The "mythical" new iPad review

Like everything Apple designs, the iPad is intended to satisfy our cravings for simplicity and clarity. On the surface it appears to be little more than an oversized iPhone, a flat, black screen with a single button but underneath it wants to be a laptop.

The screen is about the size of a large paperback, but it's just half an inch deep. That big, glassy screen does leave it vulnerable to breakages, but could also make it much easier for people who are used to toting a laptop around with them.

Using it will be familiar to anybody who has tried an iPhone: it uses the same combination of swipes, pokes, jabs and sweeps of the finger of its smaller cousin. Sweep your hand across its reactive 9.7-inch screen, though, and everything feels more satisfying and natural.

The iPad attempts to do almost everything that your laptop can, while also offering almost everything your smartphone can do as well. Surfing the web was a breeze, while it plays video smoothly and handles a variety of games pretty well. You can use any of the existing iPhone applications straight away, though it is disappointing when you realise that they become blocky and almost childlike when expanded to fill the larger screen.

Switched into ebook mode, the way the iPad emulates the printed page feels fairly natural, if not entirely on a par with rival ebook readers such as Amazon's Kindle. When you get down to business, the iPad might not be enough for heavy users. The on-screen keyboard will take a little getting used to: unlike the thumb-driven flash of text messaging, typing on the iPad requires either a single finger stab or putting it down on a flat surface. But for casual entertainment, it manages to do plenty very well: the sort of thing likely to tempt customers who want a lightweight laptop but doesn't really need it to do any heavy lifting.

For anyone who loves new technology, getting the first touch of a new Apple device is a little seeing a unicorn: the first experience of a mythical object imbued with miraculous properties.

Jobs portrays it as exactly that, a magical device that will change the way we use computers in our everyday lives. And while playing with the iPad was not exactly a religious experience, it's not hard to see that the gadget, or at least the ideas it contains, will be with us for a long time to come.

Mobile News Update

It seems like more and more people are checking their email and social networks every morning. Most of us do it to find out what happened while we were sleeping. Except for we're not tucking into a newspaper with our coffee, we're scrolling down a Twitter or a Facebook app.

This is why news organizations have developed iPhone apps. I ran a search for news applications at the iTunes News Apps for iPhone and stopped counting at 3,240. I love convenience and no matter how small laptops become, my iPhone is always with me. Given the increase in the number of people who will have access to high speed, Internet-enabled devices in years to come, news organizations have joined many other companies that are ahead of the game on portability.

The best part on this is that news organizations have a new opportunity to be portable with relevance. In an age when magazines and newspapers are not a daily habit as much any more, news apps incorporate portability with immediacy - push notifications are an example of that.

What can businesses learn from news apps? I think a big part of it involves "providing value in exchange for presence" on mobile phones. Great brands provide utility, experimentation, design of experience, create a sense of community with customers, and change the model.

I believe the best way you get your news feeds on peoples phones comes down to:

1. Publishing great content - this is something you will continue to see improving everywhere. Feeding the web that feeds your phone a completely new and exciting way of organizing content.

2. Being real - we got past the empty "hi, how are you, I'm going to the store" kind of real. Technology updates, entertainment and engagement are good starting points, depending on what your brand stands for.

3. Giving the inside scoop - social networks seem to be giving you the uncut news more quickly now, because it is not monetized like the big news organization.

4. Being personal - a personal relationship still outweighs all the digital gimmicks out there.

5. Allowing a conversation - mobile begins to fare much better than social this year.

This leads to your own personal reflection of what news app works best for you and what you consider intrusive on your phone.

3 of the Most Incredible Things Public Relations can do for Your Organization

I want to share with you some of the incredible benefits of public relations, below are three of the most incredible. Public relations is the start of a relationship with a customer, and to get that ball rolling, you have to know why having that relationship is important. Customers trust someone they know, and using PR, you can gain that trust.Here are a few things PR can do for your company:

"Build your brand." I believe a good mix of public relations, not advertising, builds a brand. A brand cannot be built on advertising alone since PR is more credible and trustworthy than advertising. Advertising hopes to relay information, but a press release, social media, marketing, newspaper article, or trade show appearance can help to share information and have a meaningful conversation and connection with a customer.

"Create trust for your company and its products." This adds to the first bullet point: "Because public relations is viewed as more credible than advertising, it's a great tool for helping customers understand that they can trust your product." While trust is not gained overnight, PR can greatly increase your chances of generating that trust from customers.

"Shift the perception of your product.""PR is also a useful tool for changing the way customers view your product." Your product, depending on its stage in the life cycle, may already have a perception customers associate it with. These perceptions are sort of like stereotypes about a product that are very hard to change or shift. To change this perception, a company would need to use some major PR tactics. They would need to utilize the media and customers to help that perception change.

Thank you for reading. I hope to have shown you that with the right mix, Public Relations can be an invaluable asset to any organization.

2010 February 15-18 Mobile World Congress

GSMA Mobile World Congress (3GSM) in Barcelona is the biggest wireless tradeshow in the world. It combines the world's largest mobile industry exhibition with an innovative and exciting conference featuring leading mobile operators, vendors, and content owners from across the world. Approximately 50,000 key decision-makers in the mobile industry are expected to attend the 2010 Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Mobile World Congress presents an abundance of opportunities for mobile professionals and innovators from operators, value-added service providers, and equipment and device manufacturers from around the world. Mobile World Congress provides the ideal experience and environment for networking with a select circle of mobile professionals who can positively impact your business for an entire year. For more info check out GSM World.

The power of humanity through Social Media

It’s hard not to feel for the people of Haiti.

The recent earthquake has left Port au Prince devastated and resources to aid in the aftermath scarce or used up. According to The New York Times:

United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told NBC’s “Today” program that 3 million people – about a third of Haiti’s population – had been affected by the quake, and that “there will be tens of thousands of casualties – we don’t have any exact numbers.”

I’ve noticed something as this disaster has unfolded – more than ever before, people are using social media to spread the word and help the relief efforts. People are posting Facebook statuses with their thoughts, prayers and personal connections. Twitter is especially abuzz about Haiti, with such trending topics as#HelpHaiti and #Haitirelief. Scores of non-profit agencies are also using Twitter to raise awareness – and money. The Red Cross and other groups are also accepting donations via text messages.

According to some accounts, a few online con artists are using the Haitian disaster as an opportunity to swindle generous people out of their money. But Twitter is facing up to that challenge as well, with people sharing links to helpful websites like Charity Navigator, which lets you analyze the efficiency and effectiveness of more than 5,400 charities. Another article making the rounds: Ten Tips to Help Haiti, Not Scammers from PCMag.com.

My point is this: social media has proven before and continues to prove itself to be more than just a frivolous time-waster – it can add real value and sense of community, especially in times of tragedy.

My thoughts and prayers are with those in Haiti.

It’s a Mash Mash Mashup World We Live In

Yesterday I had the pleasure of going on a tour of some of New York’s most renowned art galleries. (For those who are curious, the tour took us through 7 galleries in the famous Chelsea art district.) What struck me was the fact that roughly half of the works were one form or another of what we commonly refer to in the online world as…“the mashup.” One example is artist, Matthew Cusick, who cuts up multiple maps and reassembles them to replicate an image from nature. (Note his beautiful interpretation of a wave above – the blue pieces were taken from the oceans we see on a world map.)

However, the German artist, Martin Denker, may be more representative of the modern mashup wizard: rather than physically cutting anything, he finds, appropriates and develops his own pieces completely from his computer. According to our guide, Martin doesn’t actually create any of the individual elements from scratch – if you look closely at his various pieces (see example above), you’ll find images as diverse as a golf course in Dubai to a certain Mario Brothers video game character.

I think what’s interesting is what this new wave of mashup artists tells us about how we now view “art” generally: when some of the finest galleries in New York are showcasing these artists, you know the mashup has reached near full acceptance as something “worthy” in society. (I say “near acceptance” as major museums seem more reluctant to show these types of work.)

Of course, the mashup has existed in various art forms for many years. Hip hop artists – the Beastie Boys are a great example – have been “re-appropriating”(a.k.a “sampling”) other people’s music for at least twenty five years. And, “pop artists” such as Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol rose to fame in the early ‘60s using a similar approach. Who can forget the comic book strips Lichtenstein used as the basis for his art, including one of my personal favorites featuring the line “I Don’t Care! I’d rather sink…than call Brad for help!”

However, while the mashup has been with us for many years, what’s new is its sheer pervasiveness today, whether we’re speaking of artists working on canvas, in music, and increasingly, in the form of video. And, I think there’s little doubt that digital technologies have been the impetus behind the explosion of mashups both in terms of those that allow us to create (e.g. video and photo editing tools) as well as share (e.g. Youtube.) As technology continues to advance, the mashup seems destined to become an ever greater part of our daily lives.

Andy Warhol would have been proud.

Social Media comes of age in 2010

New technologies changed the way businesses communicate with customers, friends and families throughout the last decade. For public relations and marketing professionals, the emergence of social media created new opportunities to build relationships never dreamed possible.

Facebook, Twitter, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, LinkedIn…Where are these social media platforms taking us? Will there come a day when information is somehow beamed directly into the cortex of our desired audience? While that seems unlikely, so did the concept of a social networking site like Facebook ten years ago.

Today, one can update customers through a company’s social media account through a cell phone or notebook. Restaurants and businesses have free wireless Internet services to plug into. The news doesn’t wait for the evening broadcast or morning newspaper; rather, news reaches us instantaneously on our mobile devices through the latest post or tweet. Even traditional news sources allow for public comments after each story on their Web sites.

Remember the days of dial-up Internet service or sending faxes to communicate 10 years ago? The times are certainly changing.