Thoughtpick: A unique perspective of the Web and social media...
A unique perspective of the Web and social media...

February 5, 2010

Top 10 Addictive Facebook Games Which Can Drive You Nuts!

Why is it drug addicts and computer aficionados are both called users?” Clifford Stoll

In this post, I will attempt to answer Mr. Clifford’s question by bringing to you the top ten Facebook addictive games which will turn you from a “balanced” human being into an addicted gamer; always waiting for his or her next game fix! (You can indulge in the 5 most addictive Twitter games by clicking here)

Therefore, my advice to you is as follows: If you work, go to school, have a family, have friends, or even have a life at all, I urge you not to play more than one of the following games in the same day. Trust me, the results are amazingly terrifying! :)

1. Sushi Panic

Whether you are a sushi lover or not, this sushi-based tetris-like game is guaranteed to keep you at the edge of your seat, especially when those sushi pieces start rushing by in the speed of light! The game is simple: group similar sushi pieces together as they pass by on the conveyor for score and to prevent the jam which would end up in a sad game over… leaving the poor sushi behind!

Sushi Panic

Sushi Panic

Visit GooBox :)

[read full article >>]

December 30, 2009

Dramatic Chipmunk Starring in New LG Campaign [video]

Yet another seemingly successful social media campaign brought to you by LG!

LG seem to have mastered the art of viral marketing with a campaign which promotes a $100k prize for the winner of their competition, and in turn, promotes their monitors.

It’s a campaign to be remembered! LG recreated the “Dramatic Chipmunk” and let the audience of the five videos, leading to the campaign site, follow him on a own trip around the world starting with the “Break Out”.

Advertising appeals used as their best! LG should be given kudos for their proper utilization of a combination of different appeals in addition to a valuable monetary prize:

  • The sex appeal (the woman)
  • The humor appeal (the chipmunk itself & the various scenes)
  • The emotional appeals (the children & the chipmunk)

What a combo!

[read full article >>]

December 7, 2009

Samsung Swype vs. iPhone: Faster touch typing… not! [video]

Samsung Omnia introduces Swype, a supposedly faster way to type mobile text messages: “…a way to type blindingly fast on a touchscreen.” Gizmodo

Allow me to elaborate further: Swype is a simple input method for touchscreens developed by Swype Inc, which basically tries to position itself as a competitor to the “regular” mobile phones which utilize touchscreens, mainly the iPhone!

In the video below, in which, to tell you the truth, I am highly disappointed with, we are being presented with a comparison between typing on on a regular iPhone touchscreen as opposed to typing using Swype method.

Although the video makes it seem that Swype allows for much faster SMS creation, I have seen my friend, with my own eyes, type so much faster using her iPhone’s touchscreen and with no additional effort whatsoever! It’s a matter of habit, nothing more nothing less!

In my humble opinion, Swype seems to be more confusing than helpful! The faint lines that show as your moving from one letter to another completely hide the other letters. This means that in order to effectively use Swype, you should learn the keypad’s letters and positions by heart!

What do you think: Would you consider buying a Samsung Omnia just for the Swype typing method? Do you think such a feature could actually help raise Samsung Omnia’s market share? How fast can you type using your iPhone?

Waiting to read your comments and feedback below :)

Filed under: App Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Beirut @ 8:51 pm

November 24, 2009

Who’s Here App – Free Phone Calls on Your iPod and iPhone!

As we relentlessly, and yet unconsciously, speed into a technology-based life style, competition amongst technology related brands, tools, systems and platforms soars higher; bringing us a new, fresh and innovative pool of ideas for the future.

MSN messenger, Skype, Fringe, eBuddy and other web or phone based chatting tools should be prepared to meet their new opponent: The “Who’s Here” Application designed for the iPhone or the iPod Touch.

Not only does this “social” application allow for the regular options any chatting platform offers, it also allows you to spice things up a bit as it gives a chance to its users to make free calls and send free text messages. Furthermore, this applications helps in bridging the way for you to find and meet new people and creates another way for you to maintain current relationships with your friends and family!

[read full article >>]

Filed under: App Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — Beirut @ 9:00 pm

November 20, 2009

Verizon’s New Campaign Rocks! Should AT&T Be Scared? [video ads]

Enough beating around the bush and let’s just face it: Some brands know how to use social media to their advantage while others don’t! It’s a rather simple statement that doesn’t need too much explanations or justifications. I mean with all the noise out there, getting your message through needs certain elements and variables which, when ignored, could turn against you.

Whether it is the fight between the iPhone and the Blackberry or the long lived battle between Apple and Microsoft, when a brand is able to use social media to capture attention, create awareness and build trust and loyalty, it has a higher percentage at succeeding and sustaining profits.

[read full article >>]

October 9, 2009

Women’s Domination: Sex Appeal, Competition & Multitasking!

A few days ago, I came across an article entitled: “Why women dominate social networking”, and it made me wonder: What are the logical reasons for such a phenomenon?

Join me to take a look at the following quotes:

Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult,” by Charlotte Whitton, and “There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women,” by Madeleine K. Albright.

1,2,3... Go!

1,2,3... Go!

The two main points that could be easily deduced from these quotes are the following: women have the ability to get things done faster than men, through multitasking, and women are clearly competitive amongst each other. These are facts that are scientifically proven in more than one article and study and both in real life and virtually!

Therefore, in my opinion, apart from the fact that women actually dominate social networks through sex appeal, they also do so through their competitive nature and their multitasking skills!

Women & Competitiveness…

The way I see it, women are always competing amongst each other. Let’s take Facebook for example, if female A posts a few pictures of herself wearing something “sexy”, female B automatically sees them and goes out, buys some new seductive outfit, takes pictures and posts them on Facebook! Thus, more interaction on Facebook! The same could be easily applied to written wall posts and comments, games played, things shared and so on.

As for LinkedIn, if female A has many contacts and recommendations, female B gets jealous and starts engaging more with people and looking for contacts to add. Again, more interaction on LinkedIn.

And the list goes on!

[read full article >>]

September 10, 2009

Yahoo! “to Take on Twitter”: Beyond Far-fetched!

Yahoo meme

Yahoo! Meme

Is it really “wise” to try to take on well-established services or platforms by imitating them? Does the fact that a company has a high market share in a certain field automatically translate into its a guaranteed success in other fields? What is happening to product/service specialization? And why is everyone is trying to be a jack of all trades?

Tapping into my thoughts…

Meme T-Shirt!

Meme T-Shirt!

Most of the aforementioned questions have no definite, “right” or “wrong” answers but through experience, knowledge and certain statistics followed by predictions, one could deduce some logical answers or arguments.

Long before micro-blogging tightened its Tetris-like grasp around the throats of our blogs many of us frittered away more than one RSS feed on things known as memes.”

As I read “Yahoo! to take on Twitter“, I immediately thought: Is Yahoo! serious about this? Is it really offering a Twitter-clone service – Meme – to compete with Twitter? This is just not going to happen, meme will miserably fail, eventually at least!

The Why’s and How’s…

Apart from the fact that “Meme seems to lack in its features and in potential to surpass its competitors” and that “the company has a spotty record with Mash and SpotM“, Yahoo! should know better than to try to tap into a cluttered market that is dominated by the giant- Twitter, and that is already suffering from information overload!

I mean let’s take both Plurk and identi.ca, the two micro-blogging sites that have been operating for a while now, as an example.  These two services do provide valuable features and have their own target markets, yet they were unable to “really” compete with Twitter! Not to mention the few others, like Rejaw, that have tried to and completely disappeared! Why does Yahoo! think it will do any better?

Comparing Traffic: Identi.ca vs. Plurk vs. Twitter

Furthermore, and with the continuous demand for innovation vs. imitation, and the need for specialization rather than haphazard diversification, Yahoo! might actually be writing its own suicide note by choosing to go in this direction! Take Google’s failed attempt with Jaiku for example, could Yahoo! do better?

Tap with Me!

To conclude, I’d really like to hear your thoughts about this issue: Do you think Yahoo! has taken a wise step by trying to compete with Twitter? What can Yahoo! do to ensure that it won’t lose its users’ trust and loyalty if this venture fails? How do you think Meme can actually compete with Twitter, if possible?

June 23, 2009

Top 10 Web Startup Business Screwups!

Why do many new web startups, with great ideas, valuable assets and deep motivation, fail? What are the major mistakes startups commit leading them to failure? What can be done to prolong the life of a startup rather than bring its business life to a guaranteed end?

It’s sad: the percentage of failed startups. It’s almost depressing! Even years ago, going back to the 90’s, it seems that startups have been failing continuously yet more discretely since social media channels and Web 2.0 were not in play!

A Table of Web Companies that Vanished!

A Table of Web Companies that Vanished!

Now many of you out there will think: why should I consider opening my own startup when there’s a 50-50% chance that it’s going to fail? Why not just apply for a stable company and settle for being an employee with a steady income? I beg to differ, the remaining successful 50% could be perceived positively! What failing startups lacked is the ability to learn from the mistakes of the many others! Yet now, with the abundant availability of failure stories, both online and offline, it has become easier to learn from the mistakes of others and try hard to avoid them.

So here’s what I’m going to do for this particular post: I’m going to choose a list of startups that failed and point out their mistakes clearly, explaining how they could be avoided in future ventures.

  1. Simplicity Does Not Substitute for Functionality!
    • AlmondRocks (as we were able to conclude from the little resources we found) created blogs that were too simple that they were actually useless!
  2. Don’t Underestimate Competition:
    • TinFinger Took their competition, Wikipedia – one of the top ten websites worldwide- lightly. They also concentrated on the technical side of the interface (RDF triples and semantic web) rather than the friendliness of the user experience.
    • Feedster, a search engine which seems to have been resurrected then killed again, is yet another example of underestimating competition, in this case: Google! [read full article >>]