December 23rd, 2011
It is coming around to that time of year again where news agencies; journalists; blog sites and bloggers alike scour the vast amounts of news that made up the year 2011. A lot of them will break it down into a “Top 10” format; utilizing a level of importance or popularity per say in the process.
We’re just going to go with listing out what we believe were the highlights within the Tech realm as it pertains to news and in no particular order.
Twitter
Twitter continued to rise in popularity in 2011. Twitter proved in many ways to be the place to be or connected to in getting news as it happened. From first reports of “something is up” in the early morning hours in Islamabad Pakistan which would later be headline news of the mission to capture Osama Bin Laden by US Navy Seals; to the use of Twitter by protestors in the Occupy Movement. Twitter seemed to be more or less on the front lines of news at it happened by those on the front lines. One of the fascinating aspects of it all is; it is not news agencies breaking the news; it is just ordinary people sometimes witnessing extraordinary news as it is happening right in front of them.
Google
Google is still the dominant search engine on the planet; which should be of no surprise. The term “search” and “Google” are now fused together to mean one in the same when it comes to the act of search. Google made news in 2011 by introducing for arguments sake; Google + (Plus). While there was some initial buzz on this social network; it appears to be somewhat waning towards the end of 2011. The common belief is that once Google fully integrates its other service offerings into Google + it will take off. This might prove to be a monumental task with the likes of Facebook well entrenched in the social media model.
Facebook
Love it or hate it; Facebook is pretty much here to stay and is doubtful it will fall from grace much like MySpace. With the publics concerns over privacy based issues Facebook has had to revise its privacy policies several times. But the reality is; for those who are on Facebook is that the factor few consider is that Facebook essentially is free. For that there has to be some form of monetization on their part in order for everyone to enjoy the “freeness” that is Facebook. Facebook collects a huge amount of data on its user-base; and it is essentially for target marketing purposes. If Facebook users think the advertising is somewhat intrusive now; wait until they IPO and then the real onslaught will begin.
Apple
The man who shaped in so many ways how we listen to music; work on our computers, utilize cellular phone technologies and how we obtain them passed away many would say before his time. Steve Jobs passed away at a young age of 56 on October 5th, 2011 and to many while expected; the shock of one of the “tech” world’s most popular leaders passing away could not be ignored. He leaves behind a storied legacy; one that will be difficult to follow; certainly within Apple itself.
About Silentblast Interactive
Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.
www.silentblast.com
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October 19th, 2011
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October 5th, 2011
The world lost a great man today.
As quoted on Apple’s website tonight.
“Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being, Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”
Our prayers are with his family. I’d like to thank you Steve for changing our lives, inspiring us, and giving us products above and beyond what your competitors have ever done. You will truly be missed. I know your legacy will live forever in Apple.
Rest in peace Steve.
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September 9th, 2011
Optimizing images for the web is a daunting task even for us professionals. It is never fun or easy, but rather time consuming. I frequently get asked how do I reduce images for uploading to the website. We realize most if not all of clients don’t use tools like Photoshop as we do for these types of things, so after digging around I found a couple of really helpful and easy to use sites that do just that.
The biggest question is why should we optimize or make images smaller in size?
There are several reasons why you should, optimized images use less bandwidth and keeps the server load down which will be cheaper in the long run, especially those who have bandwidth plans/limits on their hosting accounts.
The main reason is load times, we are all aware by now that Google “penalises” slower loading sites so that alone is enough to talk you into optimising you images, also many users have slower connections and use smartphones and other mobile devices on 3G and image rendering times on slower connections can be time consuming and irritating for the user. Make sense?
Below are are 3 really great tools. Enjoy.
JPEGMINI
JPEGmini is a tool I have recently starting trying out, the results in my opinion equal the results from Smush.it and Shrink-O-Matic and has a very easy to use interface which I feel will be an attraction to its users.
Visit: JPEGmini
SHRINK-O-MATIC
Shrink-O-Matic is an Adobe Air application which you use locally from your machine, you can drop in multiple images and it even supports transparent PNG images, this is my favorite tool as you don’t require an internet connection to use the application.
Visit: Shrink-O-Matic
SMUSH.IT
Smush.it is a well know tool by the good folks at Yahoo! Again it offers high quality image optimisation and is used in browser, whats great about Smush.it is it also has a very useful and FREE WordPress plugin.
Visit: Smush.it
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August 27th, 2011
Having seen a sneak peek at Google Plus… All I can say is it’s ABOUT TIME!!! Never really been a fan of facebook and find it cumber-sum, boring and to be honest rather ridiculous. The fact I can’t seem to easily separate friends from family and being being able to only share with everyone is silly really. From what I have seen Google Plus will blow facebook out of the water! Find out for yourself. Can’t wait…. Finally a better experience than facebook! BYE BYE Facebook.
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August 25th, 2011
In a letter to all employees of Apple, this is what Tim Cook said…
Team:
I am looking forward to the amazing opportunity of serving as CEO of the most innovative company in the world. Joining Apple was the best decision I’ve ever made and it’s been the privilege of a lifetime to work for Apple and Steve for over 13 years. I share Steve’s optimism for Apple’s bright future.
Steve has been an incredible leader and mentor to me, as well as to the entire executive team and our amazing employees. We are really looking forward to Steve’s ongoing guidance and inspiration as our Chairman.
I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that – it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.
I love Apple and I am looking forward to diving into my new role. All of the incredible support from the Board, the executive team and many of you has been inspiring. I am confident our best years lie ahead of us and that together we will continue to make Apple the magical place that it is.
Tim.
All I can say, is we’re going to miss Steve, his creativity, his passion and his achievements. Thank you Steve. I too am confident that the course has been set for Apple, I doubt this will impact the Company and it’s products and services. I too believe the best years are ahead as I am sure much planning for the future has been done. I think as Steve Jobs has said so many times over… “There’s just one more thing” 
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August 24th, 2011
We all knew this day would come, some of us felt it would never arrive and hoped Steve would be at helm of Apple forever. He’s achieved so much and to think this company was once… a short almost 10 years ago on the verge of bankruptcy. Today, he announced he would step down as CEO and allow Tim Cook to take over. As I am writing this, I can’t help but wonder what would have become of Apple if Steve did not return about 10 years ago. Watching as all of you have as well and seeing Apple reach the heights and achieve the almost impossible has been a thrill for me personally. Apple has given us so many new and exciting products and has pretty much set the stage for even more new and innovative ways we compute, communicate and interact with media. So, on that note – Our friends at Appleinsider.com posted a great article as I am sure many online sources have posted by now.
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June 6th, 2011
The silentblast blog has gone mobile!
Yes, it’s true, you can now read our blog on our mobile phone.
Well that is if you have an iPhone, Blackberry or Google Android Phone.
Let us know what you think.
If you’re looking for a mobile website, or mobile version of your blog, give us a call today.
416-900-0869
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June 6th, 2011
Apple announced on Monday that Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will be available only in the Mac App Store, and the operating system upgrade will be available for just $29.99.
“The Mac has outpaced the PC industry every quarter for five years running and with OS X Lion we plan to keep extending our lead,” Schiller said. “The best version of OS X yet, Lion is packed with innovative features such as new Multi-Touch gestures, system-wide support for full screen apps, and Mission Control for instantly accessing everything running on your Mac.”
Being Mac users ourselves here at Silentblast I can only tell you, it’s been a great day…Can’t wait to see the new operating system in action.
On another note, Apple is also revamping it’s web browser Safari, more on that in another post. Now, it’s back to work we go.
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June 6th, 2011
The much anticipated news about Apple’s newest IOS 5 and it’s newly revamped iCloud service which will replace the existing mobile me service by next year is official. More can be read obviously on Apple’s website. No need to mention the URL right? 
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