Via: Cell Phones

Intelligent email filters based on previous email behaviours. Brilliant it if works.

The dark side of email usage, and it’s real cost to the work environment isn’t discussed that often. Some of the lessons we can learn from it just as easily apply to social media sites.

You can find the full list here, but here are some of the highlights:

• Jackson et al (2002) found that people set their mail program to check for new mail every 5 minutes.
• They also found that people reacted to 70% of emails within 6 seconds and 85% within 2 minutes.
• Email doesn’t convey emotions very well, emoticons just don’t cut it compared to face-to-face interaction.
• People are less co-operative over email and even feel more justified in being less co-operative.
• People are more likely to lie over email, as it feels more like chatting and less permanent than a letter.
• People are less restrained due to the online disinhibition effect.

Now you could just as easily apply most of these findings to Social Media. How often do you check Facebook or Twitter for updates or instantly respond when someone asks you something over it?

How long do you keep Hootsuite/TweetDeck open in the background and keep tabbing to it to see if something new has shown up? I know I keep checking it much more than I do email.

A quick run down of the new stuff Apple introduced at yesterday’s talk:

• New iPods, Shuffle, Nano and Touch.
• New iTunes 10
• Ping, social networking for music in iTunes
• Apple TV and AirPlay
• iOS 4.1 and 4.2
• Game Center

The New iPods

These are so cool. Now even smaller, the Nano just looks like something you could ware as a watch. In terms of size, Tom says ‘The new Nano is to the old Nano as the old Nano was to the Mini’, it’s actually tiny and cool, rather than just a small version of the larger one. The Shuffle just shows how much technology has changed and how something so small can hold so much music and play for so long.

The new Touch is just like an iPhone 4 now, just without the phone. One of the new great things they introduced is FaceTime over wifi,  you can now make calls with it to other iPhone or iPod Touch users for free. As Jobs pointed out, it’s just like an iPhone without the contract.

Hand in hand with the new range of iPods is the new iTunes. They changed the icon as iTunes downloads is set to overtake CD sales and it has a new, smoother, interface, as every iTunes version seems to have.

The major new feature is Ping, a social network for finding new music. Basically Apple’s version of Spotify.

There’s also the new iOS updates coming out, giving the iPad wireless printing. It will also introduce the ‘Games Centre’ an Xbox Live/PSN for Apple products. Giving you friend’s lists and achievements for your iPhone/iPod Touch gaming. Not really something new or innovative, but welcome all the same. I imagine great fun will be had on the morning commute between colleges.

Apple TV and AirPlay, what used to be AirTunes will now cover streaming media like photos and TV shows. £99 for Apple TV and the ability to stream any of the shows or movies you buy through iTunes onto your TV. Seems a bit excessive for what it is, you could just plug in a laptop directly.

Amazon followed up with their own announcement of matching the 99c rental cost for shows, while Apple claims that users can view their Netflix rentals through it. Not that relevant for us here in the UK though, Apple advertises a starting price of £2.50 for SD movies here.

All in all, a pretty good show by Apple. They’ve given us a look at some great tech to play with while catching up in providing what others like Microsoft and Spotify provide.

There’s been even more of a fuss about HTML5 recently, from YouTube displaying videos in it, to Yahoo Mail now being able to be accessed in it via mobile devices.

Apple even have gone on record as not supporting Flash because they believe that HTML5 will replace it.

So what is HTML5 and how does it effect you?

I’m a big fan of infographics, so here is a good one explaining some of the features and how different browsers compare in utilising them.

So how does that effect you?

Well, like I pointed out yesterday, we can expect to see more and more websites using these increased interactive tools to make their websites even more personalised and great to use. Just make sure your browser can handle it.

So here’s something very cool.

The Wilderness Downtown

You’ll need Chrome to view it properly, but it is a very nice showcase of what HTML5 is capable of rendering.

They use choreographed windows, interactive flocking, and 3D canvas rendering to produce an amazing example of interactive web browsing.

From the localisation of Google Maps’ views to a very distinctive typeface that is partially user generated, it really showcases how much more interactive the web could become. It’s brilliant.

You can find more information out about it here.

But, I have to admit, I just spent ages just playing with the flocks of birds as they fled my mouse.

So here’s something interesting.

Blockbuster is apparently preparing to file for bankruptcy in the States next month.

Meanwhile, YouTube is set to start offering free movies, in addition to the Channel 4 and Five shows it hosts.

With both Apple’s rumoured iTV and Google TV bringing better streaming media to the TV, is it any surprise that streaming media is killing off video rentals? For whole seasons and movies there’s Netflix/Lovefilm, and for single new episodes there’s Apple’s iTunes store. And that’s just the paid option; there are a host of sites that deliver streaming shows and movies for free. Just have a look at this infographic comparing Netflix to Redbox to get a sense of how people are preferring to consume their media.

Why would you still be renting DVDs when you can just watch it online?

(Source)

There are a few new competitors to the iPad coming out soon, from HP, Asus, Lenvo and Blackberry, all within the next 6 months. But how have you guys been using them?

Here’s, we’ve not had much cause to switch to using an iPad for anything, they’re just cool bits of tech to play around with. Businesses on Wall Street are apparently testing them out, and Apple’s CFO Tim Cook is quoted as saying that half the Fortune 100 are testing it, but these types of story only seem novel, testing new equipment to see how it could be used, rather than an industry wide standard being set.

However, that’s just the iPad, are companies more likely to adopt the use of tablet pcs when there is a lot more choice in the market?

Is it going to take Google’s Web Store of mobile apps to really open up the market and make it competitive to Apple’s App Store?

If they are going to use it, I think it’s going to take the form of more of a universal remote device, such as Dell’s idea of a device that you can dock to your laptop. Using it as a true extension of your main computer/netbook, to control things on it, to enhance your user experience and make it easier to do what you want, not just another toy to play with.

Jason Cohen in his blog post “You’re a little company, so start acting like one” wants small businesses to start putting themselves in the position of the customer and think about what they would rather see when they log on to a company’s website. 

“Do you want to see useless garbage phrases or does she want to hear about how you totally understand her pain? Should you come off as a big, established, safe company or as a cool, passionate, small team who wants to make a difference? Should you hide behind “Contact Us” forms or display your phone number and Twitter account on your home page? Should you promote features and benefits you don’t really have implemented yet or should you promote your forums, blog, and weekly all-customer virtual meeting where everyone chimes in with feedback?  Be human. Stop hiding. Be yourself.”

So here you go, “we are small business specialists, technologists, geeks, gadget addicts and general lovers of people and technology.”  This is who we are, we’re here to help and make your life as easy as possible in the technology world, putting you in touch with one of our tech guys  who fits your business perfectly.  You will always work with the same team so we get to know you and your business.

We aim to make IT do what it says on the tin and help train you to use it so you can eventually become independent of us – it’s sad to say goodbye but we will always be here if you decide you need us again in the future.

We are people with names and faces who do our best for you!

Dan at The Engine Room