Daily Marauder


GOT MOBILE APP DEVELOPERS?: THEYMAKEAPPS DOES

GOT MOBILE APP DEVELOPERS?: THEYMAKEAPPS DOES

As someone who prides herself on being a digital nerdstress, I often field questions from folks looking for mobile app developers. It’s very analogous to that moment where someone texts you looking for a good restaurant or bar in their neighborhood. Inevitably, your mind goes blank and the vestiges of cool locations are lost rendering you helpless in directing your friends to that cool bar you always want to refer people to. Eventually, perhaps you muster up the mental energy to pull a few developers out of thin air, developers who most likely have no additional bandwidth to take on new projects. FAIL.

Enter TheyMakeApps, an online directory of iPhone application developers categorized by location and price. iPhone users have so far downloaded over 3 billion applications from the iTunes store. A recent study from Gartner found that users will download, on average, 20.1 apps per smartphone this year. With that much consumption, it’s easy to see why everyone is looking for a good developer.  With over 100K registered iPhone developers, it’s easy to see the need for something which weeds though that much choice.  The challenge in finding the right person is in finding someone who can execute the vision at the right price. They Make Apps helps it all come together in a slick user interface that makes the process a bit more fun.

How to

Currently, users can browse through apps filtering by price (up to $20K) and by location. The site was developed by Kettle, a NYC-based digital consultancy. Olivier Peyre, Creative Director of Kettle, tells me that search will be available soon. Clearly, search is a critical feature allowing users to drill down on exactly what they’re looking for, be it a mobile app developer specifically or a developer who has worked with a brand of interest. I like that the site allows for users to save mobile developers of interest for a comparative look later in the process.  Any developer can easily sign up on the site to be included in the directory.

Currently, the limiting features for me are the lack of search (which is already on its way), the lack of budget options above $20K, and the lack of Blackberry, Android and Palm Pre developers. Some nice-to-have features would be a way to vote up and down certain developers creating a hot list of preferred vendors and a way to email developers of interest to friends.

TheyMakeApps isn’t exclusively for agencies and developers. SPIN magazine used the directory to find the developer for their latest project. Nick Pandolfi, Digital Edition Manager of SPIN describes his experience:

“TheyMakeApps was a huge help with SPIN’s latest development project. Rather then reach out to all our contacts for developer references, it was a quick way to find locally based developers and see exactly what they specialize in. I’m sure we’ll be using it again soon!”


TheyMakeApps is simply the glue connecting need to the solution. And frankly, I love glue.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]


BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: MUPPETS STYLE

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: MUPPETS STYLE

Uploaded on November 23rd to mark the 18th anniversary of Freddie Mercury’s death on November 24th, this video has amassed just under 5 million views in 4 days on YouTube alone. Impressive numbers to say the least.

In addition, it’s just really f-ing funny. Mama!!!

Add to FacebookAdd to DiggAdd to Del.icio.usAdd to StumbleuponAdd to RedditAdd to BlinklistAdd to TwitterAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Yahoo BuzzAdd to Newsvine

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]


THANKSGIVING JUST GOT A BIT MORE SOCIAL

THANKSGIVING JUST GOT A BIT MORE SOCIAL

Making the Tasty Treats

The first year my mother tried to make a turkey, she apparently over-stuffed the bird and a turkey powder keg blew a hole through the oven door exploding precious white meat all over the wall of our kitchen. Being that I had heard this story on numerous occasions, my first attempt at bird making was very well planned.

Here are a few sites to help get you started using language even the most beginner chef can understand. As an added bonus, after several years of trial-and-error, the Marauder kitchen recommends sage butter (and lots of it) underneath the skin. Also, when attempting to brine, soaking a bird in the crisper overnight is probably not the best idea…

How-Tos:

Videos to impress the giblets out of your friends:

Amazing recipes itemized by course:

Wine Pairing

Gary Vaynerchuk from Wine Library TV offers 12 wine selections to pair with the bird, a somewhat more difficult wine-pairing item.


Giving Thanks

Tweetsgiving


Last year, Epic Change launched Tweetsgiving raising $11,000 for charity in 48 hours. Those donations were used to build a classroom in Tanzania. How’s that for giving thanks? This year, the bar has been raised to $100,000. While many are returning for their third plate of stuffing, Tweetsgiving will be raising awareness across social networks from YouTube to Twitter asking users what they are thankful for. Follow @tweetsgiving on Twitter and tweet about what you’re thankful for from now until the 27th using the hashtag “#tweetsgiving” at the end of your tweet.


Socialvibe

Socialvibe donates to charity by marketing brands such as Kraft, Timberland, and Powerbar. Every time a brand is successfully marketed, charity benefits. At first, I thought this sounded a little sleazy. But really, marketers scream for your attention on a daily basis. At least in this case, charities benefit somewhere along the line.

Download the Thanksgiving Feast App to play. Every time you add a meal to the table, a real meal is provided through the UN World Food Programme.


Setting the Mood: Best Thanksgiving Song


Sure, this song is old but no has yet to top Adam Sandler on the joys of Thanksgiving.


Talking Tryptophan

Yet again this year, you can get your thanks on via many of your favorite social networks.

Get real-time cooking advice from the Butterball team either on their Twitter feed or Facebook page.

What to do when mom locks herself in the bathroom because your 35-year old brother insists on making fart noises at the table? Butterball may not have the answer for that one…

Get your spirit on with 23,000 of your other friends on the Thanksgiving fan page.


Mobile App Fun

iHost: Thanksgiving

Developed by a Rhode Islander (big-ups to my home state), iHost helps you get organized from menu, shopping list to budget. Their most recent update supposedly added recipes from local Newport, RI chefs. A little Rhode Island flavor has come to southern California. Very nice.

Chef’s Timer

If you’ve cooked with your iPhone in tow, as I always do, you know the device only has one timer. In most situations, that works just fine. But, what about situations where you have three side dishes and a turkey crammed into your tiny NYC oven while your friends stare at your assortment of tiny snacks in disdain? Yup…there’s an app for that.


Thanksgiving = Football

For those of you who know me, you understand why this comes last in the list. I know next to nothing about football. I do know that the grunting emanating from living rooms countrywide leads me to believe that you all care. This year, the NFL is offering a central portal for all 3 Thanksgiving games.


From Marauder’s home to yours, have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Add to FacebookAdd to DiggAdd to Del.icio.usAdd to StumbleuponAdd to RedditAdd to BlinklistAdd to TwitterAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Yahoo BuzzAdd to Newsvine

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]


ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

After previously only having an option to rent HD movies, back in March, Apple added the option to be able to buy HD as well. The problem? A complete and utter lack of options. Even now, some 8 months later, there were only a few dozen HD movies you could buy, and the majority were movies like The Midnight Meat Train— movies you probably had no desire to buy, let alone for the amped-up $19.99 HD price. Yesterday, that changed. (Techcrunch11/10)

HD Apple

While PCs have been able to use Google’s Chrome browser for some time now, the rest of us Macs have been waiting patiently for a proper, non-developer build that we too can use. That day may be coming very soon. (Mashable 11/11)

Well, the spirit of giving arrived a little early this year! For my birthday last month, Google announced it was partnering to offer free Wi-Fi on all Virgin America flights until January 15th. Great, thanks Google, now I have to check the feeds even while flying at 500MPH. But I guess that just wasn’t enough kindness to satisfy the Goog. They’ve just announced that they’re going to be extending the free Wi-Fi to 47 entire airports. (Crunchgear11/10)

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]


ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Google users may not turn up any News Corp. articles in their searches after the company launches its paid content strategy, according to comments made by Rupert Murdoch in a Sky News interview. Murdoch complained that search engine readers hold little value for print sites’ advertisers and again held up his Wall St. Journal site as an example of what the model would look like. (Only the first paragraph of news stories would come up in search engines.) “There’s not enough advertising in the world to make all the websites profitable. We’d rather have fewer people coming to our websites but paying,” said Mr. Murdoch.

Techcrunch reported that 25% of WSJ.com’s traffic comes from Google. That’s, in essence, what we’re talking about here: 25%. It’s a bit like Kraft taking all of it’s products off of supermarket shelves. And considering that WSJ has a deal with Google to allow users to read full article content when they search through the engine, it seems a bit like an about-face no?


In a continued housecleaning at Walt Disney Co., studio distribution veteran Mark Zoradi is leaving after 29 years. The departure of Zoradi, president of Disney’s motion pictures group, follows the ousting of his former boss, Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook, in September and Miramax Films President Daniel Battsek late last month. (LA Times 11/10)

LinkedIn and Twitter have linked up. Starting immediately, users of LinkedIn and Twitter can cross-file to each other’s services, by checking a box on either Twitter or LinkedIn. (Reuters11/10)

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]


ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Abbey Road Live is music label EMI‘s new instant live recording service built upon the Live Here Now initiative developed by EMI subsidiary Mute Records, which has produced instant recordings for bands such as the Pixies, Depeche Mode and Blu. Headquartered at Abbey Road Studios in London, the service will make live recordings from North American and Europe shows available shortly after a concert wraps in a range of formats including CD, DVD and secured digital download, delivered via PC or mobile handsets. (Cynopsis 11/9)

Live Here Now

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]


ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Thumbs up, thumbs down comedy site Funny or Die has launched a channel on YouTube showcasing some of its most popular star-studded videos and Co-Founders Will Ferrell and Adam McKay have agreed to curate its initial selections. For instance, check out The Daily Show‘s Rob Corddry exploration of homophobia, “Rob Corddry Has A Broner.” (Cynopsis 11/6)

Here’s my question to you: does this help drive traffic to Funny or Die where they make the lion share of their revenue OR hurt the site by driving eyeballs elsewhere? Comment below and weigh in.

Funny or Die You Tube Channel

eBay has just announced that it has reached a settlement with the founders of Skype, clearing the way for the sale of the Internet communication company to a consortium formed by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. (Techcrunch11/6)


Newser, the news aggregator founded by Michael Wolff and Patrick Spain, is for “people who can’t get what they want from their newspaper,” says a newly posted “6 Myths About Newser” page on the site. “If newspapers want to stay alive, they have to adapt to the Web.” (Iwantmedia11/6, Newser)

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]