The Facebook Phone

Facebook has just invited press on April 4th to attend their event, to “Come See Our New Home On Android”.  Speculation has been going around for months if Facebook would be creating their own phone, and now, they kind of have.  It is just rumors at this point, but speculations say that Facebook will be announcing at this event that they have just created their own phone with HTC. Sources have said the phone will be "a modified version of the Android operating system with deep native Facebook functionality on the homescreen that may live on an HTC handset." Because of this, people are assuming this is the Facebook phone we have been waiting on a couple years for. The phone will have extra Facebook functionality in it, such as possibly the home screen being Facebook-ified.  News feed and data would be displayed right on the home screen if this is true. If this is true, Facebook will be getting the revenue their newly public company has been searching for.  It just makes you think, could Twitter, Instagram or some new social platform be next in creating their own type of software for a phone? Also, I think this could definitely give the Android market an advantage over Apple. Guess we will all have to wait till April 4th to see if it's true! (I know I sure hope it is...) 

March Madness 2013 Apps

The time has finally come...March Madness is back.  The exciting time of year where work productivity plummets for three weeks due to the fact there are 67 basketball games to watch and every single one matters. You could even add an additional week in for the selection process for everyones brackets.  With the amount of apps on the rise, it's only fitting that instead of just simply creating a TV schedule to watch the games, you need to choose what bracket app, live streaming app, stats app, and restaurant location app you are going to need to maximize your own March Madness experience. The question is though: how do you chose from the several options given to you?  For example, to create a bracket and join in groups, you could choose from ESPN's Bracket Bound app, NCAA March Madness Live app, or CBS Sports app, just to name a couple.  Once you figure that out, when the first round of games start, how can you watch 3 games at once? Well, that's easy....watch one game on TV, one on your computer and one using an app on your phone.  The boom of technology and the use of apps have made the ultimate sports fans' dream come true. 

It doesn't just stop there, now you have to think about, where can I find a good sports bar to watch the games, or what are some restaurants that could deliver to make your viewing party at your own home even better? App creators are taking advantage of this tournament from every angle. You could use the app, Sports Bar Finder from DIRECTV, to use your GPS location to find what bars near you have the games available to watch. There are so many apps to help you stay updated during the tournament and the best part is the fact that most, if not all, are FREE! So don't kick a gift horse in the mouth, use these apps to your advantage! 

Facebook the New Local News Source?

Lately, I have come to notice that Facebook isn't what it used to be.  When I first created my Facebook account,  I used it for posting funny pictures on my friends walls and being able to talk to them online. Now that I have been in college for a couple of years and haven't seen my high school friends in quite sometime, my Facebook page is now being used for finding out updates of what is going on in my hometown when I'm away at school.  I feel like the purpose of Facebook has taken a turn.  It used to be a social network to connect with friends but now its just a way to keep updated with peoples' lives.

If I want to "chat" with someone, I don't use Facebook chat, I have texting to do that.  Now with so many people having iPhones, I can have group chats on my phone instead of having them online.  There is no need for status updates anymore because that is what Twitter is for.  Twitter allows me to give updates to my followers about what I am doing or thinking and I can follow celebrities or sport stars to see what they are doing.  Having Twitter for status updates, Instagram to share pictures and Four Square to let people know where you are, is there really a need for Facebook anymore? The only relevant use for Facebook now is to find out news.  When a classmate on mine from high school past away, I found out through Facebook.  My friends shared information about the funeral and what my community was doing to help out the family. If it wasn't for Facebook I would have probably never have found out what happened since I live states away from my hometown and no news program down here in Georgia would report that kind of news.

With all these new social media platforms becoming such a growing part of our lives, it has almost come to a point where, do we have to pick and chose which platforms we use? Or are some just fading out? Since there is such an increasing usage rate with Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, will Facebook be the next Myspace and go extinct? Only time will tell, but at least for me, Facebook has become more of a news source than anything.