As Android smartphone market share continues to grow on a daily basis, it falls behind in only one area: the number of available apps. So, Google has now created a new tool to help boost this number. This tool, entitled “App Inventor”, works as follows (according to Google): “To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires NO programming knowledge. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app’s behavior.”

The tool was tested in schools across the US, so apparently it really is child’s play!

Many are already arguing that that will lead to an increase in quantity, but a decrease in quality when it comes to Android apps. However, others think it could have long term positive effects for the search giant. Pete Cashmore, of Mashable.com, said: “We’ll see thousands of new Android apps, but will they be of a “cookie cutter” nature, offering very little value? There is, however, an upside in the long term: If App Inventor is so simple that schoolchildren can make apps, some those same children will soon become coders themselves and perhaps choose to develop apps for Android rather than iOS.”

Personally, I think this can only help Google in the long run. This is bound to get more laymen interested in application development and the Android marketplace. And who knows, a schoolteacher or retail manager might be the next great application developer, once they learn more about the process! Great ideas come from everyone, especially the people who use smartphones on a daily basis, developer or not. Additionally, this tool sounds very cool and offers lots of options, so we should see some great products come out of it.

For all you tech lovers out there, we just wanted to point out two of our favorite must-have accessories.

Want scratch protection? Try Zagg invisibleSHIELD covers.  These covers are tough.  They can either cover the front of your phone or iPad, or be used to cover the entire device.  They are much more tactile then the normal screen covers and really tough.  How tough you ask?  Take a look at the test video on the Zagg homepage.

This next product has been around for a long time, but is most assuredly a must-have. Bose offers terrific sound in a very small package.  With a SoundDock digital music system, you can fill the room with larger-than-life music and loud sounds.  Whether it’s your phone, iPod or any mp3 player, Bose will make your music come alive.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on our favorite accessories, so feel free to comment!

Smartphones are on everyone’s lips today, as the super-hyped iPhone4 hits stores, causing millions of frenzied consumers to willingly wait on very long lines. (For those who have purchased iPhones today – we’d love to hear your first thoughts/reviews!)

I figured it was only appropriate to discuss smartphones today – only I won’t be talking about the iPhone.

As a Droid user, I’m a big fan of my phone. One noted difference between the iPhone and the Droid is the keyboard. The Motorola Droid has both a physical keyboard, and an on-screen keyboard. The first couple days I had my phone, I was iffy about the on-screen keys. But, I quickly learned that the physical keyboard made it difficult for me to type.

While the on-screen keyboard proved a little challenging to get used to – I’m much better with it now. Still, it’s no laptop, as I’m sure most smartphone users will attest. I constantly hit the wrong keys, and find myself typing much more slowly than my usual speed.

Thankfully, on the new Droid X, set to be released July 15th, a new technology known as Swype is being introduced to improve the typing functionality for users. And the physical keyboard is no more, unlike the X’s predecessor.

According to a Reuter’s report, “Seattle-based Swype’s software lets users of virtual touch-screen keypads drag their fingers from letter to letter instead of tapping on each letter. This helps with accuracy and typing speed.”

Love this innovative concept! Apparently it took the creator 8 years to develop this technology, and I’m excited to try it out when the Droid X hits stores. Users have been looking for something to solve their smartphone keyboard woes – and this might just be it. According to Reuters, Swype will be in 50 phone models by the end of 2010, and is currently available in 10.

Next stop for Swype? Creators hope to hit the iPhones one day. We shall see.

When it comes to your brand, nothing is more crucial than knowing what people are saying online. Online avenues are the word of mouth of the 21st century, and you need to be aware of the chatter in cyberspace so you can respond accordingly.

With that in mind, there are plenty of free online tools you can utilize to monitor your brand message across the world wide web. Here are some of our favorites:

Google Alerts – The best tool ever. Google alerts will show you the vast majority of what’s being said in blogs, news networks, videos, etc. A simply invaluable tool – we suggest the daily alerts for most brands.

Social Mention Alerts – A great free tool that scours a whole host of social networks for your keyword. Make sure you select “all” under type, so the alert will search their entire database of sites. We also suggest daily delivery here as well.

Facebook search – While this may seem obvious, many people don’t know how to search the entire Facebook site for status updates – as opposed to only your friends. Here’s how: Type your search term into the box at the top of the page and make sure you click the magnifying glass – so you don’t end up on a fan page. Then, on the left hand side, click on “posts by everyone”. This will give you results from across the entire site – very handy.

Twitter search – There are lots of ways to use Twitter search – whether it’s through the actual web page or via a tool like Tweetdeck. Tweetdeck allows you to set up alerts so you can watch your keyword all day while you have the application running. But for the simple Twitter search, just type in your keyword and voila -

So there you have it – some of the simplest free tools out there to let you get a handle on your brand’s reputation. Use the information wisely.

Here at JB Inc., we have a reputation for being tech junkies. And yes, the reputation is completely deserved. From iPads to Kindles, Seesmic apps to social measurement tools – we like to stay on top of the hottest new developments, and our clients know it.

So, we wanted to announce the addition of the latest new Web tool to our repertoire – Web Position Reporter. As long-term users of Web Position to make sure our SEO efforts are uber-effective, we jumped on board the newest model as soon as we heard the new features, some of which include:

“At-a-Glance Report Visibility – See the big picture in a single view. Your high-level report lets you quickly identify major successes, key trouble spots and the latest trends and changes in your search engine rankings.

Targeted Detail Summaries – Dive into the details. Drill down to see how an individual keyword’s performance fluctuates, which URLs it surfaces and on which search engines. Inspect a specific URL to see which keywords raise its visibility. Filter by search engine or position and sort by gains, losses or rank.”

And believe me, there’s lots, lots more. Like Google Analytics, but almost even cooler. Almost.

So lucky clients, you will reap the benefits of said new technology.  Aren’t you glad we’re such geeks?

It’s a Tuesday morning following a long weekend – which means workers across the US are getting back into the grind.

In an interesting new study reported by e-Marketer, data shows that more and more of the American workforce feels the need to stay connected, even during off hours.

Here at JB Inc., although we’re mega fans of technology in all its glory, we’re still big believers in the “unplugged” concept. Everyone needs to step away from their computers and mobile devices from time to time. Recharging is crucial to staying fresh and full of ideas. Additionally, we believe in the power of technology to help us save time and do our jobs more efficiently.

However, one interesting component to the study showed that workers are divided when it comes to the effectiveness of social media in helping them get more work done. That’s a shame, given that social media offers so many opportunities for learning, growth and efficiency to boot.

“Slightly more than half (52.3%) the employees surveyed by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) agreed that social media helped them learn more in less time, to some extent. But only 37% said they got more work done, ” eMarketer reported.

So, to help all those workers out there who aren’t feeling the benefits of social media when it comes to productivity, here are a few of our favorite time-savers:

Seesmic Twitter App – This app saves a whole lotta time for those who manage their own, or their company’s Twitter account. It allows you to Re-Tweet via quote or directly; view your Twitter lists, so you can see important news and content; check out your @ replies, messages and profile all from one screen – and a whole lot more. Apparently the iPod version is even cooler.

TweetDeck – One of many popular apps that allow you to manage your social media.This desktop & iPhone app lets you update Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Google Buzz and Foursquare. Very convenient for those managing multiple profiles.

Google alerts – An incredible time saver when it comes to managing your brand message. Google alerts is free and oh-so-handy, and will keep you abreast of all the important news happening out there in cyberspace about your message – so you don’t have to go searching for it.

Social Mention alerts – Another handy alert system, designed to keep you informed about what’s being said across social media about your brand or organization. Great round-up of information.

We’d love to hear what gadgets or online tools you use to help you save time!

I’ve learned many things from being married.

• Always agree with your spouse …  she’s always right.
• Always remember your anniversary date and her birthday.
• Most importantly, never lavish more attention on a gadget (at least in part) than you do on your partner.  I knew this was true and I planned to be in the clear when it came to the almighty iPad.

Well, little did I know that leaving it in the box for a few hours would spurn scathing comments from both my father and my wife.  The most notable being, “Don’t you realize there are people in third world countries who don’t have iPads?” ~ Jennifer Barbee

Knowing that I either had to crack open the box or endure more suffering, it was time to start unwrapping.  (Poor me, right?)

First I needed to insure that iTunes was good to go.  Everyone in our family shares an iTunes account, and although I find myself humming to Lady Gaga on the radio, I’m not particularly interested in having my daughters music on my iPad.  Plus I’d moved all my music to my Motorola Droid and from computer to computer so I had songs that had to be found.  What a pain!!  So, how did I figure it out?  I knew I had my music backed up on another drive so I deleted all music in the iTunes account and selected NO to “delete songs from the hard drive”.

Then, I hooked up my USB to my Droid, downloaded the music folder on my hard drive and added that and the iTunes folder back into my playlist.  VOILA!  A couple of clicks and the problem was solved.  I am really happy that my MP3 account on my Droid easily allows for songs to be passed back and forth between devices and iTunes.  That saves me a lot of money.

I synced up successfully and was ready to rock, or at least geek it up “proper-like”.

Right out of the box, the iPad was fast.  I read somewhere that the iPad is faster than the 3G iPhone when it comes to apps that have been cached and that definitely seemed to be the case.

Most notably, what dropped the jaws of my wife and father (both avid Kindle users) is that the iPad had a Kindle app.  This may not be news to you, but was staggering for me.  Now, besides iBooks I had the Kindle store which offers waaaaaay more books.  It doesn’t have the search functionality or the in-book dictionary, but who needs those?  There’s no word that I can’t easily ignore if I don’t know it.

Another great app was the map.  It’s got Google flavor, the fact that you can pinch and zoom is no big whoopee … but clearly there’s much more area to maneuver with the large screen.  Plus I could run latitude and track anyone that’s agreed to letting me play “Big Brother”.

I’ve gotten used to the on screen keyboard and really like it on the iPod touch and the Motorola Droid, although typing in portrait makes me feel like I’m an elephant trying to dial a rotary phone.  On the iPad the onscreen keys were large and I quickly turned to two finger typing.  The screen moves rapidly from portrait to landscape as I turn the device over and over.  Every motion on the iPad is fluid, even to the cute little way that my items get whisked away when I hit the delete key.

The only downside I found is that it doesn’t support Flash.  At first I thought Apple was being kinda greedy not letting Adobe freely engineer within their OS (Operating System). I thought it would be a big leg up for Google, etc.  But let’s look at this another way. Even though Apple is taking a stand against plug-ins and looking towards HTML5, well, why not?

The death of Flash will mean the web world will continue to evolve, and let’s be honest: it won’t affect Adobe.  Adobe will continue to evolve with other apps, Photoshop, etc – it just won’t have a strangle hold with Flash.  Sorry to all the Flash people out there, this is just my opinion, but you know as well as I do, the web world is evolve or die.  Meanwhile my kids can’t play Flash based games on the iPad – too bad for me they won’t use it as much!  Wink wink.

More to come on the apps.

So, after much deliberation, I was dead set on buying the iPad.

But where would I go?  Best Buy and the Apple Store online were my first choices, of course.  I combed through Best Buy meticulously looking for the item to be in stock. They don’t ship? WHAT??  You mean I can’t sit here comfortably and have one whisked to my door by my best friends, Mr. UPS and Mr. FedEx? Well that was fine, I was sure I could head to the Apple store and have better luck.

At the time,  the Apple store online  was showing shipping dates in 7-10 days.  I put one on order and the system told me that it was down for maintenance, but my order was still processing, so not to worry.  Heading to sleep I rested comfortably knowing that my order was coming through and I’d have an iPad in my hot little hands in the near future.

Waking up in the morning I found that I still hadn’t received the confirmation email.  I started to worry.  The iPad order gone haywire had been added to my list of everyday fears . . . did I leave the oven on?  Did I lock the doors?  Am I going to get a social security check when I hit my mid-60s?

Logging in I found that the order was secured and good to go . . . but there was a big BUT – the Apple store said shipping in 7-10 days, but it showed the delivery coming next month?  Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I put on my argument hat and made the case that yes, theoretically it could fall a little over the 10 business day deadline, etc, etc.  With some spare time, I figured I would do some calling around to see if I could get one a little sooner.  I decided to call the Apple Stores directly.

The Apple staff members I talked to on the phone were super friendly.  They told me there were none in stock, but I could be added to a list for reserve.  That didn’t mean I had to buy one when they came in, but that they would contact me and let me know the shipment had arrived.  I asked if waiting in the online store queue was better and was told, “I believe so, since you know you’ll definitely get one.”  I can deal with that answer and quite frankly, they sounded exhausted just talking about the iPad so I’m sure I was getting the straight dope.

(On a quick aside, I noticed that the Apple store on Fifth Avenue is open 24/7.  Although that’s really neat, I wondered what kind of person, after partying at night, decides that what they wanted besides an IHOP meal was an iPod.  I digress.)

Last resort: combing through the Best Buy website.  I looked through availability on all models in all stores and for all area codes.   Then I hit paydirt.  I saw some availability in the Bronx.  I called quickly and spoke to Rosa.  Rosa told me that they had received four, yes FOUR iPads, and then asked me if I wanted to reserve one?  “HELL YES”, I replied.

Quickly realizing that this phrase had gotten me detention in high school I quickly apologized as she giggled.  What’s better than someone reserving you one of four iPads and giggling at your jokes?  She said she would check inventory and call me back in five minutes.  She called me back in three minutes and said I had one reserved.  It was all coming together!

I calculated traffic via Google best roads and set my GPS for the location.  My father was in town for his birthday,  so I figured the best way to celebrate this occasion would be by taking him into the Bronx for the first time.  I’ve truly been wary of the Bronx since my first trip to the Bronx Zoo when I saw a man actually try to fight the cab that my children and I were in.  Not the cabbie – the cab itself.   Alas, I ready to chance it.

Jumping into line, I saw two of the iPads go straight out the door to a Father and his two sons.  Could one of those be mine, I worried?  Well if it was, I wasn’t going to risk punching someone in Best Buy.  I’d have to wait.  Finally stepping to the front of the line I spoke to the rep and told her my name and that I had an iPad reserved.  She quickly moved to the back of the store and walked out with the box.  It was really happening!  The credit card network did not drop, there was no flood and no plague of locusts.  I did it.  Such a small accomplishment.

Next, the unboxing.

To buy or not to buy: the eternal dilemma. There’s been a lot of back and forth about whether to jump on board the iPad bandwagon or keep your wallet in your pocket. Some of the oft-mentioned drawbacks include the cost associated with buying the device, the ability to multi-task with apps, choosing to wait until the second generation when the kinks are worked out, etc.

Below is a rundown of how I made up my mind.  This is not an extensive list of the ups and downs, just the ones that mattered most to me. To each his own, as they say.

First off, the iPad is not necessarily a new device (theoretically). As you all know, it was built off the backbone of the many iterations of the iPhone and the iPod and effort that the Apple team put into improving those technologies over time. So, it’s in better shape than more first generation devices probably would be. Additionally, a lot of problems can be fixed OTA (over the air) by software pushes, etc.

So, now we’re down to the hardware itself.  Let’s be honest here …  any first generation device is going to have some hardware limitations. For the iPad, not being able to hook directly to a USB device is one.  But, really consider the purpose of your purchase. Is it to carry around a heavy USB drive ,or, will your content through iTunes be sufficient?  Personally, everything that I need exists within iTunes and the other apps available on the iPad. Also, the iPad doesn’t have an integrated camera, but I don’t consider that a big loss.  I promise you, the only person who wants to see me in my jammies reading a book is … well …  I married her.

Multi-tasking. At first I was worried that I may not be able to run simultaneous apps through the iPad.  On my Motorola Droid it’s crucially important that I can, but when I’m reading a book, do I really want annoying pop-ups telling me that something else is more important than what I’m doing at the moment? Not so much. So for me, the multi-tasking issue wasn’t a necessity.

Now, there’s question of waiting for the second generation.  Sure the cost is going to go down, and the hardware will improve,  but that could be a year from now.  Do you really want to wait a year to get your hands on an iPad?  Staring at the reviews everyday, jealously watching strangers type away, walking by the display model in Best Buy or the Apple store and gently waving goodbye with a tear in your eye as you leave …?  NO.  When the second gen comes out you can put the old one on eBay or sell it to a friend and augment the cost of the newer model.  That’s what we as a society do … we upgrade.

So I made up my mind.  I was ready to buy. Next I just had to figure out HOW I was going to make it happen, and quickly! (to be continued in Part 2).

The world is re-discovering the 3D phenomenon, and in the near future we can expect all things tech to cash in on this hot new trend – from movies to websites to smartphones and beyond.

According to Mashable, a new 3D recording device is set to be released for cell phones this summer. This device will allow average joes to capture 3D video straight from their cells, without the need for expensive equipment. Not to mention Playboy has just announced its plans to create a 3D centerfold.

So what does all this recent 3D buzz mean for the world of the web? With 3D being the latest craze – developers are scrambling to find the best way to integrate it into the internet.

Several companies have formed a working group to build a new standard for browsers entitled WebGL. This standard would allow 3D graphics to be implemented into browsers without the need for any plugins. Implementations are now available in Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. While this is still a work-in-progress, WebGL is likely to make 3D websites a much more common phenomenon. Google was originally working on its own standard – O3D, but recently scrapped those plans. Instead, O3D will be available as a library of software to be used on top of WebGL.

So as the nitty gritty details of WebGL are hammered out and the web gets ready for the explosion of 3D – this is the time for marketers to start exploring how they can creatively implement 3D elements into their campaigns and web efforts. Consider a 3D landing page to promote a major giveaway, or a 3D video tour to introduce potential travelers or customers to your destination or organization.

So get those thinking caps ready – 3D is coming soon to a browser near you, and savvy marketers should be the first to jump on utilizing this hot new technology.