YouTube Charging Monthly for Channel Subscriptions
Posted 9 days ago

When I saw this, I almost said "There's no way anyone will pay for these channels."  But, people said the same thing about Netflix.  YouTube is charging up to $6.99…

YouTube Charging Monthly for Channel Subscrip…
How to Market Your App to Stand Out from the Competition
Posted 58 days ago

Creating apps is a great way to generate passive income. If you create a hit, you could easily make millions of dollars. Though these standout successes are rare, even modest…

How to Market Your App to Stand Out from the …
Cisco Eyes Internet of Things Market
Posted 67 days ago

According to Cisco, over 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by the year 2020 which could create a very large business opportunity for companies poised to take…

Cisco Eyes Internet of Things Market
Kobayashi Maru or Redefining the Problem
Posted 67 days ago

Many fans of the Star Trek franchise are familiar with the Kobayashi Maru.  In the fictional series, cadets are taken through many training exercises designed to test their intelligence and…

Kobayashi Maru or Redefining the Problem
Famous last tweets captured for posterity
Posted 91 days ago

Famous last tweets captured for posterity
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YouTube Charging Monthly for Channel Subscriptions

tv picWhen I saw this, I almost said “There’s no way anyone will pay for these channels.”  But, people said the same thing about Netflix.  YouTube is charging up to $6.99 a month for subscriptions to certain channels.  The fee isn’t for the for the entire service, but for selected channels.  You can get a bundle of channels (just like cable TV) for about $9.99 a month which brings me back to my original statement:  ”There’s no way anyone will pay for these channels.”  There are 54 paid channels which cover a lot of topics and programs like Justice Central (which has all of your favorite reality court room shows), Big Star Movies (independent movies, foreign films, documentaries), Cuba Play T.V. (Cuban television programming), and 51 more channels for your viewing pleasure.  These days, there’s a market for everything.  The big question is:  Will you buy?

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Is Your Next Development Platform in the Kitchen?

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How to Market Your App to Stand Out from the Competition

webapp_logosCreating apps is a great way to generate passive income. If you create a hit, you could easily make millions of dollars. Though these standout successes are rare, even modest successes can make you thousands of dollars in profit. The key is to create a quality app that people want and then to market it successfully.

Even if you have an amazing app, you can’t just rely on word of mouth to get you more sales. You need to create a marketing strategy to get the most exposure and drive sales. Here are a few tips for how you can market your app to stand out from the competition and increase sales:

Create a Website

Creating a website is the first step you need to take when marketing any product. It’s the first thing that users will look for when they want to learn more information about you, your company, and your other products.

Make sure you create a compelling website that has an eye-catching design that reflects the quality of your app. Include information about your app, including price, features, and upgrades. Strive to include features that users won’t find on other sites — perhaps a preview of the app or even complementary material like bonus games.

Offer a Free Version

Even if you plan to sell your app, you should make a free version available. Users are more willing to try out an app if it costs them nothing. If you create a free version of your app, you can convince users to buy the full version by giving them a taste of the quality they can expect.

Make sure that your free version offers users a quality experience while still holding back the most interesting or useful features for the paid version.

Create a Leaderboard

If your app has an online leaderboard, you will be able to get more word-of-mouth sales. Users will enjoy posting their high scores or their personal bests on the leaderboards, and other users will start to see a buzz building around your app. The more buzz there is, the more other users will be motivated to try out your app, and the more press you are likely to get from other blogs. You are also more likely to be featured in the app store.

Use Social Media

Social media is free marketing — take advantage of it. Create fan pages or profiles for your company or your app, and build a following to market your app. You can share updates about new apps, offer exclusive discounts, or share high scores and personal bests.

YouTube and Vimeo are special cases. You can use these networks to create and promote a trailer video for your app, which can showcase its best features for users and help them to get excited about it.

Get Reviews

Perhaps one of the best ways to market your app is to get others to do it for you. You can encourage reviews by asking your followers on your website and social media to leave them. You can also get more reviews by creating a press kit for your app and sending it out to blogs, tech review sites, and even local newspapers and magazines.

The more positive reviews you get, the more buzz you will build around your app, which will lead to more traffic and more sales.

The app marketplace is crowded, and it can be hard to break through to get your app noticed when you are just starting out. However, these tips can help you to market your app so you get the sales and traffic you need to create the passive income you want or to build up your business.

Guest contributor Chloe Trogden is a seasoned financial aid writer who writes on specific opportunities such as cosmetology school grants. Her leisure activities include camping, swimming and playing her guitar.

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Cisco Eyes Internet of Things Market

English: World map showing the percentage of c...

English: World map showing the percentage of citizens living in an urban environment in 2005 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to Cisco, over 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by the year 2020 which could create a very large business opportunity for companies poised to take advantage of it.  Opportunities will created in manufacturing, transportation, health care, energy and government.  This new market, the Internet of Things, is banking on society’s need to have all their devices connected and online at all times.  It would encode 50 to 100 trillion objects and have the ability to track them (the average person in an urban environment is surrounded by 1000 to 5000 track-able objects).  If everything was equipped with identifying devices, our entire landscape would be transformed and improved.  Businesses would never run out of supplies because the stock would self-monitor and be continuously replenished when necessary.  Customers would always know what was on-hand in their favorite stores before walking into them (if they had not checked online beforehand), and hospital equipment would be able to notify technicians when calibration was needed.

 

At this time, Cisco is working with dozens of utility companies to deploy smart meters supporting Internet Protocol.  Today, there are over 2 billion smart meters in use using over 135 different protocols.  The company also invested in Cohda Wireless, a company pivotal in the creating of boards supporting the infrastructure to connect cars to each other and the Internet.  This technology would prove very helpful in large metropolitan areas to aid in traffic prediction, smoothing, and accident prevention.

 

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Kobayashi Maru or Redefining the Problem

English: This poster provides a good visual of...

English: This poster provides a good visual of the standard Agile Software Development methodology. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many fans of the Star Trek franchise are familiar with the Kobayashi Maru.  In the fictional series, cadets are taken through many training exercises designed to test their intelligence and leadership skills.  One of the most difficult tests is the Kobayashi Maru, which is a test designed to be unbeatable.  The test pitted an unwitting cadet as a starship captain on a mission to save a crippled vessel in enemy territory.  The computer simulated exercise was designed to counter any actions the captain attempted and would always end in the destruction of their ship and the vessel in need of help.  The only person to pass the test was a young Captain Kirk who reprogrammed the computer to allow him to defeat the no-win scenario.  Although we can’t correct life’s toughest problems with a few keystrokes, we can make changes which allow us to redefine our problems which allow a new solution to be worked.

 

Agile software development can be considered as  operating within the same boundaries of the fictional test.  When there are changes to be made, they are designed, applied, tested, and given to stakeholders for their approval.  These iterations continue until a workable product is created.  In fact, continuous planning, collaboration, design, development, and testing occur until an acceptable product is produced.  Instead of relying on the old methods of following one plan until the end, Agile practices allow developers to change the game in midstream, adapting to new challenges, without having to go all the way back to the drawing board.  If a team member has an idea, it can be integrated into an iteration of code at the time of discovery instead of wasting time and money redesigning it from the very beginning of the process.  Much like the young Captain Kirk, by constantly correcting issues, thereby redefining the code and the problem, developers are able to quickly adjust to programming problems and stakeholders’ changing requirements.

 

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Visio Presentation

Thank you to user: macleodc for this informative presentation on Visio.

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Famous last tweets captured for posterity

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This Week in Support of Black History Month: We Support STEM

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Past and Future Autos

No one really thought when we watched the Jetsons years ago, we would have flying autos by now.  Of course, we don’t, but I believe we are getting close.  If you watched some of the old sci-fi movies or television shows way back when, the characters held what seemed to be small computers which could give them almost any type of information.  That science fiction is now science fact so who knows how long it will be before we have the flying automobile?  Here are a few pics of past cars mixed with a few future auto ideas that may spark your curiosity and bring back memories.

oldcar2

pontiac-firebird-trans-am-10th-anniversary-special-edition

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Brilliant or Lazy?

Multiple Intelligences (Writing III, 2008, males)

Multiple Intelligences (Writing III, 2008, males) (Photo credit: pabeaufait)

Technology has changed so much of our lives that it is hard to make a living without it.  Even a simple activity like jogging is not immune from the tangles of technology.   Devices that monitor the amount of miles run, calories burned, and speed are standard equipment for today’s runners.  This is a small example of the many ways we use these tools to assist us in our lives.  But, have these strides helped or hindered us from being reaching our true potential?  Thinking is no longer necessary.  There is no need to learn a foreign language when it is much easier to use an iPhone language app which automatically converts English to Spanish, German, Italian, etc.  Is all of this progress making us brilliantly smarter or lazy underachievers?

With all of this in mind, it makes you think of the type of person you may want to work for you:  the teenager who can code virtually anything but may take forever to do it, or the kid who can code anything, but lives in a pig stye?  There is also the person who has many ideas but spins out of control before completing any of them.  There have been many studies conducted about human behavior, but this case points to two types of people ranging between intelligent to less intelligent (we’ll keep it politically correct), and diligent to lazy.  We have seen many of these types manifested in our children or friends’ behaviors: the intelligent and physically energetic worker and the brilliant but physically lazy worker.  Those who are bright and energetic may be obsessed with perfection and micromanagement and although they can be excellent workers, sometimes can not finish a project because they think TOO much.  Then there are the bright but physically lazy individuals.  These folks are smart enough to see what needs to be done but will find the easiest way to achieve that goal.  These are the people who know how to re-use code, outsource when necessary, and use whatever means necessary to efficiently get a job done with the least amount of effort (such as the aforementioned language apps).  Although I do not agree with cutting corners, I do believe there is always an easier way of doing things.  There will always be someone who will find the easier way and leverage it to their advantage.  Which type are you and what type of programmer would you hire?

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