By Cynthia Herbert :: 10:41 AM
If you’ve been using the popular photo and message sharing app Snapchat, you should make sure that you’ve updated to the latest version for your device.
Snapchat, an app that allows you to control how long your friends can view the message you sent, was last updated for Apple devices on December 17. If you do not have version 4.0.1, then you are not running the latest version. The newest version offers bug fixes for the program, and can be downloaded for free from Apple’s app store.
For Apple devices, the latest version of Snapchat is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation), iPad 2 Wi-Fi, iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G, iPad (3rd generation), iPad Wi-Fi + 4G, iPad (4th generation), iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (4th generation), iPad mini and iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular. It requires iOS 5.0 or later, and the app is optimized for iPhone 5.
If you have an Android device, the latest version is 1.5.0, and can be downloaded from the Google Play store. This newest Android version offers new user interface changes and improvements to the application.
On Google Play, the app has been rated at 3.5 stars with 17,404 reviews, and on the Apple App store, it has been rated at 3 stars with 7657 reviews.
By Paul Thomson :: 8:49 PM
Over the past year, about 31 million cell phone users in the U.S. abandoned their feature phones. Feature phones are defined as mobile phones which are not considered to be a smartphones, but have additional functions over and above a basic mobile phone, such as basic e-mail retrieval and messaging features.
According to analyst data from Asymco, over the past 24 months over 60 million users switched. In recent months, over 550,000 users switch every week and this rate of advancement, from feature phones to smart phones, has been relatively unchanged since late 2009.
While some of this abandonment has to do with demand for smartphone services much is also due to a decreasing supply of non-smart phones. Retail shelf space allocated to smartphones is nearing 100%.
With shrinking shelf space and an accelerated decline in the feature phone product category, quite possible that by 2015 the last feature phone will make its appearance in the US.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 8:14 PM
If you have an Android smartphone, it will soon serve as a YouTube remote control for televisions and other displays from makers such as Sony, LG, Panasonic and Bang & Olufsen.
Thanks to an update by Google for its YouTube mobile app, users can send videos on their phones or tablets onto Google TV-equipped television sets. Google has worked with a select number of manufacturers and will showcase the new YouTube-friendly sets next week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Later in 2013, Google will include Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, Vizio, and Western Digital in the lineup of hardware that can support the YouTube remote feature.
According to a Google blog post, the new displays will feature the latest look and feel for YouTube on TV, allowing users to view videos and channels in high definition on their big screen.
By Gilbert Falso :: 1:29 PM
Snapchat, the popular mobile app that allows users to send and receive photos and videos with a limited viewing time, is no longer the domain of teenagers exchanging risque pictures. A recent successful Snapchat marketing effort by a frozen yogurt chain may show that this app is more than just a plaything.
16 Handles, an east-coast frozen yogurt chain, has been using Snapchat to send coupons to customers who interact with the company via the new messaging medium.
“Our social-media fans are teenagers and we noticed on Facebook and Twitter that they were using it. We figured, ‘Why not?’ and we gave this a chance,” 16 Handles’ community manager Adam Britten told AdAge.
This may be the first instance of a product or brand using a limited viewing messaging service like Snapchat or Facebook’s recently launched Poke application for an advertising or marketing effort.
The yogurt chain is no stranger to social media, however, and has a healthy following on Twitter and Facebook. In addition, with the dedication of a full-time community manager role, it is easy for the company to be nimble to jump on an opportunity like the one that Snapchat presented. The company was able to engage by sending and receiving approximately 1,400 images with their customers.
Titled “Snappy New Year,” Britten’s campaign used Facebook to ask 16 Handles fans to send in a Snapchat photo of a recent frozen-yogurt purchase to the 16 Handles Snapchat account. Senders then get a coupon via Snapchat that they can redeem at one of the chain’s locations. The campaign was originally slated to run on Twitter account, but Britten moved it to Snapchat because it was less likely that the coupons would be copied and sent to others, since they are deleted from the application within a certain amount of time. Twitter and Facebook coupons are easy to screenshot and circulate to others.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 4:19 PM
Kazuhiro Tsuga, the President of Panasonic Corp. will deliver the keynote address at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next week in Las Vegas, NV.
Tsuga will discuss his vision for the future of Panasonic and the company’s leadership position in green and sustainable innovation practices.
He joined Panasonic as President in June. Prior to that, he was president of AVC Networks Company, the internal organization responsible for Panasonic’s audiovisual and information technology equipment business. From 2008 to 2011, Tsuga served as president of the company’s Automotive Systems division and was the managing executive officer of the corporation.
2013’s CES will feature over 3,000 technology companies debuting their latest technology products and services across 15 product categories including audio, automotive electronics, home technologies, digital photography, gaming, and entertainment.
President Tsuga’s keynote is planned for 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 8, in the Palazzo Ballroom, of the Venetian Hotel.
