From Addicting to Gone!

I remember when I first heard about the game called 'Flappy Bird', I didn't understand all of the hype. That was until I downloaded the app and began to see why it was so addicting. It almost seemed like as I was beginning to engage in the game, everyone who I followed on Twitter was also feeding their 'Flappy Bird' addiction. The game took over social media so much that it caused the creator of the game, Dong Nguyen, to take it down. In the article by Mashable, it explains how people's comments on social media is the reason why we lost such a fun and addicting game. The article even shows some examples of post on Twitter that described the game in a negative manner; and unfortunately all the negativity just became to much for Nguyen to handle.

I have seen first hand the many comments of how the game has taken over people's lives. I myself have even been in on some post with friends about the game. My friend Eric was in the top 1% of leaders playing the game and he would often post pictures of his incredible scores. I honestly don't think that the post were meant to really degrade the game but only to show just how difficult of a game it is! This is the first game I have ever played where reaching a score of 10 was considered to be a "good score". I think most of the negative post were people explaining how their hatred for the game is based solely off how difficult it is to get even a score of five, in what seems to be such an easy concept of a game. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced frustration by playing the game; but I never failed to have the urge to want to keep playing. I think Nguyen had the wrong idea from all the post and it is unfortunate that the game is gone; unless you still have it on your phone or tablet.
http://mashable.com/2014/02/11/flappy-bird-no-nice-things/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link

Will Facebook's App Paper Survive?

Facebook recently released it's much hyped app called 'Paper.' This app collects news feeds from your Facebook timeline and is laid out like a magazine. Sound familiar? Well it may for some of you who know of another app called 'Flipboard' that allows people to choose what news they want to read and collect. Facebook has already been accused of stealing the name of this new app and is now receiving criticism for copying Flipboards layout.


Paper and Flipboard share a very similar tiled design that displays news in a grid pattern. However what separates the two is that Paper accentuates interacting with your friends and timeline. These two apps are also very similar in their navigation with Paper's being slightly more complex. Where both of these apps really differ is in their method of finding and reading news. Flipboard makes personalization its first priority and and discovery second. Also, Flipboard focuses on what the users want by allowing them to pick and choose the topics they want to see. While Paper concentrates on alerting readers with trending topics, interaction with your friends, and using broader themes.


Another difference between the two apps is their emphasis on socializing. It's obvious that Facebook's Paper would put social media at the center of their app, while Flipboard's approach to social media is much more subtle. What I find bothersome is it seems that just about anything you can do on the Paper app you can also do on the original Facebook app so why even download it.

This leaves me with a few questions; was Facebook copying Flipboard? Will Paper survive as a news app? Will apps like these replace traditional news websites? Let me know what you think.



Paper vs Flipboard

No more Flappy Bird! A genius move, or a cry for help?

       Whether you have played it or not, in the last couple of weeks you have probably heard of the game "Flappy Bird". It has been the number one downloaded game on iOS and Android for a few weeks. But the real shocker came when the game's creator, Dong Nguyen announced via twitter that he "Cannot take it anymore" and would remove Flappy Bird from the stores 22 hours from Saturday.
       "Cannot take it anymore", like you are probably thinking, I thought, "Really, how much misery could this game have caused this guy to say something like that about a little app?" Especially since Nguyen claimed to be making more than $50,000 a day from in-app advertising from the game. After I thought that no one can really be miserable from making that much money, I began to think, in contrast to Greg Kumparak in his post, that this is a way to bring about a surge of app downloads.
       Humans tend to value things more when you can no longer get them, and even I, who wanted nothing to do with this game, downloaded it right before it was taken off the app store. Keep in mind, that anyone who has downloaded the app for now, can keep it even though its not available for download. And Nguyen will keep making money off the ads in the game. He has also become famous from his stunt, gaining thousands of more followers on Twitter. So after all this, Nguyen is still making boatloads of money, people keep playing Flappy Bird as best they can, and soon another Internet story will come about and make us angry all over again.

Original Article  posted by Greg Kumparak on February 9, 2014.

Facebook is Stealing Again!

We have all seen the movie The Social Network, the movie that immortalizes the creation of the social media site; Facebook. In that movie we were thrown into the world of Mark Zuckerberg, maker of Facebook, and we witnessed the events that led up to his extraordinary success. Some of those events consisted of blatantly stealing ideas from others and now, in 2014, we are witnessing this again, but in the news.

In an article by Jason Abbruzzese, I learned that Facebook released a new app on Monday called Paper which is the name of an already highly acclaimed app that does essentially the same thing.  The original Paper was created by a company called FiftyThree and has since been named the iPad app of the year in 2012. The app launch brought CEO Greg Petschnigg to publicly ask Facebook to change the name of their app, but Facebook refused and simply apologized for not notifying FiftyThree sooner.

Petschnigg  described Paper as a “computer application software for smart phones and tablets, namely, software for use in writing on smart phones and tablets with either a stylus or finger." While Facebook’s Paper doesn’t allow the user to draw within the app or use a stylus, Petschnigg urges that the similarities are too strong to be ignored.

This is not the first incident of a trademark complaint with Facebook and I doubt it will be the last.  Theft of ideological property is the base of the network, why would they change it now after we allowed it to become a multi-billion dollar company? They seem to have gotten away with every stolen good and the question I am facing is, “how does one even stop an ideological thief if they alter things slightly?”  

The article was posted on February 3, 2014 and can be found at Mashable.com. 

73% of Teens Still Use Facebook

A recent study by the Pew Research Center stated that only 73% of teenagers still use Facebook, according to an article on mashable.com. The article, published today by Samantha Murphy Kelly, noted that the social media website will celebrate it's ten year anniversary in the near future, and some media experts have noticed the decline in users as other platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn become ever popular. 64% of Facebook users access the site daily, according to the article, and of that percentage only 44% like and comment on other's posts and a mere 10% update their own statuses. This is a staggering change from how we, as the 'social media generation' have used Facebook in the past - every Facebook user I knew updated their status as often as changing their socks. Unsurprisingly, teenagers still update their statuses - they just don't use Facebook.
Ironically, I learned about this article from the new 'king' of social media status updates: Twitter. The website is known and branded as being quick to access, easy to browse, and simple for older and younger users alike. With a (some would argue) superior, streamlined platform, why wouldn't the younger generation be switching over to the latest and greatest? Already Generation Y and it's younger counterparts are branded as having short attention spans and for being fickle - it fits then that teenagers, (classified as ages 12-17 in the article) would move from a platform now 'uncool' and positively clumsy in comparison to the ultra-simple Twitter. I think we're beginning to see an emerging trend in the world of social media; it happened with MySpace, it will happen with Facebook, and it will happen with Twitter. Social media platforms must constantly evolve to stay current - and at the rate Facebook is losing users to Twitter, it's not going to make the cut.

If you'd like to read the article on mashable.com, you can find it here.

Superbowl Tweets Add Insult to Injury for Manning and the Broncos

I spent Sunday night in the same way most people did. I sat on the couch, ate enough chips and dip to probably give me a heart attack, yelled at the TV when Seattle intercepted the ball for the dozenth time. While I was doing all this, though, I was doing one other thing: scrolling through Twitter to see how everyone I follow was reacting to the game.

    

Clearly, I wasn’t alone in doing so, because last night the twitterverse was abuzz with comments about the game, including thousands upon thousands of references to Peyton Manning and his… less than stellar performance on the field. Once the Seahawks lead reached 35-0, the critics (and fans) turned brutal. Images of Manning from the game, including one of him on the phone on the sidelines, quickly went viral and evolved into memes with captions like “Mom can you come pick me up?” and “No Eli, put Dad on the phone!” Over the course of a few hours, Manning went from one of the most prominent and popular figure in the NFL to a simple joke. Not exactly the biggest confidence booster for the quarterback.

It’s interesting to think about how much Twitter reaction there is to these games; clearly it’s one of the most talked-about events in the beginning of the year. Of course, with that much chatter there’s going to be a lot of backlash connected to something like Manning’s performance. Really, it seems that it would just add insult to injury; the team was already doing poorly in the biggest game of the year, now thousands of fans and critics have taken to the internet to openly criticize them even further. Seems that it’s becoming far too common for this to be the case in the modern, social media driven era.

If you would like to read more: http://on.mash.to/1ajPqw3

Google Glass App Could Help Firefighters

Patrick Jackson is in the process of creating an app for Google Glass. Even before this new technology is out on the market, people are saying that Google Glass has a lot of potential, and an app like this, is only one of the reasons. Patrick Jackson is a firefighter and programmer who saw the need to create something that would help firefighters do their job better, and more efficiently. The app would help with a multitude of issues, some of which include floor plans, and a way to know how to get people out safely. Jackson has made a few apps in the past relating to firefighting, which his engine uses. The app could possibly be ready to test in the next six months.

This app seems like it could have the potential, in later developments, to seek out trapped people, furthering the ability of firefighters to save lives. I think that Google Glass could be a very useful product as we move into the world of voice activation. Certainly, apps such as this will help its success. I am interested to see how people will adjust to seeing things, such as diagrams in their field of vision, though. Also, a downside that I could see with Google Glass, is the price tag. At each unit carrying a price tag of around $1500 dollars, it could limit who it is available to.

Article posted on mashable.com on January 21, 2014