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The Red Bull Stratos mission which saw Felix Baumgartner jump room over 24 miles above the earth's surface on 14th October 2012, not only broke the world records for the highest jump from a capsule, the longest distance covered in freefall, and the maximum velocity achieved by any man in freefall, but was also the largest ever digital event on record. The mission raised the bar on how brands can activate sponsorships through social media.  Some of the marketing milestones achieved include: * Over 9 million YouTube live streams, the highest number in the history of the media sharing site. In total, over 30 million people have now viewed various videos related to the jump on Red Bull's official YouTube channel. * Over 3.4 million tweets posted with jump related hashtags on the day of the jump. This catapulted almost half of twitter's global trending topics. * Jump related posts on Red Bull Stratos official page generated close to 1 million interactions. These incl...

Your first foray into the world of multiple displays is always an exciting event. For me, it was at university, alongside the wonders of the wonderfully pointless compiz desktop cube . Whatever its effect on my productivity, it felt incredibly cool. Since then, my girlfriend will often connect laptop to TV and indulge in gaming and Netflix in parallel. But is going double-headed really the best option for getting things done? The first issue here is suiting the system to the task . If you’re working on something where you need to skip back and forth between your document and your research materials, then maybe going double-headed is way to go. Similarly, web designers can benefit from having their code on one monitor and the page as it will appear to users on the other. Yes, you could arrange the windows side by side on the same monitor (or constantly alt-tab between them), but having an extra screen just feels more natural; if your work is divided into two parallel parts c...

Windows 8 is here, and it represents a radical departure from Microsoft's previous operating systems. The entire system has been designed from the ground up, and is this time geared towards users of mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. The new interface features big, colourful buttons presented in a touchscreen-friendly format, and many of the main functions can be carried out via swiping or tapping the screen, so long as you have a laptop with a touchscreen. Laptop users may worry that because of Windows 8's new focus, its functionality on notebooks and desktop PCs may have been sacrificed. Thankfully, however, this is not the case; indeed, it can be argued that Windows 8 actually works better on laptops than on mobile devices. Here are 5 reasons why. 1.   It makes the most of your laptop's hardware Ever since the resource-hungry Windows Vista, Microsoft have been working hard to make their operating systems more efficient. Windows 7 was a big s...

When technology research company Gartner Inc. identified the top 10 strategic technology trends for 2013, they said that personal clouds “will gradually replace the PC,” becoming the “glue that connects the web of devices [consumers] choose to use.” When considering how much of our lives are managed with digital devices, their prediction indicates a huge impact on our daily activities. So, what exactly is cloud computing? How will advances in this technology benefit your life, and what security threats will this web of networks create?  Personal Clouds Whether you know it or not, you have probably been using cloud computing for some time now. Web-based email services and most smartphone apps are cloud networks. This means that the software and/or storage for your account do not exist on your personal computer or smartphone, but on the service organisation's server. Advantages of Personal Clouds In the past, file sharing was limited to email attachments. Beca...

As a blogger, you probably do not need any blog writing help. That is why the tips I have shared in this article are not aimed at improving your writing; they are aimed at improving your writing process. Follow these tips and your blog writing will become easier, more productive, more efficient, and you will create blog posts that have a finer clarity and more punch. 1 - Break up your text into smaller paragraphs You must do this because blog readers are notorious skim readers. Because let’s face it, they do not have all day to be reading every line of the text that you throw at them. Smaller paragraphs means that they have to practically stop 'skim' reading for a microsecond; to bridge the physical gap within the text. It slows down their reading so that more information can be absorbed. 2 - Pick a subject that actually interests you This is the best way of making sure you engage with the text. Anything other than this is going to turn blog writing into work...

In an earlier post I had discussed, in some detail, what in effect is the correct measure of bounce rate . In this post I will be discussing some strategies you can employ to gainfully reduce your site's bounce rate. Before I begin, however, I would like to recap what bounce rate is all about. To put it in a nutshell, Bounce rate, is a measure of user engagement - ascertained by establishing the amount of time an average user stays put on your blog/website. Thus if a majority of your website visits lasts, say less than 20 seconds, your site could be considered to have a very high bounce rate. Keeping your site's bounce rate down is an important consideration for SEO purposes. This is because major search engines like Google and Bing consider user engagement as an important measure of a site's quality. Now, since bounce rate is a measure of user engagement (or the relative lack of it), sites with a low bounce rate are generally considered (by search engines) to...

SharePoint is one of the more innovative products that Microsoft has developed over the last decade. It is a powerful web-based framework that provides options for collaboration, document management and application delivery. It has been used as the basis for enterprise intranets for some of the largest companies in the world. It also provides a secure interface for accessing computer services from a remote location.  One simple feature that is now included with the platform is the SharePoint search option. End users can use the search functionality to find information quickly within the system. Additionally, administrators have the ability to leverage several features to customize how searches are performed and presented. Exterior Site Integration The search feature of SharePoint provides businesses with the ability to index and locate documents based on simple words or other criteria. This core functionality is enhanced by the inclusion of an exterior site search fea...

Life may be busy, but it does not have to be hectic. Here are five awesome apps for your android mobile phone that are designed to make your bustling schedule much more manageable. Assistant Not everyone can afford a personal assistant, but you can get the next best thing for your smart phone, and for free! The Assistant app uses natural language technology to help you with day-to-day tasks. Simply voice a command in everyday language and it gets to work. It handles a wide variety of requests, ranging from connecting you to websites, finding maps, presenting weather reports, and sending emails. COL Reminder Install the COL Reminder app and you never have to worry about forgetting to send an important email or missing out on an appointment. Simply enter a task and you’re set – it will remind you to do it before the deadline. If you need to postpone, you are also free to delay the reminder. Extreme Call Blocker Sometimes you need to bl...

Social media is an integral part of marketing for pretty much any business these days. Whether your aim is to increase internet traffic to your website, influence brand perception, research your market or deal with customer complaints, you cannot get away from Facebook and Twitter. The question for marketing teams is not whether to use social media tools, but which ones to use, and how. These days, it's not enough to post the occasional witty comment or update on your company's Facebook page. Even a respectable following on Twitter no longer impresses social marketing teams in itself. In fact, a poorly moderated or un-moderated internet forum can work against your business by being irrelevant at best (people creating conversations unrelated to your product or service) and actively damaging at worst (nothing travels as quickly as unattended customer complaints). And then there's the tricky issue of whether even a successful social media presence actually boosts...

Small-business owners are often surprised at how quickly their businesses grow. Keep on top of everything with these tips on how to smoothly run your business. Cloud Storage This is one thing that every modern business should invest in. Keeping your documents, media, records and accounts stored on the cloud is a great way to ensure that you never lose anything.  Not only does cloud server hosting make your business more secure, it also makes your life easier should you ever want to upgrade your hardware. Another upside to using cloud storage is that if you have to work remotely — say while on the move via an iPad or from your home computer — you can still have access to all those important files and documents. Syncing Getting your machines and devices to sync is a great way of keeping on top of everything. By syncing devices like your PC, laptop, smartphone and your tablet together, you ensure that you have access to updated data, no matter where yo...