Instabook!

Well by now most of you social media addicts out there would have found out that last night while most of Australia was asleep, Facebook announced its acquisition of Instagram. At this stage the Zuck has indicated that Facebook do not plan on shutting down instagram, however no doubt we will see some changes to the way that the two platforms integrate and talk to each other.

It seem however that not everyone is happy about this buy out. TechCrunch today have shed some light on to the possibility of massive backlash and mass deletion of accounts by the instagram community worried about the information that Facebook will obtain and potentially use for all sorts of purposes.

To read more on this, check out the article on TechCrunch here: http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/09/insta-backlash-twitterverse-overreacts-to-facebooks-instagram-acquisition-users-delete-accounts/

You can also read the original announcement on instagram blog here: http://blog.instagram.com/post/20785013897/instagram-facebook

Facebook Timeline now open to pages!

In the wee hours of the morning for us here down-under, Facebook opened the timeline feature for business (and other) pages.

So what is a timeline. Most Facebook savvy users would have already activated their timeline profile for their personal profiles, for those who have not, check out this link: About Facebook timeline

Timeline adds many new features to a Facebook page and or profile, most noticeably is the image real estate available via the huge 851 X 351 pixel banner at the top of a profile or page. This will obviously make it much easier for brands to make their page their own, however there is a small catch which will upset a lot of people, and that is the default landing page is now gone! You will no longer be able to have new likers/visitors land on your fancy like page when they first check out you page.

However it is not all bad news, some other cool features of the new timeline include the ability to finally private message likers and the ability to pin posts to the top of a page for a week for added exposure. One important thing to remember is that it is a good idea to get on board early with this, as Facebook will very shortly be making timeline for pages mandatory and I can tell you, it will completely change the way your page looks in a bad way if you don’t beat them to the punch.

To add the timeline feature to your page or to simply preview it go here: Add timeline to my page

If you would like more info on how a Facebook page can benefit your business and add another inbound marketing avenue, contact us here!

Telstra announce NBN pricing

Yesterday Telstra released their plans for the much anticipated National Broadband Network. Pricing is much on par with what you would currently pay for Bigpond Internet services and Telstra fixed line phone services.

With speeds up to 50 times faster than your average broadband connection it seems like an obvious choice, but don’t hold your breath for availability just yet. With Aspley currently the only Brisbane suburb on Telstra’s website as under construction for the NBN, it could be quite some time before the rest of the river city are fibre connected.

For more information and plan options, check out Telstra information here:

http://www.telstra.com.au/bigpond-internet/national-broadband-network/our-plans/

Microsoft to take on iCloud and DropBox

Microsoft has announced plans to revamp its web-based data storage platform SkyDrive such that it can be the default “device cloud” for all apps and files on a Windows 8 machine.

The new version of the Windows operating system due to be released later this year, is rumored to come pre-installed with the new DropBox alternative, that will give users the ability to sync their documents images etc without having to manage multiple repositories or use third party tools.

Read more here: http://www.itnews.com.au/News/291025,microsoft-skydrive-app-to-take-on-icloud.aspx

It was only a matter of time

I think anyone who has had their finger on the digital pulse over the last 5 years new this day was not far off. Digital music sales have topped physical music sales for the first time in history – accounting for 50.3 per cent of US music sales last year. Downloads were up 8.4 per cent from 2010, according to Nielsen data and a Billboard report and only 49.7 per cent of music was sold in stores last year, down 5 per cent from the previous year.

Effective IT partners with GFI

Well some exciting news today for us at Effective IT. We have officially partnered with GFI, which means great things for our clients. Read more >>

Welcome to the new look Effective IT website!

Well it has been a while coming but today we officially launch our new website.

We encourage you all to have a look around and give us feedback on anything you think we could improve. Make sure you subscribe to the email newsletter so you receive updates on business technology, tips and tricks to make your computing life easier, and anything else we think is worth a mention. We will also be posting regular blog and news articles so keep checking back.

Until next time, happy computing.

Cheers

Chris Herbert