Daily Bits

Arnold Zafra

iPad Frenzy is Spiking Interest to iPhone OS Anew

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Mobile Analytics company, Flurry has released some interesting data points relating to the sudden spike in the number of iPhone developers adding their mobile tracking code to new projects.  Flurry observed the sudden spike especially when the hype over the launch of the Apple iPad started to build up prior to the launch in February. The very controversial iPad if you still remember will be running on the same OS used by the iPhone.

Flurry observed that the number of developers adding their analytics tracking code to new iPhone OS apps projects increased by three-fold in January as compared to what was supposed to be a waning interest as observed in the early part of December. During that time, developers seem to have been focusing more on the Android platform.

The mobile analytics firm attributes the spike, which incidentally they claim is the biggest so far in the company’s history to the imminent arrival of the iPad. According to Flurry:

“Historically, Flurry has measured surges in new application starts within its system in anticipation of new device launches, including for the Motorola Droid and iPhone 3GS. As such, we hypothesize that excitement generated by Apple’s iPad event in January is driving this growth. For developers who get a jump on customizing their applications for the iPad, there may be an opportunity to stand out early on, and earn more downloads.”

So, are apps developers actually jumping onto the iPad bandwagon and preparing their applications in time for the release of the iPad? Well, Flurry’s data seem to show that this is happening. But, we have yet to see and March is just a couple of weeks away.

Amazon to Give Free Kindle to Amazon Prime Subscribers?

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Are you a frequent Amazon products buyer? Do you do all of your online shopping via Amazon? If you do, you must be an Amazon Prime subscriber already. Well, guess what? Amazon is reportedly planning to give out free Amazon Kindles to their loyal Amazon Prime Subscribers. Last time I checked, I’m an Amazon Prime subscriber, so Amazon please push through with your plans. I would love to get that free Kindle.

In case you’re not aware, Amazon Prime is a premium subscription product that entitles members to a free two days shipping on any of their purchases at Amazon. Members are charged an annual fee of $79/year to maintain this privilege. They are also considered as Amazon’s best customers who makes multiple purchases every month.

Amazon’s plan of giving out free Kindles was first reported by TechCrunch. According to Arrington, what’s keeping Amazon from pushing this play as of now is that the Amazon folks are still figuring out how to do it without losing too much money. Amazon of course is in dire need of getting the Kindle into the hands of as many people as they can, especially with various threats coming from its rivals, and upcoming rivals such as the iPad. And giving it out for free to those who will potentially purchase e-books from the Kindle store could be a pretty good strategy.

So, there. If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, hope that this plan pushes through.

Apple Starts Counting Down iTunes’ 1 Billionth Song Download

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One billion downloaded songs, wow! This is definitely one big event that Apple needs to mark down.  True enough they are marking this, just like what they’ve been doing with the milestones achieved by the Apps Store.

Apple iTunes is holding a contest where you can win a whooping $10,000 iTunes Gift Card.  Of course you can only  use that card to purchase more songs from iTunes.  To qualify for the draw, all you need to do is to purchase a song from iTunes between now and hopefully before the 1 billionth song is downloaded and you will be automatically entered into contest.  The winner will be drawn right after the milestone is achieved.

And take note, the official rules and regulations say that:

“NO PURCHASE OR DOWNLOAD NECESSARY. A PURCHASE OR DOWNLOAD OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.”

But then again, to be entered in the final draw, you need to download a song from iTunes. Like as if you don’t have to pay for it, eh?

Anyway, another way by which you can join the contest is by filling up an online entry form. Well, there goes the part that you says you don’t need to download anything. Good enough then.

So, ready to take a crack at this $10,000 gig? Fill up this form or download a song from iTunes. Good luck and hurry up as the iTunes Music download counter is winding up to 1 billion.

YouTube Still King of Online Video, But Facebook is Growing Fast

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NielsenWire has just published their latest online video metrics report and as expected like it has been the past couple of years, YouTube is still the most visited online video site. But what’s interesting to note from Nielsen’s stats is how fast Facebook is growing as an online video channel.

First,  some facts and details. According to the NielsenWire’s report, the number of unique viewers of online video increased y 5.2% year-over-year, from 137.4 million unique viewers in January 2009 to 142.7 million the same month this year. And the fastest growing online video sites include the likes of Disney Online with 23.3% growth, MSN/WindowsLive/Bing with 15.6% and of course Facebook with 18.6% growth during the said period.

YouTube on the other hand managed to posed only a 6.7% growth but it still remains at the top of the list with a commanding 112.6 million unique viewers.

Now, as I said, it’s quite interesting to note how fast Facebook is growing as a video channel. It only goes to show that more Facebook users are sharing online video as well as watching them online via Facebook. What is ironic about this is that most of those videos were actually embedded from the YouTube site.

Perhaps, Google has not yet noticed this trend especially since YouTube continues to be the number 1 online video site. But at the rate that Facebook is growing, it might just be a matter of time before it catches up with YouTube. Unless of course Google does something to prevent this from happening. Hopefully Google won’t do something drastic in the future.

In Case You Missed It, You Can Also Create a Buzz on Google Reader

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So, have you started “buzzing around?” Has Google enabled Google Buzz on your Gmail? Or have you tried it on your mobile phone?  How was it? Revolutionary? Innovative?  Well, in case you might have missed it due to the influx of buzz that Google has created with the launch of Google Buzz, the service is actually also available in Google Reader. That is you can also post the items from your Google Reader as a buzz on your Gmail.

To activate this feature, all you need to do is to link up your Google Reader account to Gmail Buzz. And while you’re there, you might also want to link up other current services that are tied up with your Google Profile.  Once set up, everything that you share on Google Reader will be automatically be posted to your Gmail Buzz. That’s why Google Buzz is called a social sharing service.  Once your Reader item is posted as a buzz, people who are following you will be able to post comments to the items you shared.

The good thing about this, in case you didn’t notice it, is that the people you follow and who follow you on Google Reader are also the same set of people in your Gmail Buzz.

This is why I like Google Buzz so far. It’s like partaking of a new product without exerting to much effort on learning something new. Something which Google Wave did, and which is gradually leading it to its downfall.

Got one more room for a person to follow? Follow me on Twitter, I mean on Google Buzz – http://www.google.com/profiles/noli725.

YouTube Turns On Safety Mode Video Viewing

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In its effort to provide users with a more controlled and safe environment, YouTube has rolled out Safety Mode. This is an opt-in setting that will let you screen out outright and potential objectionable contents from showing up on your YouTube account channel, which you definitely don’t want your friends and family to see when they check out your YouTube video.

I’m pretty sure at some point in your YouTube experience, you’ve seen examples of these contents. It may be newsworthy video depicting violence at its gruesome details. Since this content does not contain any sexually objectionable content, YouTube will not censor them. So, it is up to you to determine whether these contents will be displayed on your YouTube account. If you don’t want to – then comes YouTube in Safety Mode.

To activate Safety Mode on your YouTube account, just click on the link at the bottom of any video page.

Safety Mode may not be a full-proof system yet, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. It may not guarantee safe video watching at all times, but at least Google is doing something to remedy this issue and provide us all with a “safe environment”  when watching YouTube videos.

And that alone is a great achievement.