Penny Mobiles – Mobile phone news, reviews & information

There is just no way to escape advertisements these days. We all know that Apple is implementing the new iOS 4’s iAds feature (expect to see more of this once the whole antenna debacle has toned down a notch), but aside from the more obvious advertising features, there is one other factor that tends to influence consumer’s decisions: social networking.

We all know how effective word of mouth advertising can be. While the average person does not need to listen to the recommendations of his or her friends, a few words from a choice individual among peers who a person truly admires or respects is more than enough of an endorsement to give a purchase a reason.

Now imagine that scenario on with the element of social networking on your mobile phone. Receiving a quick message or Tweet from close friends saying how nice it is to visit a certain establishment or to purchase a certain product will be a very strong influential factor for many people.

This is not just a one sided influence either. As effective as social networking can be, it is the accessibility that smart phone technology (as well as WiFi and 3G network access) gives that makes this a very potent element for marketing. And of course, the social network gives the messages more potency than standard mass forwarded content on mobile phones. After all, receiving spam messages on a mobile phone is never good, but reading about updates directly from friends is considered enjoyable.

Research firm Gartner has been gathering data on how people’s social networking habits tend to influence and affect their purchasing decisions. This influence is a crucial factor that has to be considered by marketers if they want to successfully advertise a product in this day and age. The study covered about 4000 consumers across various territories in the world during the last quarter of 2009.

Yes, you heard that right; Research in Motion will now add emphasis to media playback.

The phone manufacturer has established the BlackBerry brand as a very no-nonsense smart phone that allowed users to type and chat with ease thanks to the impressive physical keyboards that are used on the smart phones. However, the number of users who are keen on having a QWERTY keyboard is lessening as more and more people are typing less and are generally getting used to onscreen virtual keyboards.

While writing long emails are still best on a BlackBerry, updating a Facebook status or sending a tweet only takes a few characters. This is why RIM has decided to take a new approach with the OS –by showing the world that the BlackBerry can do more than just type.

So what is exactly new with the BlackBerry OS 6? The media playback controls and layout. As one would expect, BlackBerry smart phones are able to play music and video files, they always have been able to. However, there has been little emphasis on this feature as not a lot of people who love media would take smart phone with a smaller screen. The BB has always been the device of choice for heavy typists and professionals.

The upgrades have been divided into three main categories: music, videos and images. Each menu will show BlackBerry’s specialized controls for each media format.

The screen is still small (it is a hardware thing after all) but the controls have been completely revamped. Touch controls are now a major focus of the handset as it uses swipe, pinch and other gestures that make navigation and viewing a whole lot easier for users. The OS also incorporates full data access on media content, which means that users will get to see assigned album art to specific files.

While it may seem to some that Google’s win over the Viacom lawsuit was a given, the fact is that the struggle has taken three years and for quite some time, the results could have gone either way.

Many are championing the internet as the base of free speech, freedom of information and in the dissemination of information, but the fact of the matter is that there are thousands of gigabytes worth of copyrighted material that are being illegally transferred every day. While this may not warrant the need for YouTube to scrutinize every single video upload that is made on the servers, it still makes for quite a strong argument.

But yes, Google has won and YouTube fans (as well as users of many other video sharing websites) can now rest easy knowing that there is no law that would prevent people from uploading video content on the media sharing site.

Smart phone users rely heavily on the YouTube web service as a host for the many videos that are shared online. A vast majority of Facebook’s videos link to YouTube hosted content. Had the Viacom lawsuit pushed through, Google might have had to take down all videos and screen every single file individually for copyrighted content.

The reason for the win is quite simple; Google already cooperates with the appropriate copyright holders when content is being contested. Upon the request of certified property owners, video content is investigated and taken down if necessary. Certain regions are also locked out from viewing content that has not been declared as allowed in the territory.

The fact the Google also provides the necessary power to copyright owners means that the lawsuit from Viacom is not only redundant, but quite unnecessary. Still, the fact that the lawsuit was made in the first place is a reminder to everyone that being able to upload content is a privilege that should be taken seriously.

The last trend on the internet that has taken solid roots is the ability to take old videos, convert them into digital format and upload on the net. Photos are significantly easier, simply upload the existing digital images (or simply scan old photographs) and users are ready to go send these contents into Facebook, YouTube, Picasa and other media storing and sharing websites. User generated content is the main bulk of today’s online media, and that volume is not going to stop growing anytime.

Thanks to the standardization of digital cameras on mobile phones, there are now more and more people who are able to instant web celebrities, news reporters or simply sources of funny content. There is plenty of freedom here, which brings us to the main question, should this be controlled?

So far, having the ability to upload content on the internet has not been the cause of trouble, many people are able to report crisis and emergencies as they happen –which speeds up the verification process that some groups need before they can mobilize. Any user with a video capable smart phone and access to the internet can instantly share with others the latest events.

While this freedom cannot be caged up, it should still be self-managed. Several months, back, Google Executives took the fall and blame for an uploaded video to the now defunct Google Video service. While the content was not created by Google, the Italian government still found it proper that the company be held responsible for the content that their site possessed.

In many ways, people should be more conscientious about what they shoot and more importantly, what they upload. Many people now feel anxiety when performing in large crowds or even private locations –not because of performance anxieties, but that worry that someone in the crowd would record the whole thing on a mobile phone, and upload it to Facebook where the whole world can see it.

Last week we looked at what you, the user, can do to protect your privacy on Facebook. Today we’re taking another look at the recent changes to privacy settings. According to Facebook, the changes that they have made to the privacy settings page have been done in order to provide users with a better way of controlling and managing the privacy settings of their information –and ultimately, give users the decision of how much their information will be made available to the public.

In many ways, this decision is a success on the part of the many people who have protested and complained against Facebook’s growing lack of care in regards to data privacy. Many have commented on how much of the information on Facebook’s profile page used to be viewable only to a user’s friends, these days, these one private bits of information can now be seen by the public and can even be found through search engines on the internet.

Taking a quick look at the new privacy settings page, there are some key highlights in the changes that has been made:

The first thing that Facebook has done is simply the number of things users need to change. Originally, there were up to 50 various settings that had to be toggled manually before all of a user’s information can be made private. Now, the new control panel will let users do that with only 18.

These 18 categories have been carefully selected as well; Facebook has actually done a great job of allowing users to manipulate the privacy controls of over 100 types of user content and information into that small number.

Lastly, the sheer number of pages that users have to edited has been reduced drastically. The original settings pages had users clicking many pages worth of controls before everything got covered –and with that volume, it was easy to miss certain things.

Of course, the problem is far from over, Facebook still has a long way to go before it deserves and actually earns the trust of its users. But for now, there is plenty that Facebook’s users can be thankful for.

Facebook has already announced that they will be offering new ways for people to edit the privacy settings. It is promising that the social networking site is starting to find solutions –if not a bit too slowly. For the most part, people simply need to wait it out for the next few weeks and try out the new features as they arrive. But for those who are truly concerned about privacy, here is a quick guide on how to change the settings.

First off, head over to your friends page; the first thing that users need to do is organize friend’s lists. Sorting out your friends from your family and from your officemates is a great way to avoid those embarrassing moments when you accidentally invite your folks to a drinking party. This will also be an important part of the next step.

Head over to ‘account’ and go to privacy settings. This is basically where you get to access every aspect of your account –there is no real sense going through every single item, but be sure to check every option starting from the top (which starts with “personal information and posts” all the way down to your “block list”).

The last part will be Facebook’s apps. To access the settings for these, go to ‘account’ and access the application settings. Now, here is the clincher, you should set aside plenty of time for this. An hour would be fine if you only have a handful of friends and several applications,  but if you have thousands of friends and hundreds of apps, you might want to set aside a whole afternoon –especially for changing the app settings.

And if you are not too sure, you can simply delete any app that you have no intention to keep, always remember that many of these apps are authorized to access user account details.

Outright, Facebook is a great service. It single handedly changed the way we see social networking tools, in fact, it actually managed to do what other social networking applications failed to accomplish: bring almost everyone together.

With thousands of apps, millions of users and an easy to use system, Facebook stands as one of the most often used and influential internet services we have today. But as with all things, Facebook has its downsides. Though not inherent to the actual service itself, it is hard to deny that Facebook’s impact on society is also causing some unwanted side effects.

Here’s a quick list of the things that the world now blames Facebook for:

The big news of the past two days was that Facebook is being blamed for the rise in syphilis. It may seem far-fetched, but Facebook does make it easier for people to find casual sexual partners and as such, would also contribute to the growing rise in sexually transmitted diseases. While this may be an effect of a social networking tool, it is still up to the people involved to practice precautions when engaging in any form of sexual activity.

Divorces are also on the rise thanks to Facebook –again, the social networking tool makes it easy for anyone to meet new people and thus increases the possibilities of cheating. Of course, there is also the fact that people should know how to handle relationships better.

There is one major concern that should really get people acting upon, and it is that Facebook now provides a new alternative to social growth among children. Kids would now prefer to have online contacts than real friends and while this may seem more convenient, it also prevents them from being able to have deeper friendships. Later in life, this lack of social connections could prove to be very debilitating.

Get to know more about the new things we are blaming Facebook with at the Telegraph UK.

Well, that we did not expect to see.

Facebook has been a powerful and solid pioneer in the world of social networking. Their many innovations and features online have created an entire new world of social networking and online activities. Millions of people have signed up to the site in order to stay in touch and find new friends.

Now, according to reports, Facebook has patented the concept of creating a news feed that lists down a quick view of all the new activities of your contacts. It is pretty surprising that Facebook would patent something like this, but so far, they have not made a move to enforce their ownership of the idea –as many other social networking tools have similar functions.

Well, this will hardly change things unless Facebook’s going to crack down on people –and it will certainly get messy if they ever play that card.

Aside from the new patent, things are pretty quiet for Facebook. The company is constantly growing, adding hundreds of new apps each day and prospering well since then. That’s great. With Facebook and Twitter being the top reasons why people access the internet more, it is not surprising that Facebook begins considering its later options.

Speaking of networking Google has been causing a lot of problems with the Buzz. And with Facebook holding the patent, they can probably get Google to stop bothering people with the Buzz service. Buzz has been the target of many complaints due to the lack of security and the many privacy issues that have led some to shutting off the service.

Some are already considering filing a lawsuit against Google, like an American woman whose privacy from her ex husband has been compromised due to Buzz. Similar other cases caused by Buzz also exist.

Read more about the Facebook Patent the Guardian UK.