My iPhone killer - Google's Nexus7 is my new favorite gadget

People who know me tend to think that I am an Apple-Fan-Boy, which I would not consider my self, but I have to admit that the simplicity and product strategy in the recent years impressed & inspired me.

Nevertheless I was always critical (and actually increasing critical) about the slow innovation (actually NO innovation) we have seen in the Apple announcements the recent years (excluding the iPad 1).

But I had always to argue that there is NO other product from any other company (nor the Palm Pre or any Android product) that came close to the product experience the Apple packages (hardware & software) provided constantly.

Until NOW :)
I finally have a product that is actually BETTER then all my other Apple products in house, which is an iPhone 4S, an iPad one and a Samsung Galaxy SII. Before you start now, yaya, I know S3 and iPhone 5, but I am absolutely confident that I will NOT change my mind about this new gadget and its No1 status for me in 2012 :)

What is it? Well the well-known (but only in US and UK available) Google Nexus 7 tablet. A 7 inch tablet with wifi-only running on Android Jelly Bean (4.1) and providing the perfect experience for a one-handed reading and consuming need.

Isn't that just a big smartphone? No, it is rather a digital version of a book with the full load and speed a digital service should habe. Tremendous speed by opening and scrolling websites, switching apps and running audio or video makes the consumption experience much more rich then with a tiny little smartphone.

But isn't it then some sort of iPad? No, it is a "mobile" device because I can pack into my pocket, carry it around easily and love to use it combined with a smartphone via blutooth tethering. Yes, it does not have a 3G module, but because it is NOT a phone, I am anyway carrying a smartphone for tethering. It is a perfect size to snack content on the go and is less a couch device then the iPad, which stays permanently on my couch.

Additionally the OS now is the first time beating the iOS with providing speed, smoothness, design and functionality by far and is the first OS tailored for tablet - really well done Google.

Not convinced? Well besides the always "winning" tests you can find by current unboxing tests etc. it has one character that is almost not possible to beat: it is only 199 ($ or €) for the small version (8GB, not recommended, too small) and 249 for the 16 GB version. Yes, you can get two Nexus for one iPad and almost 3 Nexus for an iPhone.

Yes, this is MUST BUY call, a NO brainer so to say :-) Go get it ;)

You are german and cannot wait? Holger posted a really good explanation how to get it and which I followed completely :)

My definition of Social Networks - why Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and App.net have authorization being here

App.net - the newest of all activities to "beat" Facebook, to be different, to be the "better" social network. Watching my and others habits, there is finally no "best" or even "better" network.

Let's start with Facebook. For sure it has the biggest audience which means it is and has to be for the masses. It has to serve the most common ground of social interaction, which is having fun and sharing private stuff with a peer group - your friends & colleagues. That's it - Facebook is for leisure.

We have Twitter. Twitter has only 140 characters and has a post awareness beyond 1 hours. By its definition it is meant for real-time and therefore for time-dependes events like the Olympics, TV-Live-broadcast, simply events that happen at a certain moment. Therefore we can conclude: Twitter is for media and real-time.

Let's get to the often called "Ghost town" Google Plus or Google+ which by mistake gets always compared and benchmarked by FB & Twitter. But it is neither of them, Google Plus is perfect for integrated services of Google, perfect to share longer textes and opinions and to discuss longer threads. It is a mixture of a blogging service and a forum, it is more professional and for geeks and nerds then Facebook and it is much more detailed then Twitter and less focused on real-time. Let's face it, Google+ is for writers and meaningful conversation.

The most recent one App.net which at least cost 50$/year for being part of the network and allowed to use it. It is definitely for developers and users that value the freedom of 3rd party companies that want to make money by advertising or other sales activities via the network. Users of App.net want pure communication without disruption and are willing to pay for it. It has for sure the least common ground and compared to others not the goal to reach the greatest mass (because scale and advertising depend each other). App.net is made for very professional discussion and elitear people that value freedom of use.

So - can we stop the whole discussion now what is best? Just pick one, or two or all of them and enjoy being social :)

Tag 3 @caronytra project - der RT #1000battle #carovsbasti - der Rücken!

Aktuell sind es 964 Follower bei Caro - wir sind also nah dran Freunde!

Was ist passiert gestern? Wie gefordert haben die beiden DEN USAIN gemacht und um Retweets gebeten - die meisten RTs ergeben dann den Sieger, hier die Posts: Caro's Rücken: https://twitter.com/CaroNytra/status/228173651776790528
Sebastian's Schatten: https://twitter.com/SebBayer/status/228173655316783104

Ergebnis 26:5 RTs für Caro! Ob es nun am Rücken lag oder am Rasen wir wissen es nicht ;)

Fakt ist aber es steht 1:1 und wir brauchen doch einen Sieger!

Also - auf zu #Challenge3 ...

Und hier seit Ihr dran: sendet Eure Ideen wie Caro & Sebastian sich duellieren sollen mit dem Hashtag #carovsbasti über Twitter! Bedingungen sind, dass die beiden es noch vor Ihrer Abreise machen können, sie keine Verletzungen davontragen und nicht irgendwo hinreisen müssen :)

Schafft Ihr das? Auf geht's - Ideen für #challenge3

Tag 2 von #1000battle #carovssebi - #challenge2 #jamaica für @caronytra & @sebbayer

Es war eng - sehr eng! Nur 30 Sekunden trennten den Gewinner @sebbayer von seiner Partnerin @caronytra um das Wort LONDON mit den Buchstaben der Mannheimer-Quadrate zu bilden. Hier der Siegerpost von Sebastian: https://twitter.com/SebBayer/status/227809527024730114 - Glückwunsch zum 1:0!

Aber Caro hatte auch eine gute Ausrede parat ;)
https://twitter.com/CaroNytra/status/227811979459452928

Aber wir haben ja erst angefangen ... :D

Challenge No 2 heisst #Jamaica und Folgendes macht Caro oder Sebastian zum Gewinner:

Stellt in Twitter ein Foto von Euch ein, in dem Ihr Usain Bolts Sieger-Pose imitiert. Um Punkte zu sammeln müsst Ihr nicht nur die Pose nachmachen, sondern auch so Jamaikanisch wie möglich aussehen (alle Utensilien sind erlaubt!).

Bis Mittwoch 24 Uhr MEZ hab Ihr Zeit 3 Fotos zu machen und in Twitter zu stellen.
Wer bis Mitternacht die meisten Retweets seiner Bilder in Summe auf Twitter hat, ist der Gewinner von Challenge No 2 :)

Einverstanden? Los geht's ;)

The @caronytra & @sebbayer project #day1 - let the battle begin: bring on your competition ideas!

As mentioned yesterday in my analysis (http://j.mp/QfheYa) the strongest possible tactics for the #1000follower would be the Gamification or the Campaign-Approach.

As anticipated Caro liked most the battle-approach with Sebastian which also underlines the sportive competition attributes with which two athletes are marked with anyways :)

The first competition will be to collect the street-letters of Mannheim's (home town) quadrate as photos to build the word "L-O-N-D-O-N" .... while the twitter-crowd is now waiting for the pictures to arrive by Caro & Sebastian we need to consider 2 more steps to frame the project:

1. Crowd-Sourced competitions: we need you to collect ideas and creative ways to let Caro & Sebastian compete. Please bear in mind that they have only little time beside their training, so the restriction is that it is needs to be feasible for them :)
2. Battle-Target: What are they battling for and when is the end achieved? I would say the end is naturally when they arrived in London, but I am open to suggestions :)

Ok - let's bring this to the next level!! :-P

Help needed!! The @CaroNytra Project - get 1000 follower before #London2012

It is time again for some social media experiment and how timely relevant occasions can push the reach of one person (or brand). Some days ago I read this tweed of Carolin Nytra (http://twitter.com/caronytra), Germany's 100m hurdles European indoor champion, celebrating the 700th follower on Twitter and formulating the goal of getting 1000 follower (>40% more reach) before she finally travels to London in August for her competition.

So we have a challenge, acquire 250 new follower besides the organic growth by building a buzz and create viral effects. So far the theory - but without budget (come on guys, this is a private activity ;)), we need to create interesting content or generate hyper interest in person (or brand).

Let's see what we have:

• Caro Nytra has already a settled and solid social presence
• Twitter-Account with 760 follower https://twitter.com/CaroNytra
• Facebook-Page with 4197 likes https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carolin-Nytra/
• Facebook-Profile https://www.facebook.com/carolin.nytra
• Website with News & Pictures http://www.carolin-nytra.de/
• Blog at public broadcast station ARD and popular sports program "Sportschau" http://olympia.ard.de/london2012/olympia_blog/nytrabayer/blog901.html
• Additional her boyfriend (or fiancee? - I am not familiar with private things as you can see ;)) Sebastian Bayer is also a german sports man, holding the european record in long jump with 8,71m and also joining the german team in London. His social media channels:
• Twitter with 451 follower https://twitter.com/SebBayer
• Website http://www.sebastian-bayer.net/
• Blogging together with Caro at ARD-Blog http://olympia.ard.de/london2012/olympia_blog/nytrabayer/blog901.html

So what is the competition? 

Pretty tense, because all athletes were pushed by the IOC to abandon their sponsored websites and move to twitter and Facebook to broadcast their experiences. Besides the athletes we have various official feeds by the IOC and national associations + the news sources placing almost every reporter as separate channel.

We need a strategy that needs to be heard within that loud noice of Olympics to attract new followers ...

What options do we have?

1. Product-Approach: pushing valuable assets out there! Caro is attractive and a woman. We could target man with beauty shots.
   Chance? Medium: attractive female have the same advantages and the value is not unique enough (sorry Caro, this is NOT personal!! :-P)
2. Gamification: Catch new followers with prizes, e.g. promise new followers to win something from and regarding Caro if they are the 1000th follower or that all 1000 followers get smth. when it is done before the due date.
   Chance? High: people would multiply the content to reach the goal. Issue: to find the right content or prize.
3. Diversification: let Caro talk and discuss about hot topics that are relevant but not competition related. This could by funny or serious regarding trending topics (e.g. London logo or Doping)
   Chance? Medium: to hit the nerv of the crowd the time frame of 2 weeks might be too small. Interesting topics needs to be identified first - high workload for all parties.
4. Kutcher-Moore-Campaign-Approach: Challenge between Caro & Sebastian. Building two teams that battle against each other. The winner takes it all and needs to pay during (or at the end) of the Olympics.
   Chance? High: even so the story would be of short effect we could reach the 1000-mark easier. Issue: Caro & Sebastian needs to play the story for some days during their warm-up for London.

Ok, guys - which one should we take? Any Suggestion?

Caro - which road do you wanna take? ;)

Jonathan (@jmacdonald) @mlove 2012 - why one word could stop all wars

It is not really a secret HOW good Jonathan (@jmacdonald) presents and entertains on stage. Most of us have seen him somewhere at least once and we were impressed by style and content and one could see there is someone gifted with a high rate of professionalism.

Nevertheless there are moments when not only a message, content or stories flow through the room, but very lovely emotions.

It is the moment when people in the room are telling afterwards that "magic has happened". With this intro please enjoy Jonathan at his best at @MLOVE 2012 last month.

MLOVE ConFestival Europe 2012 - Jonathan MacDonald from MLOVE.com on Vimeo.

Friday App-Test: Facebook Camera & Pages, Score, Paper Airplanes

Facebook-Camera app: Despite the upcoming Instagram-Purchase FB decided very surprisingly to offer an own developed camera app. The reason? I suppose this project started month ago before the IG-deal and it simply display the recent development FB has made. What is it good for? Well, it is a very slick and beautiful made app with quick view on all of your friends (not pages or groups) shared and your own pictures. You can share single & multiple pictures and you have a crop feature and 15 filters to "beautify" your photographs. Additionally you can tag, like and comment on all pictures, but that's basically it - very basic, very beautiful but nothing ground-breaking. I expect that this app came to stay and will get all the sexiness and features of the upcoming IG-developments. A nice to have I would say http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facebook-camera/id525898024?ls=1&mt=8

Facebook-Pages app: Another logical "outsourcing" of the FB-App after the Messenger and the Camera app is an app for page administrators. Obviously it is too hard to integrate the admin tool into the old app and FB seems to be focusing on keeping their mobile service slick. The app does as expected: quick and easy access to owned pages, basic input & insights - simply made for the first quick overview. It is expected that features will added very soon and that this is app is also made to stay :) A must have for FB-Page-Admins.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facebook-pages-manager/id514643583?mt=8

Score (0,79€): I stumbled upon this one because it stayed for some weeks now on the very top of the download charts. It is a beautiful little game that let the user replay very famous soccer goals by passing and shooting as it happened years ago. It is exactly the game you will look for in some weeks when the European Championship has started. Definitely worth a try for all soccer fans :)
http://itunes.apple.com/de/app/score!-classic-goals/id490952152?mt=8

Paper Airplanes: Do you remember, 20 years ago, when you were in school and you built that cool paper airplanes? You forgot? Well - me too! But "there is an app for that ;) Follow the easy instructions and get some youth back :)
http://itunes.apple.com/de/app/how-to-make-paper-airplanes/id479845845?mt=8

Google+ Engagement Still Way Behind Facebook, Twitter

Google+ Engagement Still Way Behind Facebook, Twitter [STUDY]

I was observing the exact same and actually a tremendously decreasing interaction in general within G+ (in my circles)

What do you think? Are you actually "opening" G+ anymore frequently?

SapientNitro tries to help kids with sound project "Earphone Bully"

http://www.earphonebully.org/

SapientNitro Sydney created the sound project Earphone Bully which puts you in the shoes of a silent victim.

With the current generation welded to their earphones, it uses 3D sound to virtually put a bully in your head. This creates a powerful role play tool to prepare kids for schoolyard bullies and importantly, gives them ways to speak up about it. It's also about empathy and understanding for bystanders and parents, and for bullies themselves. You don't really know what it's like until you step into their shoes.

Earphone Bully can be customised by any anti-bully organisations to add local support details. It can also be personalised when passing onto friends, with the Earphone Bully knowing over 500 names.

Facebook Hits 50% Mobile Users [Infographic]

As seen @socialbakers stats, Facebook has a very good reason to push any mobile activity, because almost 0.5 billion users, which is almost 50% of all Facebook users, are accessing the site via any mobile solution (mobile web, iOS, Android etc.).

This is a very high number given the fact that the mobile offerings are still very limited compared to the desktop site, especially the sharing and filtering is a big pain for the mobile user.

Nevertheless this proves that mobile and social are heavily depending from each other and that we can see a lot more new ideas and creations in this combination.

Happy mobile social world :)

Facebook Hits 488 Million Mobile Users [Infographic]