Feb
9th

Oneupweb : Apple Is Destroying The Way We Do Business: A Love Story

Posted by admin on February 9, 2010 at 2:30 pm

2910_butterballI remember a time back in college, back when the internet was in its infancy, there was an ad on TV for Butterball turkey.  And at the end of that commercial they showed this newfangled thing called a URL. I remember thinking to myself, “Now why the heck does a poultry company need a web site? That’s just pointless.” Only now can I look back and see just how wrong I was and how right Butterball was: if you are a business, you need a website. Period, paragraph, end of statement.

Since the explosion of the internet, having an online presence is no longer something that you get around to, or even an option. It’s a must-have.

Jump ahead to 2006. A little website called Twitter is released into the wild, allowing people to send out 140 character updates into the ether, freely available for anyone who wants to listen. Once again, I found myself thinking, “140 characters? I guess it’s a neat concept, but it’ll never take off. That’s not enough space to say anything of substance.” Nostradamus, I am not. With tens of millions of users, Twitter has emerged as a juggernaut that shows no signs of slowing.

Fast forward to now—everyone has a website, your grandmother’s on Twitter and you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting someone who owns a “smartphone”. And what’s the number one “gotta have” smartphone out there? You guessed it, Apple’s iPhone. Released in 2007, and with over one hundred thousand apps available to download and over two billion (yes, with a “b) downloads and counting, Apple is forcing companies to once again reconsider how they do business.  It’s no longer enough to have a website, heavens no. To be truly successful in this Web 2.0 world, one must have a social media presence, mobile-optimized sites and yes, even an iPhone app.

Luckily, all of these are things that we fine folks over at Oneupweb can help out with. Whether you need your Facebook fixed, your Twitter tweaked or your main site mobile-phone-ified, give us a call at 877.568.7477 and find out what we can do for you.

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Feb
2nd

Thoughts On The iPad, Flash And Online Video

Posted by Jeremiah on February 2, 2010 at 10:12 am

21010_ipadfinalAh yes, the iPad. Shrouded in secrecy until its recent unveiling, this newest gadget from Apple was the subject of nigh rabid speculation regarding its features, form factor and name. Post-launch, the product is still being hotly discussed, but one feature in particular (or lack thereof) seems to have grabbed quite a bit of attention: no native support for Adobe Flash.

This is nothing new for Apple. The iPhone and iPod Touch have lacked any support for Flash since coming to market, relying on custom apps to allow access to content on sites like YouTube (which ordinarily streams content as Flash video files). As described in an earlier post on this blog, Adobe has once again found themselves with the ball in their court. I wouldn’t be surprised if Adobe Flash Professional CS5 winds up able to compile apps for both the iPhone and the iPad. Or who knows, maybe that’s a CS6 feature?

But why take such a hard line against Flash with the iPad? First, Apple has been consistent in its position that Flash is too resource intensive for its mobile devices, citing decreased battery life and processor strain as the two primary examples of why it could be considered advantageous to drop support altogether. Secondly, Apple is pushing standards with the launch of this device—HTML5 specifically.

By supporting HTML5, Apple has enabled the iPad to stream video content without the need for a browser plugin. Most mainstream video content providers, including YouTube, are already moving to adopt HTML5. Currently, web browsers Opera and (unsurprisingly) Apple’s own Safari boast strong support of HTML5, while Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer lags far behind.

It would be unwise to take all of this as reason to be dismissive of Flash altogether, however. Roughly 96 percent of internet users have some version of Adobe’s Flash installed on their computers. While HTML5 may be the future of video distribution on the web, Flash developers continue to push the platform’s boundaries, delivering not only video, but games, advertising and interactive media to a steadily growing global market.

We may be just catching a glimpse of the end of Adobe’s market dominance on the horizon, but in the meantime, it’s still the 800 pound gorilla in the room when it comes to the multimedia content being consumed by the one billion plus global internet users online in 2010. Apple’s decision to essentially “lock out” its iPad users from this type of content may have been intended to be a push toward the future, but could wind up hurting them in the end.

Pushing standards is one thing, but denying people access to content they have become widely accustomed to consuming is another thing entirely.

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Jan
29th

An Open Letter To Apple

Posted by Maureen on January 29, 2010 at 4:01 pm

Dear Apple,

I want to commend you on the successful marketing campaign you built around the new iPad. While I have some concerns with the actual name itself, the amount of buzz that was carefully built around this announcement was incredible.

But alas, that’s not why I write.

Prior to your Wednesday announcement I had hoped and prayed that you would include an announcement of a different kind: that you were not renewing your contract with AT&T for another year.

I’m still praying for this.

It’s not that I don’t like AT&T. I hear they are fantastic. But I bought into one of those 2-person account contracts with a different carrier before anyone ever realized just how cool the iPhone was actually going to be. The other person that I bought into the account with (he shall remain nameless) has had a temporary bout of insanity, and bought one of those “other” smartphones two months ago with the same carrier (he claims it has better coverage or something like that). I could break my contract with this carrier, but that might mean breaking my contract with him as well (if you know what I mean). I’ve heard claim that your contract with AT&T expires in June.

Oh Apple, come on, just let it.

I, too, want to be able to build my own pizza and shake off those nasty toppings I didn’t really want. I’d love to shoot a buffalo and ford a river on the Oregon Trail. And I long to get in a virtual food fight with all of my friends on Twitter and Facebook.

The marketing opportunities that your iPhone presents are endless, and I’m pleading with you: let me be marketed at! Do you know how rare that statement really is? The companies currently pushing apps on your iPhone certainly do. So please, don’t punish them because I’m with another carrier.

In closing, I’d like to say thank you for your continued efforts in the technological space. And if you ever want to run a product name by me, I’d be happy to offer my opinion.

Sincerely and with great hope,

An iPhone Carrier Wanna-Be

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Apr
1st

Apple Unveils New Gaming Console

Posted by Robert on April 1, 2009 at 12:57 pm

Apple Braeburn Gaming Console

San Francisco — Venturing ever deeper into rival territory, Apple Inc. unveiled their latest technological development this morning; a new gaming console, referred to as codename: Braeburn.

As their first real attempt at capitalizing on the gaming world, Apple’s new creation is showing much promise. Given its small size and current weight of 2.6 lbs, the Braeburn is the most portable non-handheld console yet to date. Shying away from tradition, the systems games will be distributed via “micro” flash card rather than a form of compact disk. The technology is still under development, but is described as resembling a small sugar cube.

Apple Braeburn Gaming ConsoleThe console has been designed not only as a gaming system, but as a multimedia bridge. It supports both Bluetooth and Wireless-N communication, and comes equipped with an iPod docking station. But perhaps the most interesting feature is the 160GB hard drive with a full installation of Mac OSX. The idea originated as a way to stay connected to social networks by allowing users to install their favorite chat programs and access blogs via Safari. It soon developed further with the possibility of playing Mac-compatible games on your television screen.

Other specifications talked about were extremely vague, but the real eye-catcher (or is it ear-catcher?) was the mentioning of Ultra HD. For those of you new to the concept, the latest in High Definition resolution raises the bar from 1080p to 4320p; 16x the quality of the current industry standard. The console will support resolutions as low as 720i, but 480i/p can only be achieved via the optional docking port.

Although an official launch date has not yet been revealed, rumors point to a Q3 release of 2011. It’s no surprise that a price tag has not yet been announced, as this is an April Fools Day Joke, and we made the whole thing up.

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Mar
26th

Safari 3.1 – A New Player to the Windows Browser Mix

Posted by Steve on March 26, 2008 at 11:21 am

A new contender may be emerging into the Windows web browser arena. After making a number of much-needed updates to Safari 3.0 beta, Apple has begun pushing users to install Safari 3.1 for Windows. This push has been welcoming for some, but somewhat of an annoyance for others.

apple safari logoAs with a lot of the pushback that is sparked when companies try to force updates on users, as was the case with Facebook Beacon, Apple’s push of Safari 3.1 has been in the form of a default opt-in update. For those running iTunes, Apple has begun prompting users to install Safari 3.1 for Windows as part of their Software Update, even though it is not applicable to improving the functionality or security of iTunes itself.

While many people are disgruntled by the tactic employed by Apple to induce involuntary download, there are others who can’t wait to test their new browser.

Apple has made a number of improvements to Safari, which include standards compliance enhancements, increased speed, and a more efficient use of memory. And after initial tests, a number of users are claiming that Safari 3.1 will rival Internet Explorer and Firefox, and that certain features of Apple’s new browser surpass those of browsers put out by Microsoft and Mozilla.

According to W3Schools statistics, just 2% of users browsed the Web using Safari last month. Internet Explorer still maintains the bulk of usage at over 50%, and Firefox has now captured over 36% of the overall browser usage market share. We can expect to see Safari’s market share increase a bit in the months to come, but only time will tell whether or not Apple will differentiate its browser enough to break the current browsing habits of a significant number of users.

For webmasters, this could soon mean site compatibility testing in yet another browser.

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