What are you Whispering?

Social networks expose us. They attach our names to our every photo and written thought. And we seem to kind of like it that way. We can't get enough of tooting our own horns.

Or can we?

There's a new social network in town that promises something the Facebooks and Twitters of the world cannot: anonymity. Whisper is "a FREE, anonymous social platform for people who want to creatively share and connect with others over experiences, feelings, thoughts and dreams that they can't communicate anywhere else," according to a press release from the company.

The site allows users to post 'secrets' or thoughts anonymously, through the use of pictures with bold eye-catching quotes at the top, much like internet 'memes' – which are described as units for carrying cultural symbols or ideas that virally spread across the internet. So, people can "heart" and reply to your posts with their own stylized messages.

The sentiment on Whisper is serious and thought provoking, and the content is often the kind of thing individuals would not want to shout about in public. The look is similar to the long-running PostSecret website, but Whisper has features which make it more of a social network.

Whisper has 4 million devoted users — the average user opens the app eight times each day. In its two year history, the app has received 2.8 billion page views. Each day, hundreds of thousands of whispers are uploaded each day, which are filtered by a team of 70 full-time moderators located in Manila.

Although a deep secret written in a funky font over a provocative picture hardly classifies as a "whispering," there is something very provocative about being able to say what you feel without fear of judgment or scrutiny from your friends or family. Is this the next artsy step up from SnapChat or just another way of sending dirty pictures over the Internet? And this time to anyone and everyone.

Is this your new social network? Are you already on it? Comment below…

The Conscious Internet - Part IV: Running Free

A while back a wrote a short article titled "the Conscious Internet" concerning the development of AI and computer technology in regards to the Internet. The article is written with a very philosophical approach to the subject, but handles real life facts. It has long been my intention to publish it here on the blog, but I just haven't gotten around to doing so. Until now ...

Here's part 4 of 8. You can find the previous chapter here. Happy reading, and please comment below.

Running Free

The second of November 1988 a young man named Robert T. Morris Jr. wanted to play a prank. He was a graduate student at Cornell University, and in the spirit of school competitiveness, he released a simple program on the Internet, a so called “worm”. The coding was modest; all the program did was to copy itself until the host computer ran out of memory and crashed. With the opus in hand, Morris hacked into rivalry school MIT’s computer network and unshackled his creation. Using a loophole in the operating system Unix´s network settings, Morris was able to bypass security measure and gain access to the core of the computer. Arriving at its destination the program began multiplying itself, blocking up memory, and thereby rendering the computer useless. When it was done with the first computer, Morris had told the worm to move on to the next neighboring computer, and repeat the process. What Morris had not taken into effect however was that in this case the neighboring computer was to be any computer hooked up to the Internet.

The process took less than a second to perform and within a few hours the chaos was evident. When Morris saw his creation escaping out of his control he immediately contacted a friend at Harvard to help him contain the issue. They quickly sent mail to major US servers, cautioning them of the worm and trying to convince them to shut down. But their warnings were already stacked up in the wake of the worm, and the plead was never even delivered. At that moment the worm had already destroyed more than two thousand servers, as well as over ten thousand computers, some of which belonged to NASA, the BRL, and MIT.

It took teams of programmers numerous weeks to sanitize all the affected computers, and the web was left inoperative for several days. What had started as a practical joke amongst two rivaling top universities, quickly escalated to the largest IT-devastation known to man. The total cost for the fabrications was estimated to be more than $53 000, and Morris himself was convicted to three years on probation, 400 hours of community service, and $10 050 in fines. Morris had negligently tripped over Pandora’s Box, and despite of all his programming skills and knowledge, he was unable to close it.

Suppose now that Morris´s worm was designed with another purpose. Instead of crippling the computers it came across, it would simply copy the contents of that computer and information back to a main hub. Morris would then have created a global network, where he personally controlled all the information that passed through it. A central computer system controlling most governing entities in the US; all-knowing and aware of any minute impact to the network – sound familiar? Today, such cataclysmic event may be regarded as far fetched. Improved anti-virus protections, higher encryptions, and better firewalls should prevent this type of disaster from ever occurring again. This is true to an extent; increased security measure has made it increasingly difficult to hack major system, however, at the same time, the algorithms used in viruses have also improved, placing this virtual arms race neck to neck.

... continues in Part V: Deciphering the Logic

The Conscious Internet - Part III: HAL 9000

A while back a wrote a short article titled "the Conscious Internet" concerning the development of AI and computer technology in regards to the Internet. The article is written with a very philosophical approach to the subject, but handles real life facts. It has long been my intention to publish it here on the blog, but I just haven't gotten around to doing so. Until now ...

Here's part 3 of 8. You can find the previous chapter here. Happy reading, and please comment below.

HAL 9000

Since the dawn of inventions, man has strived to improve and ease the utilization of all his tools and creations, something that holds true also for computers, and for the Internet. Programmers spend hours in front of computer screens, slaving to create more user-friendly interfaces, all in an attempt of mimicking human communication and interaction as closely as possible. This, in combination with a wealth of science fiction movies, gave birth to the expression Artificial Intelligence, which has become a dominating force behind modern day computer development. Making computers smarter, able of understanding and helping the user, is now the cutting edge in modern computer marketing.

In reality the computers are not at all smart, but rather the logic we fill the computers with. Programs can be scripted to learn new actions, thereby inventing its own solutions to problems, but this is not without its own limitations. A computer will always follow the strict set of laws and regulations dictated by its’ code, and therefor lacks the ability to endlessly come up with new angles and strategies. This results in the fact that computers, faced with the simplest of problems, will be incapable of solving a given task simply because it falls outside of their main programming. Man, on the other hand, is an irrational and unpredictable being, capable of creating new and illogical adaptations to most anything. This is why chess-guru Garry Kasparov managed to beat the super-computer Deep Blue, in their first set of match ups. Even though Deep Blue had been programmed with every chess move known to man, and had counter action strategies for all of them, Kasparov’s mind used innovative, previously unseen strategies, that the computer did not know how to counter.

But in the same second Kasparov made his move Deep Blue analyzed it, broke it down into its components, and devised strategies for it, making the move obsolete. The same move could never be used twice by Kasparov, resulting in Deep Blue finally beating the old chess wizard, the second time they met. In his strive to master the computer; Kasparov was in essence just training it.

... continues in Part IV: Running Free

The Conscious Internet - Part II: A New Day Dawns

A while back a wrote a short article titled "the Conscious Internet" concerning the development of AI and computer technology in regards to the Internet. The article is written with a very philosophical approach to the subject, but handles real life facts. It has long been my intention to publish it here on the blog, but I just haven't gotten around to doing so. Until now ...

Here's part 2 of 8. You can find the previous chapter here. Happy reading, and please comment below.


A New Day Dawns

The step from movie to reality has however, time and time again, been proven to be a giant leap. This is especially true when it comes to science fiction. A walking, talking and fighting robot may be a thing of the future, but the essence of Terminator, the Internet sibling called “SkyNet”, may be closer to us than we think.

The building blocks for our modern day Internet were laid back in the sixties by no other than the US Department of Defense. The branch Advance Research Project Agency, ARPA for short, had since the end of WWII been researching and developing methods to quickly get large amounts of information from the general stab distributed to the front lines. The goal was to be able to relay exact and detailed information such as positions, maps and pictures, without having to risk the necks of countless couriers. The Soviets had already launched the Sputnik so the race for positioning oneself as the dominant monitoring eye in the sky was already lost. The war had to been won on the earth. Instead for linking the stars, the ARPA started experimenting with coupling different computers together, and then trying to run calculations on one computer remotely from the other. So the first computer network was born – ARPANET.

But limitations in contemporary technology halted the developers, and ARPANET barely made it of the drawing board. It would be an additional ten years before the ideas of an internet truly surfaced again. This time it was from the realm of the academic world. Lack of funding moved the ARPANET project from military aspects into the top universities of the US, who breathe life into the thoughts once again. The idea remained the same, to quickly and securely send information from one university to another, but the approach had changed. Scientists from MIT, Stanford and UCLA managed, under close supervision from ARPA, design an operating system capable of sharing the collective memory of the connected servers, a so called “Time-sharing” system. The concept borrowed from the thought behind the vacation homes with the same name, where several tenants collectively owns an apartment and thereby reserves the right to said apartment for a limited period of time. In a similar way, the programs were run on the computers, one at a time, sharing the collective strength of all the connected computers. Instead of having the computer run one program at a time, from start to finish, the new operating system allowed for switching in between programs, and by doing so letting several programs simultaneously share the memory´s total capacity. This allowed, for the first time, for a setup of servers capable of coping with the enormous data stream created by a network of computers, without crashing or processing the information for ages. The modern Internet as we know it was born.

... continues in Part III: HAL 9000

The Conscious Internet - Part I: Judgment Day

A while back a wrote a short article titled "the Conscious Internet" concerning the development of AI and computer technology in regards to the Internet. The article is written with a very philosophical approach to the subject, but handles real life facts. It has long been my intention to publish it here on the blog, but I just haven't gotten around to doing so. Until now ...

Here's part 1 of 8. Happy reading, and please comment below.

Intro:
Over the years the Internet has grown into a custom of our everyday life. It exists today, unchecked, as the largest medium of all information agencies, and has with its power seized an important status in our social scheme. If you’re not on the net, you don’t exist.

Nevertheless it seems as if we are only on the threshold of its entire potential. If we regard the independence of a mind as the origin of cognition, then the Internet emerges as an entirely new entity. Is there a possibility that a conscious Internet could somehow be created, and if so, could it be by our own human negligence? Is the essence of "mind" really shared by all, or is there a danger in assuming that wisdom is esoteric?

Judgment Day

“Three billion human lives ended on August 29th, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare: the war against the machines.”

Many probably recognize the dark prophecies that are presented to humanity in the beginning of the cult movie Terminator II. Man lets technology run amok and the war against our own creations is upon us. The masters have in an instance gone from commanders to prey. The Terminator franchise is built on the premise that the US government builds a colossal network of computers called SkyNet. SkyNet´s main purpose is to replace soldiers on the battlefield, and instead pilot drones to do the fighting, thereby saving humans lives. The network is connected to the entire US defense force, controlling everything from stealth bombers to submarines, in order to perform flawless, unified and inhuman strikes.

But SkyNet is also built as a huge data warehouse for continuous ascertaining and adaption. Along its travels through the web, it collects information from other data bases and storage centrals it passes, relaying the information back to its own mother hub for analyzing. Through this process, SkyNet grows ever larger and more powerful, learning new ways to adapt and solve problems from every corner of the Internet. On the 29th of August 1997 SkyNet circles back around the web, discovering itself and thereby learning about its own existence - SkyNet becomes self-aware. Technicians monitory SkyNet immediately react and try to shut down the main terminal, but it is too late. SkyNet reacts, as any other conscious being would when threatened by termination, and launches a counter attack with all available means by its disposal. Within minutes nuclear warheads rain down on earth, and man’s doom begins.

... continues in Part II: A New Day Dawns

Twitter to please advertisers

The Social media micro-blogging site has released a new special tool for advertisers which allows them to see what users are tweeting about in regards to TV. This then allows them to target their ads more specifically to users who are discussing particular shows.

This is mainly focused at the TV industry and specifically any networks wishing to create greater interest in live events and shows. Twitter has already forged partnerships with networks like CBS as well as sports leagues like the NFL. 

It has already been shown that TV ratings will boost based when a show starts to trend on the site. This is why targeted TV show ads can raise interest in other shows which may be similar to the one the user is already watching and commenting on.

I recently wrote about the then upcoming launch of TWTR (the Twitter stock) and how Twitters model probably was going to change in order to incorporate more ads; this seems to be the first step to please the new shareholders. Naturally Twitter has had this platform in the pipe for a long time, but it is interesting to see that this is the route they are going to take to start making that all important revenue.

Already Twitter is getting more and more connected with other forms of media, especially the TV. One of the really cool partnerships there includes a linked button with Comcast. This allows Comcast customers who use Twitter to set recording reminders based on Tweets about certain shows.

The interface is easy and intuitive; check it out below. I think this may be the first step in a Tweetsplosion on the Internet.

https://business.twitter.com/start-advertising

 Are you a business owner ready to advertise using Twitter? Leave us your comments below. 

Tablets gaining (more) ground

Sales of tablet, such as Apple's iPad and Samsung's Galaxy Tab, are increasing rapidly. According to a new forecast from research firm Canalys, tablets are expected to account for half of the personal computer market next year.

In the overall market for personal computers Canalys adds up both desktops, laptops and tablets. Using this broad definition, overall sales are up 18 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period the year before. The total increase is due to the fact that tablets sales have increased, while desktop and laptop sales declined .

Canalys also expect the tables to continue to grow in popularity. In 2014, the forecasters believe a total of 285 million tablets is going to be sold in the world, and it then increases to 396 million tablets in 2017.

The two major suppliers of tablet are Apple and Samsung, and they will, according to Canalys, maintain their lead in the near future. But Canalys also notes that competition is increasing rapidly, and a number of other companies are working hard to grow their individual tablet development. Above all, these companies use Google's Android operating system, the same system that Samsung uses. It is calculated this OS will be used as the basis for 65 percent of all tablets sold .

Canalys also expect that Microsoft will increase its share in the tablet market. Microsoft recently bought Nokia's mobile operations, and thus have their own production of both mobile phones and tablets, to complement Microsoft's current tablet Surface. Microsoft is expected in 2014 to account for 5 percent of all tablets sold.

NES drinking

Still searching for that perfect Christmas gift? Well, look no further – I give you the gift of the century!

Regardless if you’re spending the holidays with your boyfriend or girlfriend, long lost family or drunk in-laws, crazy cat ladies or that weird hippie neighbor who “doesn’t believe in material possessions” this is the obvious gift of choice!

As kids of the 80tees we all know what a NES is, remember that special moment when first unboxing the system, and although we ourselves never fought him, we all knew that one guy who reached and beat Mike Tyson in Punch-Out. We know how to find the warp-zone in level 1-2 in SMB, we can all recite the Konami code in our sleep, and we all know the theme to the Moon in Duck Tales. Long story short - we´re all of the NES generation.

As we have grown up, we may have left the NES behind, but the nostalgia never leaves. And as we beers and whiskey replaced soda as the drink of choice, so must also these new bereaves adapt to our living memories. Enter the extremely stylish Ink Whiskey Concealable Entertainment Flask – the first container that truly matches your retro gaming fandom.

Matt Cornell, the inventor behind the flask and founder of Ink Whiskey LLC, wanted to make this canteen a concealable flask instead of a flask that was just shaped differently. He wanted the product to look and feel exactly like the game cartridges we all grew up with. Therefor it looks like an NES game cartridge, right down to the classic dull-gray color.

Outside of being a handy little way to be sneaky, the team also created some awesome alcohol-themed parody art labels of some classic video games that we all know and love. Here's a quick sneak peak at the five labels available to choose from:

The funding goal for this KickStarter project has already been topped off. You can get a Drunk Hunt-labeled flask for $15 or choose from one of the other labels at the $20 level. So, go ahead: Raise your flask to retro gaming and make a toast to the perks of adulthood.

Mobile Marketing a 1960

I found an interesting picture while surfing that Internet thing today. It is two old, Ericsson labeled busses on what seems to be the Island in Toronto, circa 1970. Since my girlfriend is Canadian, and used to live in Toronto, the CN Tower is a very easily recognizable landmark to me. The added bonus of the Swedish vehicles sparked my interest and I decided to do some digging into this picture and its origins.

Ericsson opened its first Canadian office in Montreal in 1953, selling telephones and intercoms systems to telephone companies and to private businesses. As the Canadian market and business continued to flourish, in 1976 Ericsson came up with an innovative way of meeting its customers – on wheels. So in 1976, Ericsson in Canada introduced the Eribus, a customized motorhome developed and designed for visiting clients for on-site product presentations and meetings.

The Eribus was a fully equipped mobile meeting space with a conference table, projector, various product demonstrations and a small kitchen to host customers who were unable to visit the Ericsson showrooms. In a country as large, and scarcely populated as Canada, the Eribus proved to be an excellent take on an early virtual office.

Today this idea seems rather stone age, virtual meeting rooms are a given at any modern office, but it is a interesting idea that it all started with a pair of busses.

Snapchat Playing it Cool

I recently wrote about how SnapChat may spell the fall ofFacebook. Now I don’t want to pat my own back here, but it seems as though Mark Zuckerberg is reading my blog and taking notes (probably not, but fun still) since Facebook recently announced plans for acquiring SnapChat.

However, since founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy also seem to be avid subscribers to the Social Gnome, they coldly, shrewdly, and wisely turned down that offer. What happened next? Zuckerberg upped the ante. But Spiegel and Murphy would not have any of it, turning down the 3 billion dollar offer.

23-year-old Spiegel, has yet to comment on the information, but according to the Wall Street his plan is to start bringing in bids from potential buyers first next year. It is hoped that Snapchat will have grown even larger at that time, and thus have become worth more money. Snapchat has today only been around for about two years, and if the net-worth increases along the same tangent it has so far, it would be worth (crude calculations) an estimated 3,75 billion in May and 4,5 in November of 2014.

This however is all conditioned on several things but the two most important factors would be;

1.  Facebook themselves just copying the app and incorporating their “FaceSnap App” into their existing library. We all know they do have the resources, and building such an app is NOT a 3 billion dollar investment. What Snapchap is offering Facebook here is a kick start, where Facebook would not have to invest in building a community nor brand awareness.
2. Fad dying off and users leaving SnapChat. And if this happens SnapChap will not even be worth the time of day. It has happened before with immensely popular sites and applications. The social Internet is moving fast, and so is its users.

However, Facebook are not alone in trying to acquiring Snapchat; several different companies have shown interest. As of right now Snapchat has no sales what so ever, simply relying on its users. No ads, nothing; just investors and evaluations. With such a volatile income base, it shows Iceman guts to pass by an offer that would make the founders economically independent. 

And as of right now, Speigel and Murphy are playing it cool.

Innovative bike products

Scandinavians have a long history of outdoor activities, something that often is reflected in the innovations we produce. Companies like Fjällräven, Haglöfs, and Helly Hansen are all from the Nordic region. Also often mispronounced Husqvarna (hʉ:s kva: rn –a: [long a- and u-sounds]), can be added to this list since it’s both Swedish and belonging to the outdoorsy activities, even though it may not be fit the clothing brand formula.

Lately, there has been two bike-related innovations that have caught my attention. These are two products that I have developed a strong “must have” craving for, one of which is developed by two young Swedish entrepreneurs. Some of you may already be familiar with Anna Haupt’s and Terese Alstin’s new type of bike helmet called “Hövding”. Born out of the introduction of a law on mandatory helmet use for children, the idea of developing a whole new type of cycle helmet emerged. The result was the airbag helmet which is hidden in the riders color, but inflats as soon as the bikes starts tipping over. Please see the video below to be amazed!

The other bike product, may not be of Scandinavian origin, but is never the less no less impressive! Still in a Kick-Starter project phase the Smart Wheel from FlyKly is a small electric, wheel mounted motor, that helps you up those pesky hills on your morning ride to work. The motor turns on when you start pedaling and begins accelerating to your desired speed, which you quickly and easily control using your smart phone. You can even remotely lock the motor and track the bike in case it gets stolen!

As always please let me know what you think in the comments below. Are these your new X-mas gift wishes as well?

Firebird TWTR

I wrote yesterday about the introduction of Twitter to the New Your Stock Exchange. Now 24 hours later, the results are astonishing!

A strong pressure to buy was probably the greatest factor, throttling the rate to $45 at closing compared to an introductory price of $26 - an increase of amazing 73%. Considering how most companies pop the bubbles if they break even on their first day of launch, this cannot be called anything but a huge victory for Twitter.

Twitter released 70 million shares at the IPO and, in case of oversubscription, an additional 10,5 million shares where going to be released. The shares were oversubscribed 30 times, which testifies to a colossal interest, and the price for the stock followed suit. At its peak, the stock price reached $50.

So how will Twitter fair in the future on the stock market? I think the first couple of months will now be wobbly. This in an uncertainty that has many factors, but I think the best one is reflected in the analysts' price targets that were ranging between $29 and $54. What this tells us is that the market has a extremely hard time valuing Twitters assets, and thereby also its market potential.

Twitter has 230 million users, including celebrities, politicians and journalists, and this is the main reason why investors are enthusiastic about the company. But Twitter has also never shown a profit, and how they are going to turn this around is still an unanswered question. The injection of money that Twitter now gets from the stock introduction is well needed, but without a solid plan ahead this is just a time saver.

Launching TWTR on a Thursday is also controversial; today is Friday, and the markets will now close for two days, possibly cooling what could have been a further increase. A lot of the initial 73% is a inflated value, and it will drop within the upcoming week, but giving it a few more days would have created a greater buffer softening the drop. Investors will now have two days to go home and rethink their decision to buy, and if there is something that is ALWAYS bad for stock prices it is investors rethinking.

Twitter's new business plan will most likely include an increase in ad, and sponsored tweets. When Facebook released its similar to the public, there was an outraged. People were arguing that Facebook would be too commercialized, however having lived with the ads for quite some time now, I cannot really say I notice them. Neither does the rest of the users (it would seem) since we are not hearing any complains, and the user count hasn't dropped either.

My take on this is that TWTR will flatten out during next week, and then drop some leading in the two weeks that follows. By the start of December, Twitter will most likely release a X-mas campaign, again sparking interest and the stock is going to go up. This is also the time to get on the wagon. TWTR will by then have found its place in the market, Twitter will have released their long-term plans for the company, and X-mas sales will fuel the increase!

Mark Dec 2 for acquiring TWTR!

Enter TWTR

The big new of the day is without a doubt the addition of yet another social media company on the New York Stock Exchange.

Following in the footsteps of big brother Facebook, and the more conservative cousin LinkedIn, Twitter is now making its trading debut. Pricing the shares at $26 on Wednesday, the total company would value the at around $14 billion - a fraction of Facebook's 122 billion.

A more relevant comparison would then be LinkedIn, which was listed on the NYSE in 2011. The stock
was priced at $45 on its initial public offering, but then roared out of the gates rising as much as 171 percent in their first day of trade on the New York Stock Exchange, and closed at $94.25, a total increase of more than 109 percent. The stock has since risen even more, valued today at $25 billion. 

A significant difference exists, however: while LinkedIn earned $ 3.7 million during the last quarter, Twitter has still some way to go to show a profit. For the year 2012 Twitter had a total revenue of $317 million, but still reported a net loss of $79 million. 

However, a lot of Twitter's attraction lies in the appeal of some of its users, rather than in its accounts. Every seems to be tweeting; form politicians and opinion leader, including President Obama, the Dalai Lama, the Pope Francis, a number of Nobel Prize winners to each celebrity with self esteem, keeps an active Twitter Account. Twitter is today a place for any exchange of opinion, both comical as controversial. 

For Twitters experts are predicting that the company's total revenue may increase to reach $620 million already this year. Operating profit is predicted to be $ 40 million, according to USA Today. The listing also adds a well needed $1.7 billion to Twitter's own financing. 

The real question of whether the listing will be profitable or not ties into what Twitter will do next to generate money. Is has speculated that mid-tweet ads are the future here. The fact that Twitter's core business is ads, means there's potential for Twitter to help marketers sell stuff, not just when users shop online or in stores after leaving Twitter, but right in the moment, within Twitter.com or a Twitter mobile app. Twitter has made it public that it sees huge potential here. In August they hired former Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard as its first-ever head of commerce.

So, how would Twitter commerce work? Twitter could use information about users' location and interests to offer products or deals. Eventually we can expect Twitter to allow users to link a credit card to their account for one-click purchases within Twitter. Twitter could also partner with the likes of eBay, Amazon or Etsy to link accounts, so users could make a purchase without inputting credit card information.

So, in or out? My best best is to get in as early as possible. By all accounts it seems as the stock is undervalued, and missing the train now may mean that you cant get on it at all later. 

What do you think of the Twitter stock? Leave your comments below.

WeChat overtaking Facebook?

What is WeChat?

Reading the first news of this social challenger giving Facebook a run for its users, your first question will probably be; What is WeChat? And why haven't I heard of it before?

We know it's not Twitter, Google+ or LinkedIn. In fact, it’s a company that most people in the west never heard of. WeChat is a smartphone app, developed by Tencent in China, to send voice messages, snapshots and emoticons to friends.

Something that is already done by most smart phone, you might say, but that has not stopped the app from gaining massive ground.

WeChat's popularity has grown dramatically since its launch in 2011. Tencent announced in September 2012 that its users had increased about to 200 million. The vast majority are in China, though WeChat has since been launched across Asia, and have already established subscribers in both the US and the UK.

So what are is Tencent doing to sail past Facebook? First, it has managed to differentiate its product with some killer features that keep users coming back for more. On the messaging side, users can “hold-to-talk” and send free walkie-talkie style messages that bypass the need for voicemail. Yet what keeps its network growing are fun discovery features that can connect users locally and across continents.

WeChat has neatly fused together the open approach of social networks such as Twitter, where anyone can follow anybody, and more closed networks such as Facebook, which rely on mutual friend connections. Another neat option with WeChat is the ability to talk to any WeChatter around the world by simply shaking the phone. The app will then connect to another user also shaking their phone at the exact moment. That feature alone is enough for me to want to try it.

So will this knock of Facebook as the prime social network of choice? Mobile use is up, and by 2014 more people will connect to the Internet from their phones, than from desktops. Also, China is on a broad technological advancement, which surly affects the development of social technology. 

However WeChat will overtake Facebook is to early to tell, but it is clear to me that Facebook needs to react. Othewise the king just might fall.

SwedFont

Sweden just got its own font! The typeface Sweden Sans was created by the advertising agency Söderhavet, along with Stefan Hatt Bach, as part of efforts to create a common visual identity abroad. The typeface is a pure sans serif with some details that make the font unique.

The font is to be used for official purposes to represent Sweden abroad. It is also to be used in official statements and gathering at home in Sweden, as well as in Sweden's official website launched in early November. Söderhavet was recently interview for Swedish online magazine Cap & Design.

"We wanted to make your own font when it comes to Sweden's visual identity, and to avoid the rights and ownerships of others, and partly because many countries have long worked with custom fonts and been strong in the market, and we have not been there in Sweden yet" says Jesper Robinell , design director at Söderhavet.

"Scandinavia 's known for its simple design when it comes to, for example furniture, and we took inspiration from that." Stefan fills in.

During the creation of the font there was much discussion about the specifics of the work. Stefan and Jesper had long email conversations about the font shape, such as discussed lowercase r, but after emailing back and forth the r was cut short with each email, and consequently changed.

It is not until recently that companies and organizations have begun to create their own fonts, but according to Jesper this is becoming a major trend. This is possibly an explosion of new fonts on the market, however if it beats out the traditional Absolut Vodka font remains to see.

Facebook Indecisive on Violent Content

It all started in May of this year when Facebook users found a video uploaded to the social network, depicting an actual beheading. A temporary ban on graphic content was then imposed in May following complaints regarding a huge number offensive materials. Facebook also removed the reported videos and said it was reviewing its policy on this type of graphic content.

Recently the company started to relax its stance. Last week Facebook announced that they will allow violent content such as beheading to be published, provided the intent is to raise awareness rather than celebrate violence. As an example, a graphic video of a woman's beheading that sparked outrage this spring was originally removed from Facebook under the May ban. This video was then allowed to return to the site as the ban was lifted.

As one may expect, this turn of events did not sit right with the public. The change in policy, first reported by the BBC, drew a wave of protest from Facebook users and others on Twitter, and Facebook was forced to again revise it. 

In a statement Facebook talked about how the site welcomes people sharing their experiences and promoting awareness of world issues. This they say sometimes means that graphic videos or content is shared which highlight subjects pertaining to human rights violations or terrorism.

A spokesperson for Facebook said it will allow users to post violent videos that appear to condemn the actions depicted. "If the video were being celebrated, or the actions in it encouraged, our approach would be different," a spokesperson told CNNMoney.

This means that Facebook is are not really sure themselves how to react to this. A very recent video depicts a man beating his two daughters with an electrical wire as punishment for them twerking. To my knowledge, this video is still live, however to Facebooks defense, most of the comments concerning this are negative. The up-loader has yet to comment on this which to me indicates that he is not taking a stand against it. 

Facebook is right (in theory anyhow) not to play the judge on whats right and wrong, whats inhumane and whats graphical information. I do think that a inappropriate flag needs to be installed, something that clearly indicates for the user that the material is graphic and should be viewed with caution. If it still turns out to be just sadistic, then please go ahead and remove it. 

X-stagram

In a funny twist of the geekier kind the first teaser for the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past was released yesterday. But before you start searching YouTube just yet, there is a twist to this; the video is (as of yet anyhow) still only available on Instagram. Close to 6 700 people have so far liked it, and it is spreading like wild fire.

Now why would 20th Century Fox decide to do this? My theory is as follows; more and more users today are accessing the Internet through mobile devices, actually is is pretty close to matching the regular desktop connections. With the young audience this is definitely true, where the smart phone is currently their number one source for Internet access.

Realizing this, 20th Century Fox looked at the different apps out there for making videos viral and found Instagram spearheading this specific task, something that is spot on. While YouTube do have an app, it is not nearly as simple or intuitive as Instagram when it comes to spreading and making videos viral.

The trailer will most likely make it on to YouTube and other video sharing sites soon (eat it Vine), but for now the only way to enjoy this teaser is on Instagram. Like it, share it, love it!

Google Misogyny?

A recent campaign by UN Women, has caused some controversy on the web. The campaign depicts women gagged by the Google auto-complete function, which then suggests what "women should ...". The results that the auto-complete function suggests are not really the results you would want women to do nor get subjected to. 

What the UN wanted to show with this campaign is that there still is a lot of misogynistic ideas circulating the web, and draw attention to this. However, this campaign has also raised the question; what blame is Google to carry in this debate?

To debunk this we first have to come clear concerning what the auto-complete function really does, and to do so we first need to understand how the search function is set up. Google's search does actually not return the most accurate answer, but rather the most popular one, in short the most frequently visited answer.

There is a lot more to this, but handling Google search parameters is a different story, so for now we will have to simplify this process and just set it as the most popular one. 

The effect this has on the auto-complete function is that it will also display the most commonly used search terms that starts with a specific search parameter; "women should ...". As a result of this programming method, if a large number of people search for "women should obey men" this will automatically yield a high position in the auto-complete function.
On a personal note: I use Google to find answers to questions, and in these examples above it seems to me that the asker already has the answer set. This is not as much a question as it is a statement. 

So, how much blame does Google have in this? While it is true that Google has developed a function for censoring this feature (searching for "bitch ..." will not yield any auto-complete suggestions) one cannot really blame them for what the users search for, and therefor how the system will continually be built up. If users, en mass, started searching for "women should be independent" then that would yield a totally different result. This may seem like a fruitless endeavor but it is worth noting since it underlines the fact that the system is built for the user, and the user also, to some extent, dictates how it is being used. 

Personally, I think this is a case of missed screening on Google's part. Everyday more than 5 billion searches are done using Google, and to demand Google to police all of them is asking to much. However, one must also ask oneself; is that really the way we want the system to work? 

I think what has happened here is a perfect example of the system actually working the way it is suppose to work. Google provides the tool for us to botanize an almost infinite amount of knowledge, and we, as the users, will then help Google to point out when this knowledge is flawed - or, as in this case, out right deprecatory. Google will then review the claim, and possibly remove or censor the input. 

Right now we just have to see how Google reacts to this information provided by the UN. Hopefully (most likely, anything else would be brand-suicide) they will censor these ill informed auto-complete suggestion. 

Ball is in your court Google, lets us see that you still want to play fair!

note: to read up more on this story I recommend this post by Jessica Lee. As always please let me know what you think in the comments below!

Mining the Bitcoin Innovation

There has been a lot of talk concerning Bitcoins lately. Nobody seems to know really what they are, whether they can be used as real payment, and why (in the case the latter is true) my local grocery stores still don't accept them. Perhaps the most pressing issue is how this even can be legal, since it for all intents and purposes are money being made in your own basement.

Inshort Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency that is not issued by a central authority. The concept was introduced in a 2008 paper by a pseudonymous developer known only as "Satoshi Nakamoto". Who he really is has not yet been unearthed.

In 2012, The Economist reasoned that Bitcoin has been popular due to "its role in dodgy online markets," and in 2013 the FBI shut down one such market, Silk Road, which allowed the sale of illegal drugs for Bitcoins. So far, seizing the funds have come at no or little success, since the FBI apparently just dont have the knowledge of how to seize electronic currency.

Bitcoins are increasingly also used as payment for legitimate products and services. Notable vendors include Wordpress, OkCupid, Reddit, and Chinese Internet giant Baidu.

The creation of Bitcoins are done by so called "miners". These are computers engaged in the upkeep of the Bitcoin transaction system. However, new Bitcoins are created at an ever-decreasing rate, and once this reaches zero, the number of Bitcoins will remain static. At this point the sole incentive for miners will be the transaction fees.

So why is this important? Well, at the current moment, judging by the rate of transactions and production, the Bitcoin will overtake the USD in amounts used by 2069. That is, by 2069 more people will be trading in BitCoins than in USD. In June of 2013 a single Bitcoin was worth approximately $128.

Still confused concerning Bitcoins? Luckily the Bitcoin community recently released a video explaining the whole situation. Watch and enjoy the birth of possibly the next gen currency.

Tablets taking over

In just a few short years the tablet has become a hugely popular second screen of choice for 33% of American adults, and while it may not be an essential item, its affordability means that it is within reach of an increasing number of users. New research from YuMe shows how we use our tablets and it's no surprise to see that a third of of us devote an hour a day to them, with the minimum of distraction. As for video consumption, 100% of those tablet users surveyed confirmed that they watch videos at home, 66% watch videos on holiday, 22% watch videos while commuting or at work and 13% will watch video content while out drinking or dining.

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Apps in the Mornings

What do you do first in the morning? Take a shower, go for a jog or brew coffee? Chances are, you have your getting-ready ritual down to a science.

You wake up, you have a coffee, you turn to your smartphone to check emails, weather and Facebook updates. 84 percent of smartphone owners surveyed by app tester SOASTA admitted to using at least one app first thing in the morning.

Are you popular? Do you think?

You're the least popular among your gang on friends. You are, its true, it has even been proven.

Don’t believe it? Consider this: the average Facebook user has 245 friends, but the average friend on Facebook has 359 friends. That’s right. The average person on Facebook has fewer friends than their friends do, a phenomenon commonly known as the “Friendship Paradox”. It may be seem to odd to be true, but it is - for nearly everyone.

The friendship paradox as a phenomenon was first observed by the sociologist Scott L. Feld in 1991. One way to think about this is to remember when you first joined Facebook. When you first created a profile, you started out with 0 friends. The quickest way to get friends was to add people who were already on Facebook. And since these people were already using Facebook, they already had a huge lead in friend count. And each time you added a friend, those people got to increase their friend count too! So clearly, it’s not that hard to see why your friends would have more friends than you when you first joined.

Of course, as you invite more friends and make contacts you can certainly overtake people in the friend count. The friendship paradox is not about the time you joined. It’s about this: on average, you will tend to add friends of people who are popular because it’s a social game. This is not a complete explanation but it should give you the idea of why this happens. And in the end, the average Facebook user ends up having fewer friends than their friends do.

Now lets do a practical example: Imagine that A and B are friends, B is friends with everyone, C is friends with B and D, and D is friends with B and C. A has just 1 friend, B has 3 friends, C and D each has 2 friends. Now we will count the friends of friends. A is friends with B who has 3 friends. B is friends with everyone, which makes for 5 friends of friends. Similarly we will find C and D each has 5 friends of friends. If we do some quick calculations we find that the average person A has 2 friends but the average friend of A has 2.25 friends. This is the friendship paradox!

A good example of this is Twitter; users on Twitter in general follow more people than they have followers them selves. This is because people are more likely to follow those who are popular than those who are not.

Thus, over 98% of Twitter users are subject to the friendship paradox. Or are just not popular. Either or. 

Auction House closed by Gamers

Some time back i wrote about the troubles Blizzard were having with their virtual auction house tied in to their hit game Diablo 3. Back then the issue they were having was with prices sky-rocketing, players paying real-world money only to be drastically disappointing by the exchange rate in virtual gold, and suspicions brewing about evil, gold controlling oligopolies controlling the entire auction house (read the entire post here).

Now it seems the last straw finally broke the camels backs, and the auction house is being shut down. In a official statement, released on Blizzards Diablo 3 blog John Hight had this to say:

When we initially designed and implemented the auction houses, the driving goal was to provide a convenient and secure system for trades. But as we've mentioned on different occasions, it became increasingly clear that despite the benefits of the AH system and the fact that many players around the world use it, it ultimately undermines Diablo's core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot.

Everything is going to be shut down by March 18, 2014. While I think it is true that the auction house has taken away a lot from the core mechanic of the game, it cannot be understated that it was also a test product for Blizzard. With this I don't in any way mean that it wasn't finished, rather that Blizzard had an idea and wanted to test it out. 

The auction house has not broken in its system, but perhaps in the way it was implemented. It was way to easy for the market run amok, and a real hyper-inflation was created, something that naturally caused a huge backlash against the auction house and against Blizzard. I think Blizzard knows this, and will take this information back and reflect upon it for further releases down the line. However, I am confident this is not the last time we see the auction house. 

The main point of this story however is that Blizzard truly listened to the outcries of the community and corrected what many Diablo-players apparently saw as a fault in the game. Blizzard implemented something, the users tested it an didn't want it, and Blizzard subsequently rolled it back. Not many companies have the willingness to admit fault in this way, and Blizzard should have a great deal of credit for really listening to its gamers!

Login of Choice

It is almost universal now that we will be on a site wanting to comment on something and we are given the chance to login using our Facebook accounts. This avoids the need for creating a whole new account on this new website with all your details already stored. Well, many of us take that route and of course other social media sites have caught on and started to offer the same service.

Now that everyone else is in on the act Facebook is starting to lose its dominance as the Login site of choice with a very noticeable shift in the past year. Around this time last year Facebook accounted for 54% of the Login With activity, but just 12 months on that stat has dropped to 45%. This is a drop of almost 10% and it would appear that Google+ is the main site breathing down Facebook’s neck.

Google+ is the 2nd most popular site for Logging in with at 33% of the overall share at present. It would appear that Google+ picked up the vast majority of the 9% shift. However indicators do show that Google+ has stagnated a little over the past 3 months in terms of growth.

MaMaMarketing

A rapidly growing interest group among technology and social media today are women in the ages 30 and up. The next big thing within online marketing is (most likely according to trends) going to be an explosion within the older age groups (65+) using social media, and as a smaller introduction to this we are know seeing moms gathering their info online. 

Mom’s top two priorities are her relationship with her child and the quality of communications with her child. She values technology because it helps her with both of these priorities. Marketing strategies need to engage with the benefits mom gets from using technology (the benefits), rather than focusing exclusively on the features (the attributes) of the products.

Technology enables Mom in two ways:

1. It helps her communicate with her child, caregivers and significant others. As we all know, today’s technology allows for communicating in more ways than have been possible in the past—Skype, texting, Facebook, FaceTime, etc. Many moms feel that technology has allowed their family life to be as close or closer than their families were when they grew up themselves.
2. It helps her accomplish tasks more effectively, and makes her life easier. The iPhone’s turn-by-turn directions is a good example of this convenience, so Mom doesn’t have to locate directions before leaving her house.

Many moms also believe it is important for them to stay on top of technologies, both to communicate with their children in the way that is most effective, and as a tool to juggle their busy lives. Moms today are highly wired, using mobile and smart phones with texting and e-mail to communicate real-time information with their children and other caregiving adults. These technologies help moms navigate complicated family calendars with working parents, divorced parents, blended families and myriad extracurricular activities.

Marketing strategists need to keep in mind that Mom is tech-savvy, but she doesn’t necessarily care as much about tech specs or latest release schedules. She cares how technology can make life easier, improve communication quality and bring her family closer together.

goutube+

Like YouTube? Got Google+? If the answer to those questions is yes and no respectively then you have a slight problem. You see, the thing is that until recently, although it was convenient to have both a Google+ and YouTube account that are connected, it was not mandatory. However, now thanks to the new commenting system on YouTube you will now need a Google+ account.

Since its creation back in 2011 the social media arm of Google, Google+ has been steadily consolidating itself as vital to use other company products. It began when Google+ became essential to possess a Gmail account, then it unified Gchat with the social media site. Now obviously there are plenty of other E-mail providers out there and a whole host of messengers so there’s no big deal, you have options. However, how many other video sharing services match up to YouTube? Answer is simple, folks, let’s be honest there are none comparable. So, because you now will need a Google+ account to comment on YouTube videos you really have no other choice. You can of course still watch the videos but you just can’t have your say without a G+ account to do so from.

I have to say it’s a little bit unfair, but what the hell, you don’t have to actually use Google+, just sign up for an account. I have had mine for ages and really don’t use it for anything at all. It’s a small price to pay when you consider it to retain the ability to comment on YouTube videos. Remember, though, if you’re a complete jerkface, your comments will now be forced down the lists.

Sudanese BlackOut

War-torn country Sudan shut down Internet access for all its citizens yesterday.

Renesys a company that, among other things, monitors traffic flows on the Internet, wrote in a blog post yesterday that it is the largest international disruption in Internet traffic since Egypt did a similar thing in the February Revolution of 2011.

The reason why the Internet has been shut down by the Sudanese authorities are the riots that occurred after the government has announced that it will remove subsidies on fuels such as gasoline. This has led to widespread riots and at least six persons have been killed in these. Twitter and other online services has been used by protest groups to coordinate their protests, and it is this possibility authorities now believe they have blocked.

Future of PodCasts

I got asked recently what my thought where on the podcast, and whether or not that medium had a future. I figured it was an interesting question so I decided to dwell a bit into it.

To start off with let’s look at the overall information on the web. One could (with a flexible mind) divide the different sources of information into text, sound and images; much like in real life. These media hold within themselves different characteristics in how, when, and why they are consumed.

- Text can be read over and over again, and really studied in depth. It's easy to tag up and make perfect quotes from a piece of text, which still makes it the only medium (of the three) to be used as a more serious source material. You simply would not cite Discovery channel in an academic text, no matter how accurate facts than show presents.

- Pictures and movies can be made very easy for the consumer to absorb, making the media appealing for anyone conveying information. In a few seconds you can get a simple summation of something that would have taken several minutes to read in text form. A movie clip can be immediately set mood, feeling and presence of the message, thanks to the fact that it plays to all different senses at once.

- Sound is the intermediate step between text and images. An audio file can articulate a feeling and paint the images, but can never directly show you the pictures you are meant to see. Thus, your perception of what is communicated is always influenced by your own judgment. Equally so if you quote an audio file , it's easy to make it into your interpretation of what was said - try singing any song you think you know really well and see how far you get before you lost the lyrics. However, it can be used to convey a whole text in its exact form without having to redo or distort the source. This is something that is really not accepted in the image media (you´re never going to watch a movie with someone reading the Great Gatsby to you), which in turn makes sound unique. It offers consumers a way to take in a whole book without actually having read it, you just listen. In this also lays the problem however; both for sound and podcasts in particular.

Internet is driven solely by advertising. There are a few other services that brings in some income, but most of all that happens and is offered on the Internet, is done through paid advertising revenue. For advertising to be viable, one must be able to ensure those who pay to advertise that their advertising reaches a certain number of people. Normally you would do this by looking at the number of visitors to a particular page, and allow that to govern the cost of your advertising (it's obviously a very simplified picture, but by far the most important variable is the number of visitors). If the visitor can’t consume the advertising it will be useless and in the long run not generate any money.

Podcast are therefore faced with a tough situation when, due to the nature of the medium, one can’t display images in a podcast. People who consume podcasts do it while doing something else (at this instance while writing, I’m listening myself to the Bugle). Some podcasts have solved the problem by either advertising on their own website, letting the podcast break for commercials, or (in some rare cases) ask for donations to keep the podcast alive.

Personally I do not believe in any of the above options. Your podcast needs to be niched enough to make it work, but this demands that you quickly build brand awareness, something that it is extremely difficult to do. Not impossible, just very difficult.

However, I still believe in the podcast as a product, and I am guaranteed that it will only grow over the next few years. I do not think we’ve even seen the beginning of the podcast. If companies learn to integrate the podcast to their existing line of products, it will create a huge added value to the product. Research show that most people (almost 65%) constantly pull out their smartphones when queuing, something that companies need to take advantage of! If you’re waiting in line, commuting or stuck in transit, it means that you have nothing to do but wait – so give the consumer a podcast he/she wants to listen to while waiting!

What is he doing? Who is he? Where is he going? Is it just around the weekend or has the weekend just passed? What is on his mind for the upcoming week/holiday/home projects/dinner right now?

Real-estate apps can releases a weekly podcast updated on the latest in the housing market. Game developers releases podcast which discuss the latest in the gaming world. New technology magazines does the same, and publish panel discussions about the next-gen phones. Travel agents releases special reports about a new, exotic destination each week.

There is a huge spread of news you can implement immediately, it would not cost much and it would (I think) create a tremendous added value!

In my mind the podcast is far from over, rather it has not yet quite found the right place in its new medium. It will perhaps take four or five years, but we will soon be seeing a lot more of the podcast!

Tribute to a Legend

This is a sad day for gamer everywhere...

Hiroshi Yamauchi, the man who transformed Nintendo from a maker of playing cards and board games into a global videogame giant, has died at the age of 85.

“The entire Nintendo group will carry on the spirit of Mr. Yamauchi by honoring, in our approach to entertainment, the sense of value he has taught us — that there is merit in doing what is different — and at the same time, by changing Nintendo in accordance with changing times,” said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in a statement.

Yamauchi took over the company in 1949, when he was just 22 years old. Nintendo was founded in 1889 by his grandfather Fusajiro Yamauchi as a maker of hanafuda, traditional Japanese playing cards with images of flowers on their faces. Yamauchi dropped out of Waseda University to lead Nintendo.

In Game Over, a book about the rise of Nintendo, writer David Sheff reported that Nintendo’s employees “resented youth and inexperience,” and in response, Yamauchi fired “every manager… left over from his grandfather’s reign.”

One of Yamauchi's greatest feats was to take the US arcade market from a slow, underground movement, into the mainstream scene by introducing Donkey Kong in 1981. This game became an immediate hit, prompting new high scores, contests, and the loss of countless quarters. With Donkey Kong we also saw the first real competitive gaming; today a million dollar industry.

Under his leadership, the company developed the Famicom (or Nintendo Entertainment System as it was know to westerners), as well as the Game Boy; two consoles that helped to usher in the era of home game machines. It is fair to say that Yamauchi contributed massively to forming the gaming scene, changing the industry forever ...

9/11 brand stress

Today marks one week since September 11 2013, and also one week and 12 years since the horrific terrorist attacks. Most of us would remember that day as a day of reflection and remembrance (perhaps you lost someone close) or just let it serve as a reminder of the small world world we now all collectively share. 

However some brands do not.

They see this day more as a opportunity to promote their cause and their brand, but needless to say this not an opportunity to market your business!

If you run a business, it’s tempting to use “current events and trends” to market your company. Everyone is talking about the power going out at the Super Bowl? Miley Cyrus twerking is going viral? You’ll look dumb, but feel free to share that pointless video of your employees twerking at a meeting! Now; It’s the 12th anniversary of the terrorist attacks? Well just… leave our thinking behind.

Here is a small collection of what the last week produced of people exploiting 9/11 to promote their brand:

I'm sure there's ways to promote your horses with out the Twin Tower sky line

(and potentially harming the animal).

AT&T is one of the worlds largest cellphone providers and should simply know better. 

Mr. Trump has always been known for having a great ego, but making peace over 9/11 is a bit much.

Charitability #1

Charitability #2

They couldn't have remembered with out promoting?

Speaking of remembering, remember how Kobe Bryant tied into 9/11? Neither do I...