April Fools’ Day Tech Pranks

April Fools’ Day marks a long-standing tradition of practical jokes, hoaxes and good, old-fashioned tomfoolery. So, naturally, it’s one of my favorite holidays! With everything from “kick me” signs taped to people’s backs and flour poured into hairdryers, to toothpaste-filled Oreo cookies and Saran Wrap on the toilet seat, April 1st is a day when many are constantly looking over their shoulder … and the tech world is no different! Just try putting a Post-it note over your coworker’s mouse trackball, or pressing Ctrl+Alt+↑on their computer keyboard, and watch them go nuts (note: Ctrl+Alt+↓ is the fix for the second trick).

The Best of 2012

As 2012 came to a close, the press and media sphere were inundated with a deluge of year-end recaps. Everything from The Most Viral Video Ad Campaigns of 2012 to The Best Tech Quotes of 2012 had people reflecting on another year gone by. But, one of the best recaps I saw came from Google’s Zeitgeist.

Dissecting Today’s Top #SocialMedia Tools [Infographic]

With so many different social media tools, it’s often difficult to determine which are best to use for specific campaigns or outreach strategies. Luckily, Zintro compiled a useful infographic (see below) detailing the demographics and benefits of four of today’s major social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. This information can be useful not only to find the best ways to reach specific audiences using these tools, but also to help strategically craft client campaigns and maximize exposure. Below are some of the highlights from Zintro’s research. Check out the full infographic for more fun facts and useful stats.

Google+ versus Facebook

Last week, Google announced their latest endeavor, and attempt to compete with Facebook, Google+. Google says this project is an attempt to “fix” the way people interact online, bringing the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software, which they believe are often lost in the rigidness of online tools. While I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who thinks Facebook, Skype or Twitter are “rigid,” there are certainly some cool features that Google+ is boasting:

Apple Follows Amazon and Google with iCloud

First came Amazon, then came Google, and now, finally, Apple has joined the musical cloud. In an announcement last week, Steve Jobs publicized Apple’s work to put iTunes in the cloud with its new, free service iCloud. While iTunes in the Cloud is among other features available as part of iCloud, including bookstore, device backup, document storage and photo stream services, it is certainly one of the most talked about and highly anticipated. However, while Amazon and Google’s cloud music services are available now, the iCloud will not be fully usable until the fall.

Google Maps Now Shows Real-Time Public Transit Info

Do you find yourself regularly cursing the train, bus or subway when delays cause you to be late? This is certainly something I’ve battled with, living in Boston! Such widespread public frustration with city transportation services has led to the development of various smartphone apps and websites that aim to inform users of delays and arrival times. And, as of last Wednesday, to add to that list is Google Maps.

Google’s Musical Cloud Launched with Android App

A few weeks ago, I blogged about how Amazon beat both Google and Apple to put music in the cloud, even though they sidestepped some strict U.S. licensing agreements. Well, it turns out Google was not too far behind with the launch of their own musical cloud service, which came out just six weeks later. But was Google following in Amazon’s footsteps too closely?

SEO – Black Hat, White Hat

Today’s society has become so Web dependent that for even the simplest question, people turn to their browser and search engine to find what they’re looking for. Whether it’s the score of last night’s Celtics game, a cooking measurement conversion, or top vacation destination, search engines seem to hold all the answers. And, at the same time, people expect those answers to be instantly available and findable. It’s gotten to the point where if the answer you’re looking for doesn’t appear within the top three results, let alone on the first page, people give up or reenter their query using different key words rather than browsing onto page two or, dare I say it?, three.

Amazon Puts Music in the Cloud

Last week, Amazon launched their Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player, an Internet service that lets anyone store music and other digital files – photos, videos, documents, and files under 2GB – on Amazon’s servers and access them via the Web and Android devices.

Amazon is actually giving users 5GB of Cloud Drive storage free of charge, which equates to about 1000 songs. And, if users just buy one MP3 album through Amazon, they’ll be able to access 20GB of cloud storage for a year. The Cloud Player works on PCs, Macs and Android devices, but not iOS devices (yet) since the uploader is built using Adobe’s Air platform.

Smartphones Don’t Keep Secrets

Recently, I wrote a post on how smartphone apps send users’ private data off to various companies without users’ knowledge. As shocking as some of that information was, a more recent article in the Wall Street Journal shines even more light on the issue, noting that smartphones don’t keep secrets!

Previously, I mentioned some of the “leakiest” smartphone apps that gather and record users’ personal information, including Groupon, textPlus 4, and Paper Toss, but check out this infographic from the WSJ on the popular music app, Pandora: