Facebook to Sell Real-Time Super Bowl Ads, Taking On Twitter

Super Bowl Facebook – All New Marketing Gaming Plan

For the first time during a football championship, Super Bowl Facebook is deploying an all-new marketing gaming plan which will help companies to purchase ads in real time. Facebook earlier had sold Super Bowl ads based on user’s prevailing likes, profiles as well as demographic information.

 This made it the first time that the site would be using new targeting features which would customize audience clusters for advertiser, as briefing with regards to the game is revealed. According to Reuters, video ads for instance, triggered by using certain keywords which members would mention in their post on Facebook, while watching the American football game, would automatically begin to play within the user’s news feeds.

Twitter’s platform has already been in real-time marketing for years but the strategy represents a first for Facebook. Tablets and smartphones have provision of a second screen for the Super Bowl’s 100 million television audience to comment, regarding the proceedings of the game, giving advertisers an appropriate option to target messages.

Twitter – Mantel of Real-Time Platform

Twitter has owned the mantel of a real-time platform though the sophistication of Facebook’s ad targeting is unparalleled, according to Noah Mallin MEC, head of social for North America, a media buying agency and a part of WPP. Twitter has been leading in this arena which other social media networks are seeking to match up with.Super Bowl marketers on Facebook, last year, couldaim ads to segment of members depending on their likes, demographic information and profiles and Facebook had introduced real-time targeting features thereafter.

The social network this year with around 155 million daily users in United State as well as Canada could customize audience clusters which advertisers could target in real-time at the time of the game. According to the head of social media at the marketing agency Eleven Inc.

Maura Tuohy, states that Facebook had to work hard to dispel the notion that people do not use the network while watching live tent pole events and that people are talking about the shows on Facebook.

Need of Strong Presence – Online/Mobile

According to the director of traditional and emerging media at Toyota, Dionne Colvin-Lovely, comments that the automaker is running two commercials at the time of the Super Bowl though has turned to digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Inc.’s YouTube as well as Hulu in order to generate a conversation around car buyers. Colvin-Lovely further adds that the TV is an important media which is not much dominant and there is a need to make sure of a strong presence, online as well as well in mobile.

For the Super Bowl, Twitter has been staffing `war rooms’ of 13 advertisers which includes PepsiCo as well as Anheuser Busch, triple the number of companies who worked directly with Twitter for the big game last year. Both Facebook and Twitter are speculating that by executing memorable real-time ads with a more concrete way in reaching consumers, would be an additional advantage in their long-time efforts to have a bigger slice of the estimated $66 billion television advertising profits. Several marketers are also turning to digital platforms which also include YouTube.

Windows 10 on Your Phone: What We Know So Far

Recently, saw the unwrapping of many ambitious features and products centering around windows 10 operating system by Microsoft. The company also presented and exhibited demonstrations of new apps, hardware and web services that will all be tying and be part of so called Microsoft’s huge ecosystem, having the aim of touching the lives of people in their homes, office and while on move. The company has assured that the operating system on the phone will not be treated differently but it will have the same essence with the assurance of touch-based input being prioritized for the small screen. The company is hoping that the operating system will be able to make every platform treat this just as another web service along with frequent updated. So of the important facts to know about the OS on smartphones:

1. Free for Windows 8.1 users with free updates- The Company is hoping to encourage the Window 7 users on desktop to move to this operating system by offering free Windows 10 upgrades after a year or so after the launch. They will be including 8 and 8.1 OS as they are planning to eventually fade away. Regardless of device type, it is important for the company to get everyone of the same platform. Only drawback being that early adopter of Windows 7 will be left out.

2. PC and mobile experience is expected to be the same. Action center of all the devices will operate in a similar manner and will be releasing notifications at the same time. The desktop of the new OS will be inheriting the quick settings to keep things familiar for the users.

3. Lots of new apps- Office apps will be installed on phones and other smaller devices. Common windows foundation across different device types making it a universal app. One-Drive will be used for synchronizing document between different platforms.

4. UI Tweaks- Users will be able to set any image as their wallpaper. Even though 8.1’s wallpapers gained lot of popularity but still lots of people were comfortable with the traditional wallpapers. The top drawer will give more importance to the recently launched apps.

5. New Hardware- A the windows 10 launch, at least one new flagship-level smartphone is expected to be released. A new phablet can be expected to be released by the company.

6. Skype and One-Drive- A lot of windows 10 ecosystem will be powered by the company’s in-house Skype and One-Drive properties. Messaging system is expected to be tied to Skype on desktop and mobile and in Windows 10 operating system, these SMS will be automatically routed through their network. File storage and synchronizing will be powered by One-Drive. Still users might need more than one location for storing the files.

7. New powers of Cortana- According to the demonstration given by the company, Cortana will have an advanced sense of personality and humor. What is more interesting is the fact that Cortana will now be able to learn more about the personal schedules and preferences of the users.

Will Apple's 12-inch MacBook Air Use One Port to Rule Them All?

There has been lot of rumors doing round pertaining to the new MacBook Air, which got lot of people full with enthusiasm. However, if you are thinking it is about the Retina Display then you are very wrong. Instead, some of the rumors have indicated that the Apple's redesigned MacBook Air will not only be remarkably smaller, having only a 12-inch screen but also will be having just a single port. According to the reports, these rumors came from Mark Gurman of 9to5mac.com, who stated that the new MacBook Air design is expected to drop their current MacBook Air's USB 3 ports and do away with the SDXC card slot, MagSafe 2 charging connection and Thunderbolt port.

Can a replacement is in place? Well, a single USB Type-C port is capable of connecting to multiple kinds of devices apart from displays and storage. Additionally, the C port will be capable of charging the new 12-inch MacBook Air as well. The idea itself sounds very crazy for many.

Time to get over the old: 

Is it really time people to move on to this new concept? Apple is known for making amendments to the old standards in the pursuit of making thinner hardware design until perfection. When 5.25 inch was very common, the first Mac went ahead with 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. Later on, the company completely ditched the floppy drive concept and moved on with the USB ports and CD drives in their new iMac. Later on Mac Book was completely on its own as the developers left out the CD/DVD drives. Apple has been known for innovation and the example was set by creating the Thunderbolt ports, which replaced FireWire ports in different types of MacBooks.

So what new with the Macbook: 

The new Macbook is not only expected to have smaller screen size, but also be a quarter inch less wide compared to the previous versions. To make the device the company has reduced the bezel and squished the keyboard keys more closely making the keyboard fit the entire laptop body. The function keys have been modified to fit in the power button.

The rumors seems to be confirmed by some of the inside sources of the company. The company always maintains silence in terms of innovation and devices to stun the people with their product and information is released only on need to know basis. However, the company had confirmed the release of their 12-inch Macbook last year but due to unforeseen circumstances, the release was delayed. Reports suggest that with the thinner design it is difficult for the company to add any additional ports.

What should be expected? 

With the device being so small, the customers would like to be able to the same to printers and storage, the company can actually come up with a lightweight hub as accessory. They can add ports in the power brick as an additional means. The product is expected to replace the previous version but still there are questions pertaining to the addition of Retina-class display.

Linuxy Hopes and Dreams for an Inferno-Free 2015

Linux is hoping for a wonderful year and future ahead and they have complete power in their hands to make the year 2015 a better year. Might not be a reality, but at least in theory, Devuan could flourish, the Systemd Inferno most possibly can extinguish over the past 12 months. Linux is expected to have the best of the year ahead.

Devuan expected to fade: 

According to Kevin O'Brien, Google+blogger, even though Linux is not expected to take over desktop in the year 2015 but they will surely make a dominating presence felt in the area of computing and continue their growth towards the global market. Kevin O'Brien also predicted that Devuan can be expected to fade away when more number of people will start recognizing the fact that Systemd is not having any major impact on their work in an obvious manner. Linux will get more and more importance due to the increasing dependence on cloud/big data/ etc..
On the similar lines, even Gerhard Mack, consultant and Slashdot blogger has given more suggestions. He is hoping that people will start spending more time to polish the existing features, video support, blocking of the screen when moving is playing, reducing the ways of duplicating the configuration of the desktop.

Programmers communities are expected to work hard and make the systemd perform better. Ubuntu is also expected to regain their number 1 position. The distro is expected to be the best choice for the companies who are looking for compatibility and back up. Red Hat and Debian have been a serious let down. According to Robert Pogson, blogger, GNU/Linux gains a legacy PC usage in Cuba will remain a serious question from the international perspective. According to him, an avalanche of governments will take place in Europe by using FLOSS and GNU/Linux. FLOSS and ODF have been widely accepted in the country and FLOSS and GNU/Linux are expected to get a breakthrough. He forecasted that India, China and Russia will make a major move towards adoption of GNU/Linux for common governmental purposes, which includes education. He added that Wintel is something which Russia can’t afford,India is price sensitive and China just doesn’t trust it.

While on one side Android/Linux will win over small, cheap computers, GNU/Linux will be able to triumphant on not-so-cheap and not-so-small computers. The year 2015 will set a benchmark as the customers will no longer be restricted to Wintel. Even though business might take some time, they have already started using GNU/Linux on thin client servers and they will be moving to desktops next.

What will happen in the future, still remains to be a big question? The companies can be expected to adopt the new technology with compromising network tools, login, desktop environment choices and many other independent decisions. Programmers are expecting that PCLinuxOS keeps on showing improvements and ensures constant growth. As present nothing can be confirmed but certainly hopes are quite high in the coming future.

Call of Duty Makes First Trip to China with Launch of Public Beta

When it comes to the world of gaming, every sales record has been shattered by Call of Duty, the first person shooter franchise. Even though the game has been enjoying all the possible success anyone can image, they have been really absent or non-existent in a country which is known to be the most populous country, but for not long. The wait is over and the free-to-play version of the first-person shooter, Call of Duty Online, has been officially launched in China on an open public beta. This announcement was made by the publisher Activision on Monday. The game, which has been specifically designed for the Chinese market has been released in partnership with the Internet conglomerate Tencent Holdings. Internet conglomerate Tencent Holdings has been based in China.

Chinese Market

The game’s launch marks the entry of wildly popular franchise for the first time and that too it will be widely available for the consumers in China. Even though the gaming population in the country has crossed more than a million marks, some of the people still play either the games, which have been developed by domestic Chinese companies, or other companies, which have been carrying out their business outside in the United States of America. Call of duty (an American game) was not available in the country until now.

In China for many years, traditional games consoles like PlayStation and Xbox were banned. Last year, 2014, the country announced that they are going to life the ban and would start allowing the console makers to launch their devices within the country’s border with one catch point- the products have to be distributed by a Chinese company. A while back companies like Microsoft and Sony announced that they are planning to launch their consoles in China. Even though Xbox One at present is available in the country, but Sony was forced to postpone the launch of PlayStation 4 last week. According to the sources from Sony, the company is still not sure about the launch date of PlayStation 4 in China.

As soon as the information pertaining to the lifting of ban was spread, the American companies have started working on the idea of releasing or launching their titles in the country. According to the survey conducted in 2014, there are nearly 300 million people, who are part of the Chinese gaming population and out of this, one third of the people are interested in the first-person shooter games. This data was more than enough for Activision. As many companies have made their games free for consumers, it is no surprise that the company has chosen the online medium.

The title of game, which is full Call of Duty game has taken many aspects from popular franchise like Black Ops and Modern Warfare. The game comes with single-player campaign, full online multiplayer, and Survival Mode for co-op playing. The company is trying to get some money by encouraging the user to either purchase the game or rent the game items.