7 New Posts

Appolicious Debuts Site for Educational Apps
5 Tips for Monitoring Your Blog’s Performance
5 Social Media Marketing Tips for Bands and Musicians
Redfin: the House Hunter’s Mobile Mentor
Samsung Mini-Stores Coming to Best Buy Locations
Forecast Weather Prediction App Has Web Developers Drooling
Real-Time Stock Tracker Offers on-The-Go Portfolio Review

Appolicious Debuts Site for Educational Apps

Posted: 19 Apr 2013 01:25 PM PDT

In case you haven’t been to iTunes or Google Play lately, you should know that there are more mobile applications out there than you can shake a stick at. Okay, that’s not really news to anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock. But according to some estimates, approximately 15,000 new programs are uploaded to the app-sphere every month. That’s over a thousand new apps made available for download each day. And the number is growing. The point is that this can make for a confusing landscape for consumers, who may be confronted by dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of apps that meet their search criteria. Luckily, sites like Appolicious provide you with information on apps that is sorted into categories (books, games, music, news, shopping, etc.) and further divided into sub-categories so that you can narrow your search even as you get an overview of what’s out there, what it costs, and what will best suit your needs. And they’ve recently expanded their reach by creating a new website call AppoLearning that is dedicated to helping mobile users find educational apps.

The idea behind this new branch on the Appolicious tree, according to founder Alan Warms, is one of vertical expansion, by which the company hopes to provide targeted information on a specific type of apps, brought to users thanks to expert assessment. The result, AppoLearning, is a site that relies on the advice and opinions of professionals, in this case teachers, tech blogs, and so on. Through the use of specific criteria, this panel of experts will assess educational apps and score them based on suitability for particular age groups, relative value for users, and of course, educational content (amongst other things). Each app will then receive a score from 0-100 that tells users what the experts think of the application.

Notes Warms, “What an educator thinks is a great app might be very different than its popularity in the App Store.” This is a major distinction considering that user reviews may be based on little more than the unqualified opinion of someone who doesn’t realize that the app they’ve downloaded isn’t designed to run on their device. Just look at how many people complain about the screen size being wrong when they try to run iPhone apps on their iPad even though the programs clearly haven’t been optimized – just saying. Even worse, positive “consumer” reviews are often posted by friends of the developer, while negative ones may be placed by competitors. Certain game developers, for example, are notorious for having employees post anonymous negative reviews of competitor games. The point is, if you want trusted reviews, AppoLearning aims to deliver.

Of course, this is only the first step in a much larger plan for expansion. Warms has intimated that the company is also seeking to branch out into category-specific sites for travel, health, and finance apps, just for example. Considering that Appolicious has gained quite a following already, this can only mean good things for both the website and its patrons. In the meantime, AppoLearning may not supplant other learning sources like online Alpine tutors, but it is a great way for parents to ensure that the time their kids spend on mobile devices is worthwhile rather than wasteful.

5 Tips for Monitoring Your Blog’s Performance

Posted: 19 Apr 2013 01:25 PM PDT

Starting a blog can be fun, engaging and a great way to make some side cash. Yet, how do we know if our blog is actually getting a good response? The response to your blog can usually be quantified by statistics and determining both how many people visit your blog each day and how long they stay on; and what posts are the most popular. Moreover, knowing which posts and what type of content has the best response will lead you to produce better content that even more readers will enjoy. If you didn’t have some sort of statistical source to monitor how well your blog is performing, it is almost like flying blind. Here are 5 tips for monitoring your blog’s performance.

Unique hits versus pageviews. When you are trying to calculate your conversion rate or, in other words, the amount of views it takes for someone to purchase a product or service on your site, it is crucial that you separate and evaluate the unique visitors and the pageviews. Moreover, most advertisers will want to know both types of information. Over all, having both will allow you to adjust your website to allow for better performance. Unique viewers are people with unique IP addresses who have visited your site and can be counted as single individuals. Pageviews are an overview of how many pages readers have visited on your blog.
Count the bounce rate. The bounce rate is the amount of people that visit your site and then leave right away. You want your bounce rate to be as low as possible. The bounce rate might be recorded in percentiles or in a time format. For instance, it might say that 35% of visitors left the site within 1 minute or some other timeframe. An ideal bounce rate would be in the lowest percentile.
When you do monitor your website and you see that you have a low bounce rate or a low unique visitor count, you can readjust your site accordingly to increase its performance. However, some of these issues might be caused by outside sources, like slow page load speed and hackers. You can look into signing up for a professional service, like website monitoring from SmartBear, that will monitor your site for you to catch anything you might have missed.
Always have three website monitoring statistical counters. There are a number of services that record everything from the amount of visitors, to what they searched for to find to your site and even the city they live in. However, each one of these counters will give you a different reading. You want to have a few different accounts monitoring your site so that you can get the broadest overview of your blog’s performance.
Lastly, remember that having a high performing blog takes time. It takes dedication and time. Successful blogs don’t usually happen over night, especially the ones with staying power. It is important to take your time and not rush anything, lest you make a huge miscalculation that could risk your blog’s success.

5 Social Media Marketing Tips for Bands and Musicians

Posted: 19 Apr 2013 01:25 PM PDT

It’s a brave new world for those looking to make their mark on the music scene. And whether you’re with a band or you’ve decided to go solo as a singer/songwriter or a Trent Reznor-like one-man-band, you should know that there’s a little more to the business these days than playing local open mic nights and sending demos to record labels. In fact, the online and mobile arenas have virtually expanded your horizons when it comes to connecting with fans and potential patrons, all of which works to your benefit. While you might still need to find an agent and you’d likely enjoy the opportunity to sign with a major record label, it’s not a bad idea to reach out via social networking in order to start building a fan base from the ground up. However, you need to manage your online presence if you want it to work for you, so here are a few tips to keep you on track with building your social media empire.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. It can be tempting to sign up for every social networking platform under the sun, but keep in mind that you have to maintain your profiles if you want to retain followers, and this requires time and effort on your part. It can be hard enough to post and interact on a single platform, but when you’re trying to keep five or more going you might start to feel like a juggler with too many chainsaws in the air. So choose a couple of platforms that best suit your needs and focus your efforts there. You’ll probably find this strategy both more manageable and more successful in the long run.
Consider music platforms. There are all kinds of websites and applications devoted to promoting musical acts, so you might want to look into these before you select more general options. For example, the recent relaunch of MySpace has turned the former friend zone into a place for bands and fans to meet. This is a great way for you to get in touch with music lovers of every stripe and expose them to your unique sound. Since visitors to this social hub are looking for music, you have a much more targeted audience at your disposal than, say, Facebook or Twitter might deliver.
Promotions. Getting people to friend you is not going to be nearly as difficult as keeping them interested and engaged. So you might want to consider a variety of promotions that social media can facilitate. You could offer free downloads, do ticket giveaways, create surveys to test fan knowledge of the band, or host contests where entrants can win free swag (albums, stickers, t-shirts, etc.) – anything to engage followers.
Get creative. There are an incredible number of ways to use social media to market your band, and the more fun and creativity you inject into your efforts the more likely you are to gain (and keep) an audience. For example, instead of posting clips of your band playing live gigs, you might create viral videos using your music. Or perhaps you could team up with some tech-savvy friends to make an app of some sort. The point is to try something new.
Use analytics. Until you get a label, an agent, and/or a music promoter on your side, you may have to manage your own marketing efforts. And if you’re not taking advantage of analytical tools to monitor your efforts you could be wasting a lot of time and effort on campaigns that simply aren’t delivering the results you’re looking for.

Redfin: the House Hunter’s Mobile Mentor

Posted: 19 Apr 2013 01:24 PM PDT

Pretty much anyone searching for a home these days is aware of a couple of pertinent facts. For one thing, it is a buyer’s market, packed with great deals on homes that only look to appreciate as the market improves. Secondly, it’s a lot easier to peruse available properties thanks to the absolute wealth of MLS websites and mobile applications. With options like Zillow, Trulia, and local listing services at your disposal you’ll have no trouble discovering apartments, condos, homes, and land in your area for sale. But it turns out that there may be one application that you haven’t heard of that trumps all the rest by offering additional features that will appeal to nearly every house hunter. So if you’re looking for something more from your real estate app, now is a good time to download freebie Redfin for your iPhone or iPad and get started with your search for a new home.

You’re probably more or less familiar with the format at this point. According to one 5-star customer review on iTunes, “You walk down the street. You see a house for sale. You pull out an iPhone. You know everything there is to know about that house. Repeat.” Of course, that covers the basic functionality, but there’s a lot more to this handy, house-hunting application (although you should know that it’s only available in certain cities). You can start simply enough by searching via city, zip code, or even a specific address. From there you get a map view that shows you properties within your search area, which you can easily narrow or broaden. You can also narrow your search by properties that are for sale, those that are sold, or those listing an open house (or you can remove any of these from your search list).

You might wonder why anyone would want to see houses sold in an area, and there are a couple of reasons. For starters, you may want to know what houses in a particular neighborhood are actually going for, as a way to get an idea of what you can expect to pay. But Redfin also offers something that few MLS apps provide – it lets you know when a house is under agreement. In other words, it tells you when there is contract in place but the home has not yet sold, technically. If there’s a particular property you’re in love with, keeping tabs even after it has “sold” could mean you’re the first to know if the deal falls through so that you can swoop in and make an offer. Even better, you can set up alerts that let you know the minute certain properties are listed, like those in a particular neighborhood, for example, so you don’t have to keep checking in.

You can also select favorites, add notes, and even schedule home tours of properties you like with little more than a couple of taps. And by simply selecting any property on the map you can call up information on the listing, including asking price, property details (number of bedrooms and baths, square footage, etc.), and even the taxable value of the land and structures (and the property tax paid the previous year). As real estate apps go, Redfin makes it pretty easy for house hunters to find everything they need to know about available homes in their search area. So if you’re looking for one RE application that can really help you to find the house of your dreams, download Redfin and get started.

Samsung Mini-Stores Coming to Best Buy Locations

Posted: 19 Apr 2013 01:24 PM PDT

Competition in the technology marketplace is consistently high, and the companies that navigate these waters will do whatever they must to solidify their brand and maintain a hold on their customer base. That’s why you’ll often see Apple embroiled in lawsuits with some of its key competitors in the smartphone and tablet market. The retail side is a little more friendly, as the major brick and mortar chains that sell these gadgets don’t often gain much by choosing one brand over another. Best Buy has always been about the megastore model. They offer as many different brands as possible for their shoppers, with the knowledge that they’ll make their margins by being known as the go-to destination for any technological device. Well, it appears that they’re expanding a pilot program and offering up a unique partnership. Best Buy is poised to dedicate a sizable chunk of each of their stores to Samsung.

These areas inside of Best Buy will actually be mini-stores, completely independent, owned and operated by Samsung. Best Buy tried this already in their Lewisville, Texas store, and found it to be an effective strategy. So they’re poised to open more of these dedicated mini-stores, in time to support the sale of the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone later this quarter. In response, Samsung has begun to recruit new employees specifically for placement in the Best Buy mini-stores. This is Samsung’s first permanent brick and mortar retail placement, joining Microsoft and Apple as the major brands with retail installations.

Apple already has sections inside of most Best Buy locations. But the new mini-stores will be much larger, with a huge cross section of Samsung products. And best of all for the consumers, you will be able to make your purchases right there, circumventing the busy primary checkout lines at the front of the store. It’s a win-win for all involved. Samsung will enjoy exposure to a larger audience, and giving people the opportunity to handle their products before purchasing will educate the consumer on the differences between the Galaxy S4 and the iPhone4, for example. Samsung will probably also be able to move some of their less popular products with more frequency. For Best Buy, the goal is to become an even more important piece of the delivery chain. By inviting this partnership, they’re creating stronger relationships with a key vendor, while placing best-selling merchandise in a key piece of their retail real estate. Samsung is a top five technology supplier for Best Buy, after all.

The financial specifics of the partnership were not made available by either party. Best Buy did go on record declaring they expect to maintain the same sort of profit margin they’ve made in the past on Samsung’s product line. They’ve spent quite some time testing out the strategy at the Texas location, and found it workable for both parties. The customers get to test drive all of the tablets, smartphones, cameras and laptops Samsung manufactures, and then make their purchases at the same counter.

The mini-stores should show up at the Best Buy near you by the first of May. You can expect it to take a little longer at the smaller shops that primarily sell things like Samsung Galaxy S4 Accessories, with the rollout earmarked for June 1st. Best Buy is hoping this reinvigorates their brand, which has come under hot competition from Wal-Mart and Amazon in the past several years.

Forecast Weather Prediction App Has Web Developers Drooling

Posted: 19 Apr 2013 01:24 PM PDT

There is no shortage of weather applications on the web and for mobile devices. And most of them offer the same basic fare. You type in your location and the app offers information like the current temperature, humidity, and weather conditions (sunny, cloudy, hurricane, etc.). Often these bits of rote data are accompanied by graphic depictions of the sun, rain drops, and so on. You can then scroll down to see the forecast for the day, the week, or up to about a ten-day spread, complete with highs, lows, and other basic details. Whether you use Google to get the forecast for your area or you head to the Weather Channel website (weather.com) or use their mobile app, you’ll find that these sources of weather information are about as exciting as your mom’s rambling account of her trip to the grocery store. Yes, it provides you with information, but most of it you could probably do without. If you happen to want more from you weather app, look no further than Forecast.

So far, Forecast is only available on the web at forecast.io, although the folks responsible for this app also had a hand in creating Dark Sky, the weather radar and forecasting app for iOS devices. However, you’ll be delighted to discover that viewing the web page on your smartphone or tablet delivers all the same functionality as using your computer. But before we start talking about what makes this web app so amazing, you might just want to open another tab and dial up the site. Go ahead. Now take a moment to look around. At first glance it may seem like every other website out there. You might even find it a little lite on content, probably because sites like The Weather Channel cram in a lot of unnecessary filler. But as you start to click here and there, you’re going to discover that nearly the entire front page is interactive, and there’s so much to keep the average visitor occupied that you’ll find yourself merrily browsing the functions for 10-15 minutes before you even realize that time has been passing you by. Yup, it’s that cool.

If you’ve been reading this without actually opening up a tab as instructed, here’s what you’ve probably missed. If you allow the app to pinpoint your location, the familiar marker (the upside-down teardrop) will adjust to hover over your town. Or you could just drag the pin where you want it to go, or enter your location by city, state, country, or zip code. While you’ll start on a global map, you can also switch to local or regional views. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The interactive map, when you click on or around it, will jump to life with animated weather movements like the Doppler radar graphics presented on the news.

The handy timeline at the bottom lets you jump back to the here and now or move ahead to a day you’re interested in viewing the weather for. You can look to the sidebar for information on weather right now, in the next hour, in the next 24 hours, or in the next week (with drop-downs for additional info), or you can simply scroll down the page to view the extended forecast, complete with drop-downs for each day that let you see the predicted temperature and weather conditions by the hour. Wow. Is your head spinning yet? There’s more.

You can see temps in Fahrenheit or Celsius, you can select a location anywhere on the globe, and you can save your top three locations on the menu bar for easy access. But you can also access the time machine feature which allows you to enter any date, past or future, to see the weather the was or that will be. You’d have to hire a professional web design and branding service like FireBubble.co.uk to come up with anything this pretty for yourself. In the meantime, just enjoy this interactive weather app. It will almost certainly become your go-to source for the forecast…and more.

Real-Time Stock Tracker Offers on-The-Go Portfolio Review

Posted: 19 Apr 2013 01:23 PM PDT

Remember the old days when you had to watch the news, call your stock broker, or subscribe to the Wall Street Journal in order to track the stock market? If you’re under the age of thirty you probably don’t. These days, wheeling and dealing is done virtually, thanks to the worldwide web and mobile solutions. E-Trade, for example, has made it possible for anyone with a login and little extra cash to make their money work harder for them – or learn just how quickly they can lose their shirt. And there are all kinds of apps designed to help the average Joe track the stock market, learn to play it, and enter a personal portfolio from anywhere via smartphone or tablet. But if you’re looking for one great app that offers you everything related to stock market tracking with instant refresh for up-to-the-minute review, you can’t go wrong with Real-time Stock Tracker.

This app is ostensibly designed to provide you with streaming stock quotes, and this is does for free. It also does a lot more, but you’re going to have to pay for it. The in-app purchases, which include features like ad-free viewing ($4.99), push alerts ($4.99), and 100K virtual fund ($0.99), just for example, seem never-ending. However, you can take full advantage of this app and save yourself a little moola by simply springing for the full version for $9.99 right off the bat. You’ll find that it’s well worth the price for this intuitive, comprehensive app that does the work of three independent applications.

First and foremost, you’ll create a watchlist of markets that you want to keep an eye on, including the NYSE, NASDAQ, and S&P 500, along with international markets. You’ll also add any particular stocks that you’d like to track, like Google, Apple, and so on. Your watchlist streams live, so you never have to wait for updates or feel like you’re 20 minutes behind everyone else, and you can see at a glance which stocks are up (green) and which are down (red), as well as their numbers and a note as to whether they are current, after-hours, or pre-market. From there you can click on a stock to view a full-screen chart of stock details, complete with a variety of information choices.

The next area covered is your portfolio, and as you may have suspected, this is where you track the stocks you currently own. When you enter your information you can create multiple portfolios and start tracking value, earnings (by day or up to six months), and your daily profit/loss (overall, by portfolio, by stock, etc.), amongst other things. You can even import portfolios from Google or Yahoo finance so that you don’t have to recreate them in the tracker. Plus, you can set up unlimited push notifications for stocks, either within your portfolio or ones that you’re interested in.

But there is one more feature that many users new to stock trading will appreciate, and that’s the paper-trade section, which offers stock trading training of a sort. This trading environment appears like real-world stock trading so that you can practice your skills without having to put any actual money on the line. Whether you do it for fun or to learn, it can definitely help you to hone your skills and gain some confidence before you play with real money. Real-time Stock Tracker may seem like an amalgamation of several other apps, and it basically is. But it takes the best of what other trackers have to offer and gives you one comprehensive stock application that does it all. For ten bucks it’s a pretty good deal, especially if you’re interested in managing your own portfolio.

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