The Birds Are In Full Song - Twitter #music

We’re not on about a real bird in this instance, we are on about social networking website, Twitter, who has launched its new music app.

Twitter has exploded in popularity over the last seven years and has now turned an ear to music by creating a ‘music-discovery’ app. This app is called ‘Twitter #music’, which is a fairly ordinary name but there is not much ordinary about its intentions.

Twitter #music claims to ‘change the way that people find their music’. Although this may seem like a very bold statement on the outset, they may have just done exactly that. The app, unlike many other music streaming websites, has narrowed their focus in order to create a simple and accessible platform.

The app allows the user to collect music from nowhere other than Twitter, which means that there are lists for more ‘Popular’ music as well as ‘Emerging Tracks’. This is not all; Twitter #music also allows you to see what other people are listening to with the #NowPlaying chart of songs that get tweeted by the user. And just like the normal platform of Twitter, where it suggests friends you might know, it also suggests artists that you may enjoy too.

The reason this app is destined for success is because Twitter acquired a company called We Are Hunted, who are known for their helping hands in other music sites like MySpace Music and, more recently, Spotify. So it has a good pedigree!

This means that this app was not just quickly thrown together over a couple of months, instead they have built a team of people that know exactly what they are doing and have created something quite exciting.

App’s are extremely convenient and this app is no different. By simply clicking on an artists’ profile you can easily follow them as well as be able to see exactly who they are following too, which means it has a great exploration aspect too.

Although, it may be worth knowing that as it has only recently been released, it is only available in selected countries. Thankfully, the UK, US, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand are all part of this list.

Spotify And Ford Join Forces

Spotify and Ford has put their heads together to create an app which means its users can listen to all of their favourite tracks whilst they drive.

The two branded big-wigs made the announcement official at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Ford originally launched its Ford Developer Program at CES 2013 in January which meant that its users could add commands to their smartphone so they could effectively have hands-free voice control whilst driving. This has attracted over 2,500 registered users since its release.

The Ford Sync AppLink has been created to let smartphone owners integrate their apps into the software which is something that Spotify is looking to do. The Ford Sync AppLink has already been used in over one million cars throughout the United States. With this success Ford are looking to focus their visions on the European market too.

Users will be able to control their smartphone, car systems and their music with this AppLink and Spotify which makes voice activation whilst driving much safe and more convenient.

Spotify is one of the largest music streaming services and provides a vast range of music from a number of major and independent record labels which includes other big names like Sony and Universal. This service has an estimated user base of around 20 million people.

This is the very first time Spotify has worked with an automotive manufacturer though, which makes this a great combination for Ford who is likely to benefit greatly from this venture. The Spotify service, online and on your smartphone, is a paid service which normally costs its users between £5 and £10 per month.

The introduction of Spotify into the AppLink is expected to hit the United States in the upcoming weeks and is likely to be a huge success. If this reaches it is predicted success in the US then it is likely to be released throughout Europe later on this year. If you are interested further in this Ford Sync AppLink , then keep your eyes and ears peeled for any emerging information on the release of the software in Europe.

Using Apps To Market Your Business

There are many ways to market your business but have you ever thought of promoting it through an app?

We live in a very technology-savvy society so marketing through an app seems like a no brainer. Here are some reasons why:

• They can make your job easier. By being conveniently located on your phone or the mobile device of a customer, you or they can access the app whenever and wherever they want.
• Word of mouth spreads. If you create an app that people enjoy, word will get out and more and more people will download your app. With the more people using the app, browsers will turn into buyers.
• Be creative. The app can be completely different to your website but still possess the same useful information, making it a better way of engaging customers. This can be a useful way of improving your audience or a way to target a new demographic completely.
• Credibility. When users or customers see that you have an app with positive reviews and a large number of people downloading it, you and your business gain credibility.
• Keep on top of statistics. When someone downloads an app, you know about it. When they give it a review, you know about it. This is a great way to know exactly how many people are interacting with your app and how well the marketing is doing.

Apps are everywhere. They are no longer restricted to just an iPhone and are easily accessible on Android, other mobile devices and tablets. There is such a large market to target, so promoting your business or product through an app is both innovative and beneficial.

There are more to apps than just flicking some birds into some pigs and with the right idea and some creativity, you’ll be onto a winner.

iTunes 11: What’s New?

iTunes 11 arrived recently, but what makes it different from the previous iTunes? You don’t have to have an iPhone5 and can download iTunes 11 onto your Mac or Windows machine.

No longer does iTunes look clunky, it is now smooth, sleeker, smarter and more modern with the menu removed from the left side (you can re-enable it if you wish though) and the top bar now shrunk to make everything look so much better, slicker and a lot less fussy.

There is now an "expanded view" and this is said to be the most interesting of changes. You are able to click on a track or song and information will open up showing you the tracks that you can buy individually or as part of an album.

The store itself has grown and there are now lots more ways you can part with your hard earned cash, as more options open up with other songs you may like to purchase.

There is also an "Up Next" feature on iTunes 11, this makes it a lot easier to add tracks and click to see which song is coming up next. If you don’t like the next song then you can swap it around, add others in between or delete them off completely. The choice is yours.

iTunes 11 has also given the Mini Player a much required facelift, which is of much better styling then ever before. It gives you the search function to choose what songs you want to listen to and in which order.

You are also able to see your preview history; this means you can listen to a load of songs then you can backup and purchase them if you choose to. You can link back to them with ease. Preview history can work with films and TV as well as music.

iCloud has also been used with iTunes 11, allowing you to have any songs, film or TV you buy from the iTunes Store available on your Mac,PC, or iOS devices instantly!

Should I upgrade my iPhone to iOS5?

We've no doubt all heard about Apple latest iOS5 operating system as part of the press around the release of the new iPhone 4S. A couple of days ahead of the 4S launch Apple have rolled this new OS out to existing iPhone users. We've had beta versions for a while for testing and found it to be pretty good but today I've installed it and being using it on my everyday iPhone 3GS. The good news is that this upgrade was completely painless (just accept that you won't be able to use your phone for an hour or so!) and everything that did work is still working fine including calendars, reminders (these now pop up in a new cooler format!), email accounts, and importantly all my existing Apps and data.

I've only had a quick play and some of the new things (photo features, Twitter integration, iCloud) do work well.

So would I recommend you do the upgrade asap? Definitely :)

For those of you that want to know exactly what the new features of iOS5 are then here you go...

This update contains over 200 new features, including the following:

• Notifications
- Swipe from the top of any screen to view notifications in one place with Notification Centre
- New notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen
- View notifications from lock screen
- Slide the notification app icon to the right on the lock screen to go directly to the app
• iMessage
- Send and receive unlimited text, photo and video messages with other iOS 5 users
- Track messages with delivery and read receipts
- Group messaging and secure encryption
- Works over mobile networks and Wi-Fi*
• Newsstand
- Automatically organises magazine and newspaper subscriptions on Home Screen
- Displays the cover of the latest issue
- Background downloads of new issues
• Reminders for managing to-do lists
- Syncs with iCloud, iCal and Outlook
- Location-based reminders when you leave or arrive at a location for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
• Built-in support for Twitter
- Sign in once in Settings and tweet directly from Camera, Photos, Maps, Safari and YouTube
- Add location to any tweet
- View Twitter profile pictures and usernames in Contacts
• Camera improvements for devices with cameras
- Double-click the Home button when device is asleep to bring up a camera shortcut on iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
- Volume Up button to take a picture
- Optional grid lines to line up shots
- Pinch to zoom in the preview screen
- Swipe to camera roll from preview screen
- Tap and hold to lock focus and exposure; iPad 2 and iPod touch (4th generation) only support exposure lock
• Photo improvements for devices with cameras
- Crop and rotate
- Red-eye removal
- One-tap enhance
- Organise photos into albums
• Mail improvements
- Format text using bold, italic or underlined fonts
- Indentation control
- Drag to rearrange names in address fields
- Flag messages
- Mass mark messages as flagged, read or unread
- Customise mail alert sounds
- S/MIME
• Calendar improvements
- Year view on iPad and new Week view for iPhone and iPod touch
- Tap to create an event
- View and add event attachments
• Game Center improvements
- Use personal photos for your Game Center account
- Compare your overall achievement scores with your friends
- Find new Game Center friends with friend recommendations and friends of friends
- Discover new games with custom game recommendations
• AirPlay Mirroring for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S
• Multitasking Gestures for iPad
- Use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen
- Swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar
- Swipe left or right to switch between apps
• On-device setup, activation and configuration with Setup Assistant
• Software updates available over the air without tethering
• iCloud support
- iTunes in the Cloud
- Photo Stream
- Documents in the Cloud
- Apps and Books automatic download and purchase history
- Backup
- Contacts, Calendar and Mail
- Find My iPhone
• Redesigned Music app for iPad
• Hourly weather forecast
• Real-time stock quotes
• Wireless sync to iTunes
• Keyboard improvements
- Split keyboard for iPad
- Improved auto-correction accuracy
- Improved Chinese and Japanese input
- New Emoji keyboard
- Personal dictionary for auto-correction
- Optionally create keyboard shortcuts for frequently used words
• Accessibility improvements
- Option to light LED flash on incoming calls and alerts for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
- Custom vibration patterns for incoming calls on iPhone
- New interface for using iOS with mobility-impairment input devices
- Option to speak a selection of text
- Custom element labelling for VoiceOver
• Exchange ActiveSync improvements
- Wirelessly sync tasks
- Mark messages as flagged, read or unread
- Improved offline support
- Save a new contact from a GAL service
• More than 1,500 new developer APIs
• Bug fixes

Products compatible with this software update:
• iPhone 4S
• iPhone 4
• iPhone 3GS
• iPad 2
• iPad
• iPod touch (4th generation)
• iPod touch (3rd generation)

* Normal carrier data rates may apply. Messages will be sent as SMS when iMessage is unavailable; carrier messaging fees apply.