Twitter Announces Changes to Header, No More 3rd Party Image Apps

Twitter made some changes this week that were met with less-than-enthusiastic fanfare from its estimated 140 million active users. The big news is the new profile, which allows you to update your header photo above your tweets with a Facebook Timeline-like image. A recent post by Marketing Land gives a step- by-step tutorial on updating your Twitter header. In addition, a photo stream will now appear below a user’s most recent tweets on iPhone, Android and iPad.

The changes seem to be mostly aimed at mobile users, and as one twitter user pointed out, “who uses the web interface anyway?” According to Twitter’s blog, your background image on Twitter.com will still be present, but the new header is supposed to enhance the user experience, and supports simplicity and consistency on iPhone, Android and iPad, which seems to be a goal of Twitter and leads us to the next big change.

At the same time the new header announcement was made, Twitter dropped its thrid party image hosts from its official apps and launched new versions of its own iOS and Android apps. This has left a bad taste for many users who feel that Twitter is turning its back on those companies that helped make the platform bigger and better, as evidenced by the comments below this Mashable article.

Have you updated your Twitter header? Send us a link to your profile and tell us what you think of the changes. 

@TodayShow updated its header in time for Twitter's big announcement, which was made on their show Tuesday morning

Sync Your LinkedIn Contacts

I'm tired of my iPhone. I can't wait to stomp it to tiny bits. I know. I know. I KNOW. I am the ONE person on the planet who doesn't drink the "Steve-Jobs-fanboy-Kool-Aid". Shoot me.

I've had an iPhone for 20 months. All of them painful. Dropped calls. Crashing OS. Slow OS. You name it. My contract is up in November and I have been salivating over the new Android phones. Specifically the new Captivate (AT&T) aka Fascinate (Verizon) aka Epic (Sprint). I'll be keeping my GSM technology and loving the high def video. It actually makes me want to watch a video on my phone. And what internet marketing person doesn't love the new frontier that is video content?

And the best part is I won't have to give up all my handy little apps. Consider this new little nugget called ConnectIn developed by Rdio which will allow me to sync my LinkedIn contacts (and I have over 400 right now) via my phone. It will sync

- Phone numbers

- Status Updates

- Photos

- Headlines

It will even let me open a profile in my browser. The app is only $0.99 and available now via The Market. I think this will be one of the first apps I try when I get my shiny new phone. It will make keeping my business contacts updated THAT much easier.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Microsoft Brings LinkedIn to Windows Live Messenger, Hotmail (readwriteweb.com)
• Regarding That Facebook Phone That Still Isn't Being Developed (mashable.com)
• Why Now's the Best Time to Buy a Business Smartphone (nytimes.com)

iPhone Beats Toilet in List of "Greatest Inventions"

According to a recent poll done by Tesco Mobile of 4,000 UK consumers, the iPhone was voted a better invention than the toilet.

It comes as no surprise that the greatest invention of all time is the wheel. With the airplane, light bulb, the internet and personal computers in the top 5. But the iPhone came out at #8, beating the toilet and combustible engine at number 9 and 10 respectively.

I am shocked by this. I know we all say we couldn't live a day without our iPhone or other smart phone; but when faced with the choice of living without a toilet or going without a phone, I think we might reconsider.

I think it is also surprising that while every household in the industrialized world has at least one toilet, not everyone has an iPhone.

The fact is the iPhone is a fun, convenient communication tool but the toilet is a sanitary necessity.

There is rationality in the fact that the poll was done by a mobile provider and that the toilet may have been overlooked or taken for granted as an invention. It's hard to imagine life without the toilet - I would hate to consider the alternative.

What do you think? Is the iPhone a better invention than the toilet?

Ego – The perfect iPhone App for the Account Executive

I’m in love with the latest app Ego , I’ve downloaded for my iPhone. I cannot tell you how many times I whip out my phone when I’m patiently waiting…red lights, bank lines, picking up takeout, grocery shopping, and the list goes on and on. I’m typically on my iPhone checking Facebook or iTunes for the latest and greatest.

With Ego, I now have the ability to get a snapshot of how my clients are doing using my phone. I do not have to visit multiple sites, logging in and out, to access the data. I’m now able to quickly view the number of visits to each of their websites (including daily, hourly, and monthly numbers), feed subscriptions totals and changes, and how many people are following each of my clients on Twitter.

The app currently provides statistics for Ember, Feedburner, Google Analytics, Mint, Squarespace, Twitter, and Vimeo. I would love to see Facebook, YouTube and FourSquare added to the list. It would also be great if they provided a deeper-dive into Google Analytics.

So the next time you see me picking up a pizza pie for the family know I’m also scanning my client’s analytics for the latest. How’s that for multi-tasking?

Pandora: Pioneering a New Wave in Radio

Satellite radio is no longer the only way to add variety to our listening options on the go. Internet radio sites such as Last.fm, Jango and Pandora have offered the ability of customize channels on our computers and mobile phones. Pandora has now pushed even further by announcing its partnership with Pioneer to bring Internet radio to your car via their audio products. This is a strategic move for both companies as it expands Pandora’s reach while giving Pioneer a new market.

One factor to consider for some is the pricing of these devices as they also support entertainment and navigation which adds a few more dollars to the equation. The navigation system is priced at $1,200.00 which also incorporates an iPhone feature to sync your current Pandora settings to. With over 42 million listeners and counting, Pandora hopes its users will see this as another reason why its service sets them apart from the rest.

Apple Talks To Verizon

Apple and Verizon are in talks of creating an iPhone type device for Verizon. The New York Times and USA Today have both claimed this product could roll out as early as next year. The device could be called the "iPhone lite" and be smaller and thinner than the current cell phone.

According to secret sources, this would be a device that's smaller than the Kindle however have a larger touchscreen and enable people to listen to music, view photos, and watch high-definition videos.

Do We Care About Newspapers?

Todd Defren ran an informal poll and started a very intellectual thread in his blog called Nobody Cares About Newspapers. Some of my favorite bloggers including Chris Brogan, Richard Binhammer and CC Chapman contributed to the conversation.



Most of us care about newspapers. However the function they provide is slowly being broken apart and assumed by other mediums. Here's a few of my thoughts about Newspapers and the Newspaper industry.

The internet has disintermediated (removed the middleman) for hundreds of industries or functions within businesses. Do you remember when you used to book flights through a travel agent? Or buy music at a record store?

Search engines (Google) and RSS feeds have disintermediated the delivery of news function of the newspapers. Every day a smaller portion of us read a paper newspaper and a huge portion get their news online or on our mobile device in a format we have customized for ourselves.

In his blog post, Defren mentions the pleasure of ‘taking his New York Times out to his deck’. The Amazon Kindle threatens to disintermediate the portability and readability of news. All that will be left for those of us over the age of 30 may be the nostalgic tactile feel of turning newspaper pages.

Chris Brogan highlighted the future of journalism in Twittering about Defren's post. The remaining asset the newspapers own is Trust (although this is constantly in question) an independent source of trusted journalism. I believe that in order to survive, the Newspaper industry must reinvent itself and nurture ‘authority’ and ‘trust’ and learn to deliver it in a Kindle/iPhone world.

Woz: Ipod will die?

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Woz) warns that the iPod's days are numbered in an interview with UK newspaper, the Telegraph.

"The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one. Things like, that if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while", Wozniak warned.

"It's kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much," he added.  

One way around this inevitable consequence of change may be to slow down, Wozniak advised: "It is time for the whole computer industry to maybe have a bit of a slowdown. For twenty years we have been in this replacement and upgrade market," he said.

Woz was also critical of Apple's tight control over iPhone development, warning, "Consumers aren't getting all they want when companies are very proprietary and lock their products down. I would like to write some more powerful apps than what you're allowed." 

Source:  9 to 5 mac

Android - The G-Phone (Google Phone)

Almost 1 year since Apple launched his iPHONE and redefined the mobile cell industry adding a very intuitive and easy to use smart phone. Now other manufacturers such LG, Nokia and Motorola are behind the iPhone success producing phones with similar features like the iPHONE. But all of them have a lack of good operating system, applications, etc.

People from Google are seeing this opportunity and they want a piece of the cake offering Android which is a software platform and operating system for mobile devices based on the Linux operating system. It allows developers to write managed code in a Java-like language that utilizes Google-developed Java libraries.

Google will not make the phone, but has helped develop the software that handset manufacturers will install in their devices. Samsung, HTC, LG Electronics, and Motorola are among the companies that have said they will produce phones that run on Android. Also Android is designed to allow independent developers to write their own programs for mobile devices, so Android based phone users will be able to download applications for their phone over the Internet. The first handset to run Android (aka "the Google Phone") has been approved by the FCC. In the documents provided, it appears that we have now a release date for this highly anticipated phone: November 10th, 2008.

So we will see a new G-phones soon

Apple sells 1 million iPhone 3G in a weekend

Despite widespread activation problems, Apple said Monday that it sold its one millionth iPhone 3G on Sunday, just three days after the new handset launched worldwide on Friday, July 11.

"iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. Last year, Apple managed to sell just 270,000 iPhones during the first two days. Although the Cupertino-based electronics maker did not release a three day tally for first-generation iPhone sales, it would take the company nearly two and a half months to sell its one millionth unit. "It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world," Jobs added. Unlike last year when opening weekend iPhone sales took place exclusively in the United States, this year's roll-out was helped by simultaneous launch in 20 addition countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

The new iPHONE 3G now offer a bunch of improvements like connection to the new 3G networks which is most faster than the EDGE networks, it has a GPS based on Google maps, support for Microsoft Exchange and access to the iTunes Applications store, so now you can buy or get free applications for your phone. There are cool applications for free like AIM, Facebook and AOL Radio. The applications are very limited for now but thanks the new SDK we will see a bunch of interesting new apps in the near future. This revolutionary phone is repaving the mobile industry to a next level.

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