Your status as an action movie!

by Chris M on May 17, 2012 in Mobile, Networking with No comments

The final week of the BlackBerry Touch Awesomeness challenge has arrived and boy oh boy has it been a wicked journey. I can’t believe that someone’s going to win themself a gorgeous Audi A1!

This week’s challenge involves you typing a status update into the Touch Awesomeness machine and if it’s awesome enough, they’ll take your update and turn it into an action-packed movie and send it back to you to use!

Here’s my one:

If you want to hear some examples, check this link: http://www.touchawesomeness.com/campaigns/status-update-of-awesomeness

Statigram: Instagram For The Web

by Alessio on May 17, 2012 in Equipment, Photographs with No comments

Last week I shared a couple tips on how to take better photos with Instagram. While the application was initially limited to iPhone users, it recently became available to a grateful group of Android photographers.

Statigram is a slick web application that integrates with Instagram and allows you to manage your account directly from the web. Once you’ve signed in, you’re presented with your feed in a grid view. Not a fan of grid view? No problem. You can swap between list and slideshow views as well.

Under the Viewer tab, you also have quick access to your photos, printing options for your photos, your likes, your followers, people you follow, and photos that are popular on Instagram.

The printing options for your photos are pretty cool. You can print your Instagram photos nearly anywhere. The options are iPhone cases, fridge magnets, calendars, wall art, stickers, pillows, albums and posters. These are some innovative uses of your Instagram photos and they make great gifts too. For the hardcore Instagrammers, there are also keychains, phone charms, mini stickers, bamboo picture frames and bamboo iPhone cases.

Under the Statistics tab it really gets fun. You initially get presented with an overview of your Instagram stats, from the number of photos that you’ve shared to the number of likes and comments you’ve received. You also have a breakdown of your follower rate along with your scores, which are broken down into your Love, Talk and Spread Rates.

It doesn’t end there. You can drill down even further with options for Rolling month analysis, Content, Engagement, Optimization, and Community. Statigram does a wonderful job of drilling down on your account’s statistics.

You can see the number of photos you’ve posted, your most engaged followers and your most popular photos in the Rolling month analysis, while under content you can see when you posted your first photo, what number user you are (I am number 335,820), when you post your photos, the filters you use most and which tags you use and how often. Engagement pretty much covers all your likes and comments since joining Instagram and which pictures were the most liked and commented on. Optimization takes care of the best times to submit photos, which filters have the most impact and which tags you currently use as opposed to the ones that are the most popular on Instagram to get those likes and comments numbers up. Community encompasses your followers, those you follow, your account growth and the people you enjoy most.

The next tab in the navigation bar is Snapshots. These are quirky pictures based on your stats that you can email to your device and upload to Instagram to share with your followers. It’s a pretty cool feature which I think is a nice touch.

Next is the Management tab which houses a comments tracker on your photos and a function that allows you to send and receive private messages to and from your followers and people you follow.

The Promote tab is up next with some nice features for promotion. You can promote your photos with a public URL, which allows non-Instagrammers to view your photos and an RSS feed, which you can use on your website or blog.

You can also share to Facebook. You may think that this is a no-brainer considering Facebook bought Instagram, but keep in mind that this is an independently developed web app. There is a feed tab for Facebook pages, a Timeline box and a tool to create a Facebook cover photo from your Instagram photos. Your cover photo gets put together relatively quickly, and once the pop up box appears with it, just right click to save.

The final tab is the Contest tab, with current contests being run and also past ones with their winning photos.

Ultimately I can say that this web app appeals both to the iPhoneographer and the geek in me. A mashup of statistics and Instagram is a winner in my books.

How common is your birthday?

by Chris M on May 16, 2012 in Off Topic with 3 Comments

via [Hat tip Mike]

Everyday Awesomeness: 41 free social media icons

by on May 16, 2012 in Equipment with 3 Comments

Have you ever spent hours looking for a decent set of social media icons that include all the networks you want? Somehow there always seem to be a couple missing. Recently I stumbled across this gem-a set of free social media icons that include the likes of Dribble, Instagram and Pinterest!

Here they are:

To get your hands on this generous freebie, visit premiumpixels.com.

Do you know of any fantastic, free icon sets? Let us know in the comments.

Cheap flights era coming to an end

by on May 16, 2012 in Travel with No comments

The last 10 years in South Africa has seen a remarkable drop in the real cost of flight prices.  Airline prices are more or less the same in Rand terms as they were 10 years ago, but consumer price inflation has averaged 65%, meaning that in real terms the cost of a flight has fallen by about 65% – a massive drop. What makes the steady flight prices even more remarkable is that the price of oil (a major input into flight costs), has increased by some 300% over the last 10 years.

This economic miracle was brought about by the injection of competition in the form of low cost carriers, which cut costs to the bone and focused on fast turnaround times, coupled with the existence of 3 airlines which are willing to run at losses (the state-owned carriers).

Kulula got going in July 2001 and was joined by 1time in February 2004.  Intensifying competition saw Nationwide go into liquidation in 2008 and Interlink in 2010. Velvet Sky joined the fray in 2011 and went into liquidation a year later.

The airlines which remain are struggling financially.  If SAA were a private company it would have gone into liquidation as well; but itself, Mango & SA Express have the deep pockets of the government backing it.  It’s deeply ironic that a government which, on the one hand says it is batting for the poor, on the other hand puts so much effort into the ongoing subsidisation of the flights of the wealthy, and this is one of the structural factors which keep flight prices low in South Africa – the existence of a company which can go into bankruptcy unscathed.  However, this also drives private companies out of business, and this reduced competition in the long run isn’t good for the consumer.

I suspect that the financial struggle of the private airlines is going to be the catalyst for higher flight prices in South Africa – the 1time share is trading at a record low, and Comair (which runs the Kulula and British Airways brands in South Africa) posted its first loss in 50 years of operations.   Not only do I think that we’ve seen the end of the era of  cheap flights in South Africa, but also that we are going to see more and more innovations geared to make money out of the consumer.  We’ve seen this in Europe already, where if you check in luggage with the likes of Ryanair or easyJet you’ve got to pay extra, in fact if you check in physically as opposed to electronically you’ve got to pay more. There are also extra charges if you don’t use a specific credit card.

We’ve already seen the beginnings of this – flight prices this year are higher than last year, and we’ve already seen Kulula tighten up on its luggage requirements, and Mango introducing wifi (which you have to pay for).  Hold onto your seatbelts – nobody knows how high and how far the South African airlines are going to take us down this path.

Suits Season 2 June 14

by Chris M on May 15, 2012 in Video with 2 Comments

This isn’t breaking news or anything, but if you’ve seen Suits, and you’re like me, you’ll no doubt be dying to know about Season 2. Well, the good news is that it is happening and it’s happening this year and is said to be airing on June 14!

Here’s a sneak peak:

I can’t wait!

Ranking Number 1 on Google by Matt Cutts

by Chris M on May 15, 2012 in Humour, Search Engine Optimization with 8 Comments

The answer is here:

Audi Tuesdays: 9 Tips To Save Fuel

by Alessio on May 15, 2012 in Cars with 5 Comments

Let’s face it. Fuel isn’t getting any cheaper. Fuel prices are rising every month. While we all need fuel to get around, we could drive smarter to save fuel. I’ve put together my top fuel saving tips.

  1. Drive with your windows closed. Cars are more aerodynamic with their windows closed, and can consume up to 20% more fuel when driving with windows open.
  2. Switch the airconditioning off. Aircon uses power from the engine to operate, which results in the engine working harder to run, which in turn uses more fuel. If needs be, run the aircon for a short while to get the right temperature, and switch it off for a while. Open the windows a little to circulate fresh air, or use the car’s fan.
  3. Don’t carry any unnecessary weight. Make sure that you aren’t carrying anything heavy in your car that you don’t need, as the load puts strain on the engine.
  4. Keep your RPM low. Try keep your RPM below 3000 for optimal fuel consumption. It may call for gear changes sooner, but it will use less fuel.
  5. Choose your routes wisely. Take routes that have fewer traffic lights and stops and more open road. The constant stopping and starting uses fuel unnecessarily.
  6. Start a carpool. Do you live near to your colleagues, or does your neighbour work close to you? Try carpooling. Choose to drive your car every other day. This will save on fuel and the general maintenance of your car, as you will be using it much less than usual.
  7. Check your tyres. Under-inflated tyres create more rolling resistance on the road, causing you to use more fuel to keep the car moving.
  8. Keep within the speed limits. This is a tough one. Keeping your car at a constant high speed will consume more fuel than driving within the speed limits. Take it easy on the roads and perhaps leave home a little earlier in the morning to avoid speeding.
  9. Check your air filter. A filthy air filter restricts the flow of air to the engine, resulting in it working harder. Check your air filter regularly, as it could improve your fuel economy up to 10%.

Do you have any fuel saving tips that work for you? Share them in the comments below.

Geek Evolution Infographic

by Chris M on May 13, 2012 in Humour with No comments

Ok, so it’s not reeeally an infographic, but it’s geeky and I think it’s quite cool, click to enlarge:

What geek are you?

Mercedes Benz A-Class QR Code Campaign

by Chris M on May 13, 2012 in Cars, Marketing with 2 Comments

Mercedes Benz have been in the light a lot recently for some of the social media activations they’re involved with, it was a couple of months ago that I blogged about their Twitter Empty Parking Bays campaign and now I’m going to show you another one where they’ve used QR Codes in a great way.

The new Mercedes Benz A-Class needed some attention before launch and what better way to create some excitement than to come up with a clever digital marketing campaign. Jung von Matt/Alster, the guys behind the campaign decided to turn secret prototypes into advertising media by covering the new A-Class Mercs with QR-codes and sending them out on the streets. Can you imagine the hype?

It gets better though, once a person took a photograph and scanned the QR-Code, they were presented with an application which tempted the curiosity of all car fans and they gave away an exclusive trip to the world premiere of the new A-Class.

Here’s a video:

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