news feed. This meant that site members could keep up with their friends, family, and coworkers in an easy to read list, all without having to search for information. If someone did not want to have a post or a particular person's posts in their news feed, they could simply choose to hide the post or hide all posts by a particular person. As well, Facebook tailored each ad to the specific post being read at the moment, allowing for more targeted ads relating to what the user found relevant.

Is Facebook the Next Big Thing in Music?

katya@newmediaplus.com (Katya Small) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:22:58 +0000

Facebook saw a bevy a new features and changes recently, and while they have been met with mixed reactions, it looks as though they may be just the start of something even bigger. As Facebook gets even closer to a billion users, more changes are coming and this time they have to do with how users share their music. Will these changes make Facebook the go-to site for music?

While illegal file-sharing is certainly not a part of their plans, reports state that Facebook is reaching out with many legal music services to deliver a new sharing experience for its users. For instance, they are partnering with Spotify, which allows users to listen to streaming music for free. In addition to the ad-supported free version, Spotify also offers a paid-for subscription that is completely ad-free. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek spoke at the 2011 Facebook F8 conference to announce that Facebook would be partnering with Spotify. He detailed a plan to have users connect with not only words, but by sharing music as well. Facebook's nearly one billion users will be able to play music shared by their friends over Spotify right from their browser without leaving Facebook at all. He also stated that Facebook's Spotify users are also more likely to purchase music.