Blog

The 3 fitness trackers to look out for on Black Friday

Fitnesstrackers
Feed-fb

It was a huge year for fitness trackers: not only did we see sleeker, smarter wristband wearables surface from the major players in the space like Fitbit and Jawbone, big tech manufacturers like Samsung and Microsoft threw products into the ever-saturated ring, too.

But there's good reason for its popularity — in addition to tracking steps taken, calories burned and your sleep cycle, fitness trackers promote healthy living. They're for true fitness enthusiasts, who want to stay on track when working out or training for races and marathons, but also the casual user who just wants a nudge to get off the couch. There's also typically a social component, allowing you to compete against friends for virtual trophies and bragging rights. ...

More about Mobile, Health, Gadgets, Fitness, and Jawbone

By |November 23rd, 2014|Apps and Software|0 Comments

5 can’t-miss apps: Carousel, Cheezburger, Next Glass and more

Carousel
Feed-fb

With Uber enraging users and sparking a Senate investigation into its privacy polices, you may have overlooked some of this week's best new apps

Luckily, each weekend, we round up our favorite new and updated apps, so you won't miss out.

This week's list includes an expansion of Dropbox's photo-organization app, a running app to help you train smarter, and an app that helps you find new beer and wine to try.

Check out the gallery, above, to see all the apps that made our list. If you're looking for more, read ...

More about Tech, Android Apps, Ios Apps, Apps Software, and Weekly App Roundup

By |November 23rd, 2014|Apps and Software|0 Comments

Not a fan of Uber? Here’s how other ride-sharing apps measure up

Car-comparisons
Feed-fb

Uber has been the king of the taxi-alternative market for awhile now, but after a series of controversial reports about the company's ethics, some are deleting the app and looking elsewhere.

In what was probably Uber's worst week yet, news surfaced that top executive Emil Michael wanted to dig up dirt on journalists who were critical of the company. Uber has since apologized for Michael's comments, but didn't fire him.

Later, Uber posted a ...

More about Uber, Business, Apps Software, Sidecar, and Lyft

By |November 22nd, 2014|Apps and Software|0 Comments

On the frauding, measuring and blocking of ads

Take a look at which sites are hit hardest by online ad fraud. See what industry insiders see as programmatic's biggest challenges. Viewable ads are certainly one of those challenges, and you can check out just what the numbers are on that front, as well as see what publishers think about moving to more time-based metrics. Also, Google made major headlines this week by introducing a new program that will allow web users to pay a few bucks a month to never see ads on certain sites.

  • The 10 Premium Publishers Hit Hardest by Fraudulent Ad Sellers (Ad Week) – It's obvious that some of the internet's biggest sites are the ones hit hardest by ad fraud, as they deal in the largest scale of traffic. What's interesting is how hard they're hit. Also, this article has a pretty sweet infographic of one way that fraudsters beat the system.
  • Programmatic's biggest challenges: Talent, education, fraud (Digiday) – For as promising as programmatic is for the digital ad industry, it is no secret that there are challenges to its adoption. But check out this roundup of how industry insiders, from all sides of the equation, are addressing these problems.
  • Nearly Two-Thirds Of Non-Direct Inventory Deemed Non-Viewable (MediaPost) – When an ad loads, there's no guarantee it will be seen. Sometimes it loads and the user doesn't scroll down the screen to see it. Sometimes that “user” isn't even real. Recent data from Q3 of this year, however, shows just how many of the ads are not viewable. This is using the current viewability standard of 50% by 1 second. The article also breaks down how that number changes when you adjust the standard to some of the other ones that have been considered by the industry.
  • How Time-Based Measurement is Grabbing Digital Publishers' Attention (Digital Content Next) – A recent report released based on research done by Digital Content Next shows that publishers are increasingly interested in moving to time-based measurement when it comes to the ads sold on their websites. The full report is available for download.
  • Google Program Lets Readers Pay a Buck a Month to Block Ads (Ad Week) – You read that right, Google is going to let web users pay a dollar (or three) per month to never see ads on certain websites. It's a way to “subscribe” to Google's (rather growing) corner of the internet. It makes sense to be a little skeptical about wide-spread adoptions, however. The current offering only allows users to block Google AdSense ads on just a handful of sites. If a user visits one of those sites many times, it may be worth it. But that user will still see ads on every other part of the web. The price point is certainly set up to encourage wide adoption, but the question remains: Will not seeing ads on a small handful of websites be enough of a benefit for users to even bother, giving Google enough momentum expand on this experiment?

By |November 21st, 2014|Advertising Technology|0 Comments

Mashable and Street Dreams capture Coney Island in its off-season

Mashmeet
Feed-fb

Last weekend, Mashable and Street Dreams Magazine opened up Coney Island's Luna Park for our second #MashMeet. We wanted to give our community exclusive access to a famous park in its off-season, and we're so glad we did.

From mid-afternoon to sundown, we made portraits, chased light and collaborated with Instagram's finest artists. Creativity was off the charts — using their smartphones, DSLRs, film and instant cameras, photographers found the most unique angles to shoot the same space.

Film director ...

More about Mashmeet, Photography, Meetup, Instagram, and Brooklyn

By |November 21st, 2014|Apps and Software|0 Comments