Save your iPhone battery. Turn off as many Foursquare features as possible.

Foursquare Radar Settings 

RADAR features of that social geotagging platform started killing smartphones' batteries. Disable that stuff to gain several hours of battery life of active participation in social media while you're on the go.

Radar Notification update in 4sq from several weeks ago was built to make your check-in activity faster, easier and more productive, mainly in 2 ways:

1. Shortcut to checking in - in some cases, 1 or 2 taps would suffice
2. Instead of searching for places to check-in to, 4sq would ask if you want to check-in to a place that you are relatively close to

One might think, what a relief to those who:

• use Foursquare to locate cool places in the area or for 
• those who are totally new and want to get to know their new neighborhoods. 

Theoretically, it is. However, instead of making it faster, easier and more productive for me, considering significant battery life impact, I started learn to live without those fugazy time saving features.

It turns out that Foursquare actually shares a warning pop-up message as you enable those battery draining qualities. You most likely must have tapped right through the update process to enable to battery eating monster. It did save a couple of searches and taps, but it kept me tied to wall outlets - waiting for my phone to charge up again. Not the best use of anyone's time. Instead of strolling the city, my eyes where looking for cafe's where I could sneak in 10-15 minutes of battery charge while sipping my Caramel Macchiato.

Try disabling those new features of Foursquare and you'll see your phone will not have to be charged as frequently. I wonder how many other mobile apps turn into battery life suckers once 1 or 2 new features get enabled.

Coffee. Smartphone. Music. Easy.

Starbucks Mobile App - tap Messages

Remember times when all guns were pointed at Napster? Music industry was forced to undergo a seismic shift since those days and so did technology. But there were times in the past when technology disappointed with half-baked solutions that only geeks (like me) had patience to deal with. These days mobile technology really makes listening to quality new music cheaper, faster, easier and more productive than even before. Coffee lovers already now know how Starbucks mobile app is a great example of that.  

Apple's iTunes system provides a way to not only buy but also redeem gifts or retrieve content downloadable for free with coupons. To get a piece of free music like that, the most optimistic case scenario would call for the following routine:

1. Drive to one of Starbucks store locations in your area
2. Get the coupon (paper slip with a scratch-off) from a Starbucks Store
3. Connect to WiFi on your iPhone or any other iDevice
4. Open iTunes
5. Dig up a spot where you could redeem your coupon
6. Type in your cryptic coupon code
7. Type it in again because it's borderline impossible to get it right the first time
8. Wait for iTunes reaction. If you survived until this step, please continue to be patient
9. Wait for the download to start
10. Check when the download completes
11. Navigate your Purchased and/or Downloaded section of the music player on your iDevice

Oooph! 11 steps?! There's got to be a better way to see what our trusted brands have to suggest and offer to us. 

The answer to that cry is mobile technology, beautifully integrated and smoothly connected. As +Dirk Talamasca points out, you can do magic with the Starbucks mobile app, but I think...  

... this time technology really makes your life easier

1. Install a free Starbucks app
2. Open it and tap once on Messages
3. Tap once on Pick of the Week
4. Tap Download Now

That's it. As graphics below show, after about a minute, that song gets added to your playlist while you sip your grande Caramel Macchiato. No crashes. No syncing through a USB cable. No typing. No BS. Piece of everyday technology in your hand just:

• connected your coffee shop with your phone
• plugged your phone right into a music store
• provided a piece of latest and trending music to you
• seamlessly added a new song to your playlist
• saved you time, made your life faster, easier and more productive
• saved you money, and you didn't even have to switch to Geico

I bet +Courtney Engle Robertson or +Peg Fitzpatrick would agree when I say "How awesome is that!" That's what technology should be to people - a way to make our lives easier.

Starbucks Mobile App - Tap once on Pick of The Week

Starbucks Mobile App - Tap Download Now

Starbucks Mobile App - Just wait a quick minute

Starbucks Mobile App - Your music is downloading automatically

Starbucks Mobile App - Your music is already added to your playlist

Starbucks Mobile App - 1 minute from opening the app, new cool music is playing on your iDevice or an Android

Do You Prefer an iPhone or an iBrick? Jailbreaking Censorship.

Apple takes the topic of jailbreaking seriously. It's not about those boring terms of use or EULA - more and more often users seem to prefer their phones to remain safe and sound, while the vendor ensures that nobody feels encouraged to take that fatal step.

Apple Support Forums are full of references to jailbreaking, it's legality and impact. I recently came across a very popular issue where I could not connect to iTunes and a recurrning pop-up kept asking to try again. A hint about modifying DHCP settings to DNS of 8.8.8.8 seems to eventually have solved the issues, while others suggested steps as drastic as jailbreaking. I noticed a recommendation about that and added (what I thought at the moment was) a neutralizing reply to that iPhone hacker. I just didn't feel right leaving obscure and extreme statements like that on publicly available resources. 

<Edited by host> what used to be a suggestion to
 jailbreak your iPad or iPhone

That forum post flat out said that the only way to resolve that issue is to jailbreak your phone. 1 or two days later, something interesting happened. That post didn't include any foul language or inappropriate imagery. Today, in place of that comment, we see a cryptic text that reads <Edited by Host> . 

In forum terms, that could possibly equate to administrative moderation. But I think it's more than just simple moderation. It's 'white glove' 21st century censorship. As negative as that description may sound, I think the host's behaviour belongs on that forum for the following 3 reasons:

1. There really are better ways to address a pop-up message - multiple forums, blog posts and comments suggest a wide variety of tips and tricks, and risk of negative impact of jailbreaking far outweighs the possibility of benefits
2. The more jailbroken devices users circulate, the harder it is to build reliable apps that span both fully-functional and tinkered-with smarthphones, and the harder it is to maintain a stable mobile environment for all of us. That is exactly what killed an innovative mobile operating system called Windows Mobile 5 and 6 (as recently as in 2007).  But does anybody even remember that system? Given the power of mobile devices 6 years ago (approx. 20 times slower), out of the box that Microsoft mobile system worked like a charm even on the worst cellular coverage on my Samsung BlackJack II. Once people started leaving unorganbized content behind on the hard drive, attempting to impose their onw way of file and folder structure, performance and usability took a nose dive
3. Do you prefer an iPhone or an iBrick? - as one of the Apple forum participans puts it in his/her comment, more often than not, jailbreaking leaves you with a broken device and no way back. During the days of Windows Mobile 6, users had a way of totally restoring an OS while getting full support from Microsoft and a wealth of online help articles. Apple won't help if you jailbreak your iDevice

Now we all know that Apple's position is solid on that topic. They don't mess around - they'll 'erase your thoughts' if you recommend jailbreaking. I wonder what others think about other aspects of jailbreaking: ethics, piracy, safety, etc.

More mobile apps that attempt to give young local athletes more exposure

ViewRecruit mobile app designed for athletes to better
promote their  field, academic and community achievements.

As I search for mobile apps focused on local sports, I stumbled upon a post on Google + related to Bailey Byrum whose success was caught by a smartphone app named ViewRecruit. Interesting mobile concept.

I 'splurged' $1.99 on the app and was pleasantly surprised with the content about Bailey. His own bio sounds positive, but there a couple of incomplete pieces of info. I wish I could do something for him as a passerby, or a random spectator. I thought that if you considered a platform like that a "LinkedIn for sport figures", things could be a lot more interactive and powerful.

To be honest, in the era of smartphones. when constant information sharing happens from the palm of your hand, it shouldn't be so hard to get noticed these days. Anybody, any school or institutions should be able to let the best local and teen sport heroes rise to the top by simply focusing on their game, education or community activity, while spending the least amount of time on anything else, like writing static bios or similar.

From time to time I heard about situations in life where without significant personal connections some teens couldn't break through to places or life situations where they could take their talents to next levels. Wouldn't it be nice if the community related to a local sport star or a talented teen had a chance to push someone who deserves to be noticed, where he or she belongs? Wouldn't that be a win-win-win  situation:  more power to spectators, more motivation and more fans for players, more focus for coaches. 

My techy mind tends to lean towards a mobile app which would allow all of those who attend games to share their observations about young people who deserve more from their hard work during practices, scrimmages and tough games. LIVESTRONG Sporting Park urges their fans to refuse to be just spectators, but that's a huge commercial conglomerate on MLS arena. I'm looking for a way to allow moms, dads, friends and local supporters with smartphones to chime in and stand behind local athletes year away from going pro. So far, most of the mobile apps for sports tend to be one-directional highways of info speeding at fans of several national or college teams. 

There's been a trend in local news agencies to expose residents of nearby towns to know about recent sporting events, but I think there's room and need for way much more. Let those who spend their evenings traveling to those small soccer games in remote nooks and crannies of their home states contribute quickly, easily and without getting overshouted by noise of social media channels like Facebook. Faster, easier and more productive way to share your enjoyment of watching, playing and/or coaching local sports and sporting events is what I think we are missing these days.

For a moment I thought that ViewRecruit was it, but I'm still looking for something different. If I find a mobile app for local sports, I'm going to stand on the tallest mountain and shout about it. If I don't find it soon, I'm going to find a way to build it.

Local sports mobile app. The quest to find the best one.

Am I the only one who would like to use a smartphone for local sport - not flat news feeds or busy websites?

To 'filter' activities and information we all use mobile apps, even if we don't actually realize we do... that white letter f on square blue background is an icon to your Facebook mobile app and filters your attention to a social networking interaction of your choice. Public reports show that average age of Facebook users exceeds teen and actually reaches into baby-boomer generation. In the area of mobility, other stats show that usage of smartphones and the universe of mobile apps that come with them is not limited to youngsters either. All generations get involved. 

News on the go might be for older adults, while professional social networking apps are for younger workforce and games may be dominated by the youngest of smartphone users. The one category that seems to span across all generations is sports. Let's not think of NFL, UEFA or Olympics when using the term "sports". Let me shift the attention to several places that we pass on our way to work or school. I'm referring to the softball field around the corner with aluminum benches for spectators, or to the soccer stadium behind the high school, or a set of the basketball courts surrounded by tall fences in the park. Those are living community organisms.

Local sports is where my mind gravitates. The best live games I've seen were the ones where my cousins passed the perfect assists and celebrated wins in a unified chant. The most memorable sporting events I got a chance to watch live were the ones where my brother scored a winning goal and cried his lungs out in joy. The most emotional sport events I've seen were probably the ones where the high school from a snotty town in a dark  part of the state actually found a way to win 71 to 70 with my local middle school's basketball warriors. 

Even though those tremendous memories required tons of work from coaches and players, they seem to fade away rather quickly these days or get overshadowed by the rush of our daily routines. Even if you just see a post on Facebook or Twitter about the last game, it quickly gets overshadowed with a random picture of Jane's new hair or Bob's new video attempt to make the Jackass squad. 

These days, coaches focus on preparation for games. Assistants lead organizational aspects of local spots. Players train, practice and learn to showcase endurance as well as new set skill sets  during each game. Fans hesitate and don't show up if there is chance of rain or get disappointed if games get cancelled unannounced. All of that seems a bit disjoint to me - aspects of local sports these days appear disconnected and segmented. I've seen social networks and mobile apps close bigger gaps before.

Social networks managed to connect counties and continents of people, even if they're on the go all the time. With so many great smartphones out there, I'm looking for something that  would allow me to see what's going on on that semi-grassy field behind the high school. And even if I can't make the game, I want to see who deserved to be man of the match and why. Perhaps we have a new Tiki Barber in the making here somewhere. Let the coach or his assistant easily manage the team and let the world know about where the next game is or isn't going to take place. I think they could use a mobile app to make things faster, easier and more productive for everyone. For that reason, I'm on a quest to find a "local sports mobile app" with social media hookups.

I always thought Google can find anything,  but at the moment I'm only finding stuff that's either just for scouts, or just for fans, or just for commercial leagues, or they're just specific to one team, for one season a year. I want it all in one slick mobile app for any smartphone I happen to use with my new cellular provider.

Sam Chan writes about his top 10 sports mobile apps and he picked a solid collection, but those apps don't cover local sports. ShoutEm promotes a brilliant mobile app for sporting purposes, but their app appears to be limited to only one team, for only one season a year. The screen on my handheld device is too small for apps used so rarely. Businessinsider makes a claim that they know what the best 10 mobile apps for sports are and they make good points, but those applications are either fantasy games or corporate sponsored news feeds. So far, nobody hit the spot yet.

I'll keep looking. I'll share as soon as I find a decent mobile app for non-professional sports that help coaches, players, fans and anybody else involved.

How Social Media Changes Protesting

Social Media has been a trending topic during the recent several years and keeps affecting new facets of human interactions. Even the phrase “trending topic” is mostly used on microblog-style sites, which fit under the umbrella of Social Media (http://www.whatthetrend.com). Popular stats claim that Social Media (SM) Internet interaction has overtaken pornography as the #1 activity on the Web and the leading SM portal, Facebook, has more subscribers than the entire population of United States. If Facebook was a country, it would have been the 3rd largest country in the world (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4gt62uAasE)


Social Media Definition
Essentially, social media incorporates the online technology and methods through which people can share content, personal opinions, swap different perspectives and insights into world issues and generally discuss the evolution of media in itself (Jantsch). Social media website content can come in many shapes and forms. One of them is text, which is often used to put across opinions or write web logs (also known as blog). Images and photos are another category; they can display anything from holiday photos to shots by professional photographers. Audio content is the third type of social media content. Podcasts are great example of that type of content. Video also grows in popularity. According to Dybward, Video sites allow anybody with animated graphics to share a visual story about any event, as well as informational, training or marketing material. Since video affects audiences’ senses of vision, hearing and deliver hard to describe motion, channels such as YouTube provide search capabilities used more frequently than Google. Recent “Occupy…” protests are great examples of that phenomenon.

Origin of “Occupy” protest
Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City based in Zuccotti Park in the downtown financial district. The protests were initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters. As pointed out on OccupyWallStreet website, they are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, corporate power and influence over government (particularly from the financial services sector), and of lobbyists. The participants' slogan "We are the 99%" refers to income inequality in the United States between the top 1%, who control about 40% of the wealth, and the rest of the population. Even though that concept is only six weeks old, it has grown into a global movement, a subject of countless debates and titles of official definitions. Certain broadcasting networks attempted to convince their audiences that Occupy Wall Street began to lose momentum and significance while not delivering a concise message. Observers were quick to realize that it may have been only a faint attempt to diminish the impact of recent events and quickly turned their attention to computer and smartphone-based portals. Those Social Media portals allowed them to reach populations larger than United States with simple yet powerful statements, comments, images and videos.

Impact of Social Media on Power of Protests
As initial participants of the Occupy Wall street remained active and devoted to their cause, majority of conventional media concentrated on lack of focus and cohesiveness of protesters’ message. Occasional bystander or a casual observer of prime time news may have been convinced to believe that, while latest computer technology allowed crowds to prove strength of their anger, disapproval and importance of public demonstrations. That latest Internet technology knows as Social Media gave its protesting users an assurance that they will not be denied. Conventional media is no longer in control of what is communicated to audiences – people are. In 21st century, when even the third world areas without running water or permanent roofs over residents heads, communicate via smartphones, the reach of social media’s pull and push technology allows information to travel faster than earthquake shock waves (Parr).

What makes social media platforms really powerful is not only number of active users, but also ease of access and speed of searches. That unsolicited and unmoderated content makes first pages of Google search engine results rather quickly due to significant activity of unique users who tend to link to and from those popular streams of information. Recent protesters noticed that clout and used it to work around TV and print media channels’ reluctance to show objective images of their efforts.

Protests that took place decades ago formed around physical activities and took very long to spread given analog communication channels and limited forms of data and image transmission. 20th century protesters’ paper petitions or door-to-door campaigns may have been effective, but had very limited scope and were very inefficient. Even the bloodiest conflicts took months to spread in small geographical areas. For instance, when anti-communist protests that violently erupted in August of 1980 on Northern coast of Poland, it took until December of that year for residents of southern part of the country (only 300 miles away) to see short mentions of those events on public TV and in print (http://www.gdansk-life.com/poland/solidarity). In that reality, it took nine years for those activists to get what they postulated about.

Social media Internet technology made that form of communication and making global impact much easier these days. Some might argue that the Internet itself changed how world reacts to protests these days. However, only the benefits of social media, where global communities share equal and immediate access to impactful information and important status updates gave the vehicle of protest new wheels and stronger propulsion. Thanks to social media, recent “Occupy” protests remain a focal point of news not only on Wall Street, New York, NY, but globally and with much stronger presence than protesters of communist states in the eighties (Schweitzer).

Overview of Changes that Social Media brought to Protesting
Aside from obvious ease of access to independent information in form of enhanced pull technology, Social Media brings several other changes to protesters’ toolkits. SM also serves as a great broadcasting medium, and if information is widely and socially approved, it will find its way to the top of web search results and into conversations of millions of casual users of social networking sites. Individuals, local teams, remote groups, national communities or global movements are no longer dependent of conventional media broadcasters (Mills). No first page columns in newspapers, prime time TV or popular news anchors are required to allow for news to make headlines where relevant content is shared via social media.