The number of adults in the U.S. who make phone calls over the Internet has risen exponentially in recent years.
Here’s a novel idea: Hide a smartphone inside the back of a tablet, and you can have the best of both worlds. That’s what Asus has done with its PadFone, nestling its new Android smartphone into a docking bay in the back of its larger-screened tablet companion, complete with a small door that closes behind it, storing the handset out of sight. You’re looking at the first pictures to surface of this unusual configuration, which reminds us of the Motorola Atrix 4G smartphone.
Facebook’s plan to use a public relations firm to raise privacy concerns about Google demonstrates just how deep tech rivalries run. But Facebook’s not the first technology company to get caught using ham-handed public relations techniques. Below are some of the top tech PR blunders. As the list demonstrates, Facebook has some illustrious company, and 2011 appears to be a banner year for PR fumbles. Microsoft Astroturfing (2001) After the Department of Justice lobbed an antitrust suit against Microsoft in 1998, the company responded by sending emails defending itself to The Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. But rather than sending the emails from its own account, Microsoft sent them from a front organization called Americans for Technology Leadership. The attempt to influence the debate with a phony grassroots campaign was dubbed “Astroturfing.” Image courtesy of Flickr, purpleslog Dell Hell (2005) Dell chose the wrong customer to ignore in 2005. At the time, when social media was still in its infancy, ex- TV Guide writer Jeff Jarvis started detailing his travails with Dell on his blog, Buzz Machine . Jarvis’s campaign eventually caught the eye of mainstream media and undid the effect of millions in advertising. There’s a happy ending to the story, though: Dell learned its lesson and is now a leader in social media customer relationship management. Image courtesy of Flickr, re:publica Facebook's News Feed Controversy (2005) In retrospect, Facebook ’s news feed was one of the biggest innovations in social media. But when the company introduced the feature in September 2006, it didn’t go so well. As CEO Mark Zuckerberg later acknowledged in an open letter to users , the company didn’t explain what the new features were and didn’t offer users much control. Photo Courtesy of Flickr, deneyterrio Sony's Exploding Batteries (2006) In the mid 2000s, laptops began exploding and bursting into flames, freaking out consumers everywhere.
A couple of days ago, an unusually honest internal memo from Nokia CEO Stephen Elop revealed that the company is at a crossroads and that a new smartphone strategy is necessary. Today, Nokia and Microsoft have officially entered a strategic alliance that makes Windows Phone 7 Nokia’s primary smartphone platform, but also extends into many other Microsoft services such as Bing, Xbox Live and Office. Furthermore, the two companies will combine many complementary services; for example, Nokia’s application and content store will be integrated into Microsoft Marketplace, while Nokia Maps will be – as Nokia’s press release puts it – at the heart of Bing and AdCenter. Nokia will also undergo significant changes in operational structure and leadership. As of April 1, Nokia will have two main business units: Smart Devices, led by Jo Harlow, and Mobile Phones, led by Mary McDowell. Of course, with such significant changes in Nokia’s strategy, one has to wonder what will happen to its other smartphone platforms. Symbian, says Nokia, will become a “franchise platform, leveraging previous investments to harvest additional value,” and MeeGo will be an “open-source, mobile operating system project.” Although Nokia claims it expects to sell approximately 150 million more Symbian devices in the future, it’s obvious that from now on few people will buy Symbian devices because they run Symbian software.
The Coworking Resources Series is supported by join.me . Get your people together without actually getting them together. Just instantly share your screen so everybody’s on the same page. No need for a plane, a projector or a sandwich platter. Just gather at join.me . As more people work via a mobile phone and a laptop computer, the traditional office has become less important, and coworking is an increasingly popular alternative. Coworking members get many of the benefits of office life — a community, a work environment, and meeting spaces — without giving up the freedom of working on their own schedules. Coworking has been growing in popularity since the phrase was coined around 2005. Almost every major city has at least one space, and most spaces have options that allow you to drop in for a day or two before committing to a monthly or yearly membership. Here are five signs that giving coworking a try might be a good idea for you. 1.
The hashtag #windowsphone is a promoted trend today on Twitter, but the top tweet with that hashtag isn’t likely to be the kind of publicity Microsoft was looking for. “Kind of sad that MS had to promote #windowsphone,” wrote Twitter user @alpesh_shah . “Can’t image Apple or Google needing to pay for a hashtag promotion.” While other Twitter users are simply glad to see the software giant’s attempted return to mobile domination marked by a bit of social media marketing, many of us are wondering whether said return is ever likely to occur. Once upon a time, Windows’ mobile offerings competed well in the marketplace. These days, however, Microsoft’s mobile OSes have dipped to around 15% market share, according to recent numbers from Nielsen. But the latest Microsoft-made operating system, Windows Phone 7 , has given some cause for hope. The design language of the OS is beautiful, and Windows Phone 7 has been one of the platforms that’s shaped our conversations about the mobile market since its announcement in February this year. Nevertheless, when a few Windows Phone 7 devices debuted in the U.S. this week, sales were lackluster, to say the least.
Hamilton Chan is CEO of Paperlinks and Paperspring. Through its iPhone app and QR web platform, the just-launched Paperlinks platform makes context-sensitive marketing plug-and-play for small, medium and large businesses. The hyperlink is the fundamental building block of the Internet, and effectively ties reference points to useful content. Without the hyperlink, the web would be nothing more than silos of content lacking semantic connections. Traditionally, hyperlinks live in browser windows on desktop monitors. Today, however, some hyperlinks are moving offline, where they can be “clicked” by people roaming the real world. By printing a Quick Response (QR) bar code on any item — a lamp, the program booklet of an event, or a retail store window -– a consumer can quickly link from the real-world experience to rich web content via his smartphone. Using QR codes, jump points to the Internet can be placed anywhere in the physical world. The ability to place a QR code on anything offers opportunities for businesses and consumers. These are a few examples of how a business can leverage QR codes and turn real-world “clicks” into sales: You have been looking for the perfect lamp for your living room for a long time. You see the perfect one — not in a furniture show room, but in a hotel lobby. At the base of a lamp is a QR code. You scan it with your phone, click a link to “buy it now,” and purchase the lamp on the spot. You drive across town to purchase a leather jacket from a fashion boutique. By the time you arrive, the store is closed