A really good infographic I came across recently, presenting a historical overview of the various mobile app stores.

The history starts in 2008 when the Apple App Store launched, with just 500 apps, to today with billions of apps downloaded so far – more than the whole population on Earth today.
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As I was sitting on the ferry commuting to Google’s Sydney office this morning, two thoughts occurred to me. First, Australia is beautiful. If you’ve never been here, you really should visit. And second, it’s amazing how productive I can be with just my Android phone and an Internet connection. I was responding to email, reading news articles and editing documents—just like I do at the office. Only the view was better!

We want to give everyone the chance to be productive no matter where they are, so today we’re releasing a new update to the Google Docs app for Android. We’ve brought the collaborative experience from Google Docs on the desktop to your Android device. You’ll see updates in real time as others type on their computers, tablets and phones, and you can just tap the document to join in.

We also updated the interface to make it easier to work with your documents on the go. For example, you can pinch to zoom and focus on a specific paragraph or see the whole document at a glance. We also added rich text formatting so you can do things like create a quick bullet list, add color to your documents, or just bold something important. Watch the new Google Docs app in action:

If you want to hear about the latest Docs news or send us feedback on the new app, visit Google Docs on Google+.

Gotta run—I’ve got another ferry to catch!

Posted by Vadim Gerasimov, Software Engineer

We have a raft of services that any business can utilise to increase their sales. I get asked all the time to do Internet Marketing campaigns as a branding excercise – fine I can do that. But where DotComSecrets really comes into its own is finding out why, where and what your PROSPECTIVE new clients want and hang out.

We do this by the following services – click on the link to be taken to a page that describes in more detail what they are:

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) – Google SEO in the main
2. Pay Per Click, PPC, Google AdWords and Microsoft/Yahoo PPC
3. Google Places – Setup and Optimisation
4. Online Reputation Management
5. Social Media Optimisation and Marketing – LinkedIn, FaceBook and Twitter
6. Mobile Marketing – Text message marketing, mobile websites
7. iPhone and Android Apps
8. Website Design & Mobile Website Design

If you have any uestions about any of the above, or anything else you may have heard about in the DIGITAL marketing arena not mentioned above but would like to know how it may help your business please feel free to give us a call – 0121 422 0754.

One example may be augmented reality

We pride ourselves on a premier and the best SEO Birmingham has to offer.

Incoming search terms:

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• Powered By Pligg us military ranks (4)
• powered by SMF 2 0 wireless internet providers (4)
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• Powered By Pligg websites (2)
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It’s been rumored for months that major changes are planned for Facebook’s ad products. On February 29th, we’ll get our first look at the first wave of these anticipated changes.

Direct Marketing News confirmed Facebook’s plans to introduce the new ad products next week.

The upgraded Premium Ads will allow brands to originate their Facebook ads from the company page, enabling a larger-format and more prominent placement of “likes” and comments.

Facebook believes the revamped platform will dramatically increase user engagement and brand loyalty.

“All of our premium ad units that point onsite will be associated with a page post on Facebook,” a Facebook spokesperson said Wednesday. “Advertisers will also continue to be able to point ads offsite. This means that we no longer have ‘engagement ads’ but since premium ads offer the same functionality that stems from a page there is no change in features. Marketplace ads purchased through the self-service tool are not affected by this change.”

According to today’s report, Facebook will unveil six different Upgraded Premium ad types. They include photo, video, event, link, question or status. The Classic Premium ads will be retired upon the introduction of the new upgraded premium ad model.

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The global popularity of Twitter is placing no shortage of demands on the microblogging platform to address the language barriers that otherwise prevent millions around the globe from interacting as freely as those who share a common language.

According to published reports Wednesday, the social network giant is said to be working on new features that would allow users to interact with tweets that reconcile language barriers.

In effect, Twitter is tweaking a new feature that will automatically translate tweets into a variety of languages via Bing Translator.

“A small percentage of users can see the option to translate the text of a tweet with Bing Translator as part of an experiment,” a spokesperson for Twitter admits. “We want to help people connect and discover what’s new — no matter where they are in the world or what languages they speak.”

Despite the prevalent usage of Twitter in the U.S. and the U.K., Twitter is quickly emerging as a leading communication tool in Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan.

For now, it isn’t clear when the auto-translate feature will be universally available across the Twitter platform. But it’s definitely coming.

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On Wednesday, the Mobile Marketing Association opened registration for The MMA Forum New York: The Mobile Experience.

Aptly billed as “the premier North American Forum event of 2012,” the event will span June 11-13 at The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.

The MMA describes the event as a perfect and convenient opportunity “for journalists, analysts and bloggers to learn from and network with leaders from across the mobile ecosystem.”

Among the notables attending and speaking at the high-profile forum are:

• Mario Ribera, Global Director, Mobile Local & Commerce, Microsoft
• Gary Schwartz, President and CEO, Impact Mobile
• Greg Stuart, Global CEO, MMA
• Michael Becker, Managing Director, North America, MMA

The MMA Forum New York also features The Mobile Experience Lab, an interactive way for delegates, media, analysts and bloggers to meet the industry’s thought leaders and experience the most innovative mobile campaigns firsthand.

The agenda includes keynotes, roundtables and workshops covering:

• Fundamentals of Mobile Marketing Success
• Uncovering the Best Practice in Hyper Local Marketing and Consumer Engagement
• Retailer Embraces Mobile Influenced Commerce – Strategies & Measures
• How Trusted Brand Product Data Enhances Mobile Virtual Shopping

For more info and the latest details ahead of the June event, click here.

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The Beatles are making a splash once again this week on iTunes. According to the official Beatles website today, a new set of ringtones is now exclusively available for purchase and download through Apple’s iTunes.

There are 27 ringtones to choose from, with each priced at $1.29. All the ringtones are derived from the band’s biggest hits, including “A Hard Day’s Night,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Eight Days a Week,” “Paperback Writer,” “All You Need is Love,” “Ticket to Ride,” “Help!,” “Yesterday,” “Hello Goodbye,” and “Let It Be,” among other classics.

All the tracks from which the ringtones are derived can be found on the band’s “1″ collection.

It was just November of 2010 when The Beatles and Apple finally – after years of negotiations – reached an agreement to bring the band’s iconic catalog to the popular digital music storefront. Ever since, the relationship between the group’s surviving members and the iPhone maker has improved.

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The combatants of UFC are not to be messed with – in battle or in mobile marketing.

It was announced Wednesday that CommerceTel Corporation – a top provider of proprietary mobile marketing technologies and solutions – has partnered with Ultimate Fighting Championship.

More specifically, the UFC selected CommerceTel to facilitate mobile marketing tactics such as voting, text alerts, and special offers for in-venue and in-broadcast initiatives.

The UFC, which is billed as the fastest growing sports organization in the world, is available in almost a billion homes worldwide. The UFC’s debut on network TV last November was the most watched fight in a decade, drawing over 9 million viewers to FOX in the US.

“The UFC holds the unique distinction as the largest Pay-Per-View event provider in the world while the mobile platform provides the largest digital audience in the world. We’re very pleased to support the UFC’s progressive strategy of connecting to their audience via mobile devices,” said Michael Falato, Vice President of Sales & Business Development of CommerceTel’s Txtstation division.

“We are always looking for new ways to improve the audience experience for our fans,” adds UFC President Dana White. “This is another way for fans to get even closer to the action, to get even more interactive, and this partnership with CommerceTel’s Txtstation allows us to do that in a new and exciting way.”

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According to published reports Tuesday, a new iPad-optimized Microsoft Office suite will soon debut in Apple’s App Store.

This morning, The Daily broke the news and leaked a picture of the popular software running on an iPad.

For now, however, Microsoft is denying the legitimacy of the report but not that such an offering is planned for the near future.

“A brief hands-on with a working prototype of the software revealed a number of new things,” writes Matt Hickey of The Daily. “The app’s user interface is similar to the current OneNote app, but it has hints of Metro, the new design language that can be seen in Windows Phone and in the as-yet-released Windows 8 desktop operating system.”

Although it comes as little surprise that Microsoft has made an iPad-friendly version of its ubiquitous office suite, the software giant reportedly has no plans to extend the platform to Android any time soon.

No release date has been announced for this still unannounced Microsoft offering, but sources say its coming soon to the App Store.

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On Tuesday, Nuance and Expedia announced a new set of mobile features that will give travel and mobile device junkies something to rejoice about. That is, Nuance’s hugely popular Dragon Go! app for iOS and Android now lets people speak commands and quickly find and book flights, hotels, and more with direct access to Expedia.

Dragon Go!’s revamped travel search capability gives iPhone and Android device owners the ability to find and book the best travel deals available just by using their voice.

“Old school mobile search is fading. The majority of consumers don’t like blue links, scrolling, or pecking. Consumers want personal mobile assistant capabilities with unfiltered access to content and knowledge,” says Michael Thompson, senior vice president and general manager, Nuance Mobile. “With direct access to services like Expedia, consumers can do just about anything from anywhere – even book a last minute trip with just a few spoken words.”

Dragon Go! lets consumers say virtually anything and immediately jump to relevant destinations – and with the addition of Expedia, people can find and book accommodations for their favorite destinations.

Among the command examples given by Nuance are:

• “Available flights from Boston to San Francisco in March,” to instantly see flight schedules and pricing, and the opportunity to buy tickets directly from Expedia.
• “Find 4-star hotels near me,” when traveling and need to book a room at a hotel closest to your current location on Expedia, and swipe over to the Yelp tab for additional feedback.
• “What are the best resorts in Cancun?” to see reviews and ratings of the top resorts on Expedia, and see what others have to say with just a quick flick on over to the Twitter tab.

“Our consumers already love that they can find and book a flight, hotel room and more on Expedia from just about anywhere with their iPhone or Android device. And with the addition of Expedia to Dragon Go!, even more mobile consumers will have direct voice access to the best travel deals around,” adds Jeff Warren, vice president, product management, Expedia Worldwide.

The new and improved Dragon Go! app is now available for free in the Apple App Store and in the Android Market in the U.S.

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