You look around and see iPhones everywhere. Apple products have dominated the gadget industry, and its name holds value beyond comparison to that of other brands. It’s hard to compete with this… but Androids are up for the challenge.

Years ago, image recognition was only a dream, but today it is slowly creeping into reality. Image recognition is defined as technology that can see what’s going on, and communicate it out loud. Milestones have been overcome by image recognition this past year, and we can see the great benefit it can provide both small and large businesses alike.

More than just sounding neat in theory, we ask what image recognition is capable of doing and has already accomplished. For one, it has the ability to improve businesses. Also, day to day activities can become more efficient and enjoyable. And most importantly, image recognition has the vast power to aid the visually impaired.

We’re all familiar with the obstacles that come with scheduling work meetings. It’s something so simple, yet at times seemingly impossible.

Google Calendar has introduced a new “Find a Time” feature exclusively for Google Apps and Androids.

What’s new with Facebook? As the company continues to improve, new technology is introduced. Facebook has announced chatbot and Live Chat. This has the potential to replace 1-800 numbers and other “Help” related outlets. Facebook is working with Live Chat developers who can potentially build contact buttons that directly message people for help on websites. Instead of having to email or call help stations, customers can interact with someone on Live Chat, which optimizes efficiency, timeliness, and customer satisfaction. Happy customers = Happy business.

When was the last time you received a handwritten card? These days, time is money. You don’t have time to sit down and hand write a card, and now you won’t need to. Introducing Hallmark for the digital age. Felt and Punkpost are two apps which allow you to “craft personalized note cards from your phone, with ink that looks like you actually wrote it yourself.”

Here’s how it works.

Botlist. Didn’t you hear? It’s what all the newest phones are raging about!

Botlist is an app store for bots. That’s right, there’s now a centralized directory for all the bots you’ll ever need in one place, rather than from a variety of different apps and services. Compiling potential outlets that range vastly hopes to save time and room on your mobile devices.

We live in an age of music, creativity, and expression. Part of today’s culture is harboring a community. Concerts are everywhere, and now there’s even more reason to see what all the hype is about. Ticketmaster has teamed up with Facebook so we can now buy tickets directly through their website on event pages.

Sick of cluttered news feeds and not knowing whether your posts are being seen? Facebook is developing a new way for businesses to reach their ideal customers. Recently, It was leaked that sometime in Q2 2016 the social media giant will allow business Pages to send advertisements via Messenger to customers who have previously contacted them.

Yet another one of Apple’s rumored leaks is out. The iPhone 7 seems promising, with technological advancements not yet seen. Some of the new features headlined include:

“iPhone 7: Apple ‘plans to release three different iPhones this year’”
“iPhone 7 leak suggests ‘thinnest, smoothest handset ever’”
“iPhone 6S: patent shows Apple is working on waterproof phone for the near future”

...But debatably the most impressive is:

“iPhone 7: Apple ‘to introduce charging from 15ft’”

The Doppler Lab buds are HERE. Literally. This generation has become one that is constantly moving toward new and innovative technology. To survive in this industry of entertainment and all its accessories, you have to be original. Originality is hard to come by when almost everything has been done, but Doppler Lab’s Here buds has accomplished this feat engineeringly and experientially.

Towards the end of January, Facebook introduced an organic targeting tool to help publishers reach the audience they want engaging with their content, and to analyze the type of people who actually end up reading it. There are three basic features in this new Audience Optimization tool.

Spotify: 75 million users. SoundCloud: 175 million users. SoundCloud more than doubles Spotify’s number of listeners and users, making it the new YouTube of audio. SoundCloud is a looming threat to Spotify (often compared to Netflix in this situation) because it promotes network value rather than monetary value. Since it started catching hype, SoundCloud has fostered a community of rising artists and fanatical listeners, eager to discover and get lost in an endless, beautiful stream of music. “Once you find an artist you like on SoundCloud, you can then see which songs that artist likes and go down a rabbit hole of music awesomeness.”

Today’s marketing environment is a visual one. Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but video content is increasingly dominating the digital sphere. By 2018, 89% of internet traffic will be video. Statistics and strategic moves from social platforms indicate why this prediction seems plausible:

• Within the last year, Facebook users went from watching 1 billion videos every day to more than 8 billion.
• Twitter, which acquired Periscope in March 2015, now autoplays their live streaming videos within feeds.
• Spotify is introducing video content to its Android app starting May 2016.

“There’s not a minute to waste.” Uber is well aware of this concept, and has made quite the name for itself by taking advantage of that. How Uber manages to stay on top of its competition, however, is a constant struggle. Uber steadily tries to beat out neighboring competition like Lyft, taxi companies, and other alternative modes of transportation to keep their name on top. The solution? Customization.

The well-known Ride Request feature that we’re already familiar with just got much more personalized. Passengers can now stay updated with news and updates all with the convenience of Uber’s new service called “Uber Trip Experiences”, which delivers playlists, local news, and travel tips all to the palm of your hands. Although third party experts will control the flow of content, each ride’s personalization comes from Uber. “The time the content takes to consume will be synchronized with the estimated duration of the journey.”

When news broke last week of rock icon David Bowie succumbing to liver cancer at the age of 69, the Internet reacted quickly. Within 12 hours of the news, the hashtag #Bowie generated over a million tweets globally, and “35 million people had 100 million interactions about the singer on Facebook.” Perhaps the most relevant and intriguing statistics after any musician’s death in this digital age come from online music services like Apple Music and Spotify.

Peach, the new social media application has generated lots of buzz these past few weeks. So, what exactly is it? Dom Hofmann, the founder of Vine who also jumpstarted this app says it is simply “A space for friends.” Launched on January 7th, Peach is already ranked as the 8th most popular social networking app according to iTunes. The question, then, is: Will it stand a chance against the other giants of social networking apps?

Apple entered the music streaming marketplace with the launch of Apple Music, debuting worldwide on June 30th. The app and streaming service aims to consolidate all of your favorite features in online music and foster greater engagement between fans and artists. The release quickly produced animated debate in the tech and music communities; namely, how does Apple Music compare with existing services, such as Spotify and Tidal? Does Apple Music offer any new features that will tangibly enhance music consumption?

Sonos has been a wireless stereo powerhouse in Santa Barbara for over a decade, reinventing audio for the digital age. Here at Oniracom, we’ve been beefing up our music system with Sonos gear since January, and it’s definitely made an impact.

“After I listened to classic albums on our Sonos such as Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, The Doors’ Morrison Hotel, and The Beatles’ White Album I heard new things in the music I never had,” said our CEO Jacob Tell.

Have you ever wondered if your music player was detracting from the original quality of the music? Well, it’s quite possible. After music is recorded, the file is compressed from its original rate of typically 192 kHz to about 44.1kHz in order to fit on CDs and properly download. But does this actually affect the sound we hear? Famous singer Neil Young believes it does, and so he set out in 2012 to create a device that would be able to support music’s original recording rate. To do this, Young and his team asked for $800,000 in funding through Kickstarter, but music lovers seemed to believe in the idea just as much as Young, as donations exceeded $6.2 million. And thus, the PonoPlayer was created.

The PonoPlayer claims to let listeners hear high-quality music in a way that gives puts the “soul” back according to Young and many others in the music industry. In a video produced by PonoMusic, artists such as Norah Jones, Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, Mumford & Sons, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and many other music icons agreed that listening to the PonoPlayer let music be heard in a way as never before heard when using a portable device. With all these stars agreeing that this is a revolutionary device, how can it not be true? But a double blind study by Yahoo! found that average music listeners could not confidently agree.

The study tested the PonoPlayer versus an iPhone and the results concluded that the people thought the iPhone actually played better sound. So why do so many say that this new device is the key to better music? No one is too sure, because those who say they love the PonoPlayer focus on the difference they “feel,” not the difference they “hear.” It looks like the better sound may just be a trick of the mind, because according to scientific studies, the human ear can’t even pick up differences after 44.1kHz (that of the average CD or download).

In the end, paying $400 for the PonoPlayer, plus having to re-download every song for $2, may not be the best investment in a “feeling.” But you can decide for yourself by trying it out at Fry’s Electronics. Would you want to try it? Buy it?

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has redefined what it means to have broadband internet, officially raising the standard internet speed in an attempt to create a new status quo and improve internet service for Americans. Previously, the standard broadband was 4 megabits per second (Mbps) download speed with 1 Mbps upload speed. The new standard drastically increases the download speed to 25Mbps with a 3Mbps upload speed.

This proposed change came after the results of a Congress mandated annual progress report found that a large amount of Americans were not receiving adequate service. The FCC commissioners voted 3 to 2 to pass this new standard, and this may just be the beginning. According to IGN, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel believes the standard should be raised to 100Mbps!

You may be receiving faster internet soon, are you excited? 

User-generated web content has globally increased to the point where almost everyone participates in some way online, whether it is through blogging, Yahoo! Answers, LinkedIn, or FaceBook. There is a new generation of people that create and consume more content online, and with this enters new ways to manage this increase in worldwide imagination.

Specifically for YouTube, a company called Fullscreen contributes to a user’s web content by giving them the tools to create and the strategies to gain fan support and recognition. Fullscreen fosters innovation worldwide by allowing web users to expand their networks and to connect to others.

And now, Fullscreen just announced that they will be supporting users in making full-length movies, allowing for exciting opportunity among YouTube users. They have already begun working on three projects with groups that got their start on online. Get ready to discover and view original movies by the YouTube community. For more info on Fullscreen’s first three original movies, read this Mashable article.

Are you a YouTube user? Considering checking Fullscreen out: www.fullscreen.com

Have you or your friends used Venmo, or any other money transferring app but feel neglected by the inability to send the recipient a seflie along with your money transference? Fear no more! We now have… Snapcash. Snapchat and Square are collaborating on this project where Square will handle the actual cash movements and Snapchat will host the social networking platform. The deal will also provide Square with access to Snapchat’s 100 million plus monthly active users according to Mashable.

To use the new feature, one must live United States, have a debit card, and be 18 years old. Snapcash will be made first available to Android users, and shortly after it will be brought to iOS users. When using Snapcash, one also creates a Square account where the actual money transference will take place. This new feature exhibits Snapchat’s ability to push past its original limitations of strictly existing as a chat application and now becoming a surprising new competitor to mobile payment companies such as PayPal. 

Snapchat has recently begun marketing and developing platforms for Snapcash, so draining your bank account might be even easier in the near future. Also, we love the video Snapchat made for the new feature. It’s crazy but that’s part of the reason why it’s amazing!

Read more about it on Snapchat’s blog.

Amazon Echo part speaker part voice activated personal home assistant is new on the market and has consumers wondering what this product is for. Alexa is Amazon’s new version of Siri, which when asked can set alarms, reference the dictionary and play music. Echo has some promising features, but at this point seems slightly out of place. Amazon’s main objective is to sell products, but it is unclear at this point whether the functionality the Echo will provide highly marketable. However, Amazon has had success in the past with technological gadgets such as the Kindle when ahead of the market.  

It looks like Echo is making its way to the smart home scene just in time along with Google and Apple’s new home smart gadgets. According to Mashable, Echo could take Amazon from one-click purchase to no-click purchase, creating the ultimate in-home impulse purchase engine — all done with voice command. this new smart home technology could be a change in the future, making online shopping, downloading audio books and simple day to day questions easier and more convenient than ever. When addressed, Alexa, the Echo will listen and respond to questions, tasks and commands given to the device. The purpose of this product is to add a smart technology feature to homes and aid in day to day tasks. Smart home devices are a rapidly expanding market, and Amazon’s new product is currently being tested by being sent to some Amazon Prime members to test the product and receive feedback. According to Mashable the device runs around 99 for Amazon Prime members for a limited time and 200 for other customers.  

President Obama intervenes to save the internet by asking the FCC (Federal Communications Commissions) to classify the internet as a public utility, and not allow destructive practices like fast lane and throttling which will limit internet equality according to Gizmodo. The idea of net neutrality, gives innovators the chance to thrive, Obama wants the internet free and open in order to protect neutrality. Internet providers have a legal and ethical obligation to not block access to certain websites you want to visit, or to pay for priority to competitors. The internet has become an essential tool for communication and life. 

The FCC asked for feedback on its policies, and the general public responded. With over 4 million responses, the public has asked that consumers, not companies choose what sites to use and are currently very dissatisfied with current rules and regulations being practiced by the FCC. Obama then backed the public, by sending a message asking the FCC to reconsider some of its unethical practices, and adhere to the publics requests and dissatisfactions. The internet’s inherit purpose was to be a communication tool, without regulations that would spur innovation and promote freedom. According to Gizmodo, Obama is presenting a 4 point plan including: no blocking, no throttling, increased transparency, and no paid prioritization to target the main problems. In the past there have been telecommunication acts passed to prevent cellphone and telephone holders from financially over paying in services used in everyday life. Now we will have to wait for a response from the FCC since it is an independent agency. 

Apple pay sets a new benchmark for mobile payments, however, they are not alone.  according to Mashable, MasterCard has been a pioneer of mobile commerce innovation for years, including the world’s first contact-less and mobile payment solutions. Apple Pay turned to MasterCard to help ensure high quality mobile transactions. Earlier in 2005, Mastercard used Near Field Communication technology to turn almost anything into an instant and secure form of payment, meaning your smartphone, bracelet or watch could soon replace your wallet. These new methods of payment, enable consumers to spend more than they regularly would with traditional payment methods. Mastercard, has been working to promote and distribute these new methods of payment and further expand these technologies promoting them to be faster, more secure and convenient. Some may be worried about the security of using contact-less payment methods, but master card ensures heightened security through 3 layers of tokenization, EMV cryptology, and biometrics meaning respectively a special number assignment which prevents hackers from stealing your card information, creating a one time transaction number, and is thumb print or passcode secure.  Wallets might be a thing of the past, while reliance on smart phones and technology is predicted to expand and grow.

Fitbit recently unveiled their new and improved super watch the Fitbit Charge, just in time for the Holiday season. Six months ago the company recalled their product the Fitbit Force to due the nickel content in the surgical steel affecting some consumers causing allergic reactions, thought limited in cases according to Mashable Fitbit offered a full refund, and worked hard to come back with a new and improved product. During this release, Fitbit introduced the three products it is releasing within the next year.  

Products include the Fitbit Charge, the Fitbit Charge HR, and the Fitbit Surge. Currently the only product available for purchase is the charge which offers special features that track steps, calories burn, and sleeping patterns, which can then be synched to your smart phone. The fit band also displays incoming calls and messages, so you can check your wrist before reaching for the phone. So far the Fitbit products come in black and slate, but new colors such as blue and burgundy will be released in 2015 according to Mashable.

The FitBit collections offer the combination of hardware and software unity to take health tracking to the next level. Relying on smartphone devices is less efficient, than synching the features of a smartphone and smart watch. The Fitbit HR offers heart rate monitoring during physical exertion and rest periods alike, offering extensive health insight for only a 20$ price increase. the Fitbit Charge HR offers heart rate monitoring, GPS, sleep analysis, and activity tracking. Unfortunately these two products are yet to be released to the market, but we will patiently await their release, and look forward to taking health tracking to a new level.

Ello is a revolutionary social networking site unlike all the rest. Ello, is different from Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking giants in that it is completely add free. Ello’s manifesto reads, “We believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce, and manipulate — but a place to connect, create, and celebrate life. You are not a product. Ello. This is what makes Ello unique from its forefathers.  To generate revenue, Ello allows for users to customize their pages with special feature tools which may be purchased for a small price according to Ello these features are not necessary, but do provide some financial support to the company, as well as allowing for users to continue to create and uniquely customize their social networking experience.

Ello is set up as like a mash between Facebook, Pintrest and Twitter, in which users may generate statuses, post pictures and gifs, find friends and comment on posts. Started by a small group of programmers and artists, Ello has sprung up quickly with rapid popularity. There are as many as 35,000 requests to join the social networking site per hour according to The Guardian , and Ello’s head team is working rapidly to keep up with their growing popularity. The site however is not new; Ello was launched in March and was intended to be a small, invite- only community between friends. Interest was recently sparked by the LGBT communities’ migration to other social networking sites after Facebook launched their real name policy, prohibiting users from using names other than their legal names. As interest increased, Ello became more public, but one must still obtain an invite to join the site. Some have even begun selling Ello invites on eBay ranging from 5-150 dollars according to Mashable ,but it is still unclear whether or not Ello will be a fad, or is here to stay. 

Apple is never far from the headlines these days, especially after their iPhone 6 and Apple Watch  launch that basically stopped time. Today, Apple released their first update to the iOS 8 operating system (which was released last week), that turned out to be an absolute nightmare.

A tidal wave of complaints and panicked rants on Twitter led Apple to immediately (and awkwardly) withdraw the update. The two largest issues were the alleged loss of service and the disabling of TouchID. The update was initially to fix a bug on HealthKit, but no word on if that got fixed since it was overshadowed by the other glaring issues.

Mashable has been keeping very close tabs on iOS 8, reviewing the good, the bad and the panicked scramble to downgrade after this disastrous update.

I myself have not yet downloaded the update (storage problems FOREVER/#regrets on not getting the 32GB in the first place) but for now, this setback just goes to show that as far as we’ve come in the technology of mobile phone softwares, mistakes are still made. Of course, no operating system is perfect and i’m looking forward to seeing how quickly Apple can fix this.

Ever since stepping into Topshop’s Las Vegas store several years ago, I have been in love with the UK brand. When I was in London this past year, I got the chance to go into several Topshop stores, including their flagship in Oxford Circus, and was amazed at how the brand has become basically a household name in the UK. They not only have innovative clothing at affordable prices, but they always have seemed on point with weaving technology seamlessly into their label and fashion shows.

This year at London Fashion Week (#LFW), they stood out above the others with their democratization of fashion by targeting the younger customer base with a social media takeover.

Earlier this year on April 9th, Facebook announced it would be moving its messages completely out of the app and into the standalone messenger app, thus forcing users to download the app in order to send and receive messages.

Over this past weekend, the changes began to ramp up speed when messages started disappearing from the Facebook app, making the only way to access your messages on mobile be through the Messenger app.

Today, Mashable published an article about the newest development in the Facebook Messenger app discussion: being able to retain your messages on the Facebook app without having to download the separate Messenger app. Turns out, if you simply start the download of the Messenger app but stop it before it’s installed, your messages will show up back in the main Facebook app.

While I have been an avid user of the Facebook Messenger app for as long as I have had an iPhone, I can understand the qualms users have over downloading the Messenger app, as well as the desire to keep everything into one app. Privacy issues remain rampant, and although this Huffington Post article lays out most of the questions and answers, users still have their doubts regarding security, especially now that they are being forced to download the separate app. While it doesn’t seem like there is any other choice at this point other than to download the Messenger app, this loophole is probably the last resort. Personally, I could see this new change coming, as Facebook’s claims over the past few years about the quality of the app versus in-app messaging (it is indeed faster) seemed to somewhat allude to this change. All in all, Facebook’s control over our lives does seem at times a bit forceful, but I don’t see any need to panic over privacy or security because of this requirement. Yet.

Snapchat has been on the rise in social media as one of the only applications for sharing disappearing pictures and conversations, along with its recent update to chat face-to-face. However, Snapchat should be expecting some competitors in the near future. It’s no surprise that the market would soon be flooded with copy cats since many social media companies make constant attempts to take over other services. 

Instagram is currently in the window for a new developing app—it may be the next big player to steal the game and Snapchat’s spotlight! A banner introducing the app “Bolt” appeared at the top of Instagram’s mobile app on July 23rd advertising a service for “one tap photo messaging”. According to sources, the announcement was quickly pulled, but several people were still able to snag screenshots of it and pass it around Twitter (Engadget).

Unfortunately, there is no further detail on “Bolt”, but there is a chance that the app could offer a unique twist on the format of picture messaging and shove the copy cats aside. Check out The Verge’s post about Instagram’s rumored “Bolt” and view the leaked images of Snapchat’s competitor!

It’s that glorious time of year again- COMIC-CON 2014!!! The annual convention celebrating all things comics, television, films, art and culture begins today in San Diego. There are preview screenings, panel discussions, celeb sightings, book signings, and the of course the spectacular exhibition hall with different vendors showing off their displays and selling exclusive merch. The entire area of downtown San Diego turns into mass chaos when nerds from all corners of the earth descend upon the city for the convention. While I am sadly not there this year (*crying*), here’s a quick preview on some of the things we’re missing out on

exclusives available at SDCC this year.

In a world where there are so many different ways and outlets to communicate, one system has stood out above the others: EMOJIS.

These little pictographs you see on their separate keyboard on your iPhone or iPad are relatively new, appearing in the last couple years or so, with origins in late 1990s Japanese cell phone usage (which explains much of the appearance of some of the emojis). Emojis were encoded into Unicode Standard in 2010, with over 700 characters currently in existence.

Emojis are there when words don’t or can’t say enough, to provide a visual example to a message, and for all those moments in communication and life when you just want to include a cute little relevant emoji. With each younger, tech-savvier generation, emojis have permeated to the furthest depths of the internet: Twitter supports them in a remarkably clean 2D style (see this article), you can track the use of emoji on twitter in realtime on emojitracker.com and there’s even a Wikipedia-esque website dedicated to explaining different emoji, Emojipedia.

Mobile Santa Barbara, a meetup group created on Meetup.com, is hosting an awesome event at Oniracom this Thursday, July 24 at 6PM.

The event is all about iBeacons, which may be the key to the next technology revolution! It’s a combination of hardware and software that allows a phone to know when they are near a “beacon.” This allows companies to deliver highly location and contextually-aware content. It’s most immediate applications are in retail, with Apple using it in all of its stores to know when you’re there.

We will be joined by Christian Smith of Phone Halo, a local Santa Barbara company with over 6 years of experience in this field, Procore Technologies, a company that provides cloud-based construction management software to clients across the world, and us—Oniracom!

If you’re interested in mobile technology, you should definitely check out the event. We’re located at 720 East Haley Street. The event will be from 6PM - 8PM on Thursday and food will be provided by Procore. For more info, head to the meetup event here!

Yahoo Inc. is looking to start four short Web series including 10 episode comedies. The CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer has it rumored for the shows to be announced at an event in New York by April 28th. 

According to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo plans on offering high-quality video programming and high-price video ads to compete with other online TV streaming services, such as, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and even Google’s YouTube.

Mayer has high hopes for the company by spending more money (budgets ranging from $700,000 to a few million dollars) and working with famous stars and directors to produce an engaging, viral online TV show. However, in order for Yahoo’s Web originals to become a hit the company relies on ad-sales to support the shows WSJ.

Yahoo has a competitive market for top-quality TV series, therefore, their ambitious online video strategy could help turn around Yahoo’s presence amongst other original video programming rivals.

On Tuesday, March 25, Facebook announced that it will be acquiring the virtual reality technology company Oculus VR for $2 billion. Oculus VR’s much anticipated development is the virtual reality gaming headset, Oculus Rift, which allows the gamer to feel completely immersed in the game itself. Oculus Rift was initially funded via Kickstarter, receiving over 2 million in donations from the original goal of $250,000. Although VR technology is not a new technology in and of itself, the current developments are highly priced and generally unattainable- used primarily by the military and scientific community. Oculus Rift’s promise to be the first “truly immersive virtual reality headset for video games” at an affordable price for the general public is a huge and exciting deal for the gaming community and future realms VR may be incorporated into. Facebook’s announcement to acquire Oculus VR, however, has sparked both outrage and excitement in speculation about the future of Oculus.

Many of the backers of the original Oculus Rift Kickstarter have voiced their disapproval to Oculus VR calling them sellouts and even demanding refunds of their Kickstarter donations, emphasizing that they didn’t sign up to back the social-media-giant that is Facebook. While Oculus delivered on its promise of perks and dev kits to backers, the Kickstarter community remains upset because the start-u[p project they supported has turned to corporate money and resources. Many opponents of the sale to Facebook are weary that the future of Oculus Rift will shrivel and die as many small companies that get enveloped by larger ones do (think Flikr’s fall after it was bought by Yahoo) or that the focus of VR technology will stray from its focus in gaming into other VR realms. Such agitated and dampened opinions are being voiced everywhere from genuine discussion posts to cynical memes and comments across the internet. A top comment on Oculus VR’s own blog post laments “This is an epic betrayal.” Numerous contributors to the discussion thread also emphasize their disappointment in Oculus’ settling to be run by a company that might not have its best interests as a gaming company at heart.

Reassuring disheartened Oculus fans is Oculus founder Palmer Luckey who spent many hours after the acquisition announcement responding to dubious supporters via Reddit. One major hesitancy that is being strongly voiced is Facebook’s direct involvement in the Oculus Rift experience. Luckey has been responding in accordance with the press announcements - that joining forces will make production faster, better, cheaper, that Oculus will still operate independently with a primary focus on gaming and a wide future for VR, etc. - but he is also consoling and reassuring in his statements that emphasize the future of virtual reality as a platform and promising that “You will not need a Facebook account to use or develop for the Rift.”

As for Facebook’s stance, Mark Zuckerberg, who posted the acquisition announcement yesterday afternoon, claims that Oculus’ plans for gaming development with the Oculus Rift “won’t be changing” and that “Oculus will continue operating independently within Facebook to achieve this.” The post goes on to point out other areas in which Zuckerberg hopes to “make Oculus a platform for many other experiences” including sporting events, classroom and medical interactions, as well as adventures and hangout time with friends, the ultimate goal being to make “this kind of immersive, augmented reality…a part of daily life.” For those optimistic about Facebook’s newest acquisition, the reality of a sci-fi inspired virtual world seems closer than ever. And while there is undoubtedly skepticism in the air, there is also a voice of excitement sweeping the internet with inspired proposals for VR apps and indications of how the technology might be used in the future. Oculus’ new relationship with Facebook will afford it more resources and expansive opportunities that it may not have had independently. If Oculus really does continue to work independently then Facebook’s perks may be all the more helpful. Only time will tell as we sit in agonizing anticipation of how the future of VR will unfold itself to the world.

Remember the hype of having a high Klout score? Though the buzz died down, Klout never gave up on its users.  It has recently come out with a new update that seems to be receiving very positive feedback. Klout’s new improvement allows users more opportunities to share content. It now has recommendations for articles that are suitable for your followers, which allows for more connection. The content you do decide to share on your various social media sites can be scheduled to appear on a specific time and date.

With this new service you can also see how many people share your content, which will consequently raise your Klout score. This new update appears to be a win-win for everyone. Users now have access to more content, while Klout now has free advertising from its users. Make sure to check out this new feature, which seems to be marking the rise of Klout—yet again. 

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Social media advertising and promotion seems to be ultimately inescapable in this day and age, but how much is your social media activity actually worth in cold hard cash?

With the most recent numbers from social media analytic teams, here is a breakdown of what your likes and tweets mean in revenue.

A single Facebook like (follower) has been valued by ChompOn at an average of $8.00. Each time someone likes your page, all of his/her friends are alerted and exposed to your page as well. Because of this exponential nature of Facebook promotion, the $8.00 value projected for each follower has the potential to skyrocket quickly. Interestingly enough, the estimated cost of a Facebook like is $1.07. A seemingly low cost in comparison to the value, acquiring a Facebook follower incurs only a minor set back due to the whopping $8.00 or more in potential profit.

Knowledge that the National Security Agency and the British Government Communications Headquarters have been working together to gather personal information from the public doesn’t come as much of a surprise as the ability to look in on individuals’ technologic activity has existed for years. What’s new this time is the platform through which the public is being watched and recorded. According to documents provided by Edward Snowden and jointly released by The New York Times, The Guardian and ProPublica, the NSA and CGHQ are sourcing personal information from “leaky” smartphone apps, gathering information on “networks connected, websites visited, buddy lists, documents downloaded, encryption used and supported, [and] user agents” (1). Such targeted apps include the ever popular game Angry Birds, Google Maps, Facebook, Flikr, Flixter, and Winzip, undoubtedly among others that remain unspecified. The success and increased effort to accumulate user data is evident in the budget increase of $563 million in 2007, the year the NSA documents were created. Although there is no eminent threat imposed on individuals by the NSA, it remains unsettling to know that one’s personal settings and information can be corralled by the government for as simple an action as playing a game on your smartphone.

The leaked documents shared by The New York Times, The Guardian and ProPublica can be found on Documentcloud along with some BGHQ documents. 

Last night we held the S’more StartupSB: Fireside Chat about music, techs & startups event at our office and had an absolute blast. We were joined by Brad Barrish, formerly from Topspin Media, Eric Shiflett from Santa Barbara Bowl, Tucker Bodine from Playback Recording Studio, and Aaron Foreman from SONOS. Our very own Mike Wald moderated the chat about digital music marketing and technology. An interesting new startup called BeatStream also gave a great presentation about the new social music platform they are developing. We were also stoked to present the debut of our new product and app, Storywall! More information and news coming on that soon.

The event was also catered by one of our local favorites, Rusty’s and of course we finished off the night by making tasty s’mores by the fire. Thank you to StartupSB for asking us to host their great event at our office for the second year in a row. It was a wonderful night filled with interesting people and interesting chat!

Check out some of the Instagram shots from the night below!

From the moment you start up the application, Beats Music wants to know and understand you. It wants to be your perfect human DJ. Listening to favorite genres and discovering new songs has just become a lot more colorful and interactive with the recently launched platform’s bold designs and features. Like Pandora, Spotify, and Rdio, Beats Music offers an extensive streaming library with no commercials for a monthly subscription fee of $10. New users can try out the platform for free on their credit card-less seven-day trial.

When you first open Beats Music, it asks you to tell the application about yourself. A “Just for You” section is created and geared towards your favorite genres or away from the ones that you want to avoid. There are three ways to get to a collection that suits your current mood. First is the good old-fashioned search option after you swipe right on the screen. The second way is through the “Find It” section where you can choose among genres, activities, and curators. The last is one of the most interesting features of the platform: “The Sentence”. Beats Music lets you play mad lib to generate a suitable playlist in a quirkier way. Are you on a rooftop? At the gym? Making bad decisions? The application wants to know where you are, what you feel like doing, who you’re with, and what you’re potentially listening to.

Santa Barbara Entrepreneurs rally around startups, music, and technology at Oniracom on January 30th at S’more Startups and Music.

SANTA BARBARA, CA – Jan 27, 2014 – StartupSB is kicking off the New Year with a January 30th event featuring music industry professionals, musicians, and startups at one of Santa Barbara’s most creative office locations, Oniracom.  The evening event, titled “S’more Startups and Music”, will feature a fireside chat with Brad Barrish, Head of Operations @ Topspin Media, Aaron Foreman, Head of Digital Marketing @ Sonos, and Eric Shiflett, Program Director @ The Santa Barbara Bowl.  The panel will cover topics surrounding entrepreneurship in the music business and the intersection of music, technology, startups, and opportunity for new ventures.  Beat Stream, winner of Startup Weekend San Luis Obispo, will also present their winning music streaming application, and local singer/ songwriter/musician Jesse Rhodes will play songs around the fire while attendees roast marsh mellows and eat s’mores. 

StartupSB is a Santa Barbara community based organization focused on celebrating local startup companies, fostering entrepreneurship and building a startup community in Santa Barbara and the Central Coast.  The public is encouraged to attend.

“We are excited to be hosting a StartupSB event and this amazing group of music professionals”, said Jacob Tell, Oniracom’s CEO and Creative Lead, “This should be a great night of entrepreneurship, music, startups and networking.”

“This should be a great kickoff to a year of StartupSB events”, Kyle Ashby StartupSB’s executive director stated,  “We are planning to have a lot of fun with the fireside chat theme for this event… think campfire songs, stories, inspiration… and s’mores.”

S’more startups is the first of StartupSB’s 2014 event series.  The series will consists of 10 events hosted at Santa Barbara based startups and the headquarters of Santa Barbara’s most entrepreneurial companies.  Two of these events will be Demo Nights featuring Santa Barbara startup companies showcasing their companies, products and technology. 

The event starts at 6pm and is located at Oniracom’s office at 720 East Haley Street in Santa Barbara. To RSVP for the event please visit http://www.meetup.com/startupsb.  For more information about StartupSB, and to become a StartupSB member, vist: http://www.startupsb.com.

About StartupSB
StartupSB began as a Meetup group and has grown to a membership base of nearly 800 Santa Barbara area entrepreneurs and startup enthusiasts.  The group, run by local Entrepreneur and Startup Evangelist, Kyle Ashby, hosts monthly events at local startups and is heavily involved in helping the startup community grow in the Santa   Barbara area. For more information visit: http://www.startupsb.com

About Oniracom
Founded in Santa Barbara in 2001, Oniracom is a proven partner for brands and organizations looking to cultivate and expand their audience.  Jack Johnson, Deckers,  Warner Music, Topspin, Universal, SONOS – these top brands and many more trust us to produce authentic stories that rapidly increase brand growth and awareness.  http://www.oniracom.com

Contact Kyle Ashby at 805.323.6160, or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for more information.

Celebrating its one-year anniversary today, Vine is moving forward as a mature social network. Vine is achieving this goal with their life-long partner Twitter who realized the potential to install the built-in video platform a year ago.

Colin Kroll, Vine’s GM and co-founder, expects more collaborations, cameos, and hardware hack innovations to continue appearing on the feed.

But how is Vine changing after one year of service? Kroll states, “This year, we’re really focused on making it easier to discover videos and find new accounts.”

This app integration has been keeping up the competitive creativity of Vine against its similar social platforms like Instagram Video, Snapchat, and Youtube. However, the six-second videos of Vine continue to breed a unique creativity and production amongst other mobile video players.

Advertisements, film trailers, and actors’ comedic skits have all utilized Vine to achieve publicity, discovery, and monetary gains. Their influence in the past year has impacted other social media platforms to keep up and add additional video options.

You can now get PAID for your beautiful work on Vimeo, if you so please. Available exclusively to Vimeo PRO members, Vimeo launched a new feature that (in my opinion) revolutionizes the brand called ‘Vimeo On Demand’ It’s an open self-distribution platform that enables anyone to sell their work by uploading their very own videos to Vimeo’s video player.

I know what you’re already thinking. “How much of the money goes to Vimeo? What do I get to keep?” Creators/distributors keep 90% of the revenue, hip hip hooray! Creators also have the option to personalize their Vimeo page where they showcase their films, series, individual episodes, etc. that are for sale.

When initially landing on the Vimeo On Demand page, I immediately thought ‘Netflix.’ The interface is similar, but also different, only showing a few ‘Vimeo Selects’ with the ability to browse other genres towards the bottom of the page, which is a bit difficult to locate. Take a look for yourself here.

This new On Demand feature will allow filmmakers, artists, etc. to easily distribute their artistic endeavors out there. We are looking forward to seeing what route Vimeo will take next!

I was surprised when I found out that WWE holds the largest television audience in sports, second only to the NFL. I was even more shocked to find out that WWE intends to use their audience size and revenue to take the first step in revolutionizing the way that television programming is organized and purchased. On January 8, 2014, World Wrestling Entertainment announced the February 24th launch of the WWE Network- the “first ever 24/7 streaming network” (WWE).

In the past, WWE has been hugely successful with their monthly Pay-Per-View events costing approximately $50 each month, rounding out a year at $600. The new WWE Network will charge $9.99/month with an initial contract of 6 months. Not only is this substantially cheaper for consumers than the PPV option, but it will also be available on a plethora of devices including Roku, Apple, Sony PlayStation, and Xbox devices ranging from smart TVs to tablets to smartphones. Along with it’s monthly PPV events that will continue to be broadcast on cable, the network has announced that it will offer new, original programming, archival content, and programming highlights to fans all via online streaming. New original content will include WWE Superstars, The Monday Night War, and WWE Legends House among others- all of which will be available on demand after their first air date.

The WWE Network will be the first to offer full television quality and style content through the internet instead of the cable box. Whether other television companies will follow suite and switch to streaming only time will tell, but I think it’s safe to say that WWE is taking a step in a new, and likely revolutionary direction.

TO ALL THE PINNERS OUT THERE!

So have you ever wanted to plan a trip to Europe (Or maybe Wisconsin… because you’ve always desired to visit the most interesting place in the world) but had no idea of where specifically you wanted to go? Perhaps you wanted to just collaborate with a friend and plan a trip from scratch. Well Pinterest has found a clever solution for all your sightseeing desires.

Google announced today that they’ve made a huge change to the way their trusty search engine operates. The change required a rewriting of its algorithm in order to handle more complex search queries (Bits, New York Times). Google has noticed that its users have been searching for more complex answers and entering lengthy questions especially with the voice search feature that’s available in mobile phones.

Bits explains the significance of this change in their article released today, “The change, which represents a new approach to search for Google, required the biggest changes to the company’s search algorithm since 2000. Now, Google, the world’s most popular search engine, will focus more on trying to understand the meanings of and relationships among things, as opposed to its original strategy of matching keywords” (Bits, New York Times).

The new algorithm has been named “Hummingbird,” and its main focus is to connect phrases and concepts together, which will in return provide more accurate search results.

Google rolled out this announcement today to be in conjunction with their 15th birthday (see today’s awesome Google Doodle). As Bits reports, they celebrated Google’s birthday as well as announcing the launch of Hummingbird in the garage Google’s founders rented when they began the company (Bits, New York Times).

We’re excited for this monumental change. Go ahead and try out Hummingbird for yourself!

How does the entire world stay in contact every second of every day?? The internet. Not a new concept in itself but a bold move has been made in terms of how people on this planet perform transactions with each other, locally and internationally. From peer-to-peer transactions to official business transactions, Bitcoins are the new electronic currency that is taking the world by storm.

Over the past few years, there has been huge leaps and bounds in the growth of the social networking site Pinterest. Clothing stores, Magazines, Designers, and practically every female who likes planning weddings and homemade gifts have taken to Pinterest as a place to store photos from their own computer or from their favorite websites. The visual bulletin board aesthetic lends itself easily for users to compartmentalize their images into different categories such as Recipes, Art, Interior Design, DIY, Fashion, etc.  

Unlike other photo-sharing websites, Pinterest has a “Pin It Button” that allows you to pin an image from any website. Once you click the button in your browser, it pulls images from the current webpage and allows you to pin it to your Pinterest profile. 

However, there are a few drawbacks on pinning directly to Pinterest: since you can only pin images, it’s hard to pin a quote, Twitter profile, or Website unless it is a single image. Also, it’s not possible to pin tracks directly from Spotify for the pinners that want to share music on their profiles. 

This is where Pinstamatic comes in: it’s a hip website that allows you to do all the above.

Continue reading→

After announcing at WWDC 2013 a month ago, Apple has already released two Beta versions of iOS 7. The latest version, Beta 3, was just released to developers and has a few tweaks to the design and functionality. Here are some pictures and screenshots of how iOS 7 will look like and some of the highlights of the new system (iOS Beta 2 on left, iOS Beta 3 on right):

As of today Youtube, the provider of cute puppy videos, funny news interviews turned viral and the just plain bizarre, is now implementing paid subscriptions to select partners. What does this mean exactly? It means that starting with a subscription fee of 99 cents or more per month, about 50 of Youtube’s top partners will no longer be free.

From a business standpoint, it makes complete sense. In order to keep supporting the higher valued content, YouTube needs to implement changes that actually place higher value on said content. However, in the age of Netflix, Hulu+ and countless other entities segregating content into free and paid subscriptions, the web-scape seems to be shifting in a major way. 

This isn’t an outrage and this isn’t the end of the world. What I do believe is that we can expect the days of television, film and the web as separate entities are coming to a close.

The lines have been blurring for the last five years in the media world with smartphones, iPads/tablets, and Xbox or Wii becoming a main video console for many. It seems that with recent changes such as this new feature with Youtube, we are closer than ever to all of these mediums merging, placing an emphasis on better content, while also creating revenue for that content. With this emphasis on better content, it seems YouTube is really trying to focus on fostering a greater creative environment rather than shafting its biggest fans. 

Rest assured puppy fans, nothing is happening to your favorite cuteness addiction, just the content that actually has a good deal of production value behind it. 

Our friend at Power Philms is a finalist in the Primus Music Video competition. Check out his animated video and *like* Primus on Facebook in order to vote for this awesome video!

The Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival is near! Kicking off on April 20 and concluding on April 21, the two-day festival has been known for their vast display of various companies and organizations. Previous Exhibitors include California Solar Electric, KJEE 92.9FM, LoaTree, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and us, Oniracom!

The SB Earth Festival, organized by the Community Environmental Council (CEC) and partnered with Plus One Events, New Noise Music Foundation, and LoaTree are excited to bring two days filled with exhibits, music, and green technology to the Santa Barbara Community.

We are also excited to be exhibiting at the Social Media Lounge along with our friends at LoaTree. CEC encourages companies an organizations to become exhibitors at the festival. The registration form can be found on the Earth Day Festival website, and takes only about 10-15 minutes to complete. Here’s what you need to have ready when registering:

Social media has been without a doubt a very prominent factor in this year’s presidential election. Lab42 recently performed a study surveying 500+ American social media users who were ages 18 and over. They came up with a pretty interesting infographic that broke down who registered Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and others are voting for. The infographic by Lab42 looks at some other interesting statistics such as what percentage of social media users tune in to satirical news shows such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Registered Democrats and Independents were each about 17% above what registered Republicans reported. Take a scroll through the full infographic below to see the rest of Lab42’s unique statistics of American social media users.

Oniracom will play host to StartupSB and an event entitled Startup Creativity. The event, organized and moderated by StartupSB, a 600+ member meetup group of startup entrepreneurs, will focus on inspiring creativity by highlighting creative local startup endeavors, the local Santa Barbara startup community and the upcoming Startup Weekend Santa Barbara.  Startup Weekend Santa Barbara will be held November 2, 3 and 4 at Citrix Online.

Startup Creativity will take place on October 25th at 6pm at our office (720 East Haley Street Santa Barbara, CA). Food will be supplied by one of our awesome clients Rusty’s Pizza, as well as libations from Telegraph Brewery. All of Santa Barbara’s favorites!

On October 25, you’ll hear from Jacob Tell and Mike Wald about their current creative projects that will be sure to excite the development community. You’ll also hear from CreatorUp, a Startup Weekend Santa Barbara #1 team, who will discuss their online web series school.

A few weeks ago, we launched our client CapoSonic’s awesome webpage, and now we have officially launched CapoSonic’s Kickstarter! Kickstarter is a funding platform for various types of projects. A funding goal is created with a deadline. If the project succeeds its goal, all “backers” who offered to contribute money are charged, if the project does not reach its goal, no one is charged. It’s up to YOU to give CapoSonic its kick start!

At this year’s Social Good Summit, Doctor Deepak Chopra discussed the inevitable power of social media, and why and how this technological accomplishment will be the next phase of humanity. Mashable featured a video of Dr. Chopra’s speech and discussion at their Social Good Summit. In his speech, he explains that social media has made humanity more connected than ever. He states, “At the most fundamental level, we are not just connected, we are inseparable.”

Santa Barbara is on track for going solar thanks to the Community Environmental Council’s subcommittee called Solarize Santa Barbara.

Solarize Santa Barbara is dedicated to being “fossil free by ‘33”. The program is making it easier and cheaper for local homeowners to go solar in many ways. They have “a group purchasing model [which] helps local homeowners install solar electricity through a streamlined and hassle-free process, at a discounted price,” (Solarize Santa Barbara) and initiated this “group purchasing model” by working with solar contractors on receiving and securing a discounted price for solar installation. Solarize Santa Barbara not only provides stellar discounts, but they also focus on your home’s specific needs by filtering and matching what your home exactly needs in order to continue with a proper installation.

Another remarkable savings option that Solarize Santa Barbara offers is the opportunity to lease a solar panel. This allows the upfront costs to be significantly reduced or eliminated, and maintenance is usually included, which is a huge benefit! Their financing pamphlet states, “Payments are made on a monthly basis, as a lease payment for the equipment or as a payment for electricity (the latter is known as a power purchase agreement).” This option opens up many different avenues for solar installment. Last year, 52 homes were solarized!

Oniracom’s first project walkthrough video is finally here! We’ve been working the last few months to bring all of the pieces together for provocative marketing videos. Our goal is to showcase our creative projects in the best way possible.

Often times Oniracom will develop new technologies and integrate various web platforms in new ways. We are driven to create excellent and engaging marketing tools for our clients. This time around, we leveraged Instagram to create a user-generated content campaign that allowed users to unlock exclusive songs before their official release. We ran this campaign for Jana Kramer, an up and coming Country Music artist, in collaboration with Topspin Nashville and Warner Music Nashville.

Watch the video for more details

Jana Kramer Instagram Campaign Walkthrough from Oniracom on Vimeo.

The xx’s new album campaign truly showcases the power of social networking! On September 3, (which is a week before their album “Coexist” releases) The xx, in collaboration with Internet Explorer, released a stream of their album. Within this stream, you can listen to Coexist in full as well as track your location and share the album with people around the world. What better way to spread your love for The xx and to “coexist”?

The web page features a world map which shows how the stream of The xx’s new album has been shared. The map has several curves shooting out from one end of the world to the next, which originated from someone either tweeting, emailing, or posting a status on Facebook. This campaign is a great way to encourage fans to share the album stream, bring awareness to the album release, and express what they think about the new album. However, I believe that the campaign could have been more interactive and involved.

A new dance craze has hit the floors of clubs and parties across the globe. No, it’s not another variation of “The Dougie” or some other dance with an obscure name. This dance sensation known as the “silent disco,” originated in Europe and can best be described as an inaudible dance party—at least to onlookers without a pair of headphones.

The concept of a silent disco is quite simple; rather than using traditional sound systems to produce amplified sound, music is broadcasted to wireless headphones worn by partygoers.
End result? The only audible noise that can be heard include the sound of shuffling feet and the occasional outburst of off-key singing.

Silent Treatment, an LA-based event production company, came over to Oniracom to give us a taste of the silent disco phenomenon. As we slipped our headphones on, our ears were greeted with the same pounding electro synth beats that transformed the previously calm and quiet room into a high-energy atmosphere. It was hard to imagine that while the rest of the Oniracom staff were quietly working, we were rocking out in the next room over. There’s something about the privacy and exclusivity of it all that creates a shared sense of belonging via headphones. It’s kind of like being in on a secret that no one else knows about.

Although this concept is not entirely unheard of, Silent Treatment has made some ground-breaking developments with their technology that will take silent discos to a whole new level. What they have in store will be sure to revolutionize the way audiences experience music.

Keep up with @Oniracom, @JacobTell (Jacob Tell, CEO), @MikeWald (Mike Wald, CBDO), and @JustTheDavis (Justin Davis, Lead Strategist) for all the latest from the ground at SXSW!

Here’s some snapshots:

Yesterday, Google announced a new look and updated features for its email service, Gmail. We at Oniracom are major fans of Gmail so we’re interested in the experience this redesign will bring.

Watch the video below of Google’s User Experience Designer Jason Cornwell explaining the new Gmail and check out their Official Blog for more:

What started as the first successful online marketplace selling music and related media, has recently been focused on establishing new pop-icons, leveraging their traffic with co-branded promotions. iTunes is still the titan of online media, but while the Apple-run marketplace has been focused on film and television sales, new media technology platforms have been innovating and perfecting music release campaigning. Musicians use sites like Justin.tv and Ustream.com to host CD Release, and private listening parties prior to releasing their albums to market. These and similar techniques have been very successful for artists, generating plenty of social buzz and blog coverage, surrounding their album release….

Marketing over social networks used to be easy. You would create a MySpace page, upload a few songs and a picture or two and let millions of users do the rest by virtually spreading the word. Fast forward to now – boy, has that changed. With a seemingly ever-expanding plethora of social networking sites all trying to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, marketing yourself over these platforms has moved from hobby to chore to nearly a full time job. The typical artist must manage and keep up-to-date their Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, website, and any other social media platforms they’ve chosen to market themselves over. Most artists will confess that constantly updating each and every one of their online marketing platforms takes much longer than they’d prefer. The process is arduous at best, and any artist will acknowledge their true desire to use that time creating music. Yet, in the modern age it’s an integral portion of anyone’s marketing strategy.

Enter Musedash, a new online application that lets musicians manage all their social network profiles from one main dashboard. From this dashboard, you can post content (be it status updates, links, news, or photos and videos) and choose to which networks you’d like the content to appear on. So you could simultaneously post a news article on your Facebook profile, your Facebook page, your Twitter, your MySpace, and any other applicable network – all with just one click. Musedash sets itself apart from competing services like Hootsuite and Ping.fm by catering specifically to musicians. And, recognizing that most musicians are not computer geeks in their spare time, creator Hilke Ros and the rest of the Musedash team have made user-friendliness a top priority. The result is a clean, simple and straightforward application designed to make social networking easier, not more complicated. Potentially, using Musedash to manage multiple social networks simultaneously could save valuable time and frustration, and would eliminate the possibility of mistakes or inconsistent information on different networks.

Late last month, the unveiling of Google+ prompted the world over reconsider the future of social media and online networking, and many began to wonder if The Goog’s latest product would boast enough innovative features to dethrone Facebook, king of the social networking realm. Speculation has run rampant as the search giant’s latest foray into new media gains momentum, much of which attempts to size up Google+ against Facebook. Many in the tech world are projecting whether or not + will be successful both in stealing existing social network users and attracting new ones. But here at Oniracom, my compadres and I have been interested in how Google+ will integrate into the larger scheme of social media marketing and brand growth strategies. While wishful thinking would allow Google+, Facebook and others to harmoniously coincide with each other in the virtual world, it is becoming ever-more clear (as is obvious with Facebook’s Skype contract retaliation) that there really may only be room for one. It’s impossible to know which network, if any, will prevail, but Google+ is making a strong attempt by promising features and upgrades not available on Facebook or other social networking sites.

We’re stoked about the launch of NelsonCheng.com!

Nelson Cheng is a man of many mediums.  From comedic acting roles to his sports podcast to a producing a documentary about magicians or his role advising startup companies, Nelson is a true renaissance man. 

In order for us (Oniracom) to make sense of Nelson’s vast content types, we created a nice projects area in our ExpressionEngine CMS, encouraging Nelson to showcase his multi-facited talents.  Along with social network connectivity and rich media players,  NelsonCheng.com is a beautifully designed portfolio site encouraging his fans to continuously check in on all the happenings in the life of Nelson Cheng.

Check it out!

This infographic is quite staggering!  A huge thanks to Mashable and @Sasha_em for creating this graphic.

Likester is “the global popularity engine,” here to help you understand what people like on Facebook. This includes anyone from your best friends to people you have never met that live across the world. The site is broken up into five major sections: My Likes, Friends, Everyone, Trending and Like List. With these tabs, you are able to sort through popular likes on Facebook in comparison to your own personal likes. Likester is potentially a great tool for social marketing; it can help any Facebook page increase their fan base!

“My Likes” provides an interface to easily view the items you personally like. Here you can sort you likes as entertainment, people, places and things. Likester displays how many of your friends like the same things as you, and how many total Facebook users like the same pages. When comparing your likes to others, you have the option of browsing according to the location of users. Additionally, you can manage your likes through Likester.

Oniracom is proud to announce the new website for Ron “Tater Salad” White, the popular stand up comedian who is a charter member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour.  Ron has been nominated twice for the Grammy Awards and is RIAA certified 10x Platinum for CD/DVD sales of over 10 million.

Don’t forget his famous slogan…. “You can’t fix stupid.”

Oniracom is gearing up to work on more projects with Ron’s management who has been an incredibly savvy and wonderful team.

Skype is planning to shift its gears towards the business perspective of video chatting, and is teaming up with Citrix, a worldwide company who offers online meetings with GoToMeeting. The new feature is expected to be available near the end of the year, and Skype hopes for this partnership to “help expand Skype’s business offerings by providing powerful collaboration features for businesses of all sizes to set up and hold meetings” (Skype, 2011). Along with video calls and conferencing, the new service will also include audio features with voice calling, as well as instant messaging, file sharing, and group video calling, which is a brand new element that Skype launched with their latest version, Skype 5.0.

The new conference calling product is a little different from their current free conference calling service. The free conference calling that Skype already offers only allows two users to video call online, instant message, file share, etc., while the new product is a paid version that is extended through Skype’s business service. Skype and Citrix are excited to bring this product to life and explain that, “Web and audio conferencing has been among the top requested features by our business users. This represents a significant step towards broadening our enterprise offerings, while adding features that will enable business people to collaborate even more efficiently and effectively.” (Skype, 2011). This new conference calling service makes it simpler for corporate businesses to hold meetings with one another and are able to connect anywhere and anytime, which increases productivity. Citrix also claims that GoToMeeting is extremely user-friendly, therefore prior training or knowledge of the program is not necessary. The exact price of how much the conference call feature is going to cost has not been established yet, and Skype plans to let users know of all costs closer to the release of the service.

Travel costs and difficult meeting arrangements are out the window with this brand new product. Collaborating with other businesses also becomes much more flexible and easy with this new technology. This was just a little preview, stay tuned for more news with Skype and their new conference calling product later this year!

We are excited to announce a new iPhone app (WindowSeat) developed by our good friend which tracks your flight in mid-air without being connected to a wifi or cell phone network!

How does it work?

WindowSeat’s patent-pending technology predicts the location of all commercial flights in the contiguous U.S. based on historical flight path data between your departure and arrival airports. With this highly interactive application, you can track your flight, recalculate your remaining flight time and flight position, and learn more about key landmarks and geographic areas you’re flying over.

An in-flight map in the palm of your hands

Enter your departure and arrival cities either prior to or after takeoff, then enter your actual wheel-up time to begin tracking. During your flight, update your flight time and flight position based on points- of-interest you observe, or information that the pilot or onboard staff share.

Long gone are the days of records, tapes, and compact discs. But what is in store for music storage? Music streaming services are surfacing, making it possible to not only listen to music on computers, but also in cars, on TVs, throughout home sound systems, and on mobile devices. Countless services allow users to access thousands of albums and millions of songs instantly on the device of their choice. Users can create libraries of their favorite songs, listen to pre-made or personally created playlists, share songs with friends, purchase songs and so much more. While these services allow users to sync their created libraries and playlists, many music fanatics are looking for what’s next.

We are super excited to be the technology providers of FanManager’s Street Team platform.  Here’s an excerpt from FanMail’s blog post:

Our clients are awesome and every one has interesting stories to tell.  Some of them, like FanManager, are really pushing the innovation needle to drive their business and communicate with their fans.

FanManager is about as cool as it gets: They offer creative, full-service solutions to artists and festivals. They manage musician’s on and off-line street teams, as well as work exchange programs for events.  FanManager hosts a very large community of street team members who accrue points for completing marketing tasks for their favorite artists. With these points, street-teamers can purchase merchandise, tickets and get VIP access.

The case study below is what happens when 3 great companies get together: Oniracom, FanManager and FanMail. Partnering, we help FanManger manage over 90,000 online and offline street team members, keep their data clean and actionable, provide custom profiles for each member and deep analytics for each FanManager client.

Super Geeky Goodness!

Have you seen Apple’s new “Find iPhone” feature?  It’s free, and no, you don’t need a paid MobileMe account (I hate MobileMe).

I highly recommend you go get the free “Find iPhone” app [AppStore link] and login with your Apple ID (which would probably be better referred to as: iTunes Username & Password).

NOTE: Your iPhone software needs to be up to date!

Now your iPhone is synced with your Apple ID, so if your phone ever gets lost or stolen, it’s not a complete goner.  Once your phone is missing, from someone else’s iPhone you can login with your Apple ID to their Find iPhone app, and it locates exactly where your phone is (if it’s turned on) on a Google Map.  If it’s turned off, it will tell you the location last detected, and how long ago that was.

Then you have the following options:

Former Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has designed the site to “let users find, follow and support the causes important to them.”

We have compiled a list of what we find to be the most interesting and informative music blogs on the web. The list amounts to 21 music blogs, but is divided into four categories; Music Blogs (general reviews of up-and-coming music), International Blogs (reviews up-and-coming music from specific countries and around the world), Entertainment Blogs (covers news and reviews of a variety of art forms), and Music Industry Blogs (covers the latest happenings of what is moving and shaking in the music industry).

Direct-to-Fan (D2F) marketing is essentially creating a relationship with your fans through a marketing outlet, fans help you and in return you help them. D2F marketing is a creative business model that allows artists to eliminate the need for a middle man by delivering music directly to fans.  Which means, artists keep a higher percentage of their own sales, compared to the current business model where major labels, distributors or even iTunes take 30% or more away from the artist! D2F is most easily identified by free content give-aways in exchange for a tweet, Facebook shout-out, or e-mail sign up, reference MattCosta.com.

However, D2F marketing is evolving to include custom storefronts and marketing analytics that enable you to better grasp your audience and sell directly from your website and various social profiles. After researching the following sites; Bandbox, Nimbit and Topspin, I have outlined a detailed explanation of the costs, benefits, similarities, and differences between each platform. 

Read More…

I’ll be honest. When I see the ubiquitous PowerPoint title page start off a presentation, I groan inwardly. And I’m guessing you do too.
Despite becoming a staple of the business and scholastic world, Microsoft’s presentation application hasn’t evolved beyond its linear bulleted slide formating since its release over twenty years ago.

Enter Prezi.

Prezi is an online presentation tool that does away with the slide-by-slide approach of Powerpoint entirely. Instead, it utilizes a visual map with embedded words, links, images and videos. Users can navigate this visual map by zooming in and out, resulting in an interactive and visually stimulating product.
Perhaps Prezi is best explained by watching a sample project. I wasn’t completely sold on the idea until I saw a demonstration on their site. Check out the video below:

The pliable interface of Prezi means that every presentation is unique to its creator. And it’s FREE. Best of all, it’s web-based, which means that Prezi presentations can be created and shown on any computer with internet access. No more emailing presentations to yourself, hoping desperately that the computer you’re presenting on will have the necessary OS and software. Users are also provided with an offline player in case you’re presenting somewhere without access to the internet.

Prezi offers three different levels of pricing: Free, Enjoy & Pro. Every version grants users access to the editing software and an offline player and the ability to download & embed presentations into websites and blogs, as well as the abiliy to import images, videos, PDFs, & Flash files. The free version allots you 100MB worth of file storage but ensures that all your presentations will be public. For $59 a year, users can quadruple their file storage and are given the option of making their presentations private. Pro, at $159 a year, lets premium users download a desktop application of the editing software so they may work offline.
Prezi.com also has a forum component, in which you can view the works of others, comment and perhaps choose to “pat them on the back” for a job well done.

One of my favorites is the Prezi that accompanied the lecture “Mixing Mind & Metaphor,” at TED Global 2009 given by James Geary. Check it out here.

I’ll admit at first it takes a little while to get used to the interface, especially if you’ve been brought up on Powerpoint. But Prezi is relatively intuitive and the site contains many helpful tutorial videos to assist with the basics and offer tips and tricks. Once you get the hang of it, the entire process is strangely liberating.

What do you think? Will you be using Prezi for your next presentation?

What makes a good website? How do you start building a website? Learn all this and more this week on Jeremy’s Desktop.

Join Jeremy and the guys from Oniracom to find out what you need to make your website a smashing success. Oniracom is the company responsible for the websites of Jack Johnson, John Legend, Matt Costa and countless other music sensations. We’ll get the scoop from them on how they go about creating these works of art – from the story board to content dissemination. See what these experts say are the 3 things every website must have.

About Oniracom

What makes a good website? How do you start building a website? Join Jeremy and the guys from Oniracom to learn what you need to make your website a smashing success. Oniracom is the company responsible for the websites of Jack Johnson, John Legend, Matt Costa and countless other music sensations. We’ll get the scoop from them on how they go about creating these works of art – from the story board to content dissemination. See what these experts say are the 3 things every website must have.

Fast-Forward 17 minutes…

The dominance of the web has changed the way people work, live and stay informed. For now, I’m going to leave aside a discussion about what the internet has done to the average person’s experience of life and the way people relate to others (though they are certainly worthy subjects for reflection and consideration).

What I want to share with you today are the tools we at Oniracom use to help us stay on top of the rapid shifts and changes which we encounter daily.  As a company that works primarily on websites and social media, every new application, every new site, every new contribution to the field of design, development and social networking has the potential to rearrange the way we go about business.  This means that it is a necessity to stay flexible, because you will encounter challenges and you will be expected understand the new developments and rise to the occasion (or risk being met by a client asking, “well they did that over their; are you not as capable?”).

So with all these changes and rapid sharing of information, what is the trick to staying on top without driving yourself crazy?

The solution is finding good tools that bring you the most relevant information and allow you to communicate easily and work efficiently.

Click Read More to See The Tools We Use on a Daily Basis and leave a comment about the tools that you use!

The music industry is in a pit.  The future is uncertain, and people just aren’t paying for music anymore.  Thats what the RIAA will tell you as they sue, sue, sue in full panic mode.  The industry is scrambling for a way to make money off album sales, something they say is vital to the future of music.  How and why would record labels produce albums if they don’t sell?  How can bands create music if there aren’t any labels around?

We recently launched the new Jack Johnson Music for his upcoming “En Concert” release.  The launch includes a brand new website layout, updated online store complete with digital downloads (integrated with physical merchandise shipments) and a social media campaign to promote the products.  Billboard.biz covered our Twitter widget:

Jack Johnson is harnessing the power of his Twitter followers to promote his new live album. Users send a form letter (form tweet?) to their followers and in return will get a free MP3. Nice. It’s simple, probably cost next to nothing, and will most likely be very effective. Oniracom, the company that runs Johnson’s website, offers a case study on its efforts to increase Matisyahu’s Twitter following and improve his Twittering. (For example, Matisyahu generated buzz by inviting five Twitter followers to his band rehearsal). (Mashable)

Read the Billboard Article

MySpace has launched their sync service to many of their users world wide.  Right now you can sync your MySpace status update with your Twitter. 

The beta service was originally only available to celebrities and musicians like Oniracom clients Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, and Matisyahu.

The service is another great way for musicians to be able to update once and publish to several sites much like several third party Facebook apps that publish your Twitter updates to your profile wall.

We have been able to keep fans updated about new tours, album launches, and special opportunities through Myspace Sync. (Sizlocore)

We recently launched the new www.jackjohnsonmusic.com for his upcoming “En Concert” release.  The launch includes a brand new website layout, updated online store complete with digital downloads (integrated with physical merchandise shipments) and a social media campaign to promote the products.  Mashable.com covered our Twitter widget:

It’s really simple: just head on to twitter.jackjohnsonmusic.com. There’s a premade Twitter message there (you can add 24 more characters if you like) that promotes the new album, titled En Concert, and all you need to do is login into your Twitter account and send it. The download of the promised tune (it’s a 192 kbps MP3) will start automatically.

Read the Mashable Article

Apple is exploring a new interactive album format code named “Cocktail” that could potentially bring new life to the Album AND the Music Industry. An executive involved in the plan is quoted by the Financial Times as saying it’s “all about re-creating the heyday of the album when you would sit around with your friends looking at the artwork, while you listened to the music.”

That’s all well and good but it seems as though the current state of the music industry has arrived to where it’s at because of a reason - progression. This new format is supposedly all about “re-creating the heyday of the album” but what can we classify this as - progression, nostalgia, retro, all of the above or none of the above?

I realize that this new format is being created to give fans more for their money and encourage them to buy the whole album versus single tracks. However, in order for this “Cocktail” to work it will have to overcome the way of thinking that most music consumers have these days - that albums only have 2 or 3 good songs that are worth the money and the rest is usually filler.  Let’s just dream for a second and imagine if “Cocktail” really takes off.  Perhaps this is what is needed to motivate artists to create albums with less filler. 

Of course, for the die hard fans I think this concept will work. Fans are always willing and wanting to get new content from their favorite artists. The question, though, is what “exclusive content” will be offered and will it be something unique OR will it be something you can find on-line within a few minutes of searching? 

I’m glad to see that the big names in the music industry are working on new ways to entice fans into buying music. It’s a sad, true fact but “just music” isn’t really cutting it these days. I personally think the “Cocktail” is a progression and a good idea, but it needs to be done right.  And who better to lead this initiative than Apple.

Click here to read the article in the New York Times

Click here to read the article in Financial Times