I was extremely excited to hear Google had a cloud music platform in the pipeworks. This means you can upload your music to their servers and have access wherever you are in the world with just an internet connection, device and Google account. Unfortunately, it was only available to US residents. Fiddlesticks. A year later and I’ve found it’s available to me to use.

Google Play Music

A bit of background information. I lost my iPod a year ago (I’m still mourning my loss) and have been using my Samsung Galaxy Note as a replacement. However, the tiny memory somewhat hampers how many albums I can have on it (my 80GB iPod had about a decade’s worth of questionable music). Luckily I had backed up most of it on an old hard drive and decided to load it to Google Music.

Using Google Music to upload your tunes couldn’t be easier. Simply download the Google Music Manager, find the folder containing the music and hit upload. I’ve been listening using the web app and smartphone app on Android.

The web app GUI is extremely clean and easy to use. You’re greeted by cover art (which it’s pretty good at finding) from your collection which clicks through to the songs and huge control buttons along the bottom. There’s a search bar along the top (great when you have a large collection of music) and options to filter such as Artists, Albums, Thumbs Up (favourites), playlists etc. Google have also introduced a music store similar to rivals iTunes store (prices are roughly the same).

The Android app is also well laid out, making walking and finding music at the same time easy. What I most like is the Keep On Device option. As the name suggests, you can download albums and playlists to keep on your device. Perfect for anyone like me who runs out of memory on their smartphone, it makes switching music easy and constantly keeps your collection fresh.

My favourite feature has to be the Play Instant Mix function. Clicking the arrow next to any song and hitting this option generates a playlist based on the chosen song. It’s a very similar idea to the radio function on Spotify for example, except the songs are selected from your music collection so you’ll know you like them. Songs are chosen not only based on similar artists but ‘metadata and audio analysis’ so you may find a few odd but relevant choices in there. It’s a wonderful function to have if you’re in a certain mood and need a quick playlist.

What separates Google Music from it’s few competition? It allows you to upload 20,000 songs for free.

Overall, Google Music is something all music fans should look into. Thanks to it, I can revisit old music and take a trip down memory lane. Can I interest anyone in O-Town?…

Have you tried Google Music yet? What do you think of it? Tell us in the comments section below.

Many of us will have heard about the latest offering from Facebook being graph search. It may not be the snappiest of titles for a revolutionary change to the way Facebook can be used, but it is an interesting idea. It was made clear at the launch of the beta that this is a very different to web search.

Web search is designed to take any open-ended query and give you links that might have answers.

Graph search is designed to take a precise query and give you an answer, rather than links that might provide an answer.

Image via CrunchBase

So through using graph search you will be able to enter a query and then through the application of filters be able to distil an answer that is exactly what you are looking for. For example, I could look to search for friends in New York who are supporters of the New York Yankees should I be looking to find out information about that team. Further than that I would be able to identify anyone who works for the team that is a friend of my friends. This could lead me to being able to get in touch with someone who would be able to answer any questions or queries I may have about the team. It is this linking that could see graph search becoming a useful tool for many different applications.

Examples where graph search would be beneficial would include businesses looking to target people who are involved with their brand and also those looking to get the friends of these brand ambassadors involved too. as people are more likely to participate in an event or buy a product should it be recommended by a friend. Businesses looking to recruit individuals that work in a certain field will be identifiable, and if they are friends with anyone who already works with the business then a link is there that they may be able to approach from.

Photos are also a huge part of graph search. Searching for photos taken in certain places such as National Parks or even certain periods of time will give you exact results from a variety of sources. This again will bring up more privacy issues and who actually owns the images.

There are, of course, many people who are criticising the invention of graph search as it is believed to be a bit creepy. And in many ways it is, now more than ever the way in which we are sharing data and information online is under the microscope. Everything that you post will be stored and will be going into the graph search building a huge profile. There may be privacy settings that you can alter to make Facebook a little bit more private, but through this development people will be having to think a lot more about what information they are sharing and even what pages they are liking and what photos they are being tagged in. Graph search is almost the exact opposite of Snapchat, an app that allows people to share pictures like a text message and then deletes the image after a set amount of time. There is no data build up, it is simply a quick message that will be remembered by people rather than data banks.

Another issue facing graph search is that it can’t tell when you are being serious. You may have liked a page as a joke a long time ago and forgotten all about it. Facebook sadly won’t be able to tell that you weren’t being serious and it won’t forget either. Everything is stored in the data banks. This can also be applied to people saying that they work at joke companies such as Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory.

Despite claims that graph search is not going to compete with web search engines such as Google Facebook have partnered with Bing which suggests that there may be a real rival to Google. However, Facebook does not feel that people will come to it to search the web (well, not yet anyway). In the future, though, the way in which we search and the way in which businesses will be able to advertise will be very different and graph search could be the way in which people choose to search.

What are your thoughts on Facebook graph search? Do you think that it will be a success? Who do you see benefiting most from the development of search on Facebook? Please let us know in the comments section below.

Image by computerjoe

For those of a certain age, (likely born in the mid-80s) who will have spent much of their teenage years enthralled in an obsessive love affair with Microsoft’s instant messaging service MSN messenger, the latest news from Microsoft marks the end of an era.

It has been announced that on March 15th our beloved MSN messenger will be “retired” at the ripe old age of 14 and its services will be merged with that of Skype, Microsoft’s new-ish VoIP service that it acquired in a multi-billion dollar deal.

MSN messenger first appeared in July 1999 and soon became the favoured form of communication for many a teenager, I myself remember many an evening spent conversing with my friends on IM, priding myself at being able have 10+ chat windows open at any one time and still be able to keep up with the conversations.

But with the dawning of social networking so too came the demise of MSN as fickle teens like myself abandoned their much-loved IM service in favour of newer more glamorous offerings such as MySpace and Bebo, later to be replaced by the ever popular Twitter and Facebook of today. Social Networks opened up a whole new world of communication, not only could you chat like on MSN; now you could, share photos with your contacts, play games with each other and even throw sheep at them if you so desired.

All is not lost however, for anyone still using MSN (or those like me who migrated through the various platforms but just couldn’t bring themselves to close their MSN account) all is not lost. As MSN merges with Skype all of its 100 million plus accounts will automatically be transferred to Skype so you will still be able to keep all of your MSN contacts.

All you need to do to begin using Skype with your MSN account is download the latest version of the Skype video chat service and sign in using your MSN log in details, it couldn’t be easier. If you have an existing Skype account you can then merge the two accounts and have all your contacts in the one place.

If like me you were holding on to your MSN account purely for nostalgia this merger is a great opportunity to take a trip down memory lane before you then go through your now merged contacts list and remove all the people you haven’t spoken to since you were 16 years old; saying a final farewell to our dear friend MSN.

Are you sad to be saying Goodbye to MSN? Let us know with a comment below!

If you’re a heavy Skype user like me then you’ll be very familiar with the Skype ringtone (it goes something like “doot dee doot dit doo dee”). I have to say, I’ve always found it quite pleasant and inoffensive, both of which are very desirable traits in a ringtone.

While I do like the ringtone, Norweigan house duo Moodcraft (Jonathan Gjertsen and Morten Reinhard) seem to like it quite a bit more.  So much so, in fact, that they’ve sampled the internet call giant’s ringtone and turned it into a funky house track… and it’s actually pretty good.

If you don’t want to take my word for it, then take the collective word of these tweeters:

@moodcraft Where can I download this? It’s reached its limit on @SoundCloud!!! I want to dance to this!

December 6, 2012 3:42 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@vernoneol

Vernon O.

Love this ‘moodcraft SKYPE SONG’ from one of our fans via #soundcloud http://t.co/Kb0xYEzX

December 6, 2012 12:46 am via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@jenatskype

Jennifer Caukin

Amazing techno techno techno remix of the Skype ringtone RT @OrnyD: @Paul_Austin Jesus, I love it. http://t.co/i3rzQHJt

December 5, 2012 5:03 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@Paul_Austin

Paul McDonnell

This is awesome, instant classic! #moodcraft SKYPE SONG via #soundcloud http://t.co/wbw26LrI

December 5, 2012 12:57 pm via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@JJBaybee

Zohare Haider

LOVE this Skype ringtone remix!! http://t.co/tfiMysXq

December 5, 2012 9:51 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@GriffMyth

Griffmyth

And it seems that it’s not only twitter users and myself who like it. Skype left this comment on the track’s YouTube video

“We love this! Would you be OK with us using an image from this video to post about this on Skype’s social channels?”

The track first appeared on Sound Cloud yesterday and has had over 3,500 listens, 49 likes and 24 comments already. It looks like it’s quickly building up a head of viral steam.

The Moodcraft guys gave us a little insight into how the track came into being:

“We got the idea when someone called Jonathan on Skype while we were working on a different project. We soon noticed there was potential for a house beat in there somewhere, and so we sampled it and used it as a building block for a tech house track.”

The also seemed blown away by the reaction to the track:

“Morten joked about it becoming the next big internet sensation when we realized it had turned out pretty good, but we never actually expected the response we got, with several thousand views, internet articles about it and a message from Skype themselves – we were amazed by the big warm reception just a few hours after uploading.”

This is far from the first time music producers have sampled seriously nerdy pieces of audio and built tracks out of them.

With that in mind we decided to scour Sound Cloud for the best nerdy remixes and bring them together into one playlist. Alongside the Skype Song we’ve got tracks sampling Super Mario, Star Trek and even the Nokia Ringtone. Enjoy…

Will you download the Skype Song if it becomes available on iTunes? Can you think of any other good nerd themed remixes? Leave a comment below and let us know.

A statement from global Internet intelligence agency, Renesys, has reported that Syria’s international Internet connectivity has been completely shut down.

Using information taken from a global routing table, Renesys state that at 10:26 UTC on Thursday, 29th November ”all 84 of Syria’s IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet.”

An update from the agency at 1.00 GMT today stated that the last 5 networks in Syria that were routed, a group of smaller netblocks previously advertised by global communications conglomerate Tata Communications, have also gone down.

An article on Syria’s blackout from the BBC has said that the Syrian government are blaming the attack on “terrorists”, with Syria’s minister of information telling a pro-government television station that ”The terrorists targeted the internet lines, resulting in some regions being cut off.”

Exactly how Syria’s Internet connection is being cut off is currently unknown, however Rik Ferguson, vice president of security research at Trend Micro has suggested that the attackers are “using the same approach as Libya did.”

“Requests for Syrian addresses are simply timing out – so it’s likely to be ‘blackholing’ or even breaking connections physically by cutting cables or switching things off.”

With 22 million people in Syria currently unable to get online and experiencing intermittent telephone connections, it makes you wonder just how you’d react if you woke up one day to find that all online access had just gone.

How do you think you’d deal with no access to the Internet? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

There are gazillions of infographics created every day. Most of them fall off the design table never to be seen again, but some get spread about the internet like wild fire.  Why? And how can you make sure your hard work pays off in the end?

I have brought together a collection of 5 of my favourite infographics from around the web in attempt to get some answers …

Humour

First up we have Rock and Pop Spelling Test.  In a past life I used to be very into my music and a lot of other people are too, but I don’t think it’s just the popular subject that makes this infographic so great and shaerable.  What makes it popular is that it is a great bit of observational humour – it’s funny.  Is this easily scalable and repeatable?  Well yes and no.  Humour is very subjective and not everyone is funny. This methodology will work well if you are funny or at the very least you know someone else that is.

Source: penneydesign.com

Attractiveness

Now for Secret Guide to London. Bringing to the fore otherwise unknown information is a great selling point for an infographic, but what really makes this infographic special is its great illustration. If you have access to some really creative people with exceptional artistic skills, creating an infographic that is going to look good on other people’s blogs and tumblrs is a good way to guarantee its success. People reblog more on a visual impulse than for any other reason.

Secret Guide to London – An infographic by the team at Marriott London Hotels

Timing

Next up we have Christmas Calorie Burning. Now this infographic employs one of the most scalable, repeatable and most popular strategies for creating a popular infographic. Namely it is designed to catch the wave of something that is already popular. This was obviously made to be popular around Christmas, but with a little bit of intuition you could hi-jack the popularity of any big upcoming event, be it a holiday, a film release or any other hot topic.

Source: jtxfitness.com

Utility

I am always of the opinion that utility is a great reason to make anything. If your infographic is genuinely useful to people it will be shared. This infographic shows you clearly how to set up the table for formal dinning. If you have skills that you think other people could benefit from why don’t you turn them into infographics – I for one would be delighted if you did.

Source: theclassywoman.blogspot.co.uk

New Insights

Just like the Secret Guide to London, this infographic brings novel insights to a well-known and popular subject. All of us want to do well at job interviews and giving people new information and research about how to succeed in an interview is a sure fire winner. This infographic brings new insights to the table in an easy to understand way.

source: classesandcareers.com

What do you think makes a good infographic?

In the end perhaps, what really makes a great infographic may have a lot to do with luck than anything else, but if you don’t get your infographic in front of the people that matter then all of your hard work will be in vain. Yes you need a great and simple concept, but you also need to promote it?

Hurricane Sandy, the Category 1 storm currently threatening $20 billion dollars in economic damage, has been terrorizing the East Coast of the US just in time for Halloween. Sure, the US coast has faced down a number of storms in its past; after all, the Gulf Coast in particular is well known for having a proper “hurricane season”. However, what makes this storm different from all the other storms from years past is something rather more technical; the Drum is already saying that this storm is by far the most documented-by-Social-Media storm in history, and possibly the most well documented, period

For those in the cyclone’s path, Google stepped up early on with a Google Maps “Crisis Map” to help mark emergency shelters and track power outages across the region. The map also has a handy webcam and YouTube video tracker to check on what exactly is happening with the weather in realtime.

And of course, like any natural disaster, hundreds of thousands of people in the area relied on social media to update their families and friends. Facebook Jornalism Program Manager Vadim Lavrusik reported on the top 10 most posted phrases by Facebook over the past 24 hours, and most of them had a Sandy bent, which considering the size of the site is no mean feat:

1. Sandy / hurricane/ Hurricane Sandy

2. stay safe/ be safe

3. storm

4. weather

5. east coast

6. power

7. my friends

8. cold

9. prayers / praying

10. wind / winds

Of course, websites and social hubs have also been affected by power outages and the like. With New York City practically being the media capital of the US, we saw the Huffington Post, Gawker and Buzzfeed go down in the fray, leading to a few bon mots from the peanut gallery:

Wow. @BuzzFeed @Gawker @HuffingtonPost are down. Holy trinity. If you’re a celeb and plan on doing something stupid now is your chance.

October 29, 2012 11:24 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@jonathanwald

Jonathan Wald

And last but not least, American Apparel managed to horrify America yet again with a Hurricane Sandy Sale email campaign. Considering a good chunk of the nation has still yet to come to terms with Hurricane Katrina from way back when, a Hurricane Sandy Sale is probably the definition of “too soon”.

As if sexualized ads and harassment lawsuits weren’t enough for a boycott, @AmericanApparel sent out a “hurricane Sandy sale” mail. Ugh.

October 30, 2012 4:17 am via twiccaReplyRetweetFavorite

@hypatiadotca

Leigh Honeywell

If you’re currently in the path of the storm, Wired has some tips on how to conserve Smartphone battery power during an outage. And now, we leave you with a video of a Disney cruise ship being battered by Hurricane Sandy off the coast of Florida, straight off of CNN iReport. Because even if the storm has only been documented as a Category 1, it can still cause a ton of damage with storm surges, winds, power outages and all sorts of things.

David Cameron may be eating his words slightly, as he finally sent out his first tweet on Twitter this weekend after having the account parked for ages and ages. Remember that “too many twits might make a twat” comment from 2009?

Well, apparently an opinion or two can change in three years. On the 6th of October, the Cameron account rose from the undead, tweeting:

I’m starting Conference with this new Twitter feed about my role as Conservative Leader. I promise there won’t be “too many tweets…”

October 6, 2012 4:51 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@David_Cameron

David Cameron

out to a largely unimpressed UK Twitter community.

Cameron is apparently taking some flack from his own party with his attempts to bring the Tories into the 21st century, hence the speculation that his recent sojourn on Twitter might have more to it than simply wanting to submit his own hashtag puns (#bandsafterbudgetcuts, #torymovies). Other world leaders have used the service as a way to get closer to constituents, and to put a more human face on their cabinet, which the current coalition might be angling for given the long-held furore over choice budget cuts. The second ever tweet from our PM and its Modern Labour slant may shed a little bit of light on the question on everyone’s minds: why now….?

Today I met the nursing team at the John Radcliffe Hospital, and announced £140m to help their work across the country http://t.co/Ztw8c99N

October 6, 2012 6:03 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@David_Cameron

David Cameron

At the time of writing this, @David_Cameron currently has 91,882 followers. That’s 20,569,075 less than Barack Obama and 855,984 less than the Queen of England parody account (@Queen_UK). It’s only been three days yet though, plenty of time to get with the #FFs and following hundreds of people only to unfollow them later.

What do you think of political figures using Twitter in their media strategies? Share your thoughts below.

Image by: Photo Extremist

The US fall television season is upon us and with it comes a flurry of extravagant, elaborate and epic ad campaigns, vying for our undivided attentions and addictions until the sun pokes its elusive head over the horizon of spring 2013.

Of course, any TV network worth its salt knows that the internet is the cool hip one that gets all the attention now. Instead of embarking on a futile attempt to lure digital devotees away from the shackles of social media, US networks are ramping up their online presence in a “if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em” approach to attracting viewers to turn onto upcoming TV shows – after all, the best way to gain the attention and loyalty of an addict is to feed their habit…

We’ve collated the coolest online companions and campaigns for the upcoming TV shows of three US TV networks that will have everyone in the UK banging on the door of the BBC looking for a licence fee refund…

Fox

Fox have released their Fall 2012 preview which includes the return of popular shows Glee, New Girl and X-Factor to name but a few. These shows attract an audience who are keen social-media beans – extremely keen as it turns out, as the premiere of the X-Factor attracted 1.4 million comments on Twitter and Facebook. Doing Fox’s bidding, the frantic fan fire was fuelled by Twitter battles, as viewers tore digital chunks out of each other whilst voting for their favourite judges. #cleverlittlefoxes…

However, Fox’s social media strategy stretches a lot further than comments, “likes” and follows. For example, fans of Touch can create a mosaic of their world using Facebook photos to tell a story, reminiscent of real-time instagram aggregator This is Now.

Companion apps for upcoming TV shows are also a big part of the network’s social campaign, with the in-depth and interactive X Factor app allowing viewers to completely divert their attention from the television for the entire show, busying themselves with bigger concerns like online voting, performance judging and fellow-fan interaction.

Similar apps for Apple and Android are available for a number of other Fox shows including Bones and New Girl, fans of which can help advertise the show by adding to the digital douchebag jar.

NBC

Oh…my..GAWD…how good does this look?!

Anyway, back to business…yes, NBC have a few fab-looking new offerings, including Revolution, The New Normal and the cryptically named Guys with Kids, but we all know that having quality upcoming TV shows just isn’t enough. And NBC have responded, expanding their social media presence past the big two of Facebook and Twitter, incorporating Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram profiles for each show.

Talking to Mashable, the network says it wants to be “where viewers are already congregating [to] create content customized for how users engage with those social networks”. So content, whether its photos, GIFs, memes or videos, both directly about a show and related to a theme of a show will be beautifully curated across these super-sharable platforms. Nice.

NBC Live is also available, driving online viewing and offering a fistful of juicy interactive bits ‘n pieces to get social aficionados drooling at the mouth. Feedback, following, filtering, fun fact-finding missions and other generic fandom fantasies are integrated together for each individual show, in a second-screen push for tablets and desktops.

And if you’re a fan of NBC’s The Voice rather than Fox’s X Factor – never fear! You too will have the chance to never actually watch a single moment of your favourite show, with The Voice live app, designed for Q&A sessions, chatting online and playing a points system game based on your favourite competitors. Woohoo!

CW

It may be the baby of our three networks but CW is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to social. Attracting an audience of young digital devotees with flagship shows such as Gossip Girl, the Vampire Diaries and America’s Next Top Model (really? Still?), this network needs to know its twitface from its tumpin. What upppp…

And it looks like they do, with thousands of Facebook fans already reeled in for upcoming TV shows Arrow and Emily Owens, not to mention the – get this – 48 million “likes” across the Facebook pages for all shows in the network’s fall schedule. CW also operates a main Twitter hub that allows fans to engage with and follow specific shows and actors.

The sharp, crisp  and clean social organisation continues with CW’s companion app, which is an all-inclusive tablet and smartphone app, incorporating content, clips, games and more for the all the network’s shows across the board. The main staple of this network’s social campaign is addictive engagement – a meme here, a contest there and 48 million “likes” later, Bob’s your uncle.

CW ramps up interest by dangling treats in front of its fanatic followers for an instant and gratifying social response. For example, a graphic detailing the intricacies of the hairstyle changes of Gossip Girl‘s Humphrey or a personalised “thank-you” video from the cast of Supernatural instantly generates an interest comparable to a feeding frenzy in a piranha-infested river.

In the words of CW’s EVP of marketing and digital programs, Rick Haskins:

We have passionate fans that rabidly consume our content wherever and however they can.

Smooth. Verrrry smooth.

What are your favourite social media campaigns for upcoming TV shows?

The tech industry knows Twitter is important for reaching a huge potential audience. The problem is, it’s often difficult to quantify what exactly that influence looks like.

Follower count? It’s become hilariously thrown into the limelight recently that some users (particularly semi-celebrities) have been accused of buying followers. Klout was supposed to fill this gap between follower count and real influence, but anyone who’s actually taken a look at the influential topics metric can instantly see where there may be one or two problems in the formula. For one, it listed me as influential in Pepsi based on one tweet where I was complaining about the convenience store selling out of Coke that morning. Robots with sarcasm-sensing abilities will be the next technological frontier.

How much influence does this tweet really carry?

Former Twitter CEO Evan Williams apparently understands just how much of a strange beast social media metrics are, because a recent conversation between him and Buzzfeed focused on just how difficult it can be to apply influence metrics to Twitter. The solution isn’t even looking at the number of active followers an individual has; after all, how many celebrities attract non-Twitter fans just to sift through their tweets? According to Williams:

“The dream metric is really how many people see your tweet, which is not even active followers. It’s some different metric.”

So, adding a metric to show how long a tweet is viewed and how many eyeballs are actually on it, then. Mashable has thrown the idea into the hat that the recent API restriction that had third party developers fuming might be Twitter’s first step to creating an in-house influence metric based on hits, since many of these third party sites like If This Then That allow for off-site viewing.

It’s an interesting idea; Twitter, at least, has the authority to add new features to the site’s code for better information gathering. Plus, it would add quantifiable value for marketing use of the site, and attracting those ad dollars will be how Twitter stays afloat in the upcoming years. Will we be able to access built-in influence graphs on Twitter at some point? Time will tell.

What would switching follower count to time spent reading tweet mean for your Twitter account? Share your thoughts below.