ALB Web Design Perth

Twitter and your health

ALB Web Design — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:55:31 +0000

Next time someone tells you that you are spending way too much time on Twitter, just let them you could save their life one day. Health providers have suspected for some time that social media might be an early indicator of an epidemic. Now they have proof.
In particular, a new report shows that Twitter provided an early account of the 2010 cholera outbreak in Haiti. According to the study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Internet news and social media were faster transmitters of information in tracking the cholera epidemic in Haiti than health officials. The tweets provided information that health officials wouldn’t report until two weeks later.

“We can definitely use these sources to get early information about how a disease is spreading, and consequently help inform control or response efforts sooner,” says the report’s lead author, Rumi Chunara, Ph.D.

Chunara and the other two authors of the study, Dr. Jason R. Andrews, MD, and John S. Brownstein, Ph.D., determined sites like Twitter can help doctors and epidemiologists pinpoint the speed at which epidemics grow.

“One of the great benefits of these novel data streams is that they are available in real time,” Chunara says.

The next step, she said, would be determining how to utilize real-time data concurrently, or even prospectively, to control outbreaks.

To conduct the study, the researchers created a timeline by searching for the term cholera and the #cholera hashtag on Twitter from Oct. 20 to Nov. 3, 2010. In the two weeks before health officials reported the outbreak, 65,728 tweets with the word “cholera” were posted on Twitter.

Could this be the future we are headed to? Social Media to not only advise the officials but the general public in real-time of potential health threats.

Links of Interest:

ALB Web Design - IOS5 & Twitter
ALB Web Design - Welcome to Your New Personal Assistant – Siri
Mashable – Twitter Revealed Epidemic Two Weeks Before Health Officials
Mashable – How Twitter Tracks the Spread of Disease in Real Time

Before They Were Stars – The Worlds Biggest Websites

ALB Web Design — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:55:28 +0000

This has been done time and time again with celebrities, now lets do it with the worlds biggest and most influential websites. It’s safe to say they have come a long long way!

Google

Facebook

Yahoo

Twitter

YouTube

MySpace

Tweet Perth

Ok not the biggest or most influential website but I just wanted to share the development of Tweet Perth from my first quick design to it’s current design.

Links of Interest:

Tweet Perth – Latest Perth Tweets
Mashable - What the World’s Biggest Websites Looked Like At Launch

Twitter Integration IOS 5

ALB Web Design — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 06:57:36 +0000

If you are like me you would have been one of the first to download and install the latest iPhone upgrade. Also if you are like me you have been hanging out for the Twitter/iPhone integration and think the tight integration between iOS 5 and Twitter is one of the best reasons to upgrade.

Not only has Apple integrated Twitter into it’s OS but most importantly one of the new features for developers in the iOS 5 SDK is support for the Twitter API. Apple has made it easy for developers to add Twitter support to their apps and to allow users to easily control whether or not an app has access to post to their Twitter account.

So what features can you use right now?

Safari – Through Safari you now have the option to instantly tweet the website you are viewing on your iPhone or iPad

Youtube – Tweet Youtube videos directly from your iPhone or iPad to your followers

Photos & Location – Instantly add your location to a photo and Tweet. Simply snap a photo, click tweet and comment and click location and your iPhone will do the rest. Share photos with ease to your followers.

Twitter Notifications – The new notification options allows for improved push notifications that will have you turning push notifications on instead of off. Receive push notifications when you receive a message, retweet or mention. The choice is all yours!

Twitter Permissions – Have complete control over which apps have access to your Twitter account.

App Development – More and more iPhone/iPad apps will now become more Twitter friendly as developers will start to take full advantage of IOS 5 Twitter integration.

Links of Interest:

ALB Web Design – IOS5 & Twitter
ALB Web Design – Welcome to Your New Personal Assistant – Siri
Mashable – iPhone 4S: 4 Reasons to Upgrade

iPhone 4S: Welcome Your New Personal Assistant Siri

ALB Web Design — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 02:14:47 +0000

Rumors have been flying for months about what will be in the next iPhone? Many thought Apple were going to release details on the iPhone 5 however today they revealed that they are infact releasing the iPhone 4S. This is now the second time Apple have released an upgraded version of an iPhone model (iPhone 3 to iPhone 3S) instead of a complete overhaul.

Apple fanboys and girls the world round might be disappointed that the new device does not live up to the mystique of the mythical iPhone 5, but the iPhone 4S is a dramatic leap forward in technological innovation and sophistication that will surprise mobile users — even current iPhone 4 owners. So what is so great about this upgrade?

Siri: Ask And You Shall Receive

How does having your own personal assistant waiting for your every beck-and-call sound? How about a helping hand that can look up the weather, read you text messages, find you nearby restaurants, tell you the time in Paris, set your alarm clock, give you directions, check your calendar for conflicting meetings, dictate and transcribe your notes and text messages, and so on — and all you have to do is ask?

Sounds neat, right? That’s Siri and it’s a personal assistant built in to the iPhone 4S.

You can speak as you normally would and tell Siri to do something like set a reminder, schedule a meeting or send a text message. You can also ask Siri for traffic conditions or weather conditions — “Do I need an umbrella?” for instance — and query your handy helper for any other right-here-right-now needs.

Siri understands what you say, the context and meaning around who and what you mention in your requests, and is capable of responding accordingly.

But Siri is exclusive to the iPhone 4S, meaning you won’t get it with a simple iOS 5 upgrade.

Links of Interest:

ALB Web Design – IOS5 & Twitter
Mashable – iPhone 4S: 4 Reasons to Upgrade

IOS5 & Twitter

ALB Web Design — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 11:19:00 +0000

Good news for Twitter fans at the IOS 5 launch today. The announcement today showcased an operating system for iPhone 3GS/4, iPad & iPod Touch that is heavily integrate with Twitter, in return snubbing Facebook. It seems to me that within the last few months Twitter has started to take some massive strides in the world of social media. First they bought Tweet Deck and will possibly look to develop their own sophisticated 3rd party Twitter Desktop Client. Next Twitter announced that they will start rolling out the capability to add photos and videos seamlessly into your tweets, making the process far more efficient as you will no longer need to use 3rd party applications such as Twitpic. Then the grandslam! Apple announce that the next software release for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch will be integrated with Twitter, which will no doubt mean that Twitter is going to see a significant increase in users upon the release of IOS 5!!

So how does this benefit the users of the new software?

“iOS 5 makes it even easier to tweet from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Sign in once in Settings, and suddenly you can tweet directly from Safari, Photos, Camera, YouTube or Maps. Want to mention or @reply to a friend? Contacts applies your friends’ Twitter usernames and profile pictures. So you can start typing a name and iOS 5 does the rest. You can even add a location to any tweet, no matter which app you’re tweeting from.”apple.com.au

Well if you already have a Twitter account you will understand why this is so great. The ease in which we will be able to update information to our twitter account on the new platform will be simply amazing. Below are a few of the new Twitter features explained in more detail;

Photo

Take a photo, tap tweet and some text and your done! In a matter of seconds you will be able to send a photo to all your followers. Also don’t forget that you will be able to instantly add your location to your tweets with one simple touch. Such ease and simplicity will see a significant increase in the amount of photos shared on twitter. So get ready for the influx of sunrise and sunsets.

Applications

Integrated right into the OS you will now have the power to tweet from Safari, You Tube and Maps. Found a great website that you want to share with your followers? No longer will you have to copy and paste over multiple applications. Simply hit tweet and some text and done! Share your favourite You Tube videos and let your followers know where you are.

As Apple has done time and time again, this is a game changer! Twitter just got bigger and the future is bright for both Apple and Twitter

Twitter TV

ALB Web Design — Thu, 05 May 2011 02:52:03 +0000

Does Twitter Help Drive TV Viewership?

Twitter says it saw its most expansive integration with television to date during the recent Royal Wedding, and it suggests that engagement on Twitter drives TV viewership.

The company featured the above video in a blog post, providing a glimpse at how TV and Twitter have grown closer over the years. Looking at the footage, the rapid growth of the platform’s legitimacy is impressive.

Read full article here

Links of Interest:

Mashable – Twitter Topics
Tweet Perth – Latest Perth Tweets (News, Weather, Traffic, Major Sporting Teams, Perth Competitions & more)
ALB Web Design – 5 Useful Twitter Tools
ALB Web Design – Twitter Impressions

Dave Grohl Legend – Fresh Pots

ALB Web Design — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:38:16 +0000

This is just classic and I just had to share it on my blog. Dave Grohl….Legend!!

Get your own valid XHTML YouTube embed code

5 Useful Twitter Tools

ALB Web Design — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 05:23:58 +0000

Twitter although massive worldwide is still yet to reach even a quater of it’s potential in Australia not to mention Perth. Personally I love Twitter and its simplicity and ease of use. No gimmicks or request to join a Vampire team as seen on Facebook. None the less my travels through the world wide web I have come across 5 useful Twitter tools that can enhance your Twitter needs.

Klout

The Klout Score is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. Klout uses over 35 variables on Facebook and Twitter to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score.

Twitter Counter

Twitter Counter provides statistics of Twitter usage and tracks over 14 million users and counting. Next to that it offers Pro Twitter Stats for even more powerful statistics and sells featured spots on its website to people who want to gain more followers. Receive weekly emails with your Twitter account statistics. A must have for any dedicated twitter user.

Qwerly

Qwerly is a whois for Twitter. For every Twitter user that is looked up , it generates a simple profile with links to that person’s other profiles on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Last.fm, Delicious and many, many more. So if you want to know where your friends are hanging on the social web? Qwerly knows!

PeerIndex

PeerIndex is a web technology company that is algorithmically mapping out the social web. The way we see it, the social web now allows everyone endless possibilities in discovering new information on people, places, and subjects. PeerIndex is here to help user find credible social sources with their PeerIndex rating.

Buffer

Buffer makes your life easier with a smarter way to schedule tweets. Want to promote your twitter account or a new blog post? Work out all your tweets at one point in time during the day. Then fill up your Buffer with your tweets and Buffer schedules them for you.

Links of Interest:

ALB Web Design – Tweet Perth Twitter Bird
Tweet Perth – Latest Perth Tweets (News, Weather, Traffic, Major Sporting Teams, Perth Competitions & more)
ALB Web Design – Twitter TV
ALB Web Design – Twitter Impressions

iPad 2 Review

ALB Web Design — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:48:30 +0000

Apple’s iPad 2 launched today at 5pm EST. While technology launches rarely warrant such attention, the fact that customers have been queuing since Wednesday shows that Apple’s latest gadget update is more than ‘just another product launch’.

The original iPad sold nine million units in nine months and took the world’s computer industry by storm. It quickly took a sizeable bite out of the then-burgeoning netbook (low powered laptop) market and is reckoned to now be taking a bite out of the laptop market too. Many rival companies have since rushed out competitors, frequently based upon Google’s rival Android platform, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Telstra T-Pad, Viewsonic ViewPad and Motorola Xoom but only to then be eclipsed by Apple again.

> Read Full Review

Links of Interest:
10 Fan-Made Apple Product Concepts We Wish Were Real – ALB Web Design Perth

Twitter Bird In Perth

ALB Web Design — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 03:15:25 +0000

In Perth we are now looking at out hottest summer in 15 years not to mention this would be the hottest summer for the Tweet Perth Twitter Bird.

So please be considerate when Tweeting about Perth in these conditions.

Help The Tweet Perth Twitter Bird and Follow us today @tweetperth & @live_ab

Links of Interest:
ALB Web Design – 5 Useful Twitter Tools
Tweet Perth – Latest Perth Tweets (News, Weather, Traffic, Major Sporting Teams, Perth Competitions & more)
ALB Web Design – Tweet Perth Creation
ALB Web Design – Twitter Impressions