By: Hillel Fuld

It has been more than five years since I started blogging. As the blog grows, so does its traffic, which means the internet trolls have to get to work. Over the past few months, the aggressive and nasty comments directed at me here or on other sites I write for, as well as Twitter, have been increasing exponentially. My problem is, I take this stuff too seriously/personally.

As the trolls get more aggressive, many people keep telling me that I should take it as a compliment. The trolls wouldn’t bother with me unless I was worth it, they tell me. While they are probably right, something in me feels the need to get to the bottom of this behavior and understand what makes a person spend the time to write nasty comments on blogs and other sites. I have yet to figure it out.

Now, you must be wondering, “Doesn’t the title say something about Apple, Samsung, and Amazon? Where is he going with the whole blogging/trolling thing?”

Well, not to compare myself to Apple (because that would just blasphemy, right, fanboys of the world?), but the whole blogging/trolling thing is the same way I view the competition taking jabs at the industry giant that has surpassed all expectations both in terms of innovation as well as profitability. While Samsung and Amazon are both giants in their respective industries, clearly they have both decided long ago that Apple’s undeniable dominance is something they will aim to change. Samsung actually says this out in the open.

Well, we have all seen and heard about the famous Samsung anti-Apple campaign. The Korean company even spent close to $10 million on its Super Bowl commercial, which did not focus on innovation, new phones, or Android, it focuses solely on ridiculing Apple and its fans.

Well, now it’s Amazon’s turn and they are hitting hard. Take a look at the ad below for the Kindle line and watch how there’s no mention of Apple, but you know very well who the target of the ad is. Enjoy.

By: Hillel Fuld

You know you have created a successful platform when there are hundreds of apps to support it on across all possible operating systems. I am of course referring to the micro blogging service Twitter and the abundance of apps to support it on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Nokia, Playbook, etc etc.

Well putting all those platforms aside, the fiercest competition among Twitter app developers by far, is on Apple’s iOS. A quick search of the App Store for the word “Twitter” will reveal tens if not hundreds of possibilities. There are some really great options out there including Twitter’s own app, Echofon, Tweetlogix, Tweetlist, Tweetfire, Osfoora, and so many more. See my Twitter app folder below.

Well, looks like the competition is coming to an end today with the trophy being handed to Tweetbot. I have been using Tweetbot on iPhone for months now after having switched from Tweetlogix, my second favorite choice. The lack of push notifications on Tweetlogix was a deal breaker. I was very satisfied with Tweetbot, but definitely had a few issues, the main one being links and photos not being accessible with one click.

Tweetbot 2.0 and Tweetbot for iPad is out now and I am declaring it the perfect Twitter iOS app. Perfection means the design is perfect. It means the speed is unparalleled  and it means the feature-set and customization options are super impressive.

I am not going to review every aspect of Tweetbot because, well Federico Viticci did a pretty ridiculously fantastic job of that. Here is his review. Long, I know, but hey, you wanted thorough. You can also read the TheNextWeb’s review of Tweetbot for iPhone and Tweetbot for iPad.

Want a cut down quick review of the awesomeness that is the new Tweetbot on iPad?

See Rene Ritchie’s video review below, he pretty much covers it all. Enjoy and go download Tweetbot for iPhone here and iPad here.

By: Hillel Fuld

Today is a drama-packed day in tech. While that is a good thing for us bloggers, the stories causing the drama are not quite as joyful. Before I jump into the details, let me just say this. I love Path and I love Pinterest and today’s events did not change that. Having said that, I fear that is not the case for millions of other people who have become daily users of these services.

OK, so what am I talking about? Let’s start with Path.

Hey, Path! Those are MY Contacts!!

Yes, a blogger who was trying to create a Mac app with the Path API stumbled upon something very interesting that has the whole tech world buzzing. Path takes its users’ whole address book and uploads it to the Path servers without a word to the users, not to mention the user’s consent.

Now, this is bad, no question about it, but not for the reason you are thinking. Path, at least since version two was released has everyone singing its praises. What is so great about it? As I wrote before, its design and overall UX is unprecedented. If Path would have asked me for permission to have access to my contacts to maintain the high level of its UX, I would have agreed without hesitation. There within lies the problem. No one asked me.

No transparency, no opt in, no disclosure. Bad move on the part of Path. Was this a malicious act of any kind? Absolutely not! The Co-Founder and CEO of Path commented on the original post explaining that they already made this system opt-in on Android and the iOS version will be on the App Store shortly. Morin is a solid guy who I have spoken to countless times and this was an innocent mistake that might have even been out of his hands.

Having said that, it was a mistake that is now leading to some really bad PR and as I told Dave, he is handling it perfectly. I do hope Path stands strong once all this drama passes. I also hope many other entrepreneurs learn from this saga.

@davemorin I am sure u have your hands full right now, just wanted to let u know, you’re handling it well. Ignore the trolls.

— Hillel Fuld (@HilzFuld) February 8, 2012

Now onto Pinterest…

Wait, Pinterest Did WHAT to My Pictures?

OK, let me just say off the bat that I am clearly in the minority here when I say that in my opinion, the Pinterest “mistake” is much worse than the Path one.

@HilzFuld how can there even be a comparison? your entire address book vs. random links to stores?

— Jon (@athst) February 8, 2012

Before I get into what Pinterest did, what is Pinterest? Well, I wrote about it here, but more important than my opinion, is the fact that according to comScore Pinterest is the fastest site to reach 10 million unique visitors in the history of the Web. In other words, Pinterest is HOT.

Today’s news is that Pinterest actively edits pictures uploaded by its users by adding its own affiliate tags in order to monetize the site’s content. You can read the details here but allow me to break it down for you.

As I have mentioned before, the Web is moving in the direction of less text and more visual. Pinterest is the ultimate visual experience. While that provides a superior UX, it also presents a serious business opportunity. Visual converts! People are more prepared to click on a picture than on text. We know that. So Pinterest did something brilliant. They enabled users to link their Pinterest “Pins”, i.e their photos to websites, whether it is a blog or an e-commerce site.

The effects on traffic to blogs has already been discussed. As far as e-commerce, Pinterest is widely regarded as a great platform to promote your own company if you are a business with visually appealing products.

Great. So what is the problem? Well, Pinterest is actually going into my photos that are linked to e-commerce sites and editing my link by adding their own affiliate link. That means when my followers click on my photo and end up buying the product on the site to which it was linked, the site/business gets paid and you know who else gets paid? Pinterest! On my back. Without my permission. And with no transparency of telling me that they are monetizing my content.

Like I said, in my personal opinion, this Pinterest story is far worse than the Path one. Why? For starters, Pinterest’s incentive here is money, Path’s is a superior UX. Path already responded and are fixing the error. Pinterest is nowhere to be found. Pinterest is actively editing my content and getting paid. Path is accessing my data and doing absolutely nothing with it, definitely not getting paid for that data.

The point is, this is definitely grey and there are two sides to the coin. In reality, it doesn’t matter which is worse. What matters is that both of these are bad  mistakes in business ethics and both of these stories present many different lessons from which other companies of all kinds in all industries can learn.

Now, I await the Path update with the opt in system and as for Pinterest, the ball is in their court.

By: Hillel Fuld

If you are watching the world of technology from a Bird’s Eye View, you might have noticed an interesting pattern. As we take one step forward, we continue to take two steps back. As technology advances, one of the parameters by which we evaluate whether a new gadget or piece of software will succeed is how well it imitates real life and the “Old-fashioned way”.

You want examples? Sure, happy to provide a few.

eBook Readers

When thinking of the irony that is eBook readers, I just have to share the cartoon below.

Now to stop the uncontrollable laughter that was caused by that cartoon, the reality is not so far from the picture. Kindles, Nooks, and even iPads are evaluated by how close the reading experience is to a real book. The closer the technology brings the screen to resemble the site of a real book, the better the eBook reader will sell. Think about that for a second.

I realize the advantage of digital reading is the storage or the ability to have hundreds and thousands of books in a device half the size of one real book, but let’s put that aside for a second. From a technology perspective, the farther ahead we advance, the more steps we take to bring us closer to our roots and the way we used to read books. You know, like in print… It’s just ironic.

Gaming Consoles

Think about the Wii, the Xbox and all the other sensors we are seeing in gaming consoles today. Voice and motion recognition to ensure that your gaming experience is as close to the real life experience as possible.

“Here, come spend hundreds and thousands of  dollars on a console that will let you Ski by detecting your body movements and offer you the experience that is the closest thing to real skiing you can imagine.” Or, how about you just go skiing? I know, crazy talk.

Apps

With all the competition in the various app stores, how do certain apps stand out? Well, take a look at one of the most loved iPad and iPhone apps, Flipboard. What is it? A digital magazine for your phone or tablet that emulates a real-life magazine experience including flipping pages, full page ads, and more. Wait, but why not just pick up a real magazine?

Of course, Flipboard can integrate many magazines plus your social feeds but again, I am talking about the concept of an app appealing to millions simply because it acts like a real magazine. Just ironic to me. Am I nuts?

Online Shopping

Well, Amazon is the latest example of a company that, as it advances to become the number one eCommerce player on the Web, it takes a step back to the old-fashioned retail experience. That’s right, Amazon is opening a physical store. Does that surprise you? It actually shouldn’t, we have seen much weirder things, like an app store opening a retail store.

Amazon has expanded its business in a major way over the past few years with the most significant shift of the online retailer making its debut into the tablet market with its Kindle Fire. Well, now Amazon will follow in the footsteps of one of its main competitors on several fronts (tablets, mobile ecosystems, app stores, and more), Apple.

Based on initial reports, the Amazon retail stores will focus on a few products only such as the Kindle line, exclusive books that launched on Amazon, as well as some accessories like cases, screen protectors, and USB adapters. Amazon will focus on superior customer support in its retail stores and will launch a pilot with a few small boutique shops to test the waters of retail stores.

I just find it ironic that while most businesses a few years ago started offline and then went online, Amazon is moving in the opposite direction.

Will it Work?

Ryan Kim seems to think so and I tend to agree. Like many things though, it is all about the implementation. Jobs secretly worked on the first Apple retail store for six months before showing it to the board to get approval. He defined what the experience of a retail store should be, that you walk in and within a second or two, you get the flow of how the store works and what you are supposed to do.

Suffice to say, the Apple retail stores were a tremendous success and within months of the Fifth Ave store launch, it was the highest grossing store in all of NY per square centimeter. Today, the Apple stores are well known for their branding and many people have gone as far as to say that Jobs and Apple revolutionized the retail shopping experience.

Having said that, for every one Apple, there are hundreds of companies that failed at retail. Judging from Amazon’s activity over the last few years, the company is most likely going to have a successful pilot.

Maybe one day in the future, I will be able to walk into a physical Amazon store and use a typewriter or a floppy disc. That would rock!

By: Hillel Fuld

By now, you must have noticed that Samsung has taken off the gloves and gotten down and dirty. The new “Anti-Apple” campaign by Samsung is not just a random thing, it is a strategy. Samsung’s head of marketing Younghee Lee made it very clear in an interview with AllThingsD that the company has its eyes on Apple and its dominance in the U.S market.

Samsung has the innovation to achieve its goals, it has the business model, the only thing it does not have is mind share. Apple fanboys will be Apple fanboys, and there is nothing Samsung can do about that. Or, maybe there is.

The new campaign takes on the ridiculousness that is Apple product releases. You know, when people line up all night waiting for a new device, sometimes a device not very much different from the one they already own. Well, Samsung had this ad, then they made this ad, and topped it off with this one.

Now comes the ultimate Anti-Apple ad by Samsung and what better time to air it than the Super Bowl? Except you will notice one slight difference between the previous ads and this one.

Watch the commercial below and you will see that the underlying theme is freedom. Freedom from Apple’s walled-in garden. The previous ads all focused on the phone, the Galaxy SII and its Turn-by-turn navigation, the size of the screen, the 4G connectivity, etc. This ad, however, is more of an Android ad than a Samsung one. It is as if Samsung is fighting Google’s battle of “openness”.

Well, when I wanted to see the reaction of the Apple fanboy community to this commercial, I turned to MG Siegler, who else. This is what he had to say…

Loser of the night was not the Patriots though. It was clearly the stylus Android. Still debating if that was serious.

— MG Siegler (@parislemon) February 6, 2012

Well, this was no surprise for two reasons. One, he will always defend Apple’s honor, always. Two, Jobs himself was quoted as saying “If you need a stylus for your phone, you are wasting your time” or something along those lines. So MG’s reaction to the Pen line in the ad didn’t surprise anyone.

Except, as I responded to him, this time, he is dead wrong.

@parislemon due respect, MG, been testing out the Note and forget the stylus (which is more than ur idea of a stylus), the phone’s amazing.

— Hillel Fuld (@HilzFuld) February 6, 2012

I will be honest, I used the Note for a few weeks as a loaner from Samsung and my own Galaxy Note is on the way. Did I use the stylus much? No. Having said that, this is much more than the kind of stylus our old Palm devices had. This stylus/pen has its own SDK. That means developers can create apps that are meant for interaction with this thing.

The Note responds to the stylus differently depending on the pressure you apply. Many different preinstalled Apps on the Note make fantastic use of the stylus. While the finger is the new stylus, given that the Note’s stylus is nicely packed away without adding any bulk whatsoever, it is a useful thing to have when you want to do some old-fashioned writing.

But forget the stylus, how is the Note? Well, as mentioned, mine is on the way, and as opposed to almost all other Android devices that I have tested (except the Galaxy Nexus. Working on that now), this is the ONLY device that I intend on using instead of my iPhone (4S), at least for a few weeks. I am going to try this thing out as my primary mobile device and give Siri a rest. She has been annoying me lately anyway.

The Note is a fantastic device that will become even more impressive when it gets the Ice Cream Sandwich update in the coming weeks. It the Samsung Note’s 5″ screen to big for it to function as a phone? Well, it is definitely not your ordinary mobile phone, but using Bluetooth might offer a simple and obvious solution. As an all-in-one hybrid tablet/phone, the Note provides a video-viewing, Web-browsing, content-consuming experience that other devices can only dream of.

As far as the Samsung campaign is concerned, many have voiced their opinion that it is cheap and makes the company look bad. I disagree. I think they nailed it spot on and brought home the point that the obsession over Apple products, sometimes justified and sometimes not, is by all standards, out of control. Many of Samsung’s devices, including the SII and the Note, offer a real and solid alternative, but let’s be honest, no real Apple fanboy even made it this far in this “Anti-Apple post, so who am I even talking to?

By: Hillel Fuld

While we already established that in its current state, Siri is not much more than some fantastic marketing on the part of Apple, it never ceases to amaze me just how much buzz the new voice recognition software receives.

There have been fantastic ads, hacks, more hacks, parodies, more parodies, knockoffs, more knockoffs, more knockoffs, and some more knockoffs. Oh and of course a tv appearance.

But all those pale in comparison to the mother of all Siri parodies. If you want to make a video that will go viral, take some tips from the creator of the video below. Well done!

Enjoy!

By: Hillel Fuld

Oh, Siri, Siri. I want to like you, I really do. The thing is though, coming from a company known for products of excellence and near-perfection, simply put, you  stink!

Here is the thing with Siri, the new “Voice Assistant” on the iPhone 4S. It is a marketing stunt that we are all falling for. I have been using a 4S for a while now and I would say 90% of my use of Siri is to show her off. Yes, I occasionally add a reminder to my calendar, update my Facebook, or send out a tweet using Siri while I drive, but my main use of Siri is as a conversation starter.

Siri is, if I am not mistaken, Apple’s first ever Beta product and truth be told, use Siri for a few minutes and you will see why it is labeled Beta. Putting aside the technological side of Siri, when it comes to marketing, Apple to no one’s surprise absolutely blew it out of the park when it comes to how the company markets Siri.

There was of course the Santa commercial, which was named the most effective tech ad of 2011 and there have been countless parodies about Siri (like this one but beware of bad language!).

All of that is great for geeks like us who hang out on the Web, but that won’t get my father to want Siri, now will it? You know what will? Primetime TV! And Apple can now put a little check mark next to that too.

I started receiving messages by the hundreds a few days ago that I just “MUST” see this week’s episode of Big Bang Theory. No one would tell me why. They all said “Just watch it. You’ll see”. And I watched it. And I saw.

See below as Siri makes its debut on TV and more importantly, enters mainstream consciousness. Beta? Who cares? Perception is reality and Siri is all over the place. Kudos, Apple. You did it again.

Oh, and did I mention that Siri’s appearance on Big Bang Theory absolutely cracked me up? Watch!

By: Hillel Fuld

Samsung is killing it in the mobile space by all parameters. in fact, Samsung is killing it in many different spaces by all parameters. The company has recently become a true symbol of innovation. Just see this!

Samsung marketing executive Younghee Lee recently told AllThingsD that the company’s strategy is to take the U.S market by storm and steal the “cool” factor away from one of its biggest competitors, Apple.

In her interview, Lee said “Especially in U.S., people are obsessed with Apple,” Lee said, in a lengthy interview at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month. “It’s time to change people’s attention.”

Of course, Samsung is taking a very different route than Apple, one that can only be compared to Google in the mobile space and Microsoft in the world of PCs. Namely, Samsung wants to be everywhere. I actually just came back from Samsung’s local offices where I was given a sneak peek at some of the upcoming innovation we can expect to see from the Korean giant.

Let’s just say, 2012 is the year of TVs, but not TVs like we are used to. I am talking Smart TVs with customized OSes, app stores, voice and motion recognition, 3D technology, and much more. Of course, to no one’s surprise, Samsung is the market leader in smart TVs, something not many companies have the ability to challenge.

Well, back to mobile, Samsung’s flagship Android devices are now the Galaxy SII and the Galaxy Nexus, but from a purely hardware perspective, the SII takes the crown. The Galaxy SII has been a tremendous success for Samsung, as was its predecessor the Galaxy S. Which leads of course to the upcoming SIII device.

There has been much speculation about its launch and whether it would show its face in the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Samsung just put all the rumors to rest with the following statement.

“Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012. The successor to the GALAXY S II smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product. Samsung stays committed to providing the best possible mobile experiences for customers around the world.”

Having reviewed the Samsung Note, it is going to be interesting to see just how much farther the company can push the envelope, but some specs we can expect to see in the SIII include:

• A quad-core processor of an unspecified speed (probably 1.5 – 1.6 GHz)
• Significantly improved battery life
• A 12 MP Camera
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

The screens on these mobile monsters can’t get much bigger without getting to the awkward mini tablet stage, so it will be interesting to see what size screen the SIII has.

In any case, as Samsung stated, we can expect to see the unveiling of this superphone sometime in the first half of 2012. The big question remains, will the iPhone 5 be announced in June and steal the SIII’s thunder or will it follow in the footsteps of the 4S and make its appearance in October? I bet Samsung is hoping for the latter.

By: Hillel Fuld

While I have said before that I have issues with Windows Phone’s branding, especially its name, Microsoft clearly decided that the message they were going for with this platform was speed. That is the common denominator between almost all the Windows Phone ads I have seen, starting with the famous “Really?” campaign.

When I say “speed”, I am not referring to the specs of the phone or its processing power, I am talking about the fundamental way Windows Phone, the OS, was designed.

The Windows Phone CES booth that conducted speed tests against any phone on the market shows that the time it takes to post an update or do many other basic things with your phone takes significantly less time on Windows Phone than it does on the competing platforms.

Anyway, this ad is another great one from Microsoft. Enjoy.

By: Hillel Fuld

OK, let’s just get this out of the way from the get-go. Steve Jobs was not a nice man by any accounts. The man, however, was directly or indirectly involved in revolutionizing anywhere between seven and nine multibillion dollar industries, depending who you ask. They include home computing, mobile, music, tablets, software distribution (apps), digital publishing, animated films (Pixar), online video, and retail shopping.

Of course, the way Jobs conducted himself on a daily basis ticked a lot of people off and many find it difficult to separate the man’s accomplishments and his behavior. Well, if you read the recent bio of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, you have somewhat of an idea of just how particular he was about how Apple is run and what kind of products the company releases.

Whether it was the case of the original Macintosh, which despite being presented with thousands of shades of beige, Jobs had to design his own, or many other stories, Jobs was clearly a very difficult man.

Well, like the title says, you ain’t seen nothin yet. It is not often I recommend you watch a 50 minute video and I realize most of you don’t have that much time to waste, but the below interview with Adam Lashinsky, the author of the newly-released book Inside Apple is super interesting. Adam addresses the secret nature of Apple and sheds some light on just how far Apple, led by Jobs went to keep things secretive and under the radar.

Well, if you do not have the time to watch the whole thing, I have some good news for you. I did! Here are some of the most outrageous things mentioned in the interview:

 - Apple often hires engineers then puts them on fake products till they can establish that the engineer is trust-worthy.

- Apple isn’t only secretive to the outside world like the press, the company is also secretive inside the company. Secret rooms, cards that only open certain rooms, and a common phenomenon of employees getting access to rooms to which their superiors do not have access.

- Meetings at Apple start with the person leading the meeting ensuring that everyone in the audience is “disclosed” on the topic of the meeting.

- There is no suggestion box at Apple. All ideas come from the top.

- Jobs was the one and only address for deciding what product gets released.

- Jobs was the head of marketing, head of advertising, head of public relations, and more.

- Apple led by Jobs did not believe in the fundamental principle “The customer is always right” or “The customer knows best”. Apple’s philosophy is “We know what customers want better than they do.”

- Apple employees often stay in the same exact position for decades without moving up in the ranks.

- For a 30 second part of a Macworld Apple video to promote iMovie, Jobs had to shoot a wedding scene and he decided to fly out the team to Hawaii because anything else did not “feel right” to him.

OK, I think you get the point, the man was off the wall and super O.C.D. Now the question is, is that too steep of a price to pay for excellence. Is it ok to behave the way Jobs did to create a brand like Apple and could he have accomplished the same without these quirks? Well, I guess we’ll never know, but one thing’s for sure, Apple did something right if I am judging by its latest numbers.

Enjoy the interview.