Showing posts with label Fresh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fresh. Show all posts

Friday, September 30, 2011

Trippy Let Your Friends Help Plan Your Travel



So when you are undecided on your next vacation and need a travel plan. why not let your friends guide you. Trippy has just launched with this in mind. When you visit the site you are asked to enter your destination fill in the month of your travel and then enter the number of days. If you have no dates as of now you can also click on just dreaming  - no dates yet. You can then signup with your Facebook account.




How does Trippy work

Once you have created your trip you can then share it with your friends. You can share your trip via email, Facebook, or Twitter. I signed in with my Facebook account and created a trip 'Perth'. I was immediately shown a number of friends and family that live in Perth, Western Australia. These friends can help your as they know Perth. So this website can be of immense help. You can then further your plan and break it down day-wise. This was your friends can give you inputs for each day of your planned trip. You can also build your trip album using the Trippy iPhone App. 



Once your friends join you can also help your friends plan their trips and give your inputs. 



Philosophy of Trippy.

Avoid all the clutter and recommendations found online and listen to your friends. They know best and they recommendations will help you. Use your large social base get your friends involved, this is the power of social search and social planning. 





An original post by

Sociolatte



Thursday, September 29, 2011

QRpedia share any Wikipedia article using QR codes in preferred language



Bar Codes have been around for decades and is increasingly finding more and more uses with mobile. Wikipedia have introduced a new feature called QRpedia what this does essentially is allows you to fill in any Wikipedia article URL, into a box generate a QR Code and then share it with people on the mobile phones. Users can then use their mobile phones to pick up the code and read it in their phones selected language. 



An amazing use for this is in a museum. QRPedia QR Codes can be placed beside items and users can use their phones get the code and read about the items it in their own language when available. The system is now in use in many museums around the world. So if your company or your name has a Wikipedia articles you can get the QR code and place it on your site users from across the internet and the world can then read it in their phone's default language. Try it out now www.qrpedia.org




An original post by

Sociolatte



Monday, September 26, 2011

Parking Panda lets you earn money by renting your parking spot



If you've got a spare parking spot and would like to make some money by renting it out. Parking Panda is the deal for you. With Parking Panda all you need to do is to take a photo of your parking spot and upload it to the site with details such as the dates your parking space would be available and how much you would like to charge. Once the space has been booked and used, the owner will receive a check in the mail with the payment. The site also sports a mobile interface.Parking Panda will take a commission of 20% and the rest is sent to you. 



If you are looking for a parking space you can login to Parking Panda using your phone and you location will automatically be added. All you need to do is search for a space in your desired location and then click on the photo or a location to view more. You can then proceed to book the space for your mobile phone or the web. 



All-in-all a great idea although so simple it will surely be a win-win for all those involved. Parking Panda is currently available in Baltimore but coming soon to D.C. Philly and Boston. 



Parking Panda, you can also visit their Facebook page




An original post by

Sociolatte



Stipple Lets you earn money by monetizing your photos



Unlike all the businesses on the web especially Getty images, Stipple turns everything around 360 degrees. Stipple will actually pay publishers to use their photos. They have a large collection of of online photos that publishers can use to make money by monetizing the same on their websites and blogs. 

How does Stipple work for publishers

You will first need to apply for an account and once your site or blog is accepted into their program you can then begin to monetize images on your site. Once you place a Stipple dot on your site or blog they become interactive and people can then hover over the images and click the links. Works very well for the fashion and Tech industries. So once a users clicks on the images publishers stand to make money. 



Here is what Stipple says about how it works.



After activating Stipple, publishers are able to quickly label objects in their photos using inline editing controls on the pages where their photos are normally publicly visible. The publisher can place small dots anywhere inside the picture and add some basic information to them. The next time a reader mouses over a picture, dots will appear semi-transparently, letting them discover that additional information. If the reader is interested in something, mousing over the corresponding dot will reveal the added details in a minimal overlay that immediately disappears once their mouse leaves the dot.





How it works for Advertisers

Advertisers can now tell a story and create a brand around images. When a users hovers over their images that has been placed on a blog or website they are show links and other valuable information about the image and other details can also be added. Advertisers selling products and services can use this service to drive targeted traffic to their websites and product pages. So Advertisers can show exactly what piece of clothing the person in the photo is wearing , where to buy it, and save or like it. 



Visit Stipple now to find out more. 




Welcome to Stipple from stipple on Vimeo.



An original post by

Sociolatte



Sunday, September 25, 2011

Google+ Hangouts On Air





Hangouts On Air: Stream View (left), Full-screen Mode (right)

Google+ has announced their newest features and part of those announcements is that Google+ now has hangouts on air. Now this is a fascinating feature with the ability for you to now broadcast on air live to a large number of people. There are many uses for Hangouts On Air and some of them include broadcasts to your large family, medical conditions and prayer groups. These are some of the uses and there are countless ways in this will be helpful to people. 



How does Hangouts On Air work

To get started all you need to do is to start a hangout, 9 other members can then hangout, while on air you can then broadcast your hangout to any number of people. Who can tune-in to watch. There are currently a limited number of broadcasters but that should change in time. In fact the first Hangout On Air with Will.i.am has already been done.



Using such a feature has limitless possibilities you can start your own broadcasts and gain a large following on Google+.




An original post by

Sociolatte



Friday, September 23, 2011

Facebook Timeline: How it works



After the f8 developers conference the main attraction that came out was the Facebook will get a new Timeline. In other works you are getting a whole new profile page and you had better like it. well it is not really all that bad and has a way of converting all Facebook users into curators of their Facebook lives. With the new profile you have space which is being called a cover. Therefore right on the top of your profile you now have more space to place a large photo of yourself, as a welcome sign. The Facebook timeline has been divided into three parts.




What is Facebook Timeline and how does it work

1. The Cover: Represents a wide and open space to fill in with your best image. Will definitely become a big hit with Facebook users as people find more and more creative uses for it.



2. Your Stories: This section allows you to highlight your most memorable posts and photos etc. This can be from the beginning of time when you started using the service. Now if you have been a longtime user of Facebook and there are posts in there you do not want your current friends to see, you can get rid of it. Facebook will give you the option to choose what shows up. With this service you can see everything you have done from the time you joined Facebook and arrange things in such an order that when people visit your profile they can see a timeline of your events and all that you have been up to on Facebook. There are privacy options so no problem. Let your creative juices flow. You can choose to highlight certain likes and friends and a whole lot of options.

3. Your Apps: Show your friends which movies you watched on Netflix, what music you have had on repeat and a whole other range of Apps. This part of your profile will be to share all your activities related to movies, music and travel etc. Pretty neat and this is really social sharing.



To view pics and screenshots please check the video below.





An original post by

Sociolatte



Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Facebook Ticker: How does it work



This week has been a big one in social media with Google+ and Facebook making a lot of announcements and adding a host of new features. Facebook has just updated their lists and added the all new subscriptions button. And just a few days after that Facebook has two more announcements to make the all new Ticker and News Feed update.



Facebook wants your news feed to be link your newspaper. As soon as you login to Facebook all the top stories will await you in your news feed. The Facebook algorithm will show you all the top stores and headlines from your friends activities on the social site. 



How does Ticker work on Facebook

fb says that the all new ticker will allow users to connect with their friends in real-time. The Ticker will work a little differently that your News Feed. Unlink just seeing updates that appear in your news feed the Ticker will help you connect and show your your friends updates in real-time. This is what Facebook says about the new Ticker."Ticker shows you the same stuff you were already seeing on Facebook, but it brings your conversations to life by displaying updates instantaneously. Now when a friend comments, asks a question or shares something like a check in, you'll be able to join the conversation right away. Click on anything in ticker to see the full story and chime in – without losing your place."



How to view real-time updates on Facebook Ticker


There is a new link just above you ticker bar on Facebook which says " See what your friends are up to right now, Hover or click here for more details'. Click on any of the stories listed on the ticker to read the latest.






Source: Facebook Blog



An original post by

Sociolatte



Monday, September 19, 2011

Google Wallet how it works


So what is Google Wallet and how does it work.



Google Wallet is an electronic payment system based out of your smartphone. With Google wallet you can convert all your plastic credit cards into virtual ones, with which to make payments. Google Wallet wants you to do away with your physical wallet and when it comes time to make a payment all you need is your smartphone. 



When Google Wallet launches it will support two types of cards, Citi MasterCard and Google Prepaid card. To setup a Citi MasterCard all you need to do is to open Google Wallet and enter your information after Citi verifies it you're free to use the card. If you already have a card and you want to confirm that it works with Google Wallet you can click here. A Google Prepaid card is not really a card but a virtual card that gets stored on your phone. This card can be funded by any of your other credit cards. Also after you activate the Google Prepaid card you get $10 in your account and this is on Google. Will last till the end of 2011 at least. Google Wallet can also store your gift cards from all participating merchants.



Google Wallet is first going to be available only in the US before launching in other countries.



Where to pay - You would need to look for the symbols found below to see if Google Wallet can be used for your current purchase.






Read more 




An original post by

Sociolatte



Sunday, September 18, 2011

Facebook Subscription Recomendations




Facebook have taken their subscription a step further. You now get recommendations as to who to subscribe to. This feature works the same way as on Twitter and on Google+. If you click on the 'Suggested Subscriptions' link you get to see a list of people to follow. Now this list looks to be the same set of people who get recommended on Twitter and on Google+. You can bet you're going to see Kevin Rose and Robert Scoble, with minor deifferences here and there for e.g on the Facebook list the top of the list is Randi Zuckerberg the sister of Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zunckerberg.



Now this is taking the fight straight to Twitter and Google+. Yes, Facebook is getting criticism for the copycat nature of the whole thing. But it is a free world and companies feel quiet free to copy features that works best for others and use it for themselves. All is fair in love and war.



How to find suggested people to subscribe to on Facebook. 

Visit this link to see people who Facebook recommends as suggested users to subscribe to. http://www.facebook.com/subscriptions/suggestions/




An original post by

Sociolatte



Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Facebook Friend Lists: How does it work


Facebook have announced the rolling out of a new set of features know as Friend Lists. 




What are Facebook Friend Lists and how do they work.



When Facebook automatically creates a list for you there will be three improvements that will be used

Smart Lists: Will help you stop going through the tedious process of creating list and automatically create lists for you. This will cut down on the time consuming process on who to share what to. Smart Lists will be offered in the following four categories initially. Work, School, Family and City. So people among your friends lists who fall into the following categories will be automatically grouped together.

Close Friends and Acquaintances Lists: This can be further broken down into two separate lists Close Friends and Acquaintances list. So when you click on your close friends list. Only posts from these people will appear on your news feed. This way if you want to only keep track of those people you can filter out all the rest. The same goes for the Acquaintances list.

Restricted Lists: Put your boss and other people you do not want to share with in this list.

Better Suggestions: Expect Facebook to give you better suggestions as to who goes where. Once you accept a friend request on FB you can now add them to a list directly from there. 



Facebook lists FAQ

Will people be able to see the name of the list I have put them in: No, the name of your lists are not shown publicly. However people on your lists can see the others that are included. 

Will I still be able to use my old lists: Yes

Can I create my own separate lists: Yes







Please let us know what you think in the comments section below. 




An original post by

Sociolatte



Saturday, August 20, 2011

Gmail's New Look [Photos]

The Google team has rolled out a whole new look for Gmail. Starting from the sign-in page right through the entire Gmail experience.

So what's new with the Gmail New look

For starters the look is more elastic and modern it feels like something that is light and easy to use. The reason for the elasticity is that Gmail would like to become more flexible and easily fit into any screen size and any browser. It will be something that looks and feel very modern, easy to play with and with a fewer rough edges.

Gmail also has a whole new set of themes to use. With the new look you have a whole new set of customization themes and colors to use and give your inbox a feel that you want. You can also create a your own custom theme.

There will also be less clutter as you inbox has a totally new feel which looks beautiful which Google says should match the power of Gmail.

How to get the new Gmail look
1. login to Gmail
2. Click on the Cog Icon found on top top right-hand corner
4. Your settings open up
5. Click on Themes
6. Right at the bottom your have preview and preview dense choose either one
7. You're done















An original post by

Sociolatte



Friday, August 19, 2011

Kibin: Proofreading and Editing for free



Kibin offers to get your writing proofread and edited for free, does not actually work like that but there is a principle involved. So how does Kibin work, you can get your writing edited for free if you have enough credits and the way to get credits is to do the same for other papers. So the more papers you edt and edit the more credits you earn and you will need lots of credits if you papers are long. All this gets done in 24 hours as promised by Kibin and it gets done by human eyes. This is a community based effort and no software involved, other than some  algorithms running in the background to prioritize and get things right. 


But what if you do not have credits and want you editing done faster Kibin offers a way out. For a flat rate of $0.01 you can get it done in 24 hours and if you want it faster be ready to spend more. Bloggers can count this as a blessings as many of them really could do with an  extra pair of eyes. 


If you would like to demo this whole thing, please click here. If you want to join the community and start editing all you have to do is start highlighting text. You'll then have three options: comment, modify, or strikeout. You can login with your Facebook account. 



An original post by

Sociolatte



Thursday, August 11, 2011

Klout: lets you know your clout across your favorite social networks


So what is Klout and how does it work.


Klout is a San Francisco based company that provides you with social media analytics. Once you singup using your social media Id from across your social media profiles your standing will be analyzed to see where you stand among your friends and the sites in general. Klout now measures your influence across Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Flickr, Instagram, Last.fm, Linkedin, Foursquare, YouTube and Tumblr (Google+ to be added soon). The social media analysis is based on a scoring system from 1 - 100. Higher the score means wider the range of your influence. and true reach being determined by how people react to what your share and the response you receive. True influence will be how interactive and engaging you are with your audience and vice versa. Klout uses over 35 variables on Facebook and Twitter to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score.


So if you want to measure your Twitter influence Klout will check the number of followers you have, how many of your messages are Retweeted and comments you receive. Head over now to measure your social media effectiveness and influence.


Klout also has a +K button that users can use to give other users a +K on topics. There are a lot of brands heading over to offer perks to uses who have high klout scores.  



An original post by

Sociolatte



Friday, August 5, 2011

Groupie offers free group socializing


Groupie lets you make new friends and connect with private messaging. The App gives you the opportunity to make friends with like-minded people and stay in touch. Groupie is available for download on your iPhone and iPod touch or you can also join on the web and coming soon to Android and other platforms as well.. It is free to download and you can register with Facebook.


So what is Groupie and how does it work
1. Browse Groups - once you download the App you can start browsing through groups and find groups that interest you. Once you join a group you can start making friends. you can browse groups by category, keyword or location. Groupie will also suggest groups for you and goes a step further by suggesting local groups which will help close the distance. You can also create your own group and invite friends to join, people who find your group can also be allowed to join.
2. Social Sharing with Friends - The App comes with easy social integration and you can integrate Facebook and Twitter for easy sharing.
3. Unique URL's - Each group comes with its own unique URL which means each group can easily be found by search engines and is optimized for the same. So start a group and get famous.
4. Group Message - each group has its own message board, live map and directory. With group messaging you can share links and updates to everyone in the group instantly.
5. Private Message: you can send private text and SMS messages to other users.
6. Privacy -  The App takes good care of your privacy and you can set it to what suits you.


With groupie Group Texting allows you to stay in touch with friends and meet new ones. Create or join groups, stay inn touch with other members, make new friends or simply hangout. Check it out now.





An original post by

Sociolatte



Wednesday, August 3, 2011

What is Google Instant pages and how does it work


Google has just announced a new feature in it's latest stable version of Chrome. With instant pages Google now pre-renders pages in the background just as a users is entering a search query. These pages are the ones that Google feels quiet confident will be the ones users are looking for. This bring a whole new meaning to browser speed since the page seem to load instantly. This happens because of a technology called prerendering and the fundamental idea behind it is, a website might be able to predict with reasonable accuracy which wbepage a users is likely to click on next. So, before that user actually clicks on that page it is already on it's way. So when you actually click it, it seems to download instantly. So Google Chrome does all the work and fetches the sub-resources and does all the work necessary to display the page. Hence it loads instantaneously.

Although Chrome uses prerendering it is also available to any other website to use. Check out the video to know more. Please add your comments and suggestions.







An original post by

Sociolatte



Amazon Local to bring you daily deals



Amazon has entered the daily-deals market place with the Launch of Amazon Local. So what is Amazon Local and how does it work. Amazon Local is the deal-of-the-day type of website that has launched in a few cities in the US. The website seeks to bring to people living nearby deals from businesses which helps you save 50% or less.Amazon Local has also launched in Chicago which is significant because that is Groupon's home turf. Amazon Local is now available in California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois and Washington. There is plenty of rooms for multiple players in the daily-deal market and Amazon has slowly started spreading it's wings. 



Amazon has said that the deals have initially started coming from LivingSocial another daily deals site in which Amazon has invested but that now they have started bring daily-deals from their own sales team. Amazon has setup it's own team to bring daily deals to cities that they are operating in. With Amazon being such a huge brand adn given their credibility in the market, which is something they are banking on. Amazon is convinced people will trust them and come to them to get their daily best deals. 



To get started with Amazon Local please click here





An original post by

Sociolatte



Digster.fm let's you listen to playlists on Spotify


Universal Music Group has launched a new website that let's you listen to playlists that have been curated by a team of editors Digster.fm. Digster keeps your Spotify playlists and iTunes music updated for you. So no matter what the occasion you can always find a playlist to suit the mood. Whether it's a part or you simply want to listen to your favorite artist Digster has a playlist for you. There are three categories of playlists you can find on the site. 


So how does the Spotify playlists work on Digster
If you’re already a Spotify user it’s easy to stay updated with Digster. All you need to do is open a Digster playlist in Spotify and click the +Subscribe button. This will subscribe you to the playlist so it will be automatically updated as we add tracks. (You may have to re-start Spotify for these updates to appear.)


You can login right now with your favorite social media profile and start listening. The site has 3 categories of playlists.
Live: Dedicated to live action follow the latest releases and the what's new as it get out into the market. will go through regular updates
Digster By: are playlists the are created by some of the biggest names in the music industry
Standard:  Playlist the remain the same and are standard with no change.



An original post by

Sociolatte



Sunday, July 17, 2011

how does the chat bar work on facebook

If you have logged in to Facebook today you will notice that the old chat window is gone and in its place is a new sidebar. The chat window was a small application from which you used to chat with all your friends and could be collapsible. It works the same as the old window but with a few changes. In the new sidebar you are also able to see the friends you most interact with using messages etc. With the sidebar you can quickly message friends and if a friend is not available to chat you can type in their name and send them a message.

When you send a message through the chat window, two things happen, they are sent a message and as soon as they login to Facebook there is already a chat window open with your message. There is no way they are going to miss your message. This new bar is being rolled out to everyone and there are a few changes to your chat list, you are unable to see your old chat lists since Facebook populates your sidebar dynamically, however to limit visibility you can still use your lists found at the bottom of the window. Found below is what Facebook has to say about the new rollout. 

How Facebook Chat bar WorksSo how does the chat bar work on Facebook. 


How do I use the sidebar for messaging?
The sidebar lets you quickly contact some of the friends you message most. Just clicking on a friend’s name opens a chat window. If your friend isn’t available to chat, you can still send messages for them to read later. 

How do I message a friend who doesn’t appear in the sidebar?
To message someone who isn’t listed in your sidebar, just type your friend’s name in the search box at the bottom of the list. Clicking on a friend’s name opens a chat window. If your friend isn’t available to chat, you can still send messages for them to read later. 

How do I hide the sidebar?
To collapse the sidebar, select Hide Sidebar from the actions menu in the bottom right corner of the sidebar.

Which friends appear in the sidebar? Can I add specific friends?
The list of friends in your sidebar is based on who you’ve interacted with most frequently or recently on Facebook. Since it updates dynamically, you can’t manually add friends to the list.

The list shows both friends who are available to chat and friends who aren’t. Clicking on a friend’s name opens a chat window. If your friend isn’t available to chat, you can still send messages for them to read later.

How do I message a friend who doesn’t appear in the sidebar?
To message someone who isn’t listed in your sidebar, just type your friend’s name in the search box at the bottom of the list. Clicking on a friend’s name opens a chat window. If your friend isn’t available to chat, you can still send messages for them to read later. 

Where are my chat friend lists?
Since the list of friends in your sidebar now updates dynamically based on who you interact with, it is no longer organized by friend list. You can still use friend lists to limit your availability to certain friends.

How you know a friend is available to chat:

Friends with a green dot next to their names are available to chat
Friends with a gray moon next to their names are available but inactive
Friends with no icon next to their names are unavailable

Friday, July 15, 2011

How YouTube is giving back to Site and Blog owners


YouTube has found a way to reward site and blog owners who have added YouTube videos to their blogs or sites and by adding these videos have also added their commentaries and giving the videos some perspective. To reward all these content curators YouTube a Google company has launched what is know as 'As Seen On'. This is a section on YouTube that will redirect users to sites or blog that have YouTube videos embedded. This is a way for YouTube to give back to site and blog owners something for all the hard work and all the traffic sent to YouTube. when site and blog owners add YouTube videos to their posts it is a two way street, their posts gets a video which might help in many ways and in turn YouTube gets more views and more traffic sent to their the site via blogs and websites.


we do not know the algorithm YouTube uses to choose which sites list of videos get curated into a permanent link. It works like this. If you take this blog 'Sociolatte' our YouTube as seen on link is http://www.youtube.com/social/blog/sociolatte if you click on this link you will see all the YouTube videos that we have shared on this blog. You can use this same link to see the YouTube videos shared by all you favorite sites this way. Now if you are a blog or website owner and want to know how to get your site added, we are sorry but this is an internal thing and is done by YouTube. If you have shared a lot of videos and added relevant commentaries to them we are sure you site or blog has already been added.


To find this link on YouTube you would need to head over to www.youtube.com/news and scroll down to see the 'As seen on link' and find videos shared by your favorite sites.


This is an important step in content discovery as users don't really know how large YouTube really is and that it cowers just about everything on the net with Video. You think of anything and search YouTube and find a related video. The content of the video sharing site is as large as the internet itself and therefore by checking these links you will discover rich content and open your mind to the vastness of the whole thing. For blog and site owners this happens to be a good way to get a whole new audience discovering you site or blog. Each post is shared with a link back to your site, fantastic social way to discover and share content. This is another social feature and maybe further social features will be added to the "As seen on" program by Google. 


An original post by

Sociolatte



Thursday, July 7, 2011

Blogger and Picasa to be rebranded under Google+




image credit: thechromesource

The popular blogging platform 'Blogger' and the photo site 'Picasa' both of which belong to Google after being acquired from their founders are to be rebranded. Google+ is still in private invite mode but should go public on the 31st of July according to many reliable sources on the internet. Picasa the photo sharing website was acquired by Google in 2004 and Blogger was acquired by Google in 2003. Both websites are very popular and Blogger is the premium blogging destination on the web.


So, instead of renaming their products to fit in with the release of Google+, Google has simply chosen to rebrand it with their own name. They are a highly respected company and these two very important sites will now carry the Google name. Picasa will be rebranded at 'Google Photos' and Blogger will be renamed 'Google Blogs'.


This is significant because it looks like Google is going to go all out social with the release of Google+. All important products will be branded under the Google+ umbrella and therefore easily accessible from one destination. Google definitely wants all the users of it's various services to come together and therefore their combined weight will move thing in the direction Google wants their new social network to go. Wonder why the same has not been done to YouTube. Would have expected the name change to be 'Google Videos'. Please use the comments section below to share your views. 


An original post by

Sociolatte