JerodSchaefer.com
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This Too Shall Pass…
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010Droid Does… or Does it?
Thursday, December 24th, 2009Motorola Droid Review
If you’ve been wondering what to think of all of the attention the Motorola Droid on the Verizon network has been getting, let me add a little more for you to consider. I purchased the Droid December 4th and as you can imagine I have been monkeying around with it almost nonstop much to the chagrin of my loving wife. Here follows some of the things I have learned and loved about the Droid.
Many people have asked me if I think the Droid is the “iPhone Killer” it has been touted as – my response is that in Montana the iPhone really isn’t around to kill. However, in a broader sense, I do think that the Droid is a contender in the smart phone battle – at least in the US. One of the biggest advantages that the Droid has over the iPhone is the open-source nature of the OS. This allows developers to offer more apps faster. No hoops to jump through – just code it, test it, deploy and support it. Currently there are only about 15,000 applications available for the Droid compared to the 100,000 for the iPhone, but there is no doubt that app developers will jump on the Android bandwagon and we’ll soon see applications for all sorts of things you never knew you didn’t need.
Basic Usage
Motorola Droid includes a full QWERTY slide-out keyboard as well as a very responsive touch keyboard.
The Droid requires a connection with a Gmail / Google account and provides a wide variety of functionality that Google offers including GPS with real-time mapping through Google Maps (includes satellite and other layers), one-touch voice search, and more. For document handling, the Droid includes a mobile version of Google Docs that handles PDF files as well as a standard version of Docs To Go for Microsoft Word and Excel files. An upgrade for Docs To Go is available for $14.99 through the Android Market. The integration with Google is a valuable asset that allows you to keep your mobile life in sync even when offline.
A very useful feature of the device that is not enabled by default is haptic feedback on the on-screen keyboard. I found the on-screen keyboard exceptionally easy to use while in landscape mode while the portrait version was smaller I was still able to use it without much difficulty. The number pad for dialing is quite large and easy to use – even while driving (but I NEVER do that) and the Droid features an on-screen button to add a caller to the current call. Call quality is just as good as other phones I have had and callers have said they do not notice much background noise. I have yet to test it with a Bluetooth headset simply due to the fact that I have yet to find one worth using.
In general, the Droid has an intuitive design with a large, bright, highly responsive touch screen. A very responsive accelerometer enables the user to switch between landscape and portrait mode with ease. The slide out QWERTY keyboard is a little awkward compared to the exceptional on-screen keyboard and battery life can be somewhat disappointing if not properly managed. However, the Droid is a fun-to-use and highly functional device. The threaded SMS / MMS layout makes texting a breeze and even displays any photos received.
The Droid’s awesome WVGA display is an impressive 3.7″ and provides 854 x 480 resolution. The built-in YouTube integration (including direct uploading) makes the Droid one of the best mobile-video devices I have seen. The 5.0 megapixel camera includes LED flash and auto-focus capabilities that can sometime make taking quick pictures somewhat taxing. However, like most camera phones, all features of the camera can be adjusted to meet your needs. The video camera takes excellent video and the included 16GB Micro SD card provides plenty of space for capturing those once-in-a-lifetime moments. The “share” feature included in the camera functions allows for direct uploading to a number of online sharing sites such as Google’s Picasa and YouTube as well as Facebook and many others.
Continue Reading…
Gen Y Chooses Texting, Email over SocNets
Saturday, November 14th, 2009[From MarketingCharts.com]
Though members of Generation Y spend considerable time on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, they are far more willing to give up these social networks for a week than texting or email, according to (pdf) a study by the Participatory Marketing Network (PMN), conducted in partnership with Pace University’s Lubin School of Business’ IDM Lab.
The third Gen-Y behavior study from the two organizations examined the time spent and preference for visiting social networks, reading/writing email, texting, talking on the phone, watching TV, reading magazines and surfing the web on non-social-media sites).
Notable findings from the study:
- Email (26%) and text messaging (26%) are the activities least likely to be “given up for a week,” followed by TV (15%), talking on the phone (11%), visiting social networks (9%), reading magazines (7%) and visiting non-social-network sites (6%).
- The average time spent by Gen Y on social networks per month is 33 hours, compared with 31 hours for email. A difference of two hours per month is unexpectedly small given the disparate media coverage given to Facebook and other social networks, PMN noted.
- Texting remains an important communications tool for Gen Y, with the average number of text messages per month exceeding 740.
- Gen Y spends more time emailing, texting and social networking online than talking on the phone, watching TV or reading magazines.
Article continues at MarketingCharts.com – click for full story (http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/gen-y-chooses-texting-email-over-socnets-10811/)…
Radio Slumps 22% in Q2; Digital Continues to Grow
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
Local and national radio ad revenue sank 25% in the second quarter of 2009, to $3.4 billion, per the Radio Advertising Bureau. Local and national combined were also down 25% for the half. Local was down 25% and national was down 24% for the quarter; each was down 25% for the half. Off-air sank 13% for the quarter and the half. Network radio was down 10% and 11% for the quarter and the half, respectively.
Digital radio (reported separately from off-air beginning in 2009) was up 9% for the quarter and 10% for the half, showing an improvement in the market.
Total radio revenue was down 22% for the quarter and 23% for the half.
Despite the continued slump in overall revenue, the RAB says Q2 results show increasing signs of an improving economy. “We are most likely past the Q1 low point for radio revenues and are now on the rebound,” stated Jeff Haley, president and CEO of the RAB. Much of radio’s weakness in Q2 and for the first six months of 2009 is linked to marketers associated with the auto industry (formerly radio’s top ad category, now #3) and major retailers feeling the impact of shaky consumer confidence and spending.
Facebook Malware Alert
Monday, August 17th, 2009A malware link circulate through Facebook over the weekend – read on for more info…
If someone you know posts a link on your Facebook page entitled “Coool Video” do NOT click the link! Delete the post immediately then contact the person from whom it came and let them know their account and computer as been compromised. Once an account is infected it reposts the link on each of the user’s friends pages and the cycle continues. The person with the infected account should run an immediate virus scan and once it is determined that the computer is no longer infected they should login to Facebook and change their password. If you’ve made the mistake of using the same password for everything you will want to change those as well. Although it has not been reported that this malware is able to extract passwords it is still a good idea. For tips on creating a secure password see my page on Web Safety.
Several of my Facebook friends were caught in this trap and sadly a little caution on their parts would have helped them avoid the work that follows such infections. The sneaky part of this is that the malware is presented as a link or other post from someone on your friends list and appears to be legitimate until you look closely at the verbiage and the page to which it points. The verbiage is pretty generic and reads very much like most virus/malware texts. The link to which it directs usually has a Top Level Domain (tld) ending in .ro, .de, .tz, .ru, etc., (for example www.ThisLinkIsBad.ru) and the basics of Internet security dictate that you do not click on a link that has a tld ending with anything that doesn’t look familiar. A 2007 study by McAfee’s Site Advisor put together a list of some of the worst Malware tld’s and is worth purusing.
McAfee's SiteAdvisor conducted a study designed to alert the public to the problem of Malware and its sources. Click the map for the full study.
The bottom line in all of this is that the first line of defense against such infections is a healthy dose of skepticism and a dash of paranoia. Be cautious of generic-sounding emails, posts and the like – especially when they encourage you to click a link or download an application. And for goodness sake – make sure you have a reliable, up-to-date virus/malware/firewall application installed!
Thanks for the read and God speed!
Jerod
Twitter Tweetering Out or Soaring To New Heights?
Friday, July 17th, 2009
Twitter's popularity continues to grow, but the challenge is to find ways to be profitable without Spamming users.
Twitter this, Twitter that – what’s all the fuss about?
What’s in 140 characters? A lot, if you are one of the approximately 15 million Twitterers out there. To the uninitiated, Twitter can seem like a pointless endeavor that begs the question, “Do I really care what so-and-so had for lunch?” Regardless the camp you find yourself in, Twitter has gained significant ground in the battle for Time Spent Online (TSO).
So what is Twitter? In essence, Twitter provides a platform in which short (up to 140 characters) messages, called “Tweets,” that are shared via the Twitter site with those people who are following you. Tweets can be sent via text messaging from most cell phones (check your plan for costs) and from the twitter site. There are also many apps for Facebook, MySpace and the like that allow you to update your status as you update Twitter.
Who uses the site? Twitter has seen a recent surge in popularity with the 35+ demographic due partially to the celebrity following (Oprah, Ashton Kutcher, Obama, CNN, etc.) and also from the awareness created via the aftermath of the Iranian presidential “elections” in June (more on this later). However, as you can imagine most Twitter users fall in the 18-34 age range and can be considered super users. These super users are also more interested than other social networking site users in news, sports, politics, restaurants, personal finance and religion. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well amongst Twitterers and are more likely to use the service to promote their blog or business. Twitterers are more likely to use other social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and others but when asked if they can live without Twitter, 43% of respondents (all age groups) said they could live without it.
Twitter as a political tool. The Obama presidential campaign planned to use Twitter to announce their choice of VP – but network news scooped the story and got it to press before the Tweets could be sent. Continue Reading…
Advertising in a Down Economy
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009My work in sales allows me the opportunity to meet with many business owners and 
(not surprisingly) I have been hearing many business owners complaining about the state of the economy. While I certainly agree that the national economy is in serious trouble I will add that the people of the United States have been through tough times before and have prevailed despite poor economic conditions. Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that a down economy offers many significant opportunities – you just have to look a little more carefully and work harder and smarter to capitalize on them.
One of the mistakes that businesses can make in a down economy is taking on the “hunker in the bunker” mentality by acting out of fear or desperation. Don’t. Hasty decisions and impulse reactions very rarely produce the desired result. With this in mind, here are a few things to keep in mind while we ride out the rough economy.
Facebook Reverts to Previous Terms of Use After Pressure from Users
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009On February 16th I wrote about Facebook changing their Terms of Use to reflect
that they forever own your content – even if you cancel your account with them. Needless to say, I was not very impressed with the changes and figured that it was just the name of the game. But to my surprise the powers that be at Facebook listened to their users and have reverted back to their previous Terms of Use while they work 0n an updated version. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook wrote more about the change on the Facebook Blog.
Besides the reversion to their old terms, FB has asked for user input on their new Terms. I am interested in seeing what the response from users is. Unfortunately, most people don’t care about this sort of stuff until they disagree with it. This is an opportunity for all those folks (including myself) who complained to get involved in the new ToU draft.
Visit the “Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibility” and post your thoughts and comments on the new terms.
Thanks for the read and God speed!
Brave New Web?
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009“The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either.”
- Benjamin Franklin
"Big Brother" is moving to control the Internet
If you’re reading this post you can thank the many (possibly thousands) of technology visionaries who have had a hand in developing what we currently know as the “Internet.” What started off as an efficient way to send short text-based messages has blossomed into what has become the world’s medium for business and personal communications as well as the backbone of financial transactions. The rapid growth of the Internet has changed the way we communicate by giving us the freedom to express ourselves in ways we never thought possible. Social networks, on-line video sites and the anonymity that the Internet and World Wide Web (two different things) provide have allowed the expression of otherwise unpopular ideas and the creation of communities that bring together those of similar mindset.
Along with the good of the Internet has come the bad. All of us who use the Internet have been victims at one time or another of the bad — viruses, Spam, malware, hijackers, identity thieves and the like have been a consistent plague that has spawned a multi-billion dollar Internet security industry. Most of this industry is focused on preventing/removing such infections and for many computer geeks this malicious software keeps them employed. Not to mention the identity-theft market and the credit monitoring services. No discussion on the bad of the Internet would be complete without mentioning the prevalence of, shall we say “adult entertainment.” And not surprisingly, the majority of the aforementioned infections are spread through the downloading/viewing of such “entertainment.” (As a side note, isn’t it interesting that infections are spread through immoral behavior both in the real world and in cyber space?)
Your FB Content Will Outlive You…
Monday, February 16th, 2009UPDATE: See my February 18th post for an update on FB Terms of Use.
Facebook announced changes to their ToU (Terms of Use) today that has many users second-guessing what they are
posting. While it is not, in general, a good idea to post pictures that you wouldn’t want your mother to see, the stakes have gotten even higher. Facebook now says that by using their service you hand over all rights to the content you publish there – even if you cancel your account.
Read on for the changes to the Facebook TOU… Continue Reading…
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