Girls In Tech

Which high-tech company do Americans feel has the brightest future: Apple, Facebook or Google?  According to Poll Position,  new polling data  finds that Apple tops Google and Facebook at 44 percent.

In a scientific national opinion poll, Apple won more votes than Google and Facebook, combined. Forty-four percent said Apple, 26% Google, 10% Facebook and 21% expressed no opinion.  More than half the young people, in the 18-29 year old category selected Apple as the high-tech company with the brightest future with 55.2% compared to Google’s 16.8% and Facebook’s 15.2%.

If you are interested in seeing a breakdown of survey participants by age, race, gender, and political affiliation, you may look in crosstabs for this poll at: http://media.pollposition.com.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/Poll-Position-crosstabs-hi-tech-companies.pdf.

Poll Position’s scientific survey of 1,066 registered voters, nationwide, was conducted October 30 of this year.  It  would be interesting to see how this poll would skew if given strictly the Bay Area/Silicon Valley population?  Or Austin, LA, New York, Boston or the UK, for that matter — Would we see Google, perhaps, pulling closer to the lead?
What do you think?  Which high-tech company do you feel has the brightest future?  You can vote in Poll Position’s online companion poll and comment at: http://pollposition.com/2011/11/01/apple-tops-google-facebook/.  [The online companion poll in which you can vote provides unscientific results, meaning it’s a tally of participating Poll Position users, not a nationally representative sampling.]

Learn more about Poll Position’s polling methodology at: http://pollposition.com/2011/09/26/our-polling-methodology/

Tags: apple, facebook, Google, high-tech, poll
Posted in All Chapters, Girls In Tech | No Comments »

In just over a year and a half since the iPad was released, 11% of adults already own a tablet computer of some sort.  Almost half get news on their tablet every day and three-in-ten say they now spend more time consuming news than they did before they purchased their tablets.  A majority, however, say they are unwilling to pay for news content on these devices, according to the most detailed study to date of tablet users and their news consumption habits.

The multi-phase survey of nearly 1,200 tablet users and almost 900 who consume news on their tablet weekly was conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism in collaboration with The Economist Group.

Fully 77% of tablet owners use their tablets every day, spending an average of 90 minutes on them. Consuming news—which ranges from headline to long-form reading—is one of the most popular tablet activities (53% consume news on their tablet daily). It is about as popular as sending email (54%), and outpaces social networking (39%), gaming (30%), reading books (17%) and watching movies and videos (13%).  Tablet news users say they prefer these new devices over traditional computers, print publications or television as a way to get quick news headlines and to read long-form pieces.

“For these early adapters, news is already a big part of their tablet experience—often in ways that expand their daily news diet,” says Amy Mitchell, Deputy Director of Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. “While the signs about revenue potential are mixed, the tablet clearly offers possibilities for news that did not emerge in other technologies.”

“This research shows the written word and long-form journalism are still very much alive and in-demand on digital devices,” said Paul Rossi, managing director and executive vice president of The Economist Group.”With the increasing adoption of these devices and their use for reading, there is clearly more opportunity than threat for publishers going forward.”

While approximately two-thirds of these new users have a news app, the browser, carried over from the desktop experience, is still the more popular means for consuming news.   A plurality of tablet news users (40%) say they get their news mainly through a web browser. Another 31% use news apps and the browser equally, while fewer, 21%, get their news primarily through apps.

Yet just 14% of tablet news users have paid directly for content on their devices and a large majority of those who haven’t are reluctant to do so, even if it’s the only way to get news from their favorite sources.

Among the findings:

• The revenue potential for news on the tablet may be limited. At this point just 14% of tablet news users have paid directly to access news on their tablet. Another 23% get digital access of some kind through a print newspaper or magazine subscription. Still, cost is a factor, even among this heavy news consuming population. Of those who haven’t paid directly, just 21% say they would be willing to spend $5 per month if that were the only way to access their favorite source on the tablet. And of those who have news apps, fully 83% say that being free or low cost was a major factor in their decision about what to download.

•  Brand is important on the tablet. Whether an app comes from “a news organization I like” is as prevalent a factor in the decision to download an app as is low cost. Liking the news organization is a major factor for 84% of those who have apps. In addition, among both app and browser respondents surveyed about their behavior over the last seven days, the most common way by far to get news headlines was by going directly to a news organization’s content. Fully 90% of app users went directly to the app of a specific news organization compared with 36% that went to some sort of aggregator app like Pulse. And, 81% of those who went through their browser accessed news headlines via a direct news website, compared with 68% who went through a search engine, and about a third 35% that went through a social network.

•  Substitution is already occurring to large degrees. Fully 90% of tablet news users now consume news on the tablet that they used to access in other ways. The greatest substitution is occurring with news that people used to get from their desktop computer. Eight in ten tablet news users say they now get news on their tablet that they used to get online from their laptop or desktop computer.  Fewer respondents, although still a majority, say the tablet takes the place of what they used to get from a print newspaper or magazine (59%) or as a substitute for television news (57%).

•  Incidental news reading is prevalent on the tablet. Nearly nine-in-ten (88%) of those who read long articles in the last seven days ended up reading articles they were not initially seeking out. In addition, 41% went back and read past articles or saved articles for future reading.

•  The browser, carried over from the desktop experience, is still the more popular means for consuming news.While about two-thirds of tablet news users have a news app on their tablet, most tablet news users (40%) say they get their news mainly through the web browser on their device.  31% use the browser and news apps equally while fewer, 21%, get their news primarily through apps.

•  But those who do rely mainly on apps for news represent a kind of power news consumer. Close to half of this group say they now spend more time getting the news than they did before they had their tablet (43%). That is more than twice the rate of those who mainly go through a browser (19%). App users are also more than three times as likely as browser news users to regularly get news from new sources they did not turn to before they had their tablet (58% versus 16% for browser users).

• Word of mouth is a key component of tablet news sharing. Fully 85% of those who get news on their tablets said they had talked with someone about a long article they had read there. This is more than twice the percentage who say they had shared articles electronically. Some 41% of tablet news users say they share news through email or social networking at least sometimes. And when a select group was asked specifically about their behavior in the last seven days, again about four in ten say they had shared news content through Social Networking Sites or email.

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, apple, Devices, Digital media, Digital news, girls in tech, ipad, news, Tablets, technology, women in tech
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Computer Apparel has developed a creative way to decorate, protect and transport your Apple devices – the next generation in business casual with their Original V-Neck Sleeves, designed to protect Apple laptops, iPhones, and iPads in style. The tailored v-neck tee offers Mac enthusiasts a fashion-forward alternative to the common computer case. The cover is made from high-quality material and padding, the Original V-Neck Sleeve is not only a safe fit for computers and tablets, but it is also a machine washable one.

The computer sleeves are pretty cool looking and will enable your laptop to stand out. Available in four sizes and five vibrant colors, there is a V-Neck for all Apple owners. Consumers can rest assured their computers are protected and stylish.

Try one on at http://www.computer-apparel.com/.

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, apple, Apple Devices, Computer Apparel, girls in tech, Laptop cover, Original V-Neck Sleeve, women in tech
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As I reflected yesterday on the sad news of Steve Jobs’ passing, I thought about his impact on my life. Oddly enough, my first recollection was that I used to disdain Apple products and their fanatics. Just a few years ago, I was a PC person who rejected what I felt was the superfluousness of Apple’s sleek computer design. I thought, “If a computer can type and email a document, who cares how technically advanced or pretty it is?”

That changed about two years ago, when my younger brother demanded an iPhone. (“Everyone else at Palo Alto High School has one!”) I tried to convince him that the Blackberry was better, but he formed an alliance with other family members and I was outvoted. We moved to AT&T and to the iPhone tribe. (If you’re calculating, then yes, I am due for an upgrade; to 4S or not to 4S?)

I lamented over parting with my Blackberry, but within minutes of sliding, swooshing and touching, I had forgotten all about that first mobile love, and found a soulmate in Apple. Now, I have the iPhone, iPad and Macbook Pro at my side every day.

Yet while these metal boxes are neat, Steve Jobs didn’t just pioneer products; computers, the Internet and other phones existed before him. Really, he perfected distribution systems: the iPod with its iTunes store or the iPhone with its apps. Jobs gave us platforms.

It’s not actually the cool stainless steel products that I have a hard time envisioning my life without, but rather the instant connection I get through Apple’s products to the people, information and ideas I love. I carry the lightweight iPad in my purse so that I can stop into a cafe to hop on Skype with my family in California if I want. During dinner, I can open up Safari on the iPhone to find out which celebrity was in that movie about which we were talking. And, I’ve learned and engaged with ideas, either my own or those of others, from harmless fun apps, like launching angry birds at pigs, to practical ones, like the book I’m writing on the Manuscript application.

This immense new personal freedom extends to the democratization of ideas that Jobs helped to unleash in both audio and app forms. Instead of fighting fruitlessly against music industry giants to be heard, independent artists gained an audience that could be monetized. Rather than just consuming content, even kids could create it.

The hundreds of products Jobs patented are thus connection points. They’re conduits for us to share and absorb new skills and information. They help make the progress of ideas to action more efficient; just as a new lightbulb turns on, we can email it, tweet it or code it, transforming the intangible into an instant reality.

The best thing is that platforms can be built upon. I hope, and I think Jobs did too, that more great ideas will be grown from the foundation his great ideas so brilliantly delivered.

The 25 Most Influential People on the Web (images.businessweek.com)

Tags: apple, Application, blackberry, computer, Consumer Products, Doreen Bloch, iOS, iphone, iPhone application, iPhone Games, platform, platforms, Steve Jobs
Posted in All Chapters, Girls In Tech, New York | No Comments »

Recently, my voracious appetite for movie-watching led me to discover Roku, a streaming player that allows me access to a world wide web library of movies, shows, music, videos, podcasts, games, and more. I’ve only had the Roku player for five days but I already know: it’s my #1 recommendation for a gadget gift this holiday season. Here’s the high-level:

• Cost: $59/$79/$99. Click here to compare the three different models (I went for it with the $99 model)
• Includes: Roku streaming player (4.9 x 4.9 x 1.2 inches; roughly the size and weight of a paperback book), HDMI cable, composite AV cable, remote control and batteries, power adapter
• Required: television, high-speed Internet

Setting up the Roku player was easy: the HDMI/AV cable connects the Roku and the television, and the power adapter connects the Roku to the electrical socket in the wall. Just power on and select the Wi-Fi connection; no special software involved.

Next, I did a tour of the default channels: Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu Plus, and Pandora. To access the shows and music on those channels, I had to validate each existing account through a code exchange process that required me to login on my computer. Although I had to do this for every account in order to access its library, the entire exercise was quick and painless.

The channel I’ve accessed the most is Netflix. Because my Netflix account is now activated on my Roku, I now have two queues (which I update online): my regular queue for Netflix dvds (mail) and my “instant” queue for on-demand shows/ movies. The small caveat is that not all of the Netflix library is available for “instant” viewing (less than a total of 2,000 TV shows and movies as of today). But the list is growing daily. And did I say these movies are instant and on-demand? As in, you can watch them anytime, for no additional fee other than your monthly Netflix subscription?

Pandora is awesome — all your personalized music settings projected on the television. Tunes for every mood and occasion.

Amazon Video is a bit on the expensive side, ranging from $1.99 to $3.99 for a 24-hour rental (with the option to buy). But it offers the latest and greatest shows, including those currently in season.

I’m excited to check out Hulu Plus, which just became available on Roku today.

In total, there are over fifty channels available on Roku, and the company says they are adding more every day. On day six of owning the Roku, I’m only discovering the tip of the ice berg. The channels are listed under the following categories: Featured, New, Most Popular, Top Rated, Movies & TV, Web TV & Special Interest, Music, Sports, International, News & Podcasts, Photos & Videos, Games & Screensavers.

Notable channels include:

• Facebook photos and videos
• Vimeo
• Blip.tv
• flickr
• MLB.tv

I have a feeling my Roku and I are going to be together a lot, inside and outside my home. The Roku player is smaller than a paperback book and very light at 7.2 ounces, so it will be a convenient travel companion (as long as the destination includes a television and high-speed Internet connection).

A little tidbit about the brain behind Roku: the company was founded by Anthony Wood, who invented the DVR. Enough said.

The one question I have to ask is: where do Roku and other streaming players fit in when Apple and Google enter living rooms?

Tags: Amazon Video, Anthony Wood, apple, Baochi Nguyen, blip.tv, DVR, Facebook photos and videos, Flickr, Google, HDMI/AV cable, Hulu Plus, MLB.tv, Netflix, Pandora, Roku, The Roku player, travel, Vimeo, Wi-Fi
Posted in All Chapters, Los Angeles | 1 Comment »

I recently attended Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference, the event that saw the official launch of the iPhone 4, and the re-branding of Apple’s iPhone OS to iOS.

While you have likely been inundated with details of the Keynote presentation by Steve Jobs, there’s a LOT more to WWDC than just the keynote.

To give you a Whirlwind Tour of WWDC, I put together a vlog that gives a flavor for everything that happens AFTER Steve Jobs talks and the crowd cheers. I take you to the Keynote line in the early morning hours, speak with six women developers from the conference, and take you along to some of the parties and events that make up the week:

Lastly, if you are a certified Apple developer and want to see the sessions you missed, Apple has released them for FREE to all registered developers!

Tags: apple, conference report, WWDC
Posted in All Chapters, New York, San Francisco | 1 Comment »

What we planned to do: publicize an event to girls in Silicon Valley, an iPhone app store competition in which they, grouped into teams, were to design and storyboard a brand new iPhone app.  They would have to think through a quick and dirty business plan and pitch it in 60 seconds. And the winners would take home brand new iPod Touches!

We hoped that by hosting a fun, enticing, and engaging competition, we could show the participating girls that careers in engineering and science weren’t limited to the stereotypical images of pocker protectors and protractors we see on TV.

What we did do: exactly that, and more.

As I walked around the room while the girls and their mentors were chattering excitedly about their ideas, I knew we had done it– we had clusters of girls at each table from all different schools in Silicon Valley, including a group of girls who traveled to Cupertino all the way from San Francisco that had already completed high school but were now participating in a program which prepares them for particular trades that require a certification program or two year degree. Everybody was talking to each other freely, shooting off ideas with confidence and finesse. Nobody cared that the tables were mixed up with girls of different ages (14-17) or that they hadn’t ever met before. Likewise they were interacting with each mentor with enthusiasm and respect. These mentors were women who had technical and engineering backgrounds who worked at Apple, Virgin America, and Admob and volunteered their time as resources for the inspiration and guidance of this group of girls during the competition. And everyone had a blast!

The feedback from the post-event survey was wonderfully positive. The girls said things like:

“I learned that there is a lot more to engineering than sitting behind a computer and [that] science and math really help.” “”I thought the mentors were cool and had a lot of variety of careers and I learned that a positive team-work attitude was cool.” “I learned that engineering is an option for girls and that I wouldn’t be alone.”

Ultimately, the winning app, titled “Stop, Shop and Go!” had most of the elements of a real iPhone app people clamor to use on a daily basis– the melding of geographic data, coupon codes, and (duh!) a shopping guide. All of the apps that were dreamt up that day were feasible– now if we could only create them all! The presentations, while limited to 60 seconds, were vivid, engaging, amusing, and fearless. These girls rocked it.

I would say, without hesitation, that the Girls in Tech mentorshorship debut was a resounding success. I would also say, this raises the bar so high on what’s still to come!

In the spring, we’re taking the involvement to a whole new level. We are partnering with Iridescent again to put on the Technovation Challenge 2010! This time, it won’t be one evening, but several months of teamwork, leadership, and engineering. The girls will learn, with the guidance of professional women in the tech industry, how to design and program cool mobile apps using App Inventor for Android, a new programming language developed by Google. Once created, these apps will be presented to a real team of venture capitalists for prizes, feedback, and the chance to be recruited into summer internships at some of the coolest local startups. Don’t you wish you were still in high school?

We can’t make this level of awesomeness happen, however, without help. If you are a female professional in the Silicon  Valley area, I hope that you will think about joining us for our program in February.  We will be working with the students twice a week for 8 weeks (Tuesdays and Thursdays 5pm – 7pm beginning on February 23rd).  The girls and their mentors (looking at you!…hopefully) will work in teams to learn how to program mobile apps for Android and they will develop working prototypes.  The teams will also get coaching from VCs and entrepreneurs on writing a business plan for their app ideas.  We are building an exciting team of VCs, entrepreneurs, and speakers that will focus on teaching various parts of the program, so it promises to be a great learning experience for students and mentors alike.  If you have ever done any kind of programming before or are interested in learning how to program in this new language, the girls would greatly benefit from working with you, so please consider joining.

We even had a fellow GIT pro photographer hook it up! Thanks Elizabeth McGinnis!

One of the things that we learned from our experience on Friday is that it works much better to have two mentors per team, since mentors often have other commitments and may have to step out from time to time.  So if you’re interested in mentoring in the Spring, but are not sure if you can make it to every meeting, let us know and we can either pair you up with another mentor or you can sign up with a friend!

Thanks E McG for capturing these ladies' true essence!

Girls in Tech and Iridescent made something really cool happen for a group of enthusiastic girls this past Friday. We want to do it again, on a much bigger and hopefully even more impacting scale. Will you help us?

Tags: Android, app development, app inventor for android, apple, business pitch challenge, business plan competition, challenge, competition, engineering, Girls in Tech Silicon Valley, Google, high school girls, iridescent, mentorship, pitch competition, Silicon Valley, STEM subjects, venture capital, women in technology
Posted in Girls In Tech | 5 Comments »

I am a PC. I am happy with my Thinkpad. Yes, there are service packages that I need to install, but I look at it as par for the course. I understand the complaints others have regarding their Windows machine. I appreciate the Mac commercial (though I do have more sympathy for the PC character, since I think the Mac character is way to smug…) I am happy with my Windows machine (or I am not cool enough for a Mac).

I have an iPod Touch. I use it mostly for the apps and enjoy trying out different ones. However, I have been reluctant to download more recently. Why? Well, it seems like every time I want to try something new, I discover that I need to upgrade the software on my iPod.

This was my recent experience trying to download a new app. I needed the new iPhone/iPod software. Okay, I synced it with my computer in order to upgrade. Oh, we can’t upgrade it yet, my iTunes software needed to be upgraded. Okay – downloaded the new version of iTunes. By the way, it came with Quicktime, Bonjour, and MobileMe, that Apple thinks I will need (I uninstalled some of them last time I upgraded). Okay… (The download and install took a while.) Afterwards, I needed to reboot my computer. By the way, my previously made shortcut didn’t work anymore. Okay, I needed to make a new shortcut. Hmm, why did it take over 30 seconds to load the new iTunes? Finally, I was able to upgrade the software for the iPod. It costed $9.95! Sigh!

I was told that the $9.95 thing is not Apple’s fault – it is GAAP related. Those silly accounting rules… But the whole process for me wanting to try out a new app took FOREVER. Yes, it was a one time thing, but there were incremental upgrades that I had to do in the past. The upgrade process is not the most simple, the syncing and the dual downloading / installing. It happened more frequently that I like for a portable music player. Yet, there are no major complaints from Apple users. Why is that?

I get the sense that Apple can’t do no wrong, whereas everything Microsoft does is evil. Maybe I am not seeing the Apple complainers. Still, Apple is a huge company making money off of us. Even Google has been getting some flack after getting “too big”. Why does the public seem to have this double standards with Microsoft and Apple?

Please checkout GIT Silicon Valley launch event on Thrusday, 9/10.

http://gitiphoneapps.eventbrite.com/

Tags: apple, apps, Download, evil, iphone, Ipod, microsoft
Posted in Girls In Tech | 3 Comments »

Well, plenty…

I was hanging out with a friend last night who jailbroke her iPhone. The simple reason she gave for doing so was that it was her phone, she bought it, and she should be able to do whatever she wants on the phone. She then showed me all the amazing applications you could have with a jailbroken phone. She also reminded me that you have access to purchase apps from the App store as well. I thought to myself, why don’t more people jailbreak their phone?

Media Post writes, “For users who really want to use disfavored apps, the only way around Apple’s bans is to “jailbreak” their phones. Problem is, doing so potentially violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s anti-circumvention provisions”.

Last week when my application was rejected, Me So Holy, EFF, a digital rights group wrote, “As we’ve said before, Apple is legally within its rights to sell or not sell whatever they choose in their store. But the monopoly they hold on applications for the iPhone means that unless users have the right to jailbreak their phones, they’ll be blocked from enjoying the fruits of 21st century thinking — and 12th century thinking as well!”

At this point there needs to be solution. Either the DMCA makes an exemption for jailbreaking or Apple should allow all applications to be sold within their store.

Watch me on CNN here, read the rejection post here, and check out my other app, the Animalizer here.

Tags: App, apple, girls in tech, iphone, Los Angeles, mobile
Posted in Los Angeles | 1 Comment »

We are all familiar with Research in Motion’s Blackberry smart phones and Apple’s iPhone. Apple, this past summer, released the new version of their iPhone, lowering the price, running on the fast 3G wireless network, and being available in two colors – black or white. Coming up for RIM is their Blackberry Bold and Storm. From what I have seen for both the Bold and Storm is, the Bold is a dynamically revamped version of the Curve and the Storm is a direct competitor for the iPhone in terms of aesthetics and functionality. However, that’s not all the smart phone market has to offer…

Welcome T-Mobile’s G1 phone running on Google’s new software called Android. The phone is going to debut on October 22nd, priced at $180 with a two-year contract. 

The Android software’s functionality is very similar to the iPhone’s, but certainly not as attractive. What it offers is an open applications store, a Menu button with similar functionality like right-clicking a computer mouse. You can Share and Rotate a photo you’ve just taken, Delete and Archive an email you are working on, and Mute or Hold while on a call. There’s also voice dialing, picture messaging, and built-in audio recording. However, there’s no visual voice mail, no iPod department for syncing the phone and it’s quite cumbersome. I think for the die-hard Google fans, this is the phone for them or if you have been a Sidekick user, you will also enjoy this phone’s functionality. 

I have been a Blackberry user for many years. I absolutely love the iPhone and use my husband’s all the time, except I am not a fan of the touch-screen ‘keyboard’. I am not sure what is going to be my next phone. Probably leaning towards to the Blackberry Bold over the G1, i just hope the Internet functions more like the iPhone’s . All-in-all, the smart phone war is not ending anytime soon, nor should it. The iPhone has really raised the bar for what is possible with a smart phone and all the other companies are playing catch up. Which smart phone is for you?

Here is a video from phonedog.com with HTC’s Eric giving a hands-on tour of the G1 - The T-Mobile G1

Tags: Android, apple, blackberry, Bold, Curve, G1, iphone, RIM, smartphone, software, Storm, tmobile, touchscreen
Posted in Los Angeles, San Francisco | 1 Comment »