I'm Sohel Parvez, a Seasoned Freelancer Focusing on Local Search Marketing and WordPress Optimization. I Enjoy Working with Local Businesses and Help Grow Their Online Presence. I Increase the Local Business Visibility in Search Engines and Establish Brand Awareness.
BEFORE YOU START:To create an Apple Maps business listing you need an apple ID. Once you have an apple ID for your business, you can begin to create your business listing!
Find the confirmation email and enter the verification code to confirm your company Apple ID
Step 1:Store contact info, product descriptions, and marketing materials in a single document.
Take the time to do this once, as a result, you will save hours of searching overtime. Most notably, you should have everything in one place, so you can easily share accurate – up to date – assets with coworkers and employees.
Pro Tip: Use a Google Doc to store, and share your company info and assets. Check out Airi’s Company Info Doc.
Step 2:Go to Apple Maps.
Login with your new company Apple ID (email and password).
Select your language preference.
Select add my business.
Read and agree to the terms of service.
Step 3: Add your Business.
Search for your company, near your city.
Select add a new place.
Choose place status.
Enter country.
Choose primary, and two alternative categories.
Enter phone number.
Do you accept Apple Pay? (Yes or No).
Continue
Step 4: Select Verify Later.
This will allow you to skip the verification process and finish adding your account details.
Step 5: Complete your Apple Maps Profile.
Enter full business address.
Move the map PIN to the front door of your building.
Enter operating hours.
Add website and social URL’s.
Continue.
Step 6: Respond to Apple’s Alert.
Respond to alert: “Answer a call” Coordinate a verification call from Apple to your business. Apple will ask that you prompt an automated call to your business, write down a pin number and enter it online to confirm your location.
Call your location to ensure someone will be available to answer Apple’s verification call.
Instruct the individual to stay near the phone, and to write down the PIN Apple provides.
Prompt the verification call, wait 5 minutes, and call back to retrieve the PIN.
Enter PIN to confirm your location / phone number.
Note: any remaining alerts from apple will not hinder publication.
Changing the Way the World Works: LinkedIn + Microsoft
June 13, 2016 Jeff Weiner CEO at LinkedIn sent following email to LinkedIn’s global workforce.
December 15th, 2008, marked the first day of the best job I’ve ever had. My rationale for joining LinkedIn was simple: The opportunity to work with Reid Hoffman, a founder I greatly admired and respected; to join an extremely talented and dedicated team; and to massively scale LinkedIn’s membership and business, both of which had the potential to fundamentally transform the way the world connects to opportunity. Never in my wildest dreams, could I have imagined what would happen in the next 7½ years. Our team has grown from 338 people to over 10,000, our membership from 32M to over 433M and our revenue from $78M to over $3 billion.
Despite those accomplishments, we’ve only just begun to realize our full potential and purpose: Our mission to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful, and our vision to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.
Today’s announcement, that LinkedIn will be combining forces with Microsoft, marks the next step in our journey together, the next stepping stone toward realizing our mission and vision, and in remaining CEO of the company, the next chapter in the greatest professional experience of my life.
No matter what you're feeling now, give yourself some time to process the news. You might feel a sense of excitement, fear, sadness, or some combination of all of those emotions. Every member of the exec team has experienced the same, but we've had months to process. Regardless of the ups and downs, we've come out the other side knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is the best thing for our company.
Let me explain why.
Every day I come to work, I'm primarily guided by two things:
First, realizing our mission and vision. While this has always been top of mind for me, it’s never been more so than now. Remember that dystopian view of the future in which technology displaces millions of people from their jobs? It's happening. In the last three weeks alone, Foxconn announced it will replace 60,000 factory workers with robots, a former CEO of McDonald’s said given rising wages, the same would happen throughout their franchises, Walmart announced plans to start testing drones in its warehouses, and Elon Musk predicted fully autonomous car technology would arrive within two years.
Whether it's worker displacement, the skills gap, youth unemployment, or socio-economic stratification, the impact on society will be staggering. I’ve said it on multiple occasions and believe it even more so every day: creating economic opportunity will be the defining issue of our time. That's why I'm here and why I can't imagine doing any other job. Simply put, what we do matters, and matters more than ever.
The second thing I focus on every day is making our culture and values come to life. Ten years ago, had you asked me about culture and values I would have rolled my eyes and recited a line from Dilbert. But when I started as CEO I began to appreciate just how important they were. Culture and values provide the foundation upon which everything else is built. They are arguably our most important competitive advantage, and something that has grown to define us. It's one thing to change the world. It's another to do it in our own unique way: Members first. Relationships matter. Be open, honest and constructive. Demand excellence. Take intelligent risks. Act like an owner.
That's who we are. That's LinkedIn.
I primarily focus on these two things, because that's all I ever wanted when I was in your shoes: A clear sense of purpose and the opportunity to be successful in pursuit of that purpose. Thankfully, in my current role, I can actually do something about that.
In order to pursue our mission and vision, and to do so in a way consistent with our culture and values, we need to control our own destiny.
That, above all else, is the most important rationale behind today's announcement.
At this point, some of you may be thinking this sounds completely counterintuitive: How will we be more likely to control our own destiny after being acquired? The answer lies in both the way in which the world has been evolving and the unique way in which this deal will be structured.
Imagine a world where we're no longer looking up at Tech Titans such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook, and wondering what it would be like to operate at their extraordinary scale -- because we're one of them.
Imagine a world where we're not reacting to the intensifying competitive landscape -- we're leading it with advantages most companies can only dream of leveraging.
Imagine a world where we're not pressured to compromise on long-term investment, hesitant to disrupt ourselves, or hamstrung in the way we can reward and acquire new talent due to stock price concerns, but consistently investing intelligently toward the realization of our mission and vision.
And imagine a world where a global economic downturn doesn't limit our ability to execute, but reinforces the essential quality of our purpose and actually strengthens our resolve when people need us most.
With today's news, we won't need to imagine any of it because it's now our reality.
Some of you may be asking “Why Microsoft?”
Long before Satya and I first sat down to talk about how we could work together, I had publicly shared my thoughts on how impressive his efforts were to rapidly transition Microsoft’s strategy and culture. After all, it’s extremely rare to see a company of that scope and scale move so quickly to make fundamental changes.
The Microsoft that has evolved under Satya’s leadership is a more agile, innovative, open and purpose-driven company. It was that latter point that first had me thinking we could make this work, but it was his thoughts on how we’d do it that got me truly excited about the prospect.
When Satya first proposed the idea of acquiring LinkedIn, he said it was absolutely essential that we had alignment on two things: Purpose and structure. On the former, it didn’t take long before the two of us realized we had virtually identical mission statements. For LinkedIn, it was to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful, and for Microsoft it was to empower every individual and organization in the world to achieve more. Essentially, we’re both trying to do the same thing but coming at it from two different places: For LinkedIn, it’s the professional network, and for Microsoft, the professional cloud.
Both of us recognized that combining these assets would be unique and had the potential to unlock some enormous opportunities.
For example:
Massively scaling the reach and engagement of LinkedIn by using the network to power the social and identity layers of Microsoft's ecosystem of over one billion customers. Think about things like LinkedIn's graph interwoven throughout Outlook, Calendar, Active Directory, Office, Windows, Skype, Dynamics, Cortana, Bing and more.
Accelerating our objective to transform learning and development by deeply integrating the Lynda.com/LinkedIn Learning solution in Office alongside some of the most popular productivity apps on the planet (note: 6 of the top 25 most popular Lynda.com courses are related to Microsoft products).
Realizing LinkedIn’s full potential to truly change the way the world works by partnering with Microsoft to innovate on solutions within the enterprise that are ripest for disruption, e.g., the corporate directory, company news dissemination, collaboration, productivity tools, distribution of business intelligence and employee voice, etc.
Expanding beyond recruiting and learning & development to create value for any part of an organization involved with hiring, managing, motivating or leading employees. This human capital area is a massive business opportunity and an entirely new one for Microsoft.
Giving Sponsored Content customers the ability to reach Microsoft users anywhere across the Microsoft ecosystem, unlocking significant untapped inventory.
Redefining social selling through the combination of Sales Navigator and Dynamics.
Leveraging our subscription capabilities to provide opportunities to the massive number of freelancers and independent service providers that use Microsoft's apps to run their business on a daily basis.
And these are just some of the ideas that have been discussed since our first meeting.
Turning from purpose, we focused our attention on potential structure. I had no idea what Satya was going to propose, but knew how difficult acquisition integrations could be if not established the right way from the start.
Long story short, Satya had me at “independence.” In other words, his vision was to operate LinkedIn as a fully independent entity within Microsoft, a model used with great success by companies like YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp. I would remain as CEO and report directly to him instead of a board. Together, along with Reid, Bill Gates, my former colleague Qi Lu, and new partner Scott Guthrie, we would partner on how best to leverage this extraordinary combination of assets while pursuing a shared mission. This, we both agreed, might not only be a structure that could work, it would be one in which both companies could thrive.
Now onto the most important question: What does this mean for you specifically as an employee of LinkedIn?
Given our ability to operate independently, little is expected to change: You'll have the same title, the same manager, and the same role you currently have. The one exception: For those members of the team whose jobs are entirely focused on maintaining LinkedIn's status as a publicly traded company, we'll be helping you find your next play. In terms of everything else, it should be business as usual. We have the same mission and vision; we have the same culture and values; and I’m still the CEO of LinkedIn.
I wanted to conclude on a familiar note. One of the most memorable moments I’ve experienced at LinkedIn was ringing the bell at the NYSE. I remember the All Hands we had following the event like it was yesterday. During that meeting, we reinforced the fact that becoming public was not the end game, but rather a stepping stone in the process of our ultimate objectives. We finished the All Hands with two words that have become LinkedIn’s unofficial mantra: “Next play.” In other words, don’t dwell on the past, lingering for too long on a lesson learned, or the celebration of a special accomplishment, but rather focus on the task at hand. It’s a mantra that’s served us well.
Google Voice is finally getting an upgrade. Despite Google’s focus on services like Hangouts and Allo for voice chat, Google Voice still exists and maintains a certain longtime loyalty from many users despite never being updated. But something is in the works. That and more in today’s news.
More news about upcoming Windows updates: Microsoft will address some of the privacy concerns about Windows 10, which has been criticized for sending usage and telemetry data back to Microsoft. The Creators Update will include more specific controls about what data you send to Microsoft, with specific options for location, ad tailoring, diagnostic data, and others. [Windows Blog]
Google Voice is getting new updates, Google confirms. Obviously, Google is trying to be clever without being specific. The fact that there are no details leaves us to speculate about what will be new about the service. [TechnoBuffalo]
Google's announcement at Oct 7, 2015 about the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project (AMP), which "aims to dramatically improve the performance of the mobile website" or, alternatively, fragments the Internet by not fully supporting the very standards the web is built upon - depending on your point of view. As well as that announcement they have launched the AMP Project Website (which I discuss in more detail below). So is it a good and necessary step forward or a massively step backwards?
In August 02, 2016, Google announced Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) would be moving beyond “Top Stories” into the main organic mobile search results. Today, AMP officially rolls out broadly in mobile search.
In this article I'll explain what is google AMP, How AMP Works, it's advantages & it's impact on google search results.
So, What's Google AMP?
Publishers are cooling on Facebook Instant Articles & Apple News, they’re becoming hot and heavy with Google AMP, the search engine giant’s answer to Instant Articles.
In February, 2016, Google rolled out AMP, which stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, on mobile search results in Google News. Publishers scrambled to adopt Google’s open-source code on their pages because search still drives close to 40 percent of referral traffic overall, and they know that as their audiences shift to mobile, having fast mobile pages can only help them get surfaced by Google’s algorithm.
AMP's kind of projects like the Facebook Instant Articles and Apple News.
So, let's talk about how this might actually show up in search results. So first of all, what we know at the moment AMP is looking like it's mobile only. It's showing up as a carousel above the regular blue links, typically for news-related terms, because most of this is focused on obviously reading contents. The people who've rolled this out first have been mostly news & advertisement publishers Washington Post, USA Today Network, Gizmodo, WIRED, Slate Magazine, plista, Relay Media, etc. So you search for a news-related term. You can see this carousel of swipe-able images above the blue links. Click on one of those, it opens super fast, that's the whole point, and then you can swipe to another AMP page across the way.
Benefits of Accelerated Mobile Pages?
Speed Matters Most and Instant Loading is the Ideal Expectation. Research has shown higher bounce rates associated with slower-loading web pages. Using the AMP format will make it far more compelling for people to consume and engage with much more content.
AMP HTML is a way to build web pages for static content that render with reliable, fast performance. It is Google and Twitter's attempt to make really fast mobile pages. At its essence, it's basically a stripped-down form of HTML, a diet HTML if you will.
How Does AMP HTML work?
The AMP format is supported by a wide variety of platforms, including Google Search. If a web page listed in Google's search results has a valid AMP version website, Search may direct mobile users to the cached AMP.
All of Google Webmaster guidelines for making a site Google-friendly also apply to AMP. This article covers additional recommendations to help you and your website users take advantage of AMP's benefits. Here's a the summary:
Design: Create web pages according to the AMP specification.
Discovery: Make your AMP discoverable.
Validation: Test that your page is written in valid AMP HTML.
Structured data: Mark up your content with structured data.
Status: Monitor your AMP report on Search Console for errors.
But What About Advertisements?
Although JavaScript is mostly forbidden on AMP sites, there are some loopholes that allow publishers to include advertise, analytics, and other pieces of JavaScript on an AMP page.
AMP includes a special analytics tag that allows publishers and advertisers to send data to pre-screened analytics providers such as Adobe, Chartbeat, and Parse.ly. This is handled by a single JavaScript file instead of a separate script for each analytics provider. That file is loaded from Google’s own servers, which can speed things up considerably for pages that use multiple analytics providers. Ads work in a similar way.
The AMP Project vets analytics servers based on performance, security, and privacy, so some of the worst offenders may be screened out. But those who want to use analytics code or other pieces of JavaScript library that haven’t been pre-approved can also use the <amp-iframeiframe> tag.
The <amp-iframeiframe> tag, similar to the traditional HTML version of the <iframe> tag, allows publishers and advertisers to add blurbs of JavaScript hosted on their own websites, but there are some restrictions too. Code inserted into iFrames won’t have access to all the data that a script inserted directly into a traditional page does. AMP always loading the page’s core content before any <amp-iframeiframe> content in order to keep <amp-iframeiframe>s from slowing down pages. And when AMP pages are hosted on Google’s servers, the pages are pre-rendered, so that they still load quickly.
These workarounds enable more freedom for publishers and advertisers, but it also means there’s still room for them to serve invasive scripts to readers. Improved performance won’t always mean improved security, and privacy. It also means more of the web will be shaped by Giant like Google & Twitter.
AMP Supported Browsers?
In general AMP supports the 2 latest versions of major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari and Opera. AMP support desktop, phone, tablet and the web view version of these respective browsers.
Beyond that, the core AMP library and built-in elements should aim for very wide browser support and accept fixes for all browsers with market share greater than 1 percent.
In particular, Google try to maintain "it might not be perfect but isn't broken"-support for the Android 4.0 system browser and Chrome 28+ on phones.
How AMP works in Mobile Device?
Google has published a great tutorial on how to create your first AMP page. We will go through a quick rundown on what is involved and what you need to know. It is important to know how AMP works in SERPs. In most cases, Google will only serve AMP pages to mobile devices. However, Google does not penalize users who have AMP-only pages (i.e. no additional HTML desktop version) such as the ampproject itself. Google has a preview up but you can emulate it from your desktop using Chrome DevTools.
AMP Page Specialty:
Allows only asynchronous scripts
All CSS must be inlined
Styles are limited to 50KB
External resources like images must state their size in HTML
All Javascript must be out of critical path
No user written Javascript is allowed, only AMP supported
Fonts must be loaded with a link tag or a CSS @font-face rule
AMP Impact on the Google SERPs
Simply put, AMP will affect huge in search engine optimization. After all, Google is committed to pushing mobile-first index in which mobile-friendly websites received a rankings boost. The difference here, however, is that AMP is not a ranking factor; at least it isn’t one as of now. This was confirmed in a Google+ Hangout with Google Webmaster trend analyst John Mueller.
AMP will affect in Google SEO in regards to impressions, clicks, user experience, and of course, website speed. Speed is a crucial factor to ranking well on Google and the company reported last year that, “29 percent of Smartphone users will immediately switch to another site or app if it doesn’t satisfy their needs,” and that “. . .of those who switch, 70 percent do so because of lagging load times.”
Yet no matter if AMP is a current organic ranking signal or not, the chances of it becoming one are relatively high as a Google's January 20, 2016 Announcement, which delved into the ad experience on AMP stated that, “We can’t emphasize enough that this is just the start,” and that Google is, “. . .invested for the long term.” With how heavily Google underlined the importance of mobile-friendliness with Mobilegeddon, it would come as no surprise if Google one day made AMP a ranking factor as well; possibly even as soon as its mobile update this May.
Do you think Google will make AMP compliance a ranking factor? I don’t know if Google will make AMP a ranking factor or not but AMP will be a real headache for publishers, that is certain. In order to keep up and not lose positions they will be forced to learn everything about Google AMP.
SEO Your AMP Pages?
By having an AMP version of your post or page you don’t want to get dinged for duplicate content, so Google requires that you use the canonical tag when linking to pages.
Google will automatically detect AMP pages on your site as your original page is served with a header tag directing Googlebot to your AMP page.
What Can You Do To Prepare?
There's two things. Firstly, you want to be able to start building AMP pages for your site, and you want to make sure that those pages are valid, because as we said, it's like a diet version of HTML, but it's very, very strict on how you build the HTML. The tags have to be in certain orders and certain places. You can't use certain things. And if you do any of that, your AMP page is invalid and they probably won't be using it.
There are several ways available to validate an AMP document. They will all produce the exact same result, so use whichever one suits your development style the most.
Chrome Developer Console:
To validate your AMP pages, you can use a tool that's built into Chrome. So if you open the developer tools in Chrome, there's a system there — and you can look it up on the AMP project website — where you can actually go to a page and you can ask it to validate, "Is this an AMP page," and it will tell you any problems with that page.
Web Interface:
There's also a Web Interface available at validator.ampproject.org. This interface shows errors displayed inline alongside the HTML source of the page. The interface is an interactive editor: changes to the html source result in interactive revalidation.
Chrome:Browser Extension: The AMP Validator can be accessed directly from your browser's toolbar using a browser extension. As you browse, it will automatically validate each AMP page visited and gives a visual indication of the validity of the page as a colored icon.
Summery: Want to Convert your site to Google AMP? Contact Us Today & we'll get back to you.
Twitter is shutting down video-sharing service Vine "in the coming months," the company announced Thursday. Vine, which lets you share short video clips, debuted in 2013. Twitter acquired Vine in 2012 before the service had even launched.
The news comes the same day Twitter announced it would lay
off more than 300 workers, or 9% of the company's global workforce, within the
company's sales, partnerships, and marketing teams.
"Nothing is happening to the apps, website or your
Vines today," Twitter said in a release, adding that users will be given a
heads-up and be able to download their Vines before the app shutters for good.
"Nothing is happening to the apps, website or your
Vines today," Twitter said in a release, adding that users will be given a
heads-up and be able to download their Vines before the app shutters for good.
"Don’t sell your company!" Vine co-founder RusYusupov, who was laid off from Twitter in October 2015, wrote in a tweet.
Acquired by Twitter in 2012, Vine started off strong,
becoming the No. 1 app on the iTunes App Store only six months after joining
the company. At one point, Vine had more than 200 million active users, yet it
struggled to maintain traction and saw a decline in popularity in recent
months.
Competition from Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube made it
difficult to stand out from the pack. According to data from App Annie, Vine
has since dropped to No. 284 in the top charts for free applications on iOS,
down from the low 100s at the beginning of the year. It’s still fairly
well-ranked (No. 24) in the Photo & Video category, but hasn’t placed on
the Entertainment apps top charts since 2015.
Vine has struggled to retain its top creators. By July, over
half of Vine's top 9,725 accounts had either deleted their profiles or stopped
posting to the platform since the start of 2016, according to research by
Makerly. This data corroborated an earlier report in The Wall Street Journal
that Vine’s stars were leaving for competitors like Facebook, Instagram, and
YouTube. One, Cameron Dallas, even snagged his own Netflix show.
Year-over-year worldwide downloads of the Vine app declined
55 percent in Q3 across both the Apple App Store and Google Play, according to
Sensor Tower’s data.
This is just the latest social media app to throw in the
towel. Selfie app Shots, recently rebranded as Shots Studios and is looking to
create YouTube content with former Vine stars.
At the time of the report, Twitter told The Washington Post
that Vine was still "an important part of our strategy."
Content is queen, and always will be. So, how do we survive it’s evolution over time? How can content marketers be ahead of the game, while maintaining sanity and avoiding writers block? Each content marketer needs to have a solid strategy and set of rules to go by. Yet, according to Forbes only 32 percent of content marketers actually believe they’re executing an effective strategy. Let’s change that percentage and better content marketing for all with these helpful reminders and rules to live by.
Rethink What Content Really Is
The idea of content marketing is much larger than blog posts and email newsletters. Infographics, videos, memes, and visual imagery has expanded the variety of content that marketers have to work with. Depending upon the audience and goals, different content will help you reach different goals. For example, infographics can help with link building and memes can help with engagement. Avoid sticking with just one content type and expand your content horizons.
Understand The Difference Between Semantic Search and Keyword Stuffing
What the heck is semantic search? Techopedia has a fancy definition for the term:
Semantic Search is a data searching technique in a which a search query aims to not only find keywords, but to determine the intent and contextual meaning of the the words a person is using for search.
In basic terms, this means understanding what a person is actually searching for, despite their spelling errors and misplaced commas. It’s giving a user search results that they were looking for, but didn’t know exactly how to ask.
Keyword stuffing on the other hand is an effort to match these semantic search terms and place such terms inside content, whether or not it makes sense to do so. Google refers to this as an attempt to manipulate a site’s rankings. To make matters even worse, keyword stuffing creates a negative user experience, ultimately hindering the content and it’s chances of being shared.
Somewhere in the middle between semantic search and keyword stuffing is a happy place for content marketers. Create content that people are searching for, without irrelevant keyword stuffing. Naturally write content that converts by answering questions that are already being asked.
Optimize Content
If you’re blog/website is WordPress based, there are several different plug-ins to assist with optimizing each page, especially each blog post. With over 3,500 reviews and a 4.7 rating, SEO Yoast is a great plug-in to help add SEO to your content. Giving bots the information they need you can add keywords, title tags, image descriptions, metas, and more. For basic content optimization, follow these steps:
Insert your keyword in the heading and subhead. The content’s heading needs to be captivating, as well as include a primary keyword, informing both the reader and Google what the content is about. Don’t forget your header tags!
Include meta tags and descriptions. In 150-160 characters, summarize what the content is about, including your primary keyword. This is your opportunity to entice readers to click on your link in search engines, giving searchers a solid reason to click on your link. <head> <meta name=”description” content=”This is an example of a meta description. This will often show up in search results.”> </head>
A/B test different headlines. Some headlines perform better than others and the best ones are the hardest to create. The recipe to a perfect headline is hidden somewhere deep in the Caribbean, only a small few of us will actually ever find it. Draft 2-3 different headlines that captivate, and summarize, and test them with your audience.
Dont Phoget Hoe 2 Rite
Grammar nazis are everywhere. Writing in a hurry, it can be easy to forget an apostrophe here or an oxford comma there. Take your time to know your grammar and it’s proper punctuation. Reread your content until you’re blue in the face, and then pass it along to someone else for proof reading. Your coworkers won’t mind.
Bullet points are your friend. We no longer have time to read lengthy paragraphs and run-on sentences. Summarize your main points using bullets to help keep the reader’s attention, while giving them the most important information.
No One Likes a Lengthy Marvin. If your analytics tells you people are spending anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes on your 1,500 word blog post, it’s safe to assume you’re post is too long. Create your post lengths to satisfy your readers, not bore them with wordy content.
Sharing is Caring
Content doesn’t sell itself. Some of your best sharing assets are sitting next to you. Encourage coworkers and employees to share their own content, as well as each others, on their social media accounts. Using your employees and coworkers to leverage sharing can help increase virality, views, and ultimately website clicks.
Great content is difficult to come by nowadays. Just about anyone has the ability to create a social media page or website and start publishing content. What separates the good from the bad?
Do the readers have a reason to share? Sharing is caring, especially with content. No one creates content with intentions for it to just sit in the cyberworld, seen by no eyes or bots. Content marketers put so much of their heart and soul into developing great content. They want it to be read by many, and hopefully influence impactful decisions. In order for that to happen, you must give readers what they want, thought-provoking content they can share with friends, family and coworkers.
Are you answering anyone’s questions? People want answers, that’s why we search online, call a friend, or ask a family member when we have a question we don’t know the answer to. Not only do we crave other people’s opinions, but insist on their explanations and expertise. A retail associate at H&M has a better chance of answering a question about what kind of bathing suit to buy this summer, over asking the department manager at Home Depot. Emphasize your specific expertise through publishing thought-provoking content. Research what kind of questions are being asked and answer them, using your own experience, knowledge, and research.
Does your content tell a story, or give an explanation? How-tos make great content pieces and are easily shared. Step 1, step 2, and step 3 are all vital steps to painting your cabinet with chevron stripes, but what story can you add with the steps? Do chevron stripes remind you of your Grandpa’s old convertible that had red apple stripes alongside the bed? Readers want a story to be relatable and humanized, as much as they want the steps.
Write To Your Demographic, Not For
Only 13% of adults are reading at a proficient reading level. If you’re a high level writer, kudos, and your readers may be closer to a third grade reading level (sad, but true), are you reaching them? Adjust your content to suit their needs and understanding. Use Readability-Score to discover how complex your content is and if your readers will be able to comprehend the message.
Apple Testing a Watch That Works With Your Phone, Reports Say (ABC News)
Dick Tracy had one. As did Inspector Gadget and James Bond. A watch that doubled as a computer, two-way radio, mapping device or television.
Though such a device has been lost to science fiction comics and spy movies of the era before smartphones, the smart watch might soon become a reality, in the form of a curved glass device made by Apple (AAPL).
In its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., Apple is experimenting with wristwatch-like devices made of curved glass, according to people familiar with the company's explorations, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because they are not allowed to publicly discuss unreleased products. Such a watch would operate on Apple's iOS platform, two people said, and stand apart from competitors based on the company's understanding of how such glass can curve around the human body.
Apple declined to comment on its plans. But the exploration of such a watch leaves open lots of exciting questions: If the company does release such a product, what would it look like? Would it include Siri, the voice assistant? Would it have a version of Apple's map software, offering real-time directions to people walking down the street? Could it receive text messages? Could it monitor a user's health or daily activity? How much will it cost? Could Timothy D. Cook, Apple's chief executive, be wearing one right now, whispering sweet nothings to his wrist?
Such a watch could also be used to make mobile payments, with Apple's Passbook payment software.
Although it would take Dick Tracy to find the answers to those questions, and it's uncertain when Apple might unveil such a device, it's clear that Apple has the technology.
Last year, Corning, the maker of the ultra-tough Gorilla Glass that is used in the iPhone, announced that it had solved the difficult engineering challenge of creating bendable glass, called Willow Glass, that can flop as easily as a piece of paper in the wind without breaking.
Pete Bocko, the chief technology officer for Corning Glass Technologies, who worked on Willow Glass, said via telephone that the company had been developing the thin, flexible glass for more than a decade, and that the technology had finally arrived.
"You can certainly make it wrap around a cylindrical object and that could be someone's wrist," Mr. Bocko said. "Right now, if I tried to make something that looked like a watch, that could be done using this flexible glass."
But Mr. Bocko warns that it is still quite an engineering feat to create a foldable device. "The human body moves in unpredictable ways," he said. "It's one of the toughest mechanical challenges."
To add to the excitement of an Apple watch, late last year the Chinese gadget site Tech.163 reported that the company had begun development of a watch featuring Bluetooth and a 1.5-inch display.
"Apple's certainly made a lot of hiring in that area," said Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forrester analyst who specializes in wearable computing and smartphones. "Apple is already in the wearable space through its ecosystem partners that make accessories that connect to the iPhone," she said, adding: "This makes Apple potentially the biggest player of the wearables market in a sort of invisible way."
"Over the long term wearable computing is inevitable for Apple; devices are diversifying and the human body is a rich canvas for the computer," Ms. Epps said. "But I'm not sure how close we are to a new piece of Apple hardware that is worn on the body."
Investors would most likely embrace an iWatch, with some already saying that wearable computing could replace the smartphone over the next decade.
"We believe technology could progress to a point where consumers have a tablet plus wearable computers, like watches or glasses, that enable simple things like voice calls, texting, quick searches, navigation," Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, said in a report last month. "These devices are likely to be cheaper than an iPhone and could ultimately be Apple's best answer to addressing emerging markets."
Mr. Cook is clearly interested in wearables. In the past he has been seen wearing a Nike FuelBand, which tracks a user's daily exertion. The FuelBand data is shared wirelessly with an iPhone app.
Bob Mansfield, Apple's senior vice president for technologies, who previously ran hardware engineering, has also been particularly interested in wearables, an Apple employee said. Mr. Mansfield is engrossed by devices that connect to the iPhone, through Bluetooth, sharing information back and forth from the human body to the phone, including the Nike FuelBand and Jawbone Up.
If smartphones do become smart watches and smart glasses, Apple seems to have the technology to make standout wearable computers.
Last year the company filed patents for displays that sit over the eye and stream information to the retina. Given that the iPod Nano is about the size of an overfed ant, the company clearly knows how to make small devices, too.
But, maybe there are other devices coming before wearables. Apple has long been rumored to be working on a television-like experience. And, there is the possibility of an Apple car.
In a meeting in his office before he died, Steven P. Jobs, Apple's co-founder and former chief executive, told John Markoff of The New York Times that if he had more energy, he would have liked to take on Detroit with an Apple car.
In August, during the company's patent trial with Samsung, Philip W. Schiller, Apple's senior vice president for worldwide product marketing, said on the stand that Apple had explored making "crazy stuff" before development of the iPhone and iPad, including a camera or a car. While Apple continues its experiments with wearables, its biggest competitor, Google, is pressing ahead with plans to make wearable computers mainstream.
According to a Google executive who spoke on the condition that he not be named, the company hopes its wearable glasses, with a display that sits above the eye, will account for 3 percent of revenue by 2015. Olympus is also working on wearable computers.
Google is holding private workshops in San Francisco and New York for developers to start building applications for its glasses. At the event in San Francisco last week, Hosain Rahman, chief executive of Jawbone, the maker of the Up, a wrist device that tracks people's energy and sleep, said that "a decade from now we won't be able to imagine life without the wearables that we use to access information, unlock our doors, pay for goods and most importantly track our health."
Over
the course of the last few years, Apple has unleashed a slew of
intellectual-property lawsuits against Android device manufacturers such
as: HTC, Motorola and of course, the poster child of this continued
litigation, Samsung.
While IP lawsuits are nothing new in the world of technology
manufacturers, it has become glaringly apparent after the ban of the
Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany (back in September 2011) that this case could
hold serious repercussions for both parties and consumers alike.
Since then, the two mobile giants have geared up preparing for their
trial case, which began Monday, July 30. Both Apple and Samsung have
deferred judgment to a jury of 10, whose decision could cost either
company billions of dollars, or even remove their iconic products from
the shelves.
This is truly a landmark case that has the potential to impact our
economy, the consumer landscape, and our fundamental understanding of
Patent Law.
Phone 5 Likely to be Unveiled on Wednesday, September 12
Multiple
reports solidify the suspicion that Apple is going to unveil the
sixth-generation iPhone at their special media event on September 12
before releasing the new product on Sept. 21.
There
are still a few blissful weeks of summer left. Chances are, you'll use
some of that time to sit down with a good book. Well instead of lugging
around hundreds of pages to your favorite reading destination, why not
try using that small multi-purpose device that's already in your pocket?
Here is everything you need to know about reading on your iPhone.
Samsung Galaxy Player 4.2 Review: No Contract Necessary
With
a 4.2 inch screen, 1GHz processor, and a $200 suggested retail price,
the Samsung Galaxy Player 4.2 is the latest version of Android's answer
to the Apple iPod Touch.
How well does it fare? Brighthand investigates.
You don't need a degree in software engineering to get more out of your Android smartphone.
Regardless of the kind of Android phone you're packing — be it from Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola or Sony, to name a few makers — we've got a handful of helpful ways to unlock the capabilities of your favorite handset.
Unless otherwise specified, it also shouldn't matter what version of Android you're running on your smartphone, with the most popular today being Android 2.3 ("Gingerbread") or the latest release, Android 4.0 ("Ice Cream Sandwich"). To figure out what version you're running, go to the About section of your device, under Settings.
Many of these tips and tricks will work on Android-based tablets (including those powered by Android 3.x, a.k.a. "Honeycomb") as well as phone-tablet hybrids like the Samsung Galaxy Note and its built-in stylus pen.
Oh, and if you have any tips of your own, feel free to share them with others below in the Comments section.
Text or talk
If you're getting a call on your Gingerbread or Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) device, you can swipe the screen to the right to answer, swipe to the left to ignore or swipe up to quickly respond with a text message — by default it's "I'm busy right now. I will call you later." On some models, you'll need to tap "Ignore With Text." But you can change this default message in the phone's app's Settings area to something else altogether.
Hi mom!
If there's someone you call a lot, there's an easy way to set up a "quick dial" for them on your Android device. Simply tap and hold anywhere on your homescreen wallpaper and select Shortcuts from your list of options. Now, touch Direct Dial and select the person from your contacts list. If you have a photo of this person in your contacts then that's what you'll see on the shortcut icon, along with their first name. You can also use this little-known tool for one-touch texting, by selecting the Direct Message option instead.
Cutting corners
There are many dozens of handy shortcuts to speed up your time on Android devices — some tied to the web browsers, others to using the virtual keyboard and another set related to app management. But here are a few handy ones for those who use Gmail on an Android device: While inside of a message, tap the R key to reply to the message, F to forward it, A to reply to all (to everyone in the To: and Cc: field) or Y to archive an email (this last shortcut works inside of the message or while in the main inbox view). Compose a new email by tapping Menu + C or refresh your inbox with Menu + U.
Flash, on demand
Unlike the iPhone, Android devices are capable of displaying websites with Flash animation, video and games. But if you don't have a generous data plan with your carrier, or if you find loading Flash is slowing down your browsing, you can launch Flash on-demand. That is, you can tap to see or interact with Flash content when you want — and if you don't tap to start it, it won't load. To do this, go to the Settings of your web browser, select Advanced and tap to change the Enable Flash and Plug-Ins tab from "Always On" to "On demand" or "Off."
Siri, Shmiri
If you're a seasoned Android user you likely know Google has offered voice-based search for some time, but the voice-to-text dictation feature is really strong on the phone — especially with ICS. Tap the microphone icon to the left of the spacebar while inside of a text or email and start talking. Not only will you see the words typed out as you say them — unlike Apple's Siri, which shows you the words after you're done talking — but the accuracy is outstanding and you'll find this is much faster than typing out a lengthy message. Don't forget to say punctuation requests, such as "comma,' "period" and "question mark."
Speak easy
One of the advantages of Android over competing smartphone platforms is its integrated Google apps ranging from Search and Maps to Gmail to YouTube to Calendar to Google+ to Earth. One of the most powerful of the free services, however, is Google Voice, which lets you make phone calls (with cheap international rates), send and receive free text messages, transcribes voicemails into text, forward your number and set up custom greetings for different callers. Google Voice will quickly become your favorite app, so get to know it.
Say cheese
Quick — your friend is doing something ridiculous and you must capture the moment. Problem is, by the time you pick up and unlock your Android phone, launch the camera and snap the picture, it's simply too late. Well, here's a trick to enabling the camera from the lock screen so you don't miss the action. Instead of sliding the ring towards the center of the screen or typing in your PIN code or pattern, simply tap and hold the camera icon on the bottom right of your smartphone and drag it to the ring — it'll meet you halfway — and then let go to launch the camera pronto. Cool, huh?
Wild about widgets
One of the great things about an open-source platform is you can customize the look and feel of your Android's homescreen in a myriad of ways. Want "live" wallpaper that animates behind your icons? Too bad iPhone can't do that. Want to create one homescreen for work (with 9 to 5 apps) and one for play (5 to 9 apps)? Why not. Something else that separates Android from the IOS camp is Widgets, which you can add by pressing and holding down on the home screen; these can range from funky clocks and bookmarks to weather information and messages to photos and system information. Have fun exploring. If you're running ICS you can also resize these widgets on the fly.
Screen dream
Before ICS, it wasn't easy to snap a picture of what you're seeing on the device's display. To take a screenshot of a game, website, message or anything else, Android 4.x users can simply press the power and volume-down buttons at the same time. The screen will flash white, you'll hear a sound and the image be saved in your photo gallery. If you're on a non-ICS-device — such as Froyo, Gingerbread or Honeycomb — try the $5 No Root Screenshot It app, but be aware you'll need to connect your device to a computer via a USB cable to enable screenshots each time you restart the phone.
Don't leave home without it
Increasingly, Android devices are shipping with NFC (Near Field Communication) technology under the hood. This wireless radio can be used to make payments at retail, vending machines or between supported devices, in place of using cash, credit or debit. Consider it an electronic wallet, of sorts, that lets you buy goods or services by tapping or swiping on a sensor. NFC-enabled phones -- such as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S II, LG Viper 4G LTE and LG Optimus LTE — all work with apps like Google Wallet at supporting stores for NFC payments.
Freeze frame
You're likely aware there are a few photo effects built into your Android camera app. If not, from the photo gallery, simply tap Edit from the dropdown menu and you can brighten up a dark shot, add a film grain look, remove red-eye or tweak color (better yet, download the free Instagram app). But did you know ICS has another cool photo feature: when you're shooting a video with your Android device, tap the frame and it'll take a still snapshot and automatically dump it into your camera roll. Those running older Android devices can download an app, like Frame Grabber from Google Play (formerly Android Market), that do the same thing -- but you'll have to grab a still after the video has been shot.
Later gator
About to go on a long flight without any Internet connectivity? Those on an ICS device can save web content to read at a later time — without needing an app to do it (like Pocket). If you're inside the browser and come across something interesting you want to read at a later time, tap the menu tab and select "Save for offline reading" instead of "Bookmark," as the latter will require an Internet connection. This is also a good tip in case you're nearing your monthly data limit and want to queue up a few things to read offline.
Know when to fold 'em
If you need to clean up a messy desktop, perhaps littered with multiple app icons over multiple pages, you can press and hold on an app, drag it onto another one and it will create a folder and place them both in there. You can then tap and hold to rename the folder to something relevant ("Music Apps"), add more apps to the folder, if you like, and then rearrange where they go on your homescreen. You can also drag and drop shortcuts into folders, too, if you like, but not widgets.
CUPERTINO, California—April 24, 2012—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2012 second quarter ended March 31, 2012. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $39.2 billion and quarterly net profit of $11.6 billion, or $12.30 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $24.7 billion and net profit of $6.0 billion, or $6.40 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 47.4 percent compared to 41.4 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
The Company sold 35.1 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 11.8 million iPads during the quarter, a 151 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4 million Macs during the quarter, a 7 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 7.7 million iPods, a 15 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.
“We’re thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you’re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver.”
“Our record March quarter results drove $14 billion in cash flow from operations,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68.”
Apple will provide live streaming of its Q2 2012 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT on April 24, 2012 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq212. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.
This press release contains forward-looking statements including without limitation those about the Company’s estimated revenue and diluted earnings per share. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ.
Risks and uncertainties include without limitation the effect of competitive and economic factors, and the Company’s reaction to those factors, on consumer and business buying decisions with respect to the Company’s products; continued competitive pressures in the marketplace; the ability of the Company to deliver to the marketplace and stimulate customer demand for new programs, products, and technological innovations on a timely basis; the effect that product introductions and transitions, changes in product pricing or mix, and/or increases in component costs could have on the Company’s gross margin; the inventory risk associated with the Company’s need to order or commit to order product components in advance of customer orders; the continued availability on acceptable terms, or at all, of certain components and services essential to the Company’s business currently obtained by the Company from sole or limited sources; the effect that the Company’s dependency on manufacturing and logistics services provided by third parties may have on the quality, quantity or cost of products manufactured or services rendered; risks associated with the Company’s international operations; the Company’s reliance on third-party intellectual property and digital content; the potential impact of a finding that the Company has infringed on the intellectual property rights of others; the Company’s dependency on the performance of distributors, carriers and other resellers of the Company’s products; the effect that product and service quality problems could have on the Company’s sales and operating profits; the continued service and availability of key executives and employees; war, terrorism, public health issues, natural disasters, and other circumstances that could disrupt supply, delivery, or demand of products; and unfavorable results of other legal proceedings.
More information on potential factors that could affect the Company’s financial results is included from time to time in the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of the Company’s public reports filed with the SEC, including the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 24, 2011, its Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2011, and its Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2012 to be filed with the SEC. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.
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