iPad App Of The Month - Flipboard

Flipboard (@flipboard on Twitter), the innovative social media review app for the iPad is here. Imagine being able to review all the activity on your Twitter and Facebook accounts not just the posts but a review of the content those posts link to all in an attractive easy to consume layout with a drop dead easy user interface. Well that functionality has arrived...and it is called Flipboard!

In short, it is an interactive digital magazine for your life...a magazine that updates daily even hourly!

The potential of this iPad application is enormous and Version 1 while good only hints at what this may become in the future. Right now it only interfaces with your Twitter and Facebook accounts...imagine when it can interface with your RSS feeds via Google Reader. I love three aspects of the app.

1.  The ease with which you can review the content your friends, family and associates are sharing in Twitter and Facebook

2.  The app provides a brief review of the content inside Flipboard with a link to the full web version but it seems to pre-load the full version in the background so if you decide to read the full version it is there instantly.

3.  You can interact with the content inside the app so you can share or reply on Twitter inside Flipboard (and see who else is doing the same) or like on Facebook.

If you are a regular user of Twitter and/or Facebook then you are going to want this app. Once the app interfaces with your RSS feeds, EVERYBODY with an iPad will want this app.

It's an amazing time right now. Technology and creativity are colliding big time to create some amazing solutions.

It's almost like everyday there is something new.

Robert Somerville

ps the demand for the app is crazy at present and the company behind the app are instituting an invite system to manage the registration of your Twitter and Facebook accounts into the app. But don't don't worry they are adding extra servers to cope with the load so all will be sorted soon.

Posted via email from GuruBob's Posterous Blog

The Challenge 2010

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one." - Mark Twain
It has been an age since I've been able to find the time to post on the blog and I feel guilty for the time that has elapsed. There are mitigating circumstances, of course, not the least of which were the Coming Home seminar in San Diego and completing the planning and implementation for The Chal

Read more ...

Is the new iPhone the most Beautiful piece of Tech ever created?

So the recent Apple keynote has come and gone and the new iPhone 4 is now officially released to the world despite the odd test model getting 'lost'.

In reading the specs and having watched the videos on the Apple website I can't wait to get my hands on the phone. Apple have added the A4 processor (the processor that makes the iPad so fast) coupled with a larger battery so we will be able to enjoy a long lasting and speedier experience. The addition of the better rear camera (now 5 megapixels) and a VGA front facing camera allows for video conferencing (Apple even have a new app called FaceTime) although only over WiFi initially.

The better camera allows for HD (720p) video recording and there is finally digital zoom (5x) a feature I am always looking for every time I try and take a picture with the current 3gs phone.

But beyond all that good stuff...this phone must be the most beautifully designed piece of tech I have ever seen. Johnny Ive has worked his magic yet again, who wouldn't want to hold and use one of these baby's.

The only negative for me is that Apple are going to be instituting a phased rollout meaning we will have to wait a month to get our hands on the new phones here in Australia :(

It is as it is!

Guru Bob

Posted via web from GuruBob's Posterous Blog

Jessica Watson - Savouring Every Second

For some time now a courageous 16 year old Australian girl has been challenging the world's oceans in her attempt to become the youngest ever person to circumnavigate the globe.

She is within days of her goal and soon to prove all the whiners and naysayers wrong. I have been following her journey all along on her blog and her postings and thoughts have been very inspirational.

Any rewards and kudos that will come her way have be earnt the hardest way and with grace and constant undying optimism. I can't wait for her to make a triumphant landfall in Sydney Harbour.

http://jessicawatson.com.au/BlogRetrieve.aspx?BlogID=3749&PostID=79976

I don’t normally bother addressing critics because someone’s always going to be saying something, no matter what I say or do. But I thought I’d have my 2 bobs worth on these claims that I haven’t ‘officially’ sailed around the world.

(via Instapaper)

Sent from Robert Somerville's iPad

Posted via email from GuruBob's Posterous Blog

10 Ways All Employees Can Contribute to Link Building

While there are many aspects to SEO and getting your website to appear in the search engines, in the end it comes down to building links. The article below suggest 10 straight forward ways how people in your organization can participate in this process to benefit the exposure of your website in the search engines which should lead to more traffic.

10 Ways All Employees Can Contribute to Link Building | Search Engine Journal
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/10-ways-all-employees-can-contribute-to-link-building/19147/

It’s not a hidden secret that link building is an essential part of SEO, but how you go about building links can make a huge difference in your organic visibility. Having your company buy into the fact that actively building links to your site can help your bottom line can help make your efforts a lot easier. Instead of having an in-house SEO or marketing department focused on link building, why not leverage the power of the entire company and have everyone contribute.

(via Instapaper)

 

Sent from GuruBob's ipPad

 

 

Posted via email from GuruBob's Posterous Blog

Blink - Malcolm Gladwell

I've long been a fan of Malcolm Gladwell and his books such as The Tipping Point, Outliers and What The Dog Saw so it was inevitable that at some time I would get around to reading his book Blink which I have just finished reading using the Kindle App on the Apple iPad.

While in many of his other books Gladwell focuses more on the external world and forces us to challenge our assumptions, Blink is focussed internally and more specifically on how are brains work both consciously and subconsciously. Blink is a fascinating read as by the end I had much greater respect for the importance of snap judgements and hunches as Gladwell throughly exposes why those are usually founded on a much stronger platform than we might suppose.

As in all his books the examples he uses to prove his points are fascinating and certainly kept me engaged throughout.

Our minds are wonderful and mysterious but Gladwell manages to offer just that little bit of insight that makes it seem understandable why we do the things we do.

I highly recommended Malcolm Gladwells books, they make compelling reading.

GuruBob

Posted via web from GuruBob's Posterous Blog

iPad/iPhone App of the Week: Air Video

Every now and then an App or website comes along that solves perfectly a need you have but that you didn't know a solution existed for.

And for me that App is Air Video...

You see I have an extensive collection of movies stored on an external hard drive...far to many to add to iTunes and in any case, most are in .avi format which iTunes doesn't like.

To watch those videos I have to copy them to the machine where I want to watch them usually via a memory stick or a network transfer and play using an application like the VLC player.

And then along comes the iPad and of course I'm thinking, well, I want to watch those videos on the iPad but I don't want to have to convert them to an iTunes compatible format and sync to the iPad every time I want to watch a particular movie.

What to do, what to do...

Then I see a brief tweet by Don McAllister from Screencasts online saying that there is an iPad version of Air video.

And I'm thinking...could this solve my problem?

And amazingly, it did. I CAN'T believe this app has existed for the iPhone for ages and now there is an iPad version and it works PERFECTLY and I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT IT!

After having downloaded the app to the iPhone or iPad and installed a software application on the computer where the videos are stored (and identified folders containing the videos) you simply navigate to the server on the iPad (or iPhone) in the Air Video App, select the video and hit play (for videos in an Apple friendly format like .mp4). For videos in a non-Apple friendly format you select play with live conversion and the server will convert the file before streaming to your device on-the-fly.

And it works and it is beautiful and I can watch my videos on my iPhone or iPad wherever I want to be.

I can't recommend this App highly enough if, like me, you have lots of videos you don't want to sync to your mobile devices via iTunes.

I don't think I can suggest any improvements at all. The App works perfectly right from installation.

Kudos to the developers.

Guru Bob

ps now if only there were a version of Air Video I could run on my laptop...hint hint.

Posted via web from GuruBob's Posterous Blog