Google Chromecast Hits UK: Smart TV for the Masses [Review]

Google Chromecast: What is Chromecast? 

This week I am reviewing my Google Chromecast, my latest gadget addition to arrive this week. Finally released to the UK market, the 2.8 inch device is essentially an HDMI dongle that plugs into a free HDMI port on your TV or projector and can be powered by traditional power socket or alternatively via USB (which your TV may also have available).  It can then be used to stream content from different sources such as mobile or PC, directly to your TV whilst being controlled from your smartphone, tablet, PC or Mac.

Google Chromecast: Installation & Setup

Their has been much hype on Google's entry into the 'Smart-TV' market but Google has certainly made an impression with this little gadget. Straight out of the box, weighing a mere 34g, I felt the device is small and light enough to carry around with you, or to simply leave connected to your chosen display device. Chromecast comes without a dedicated remote, as it uses your existing computer, mobile or tablet as a remote. You are directed to an app in the app market of your chosen OS (Android/iOS) which once downloaded, guides you through the initial wifi setup. Once completed, the Chromecast updates itself to the latest release of software and it is ready to go.

Google Chromecast: Services

Google has worked hard with a number of service providers to support some of the most popular services in the industry. Netflix, RealPlayer, iPlayer, YouTube, Plex and Chrome are amongst some of the apps that work straight out of the box, simply load the app on your phone and 'Cast' it to your Chromecast. Within seconds, your video is seamlessly broadcast to your TV. Google Chrome for Desktop has also had some additional features added, allowing you to "Cast" an entire tab over to your TV for browsing on the big screen. 

Google Chromeast: Compatible Devices

Chromecast can be controlled with Android, iOS, Windows & Mac.

Google Chromecast: Quality

Measuring 72mm x 35mm x 12mm, this little device certainly packs features into a very tiny form factor. The Chromecast is a pleasure to pick up, touch and carry with you and the sturdy build quality can be seen in all areas of the design. 

Google Chromecast: UK Price and Where To Buy

Google launched the Chromecast HDMI dongle in the US way back in July 2013. After a long wait it is finally available in the UK for a price of just £30. At such a competitive price point, it is now possible to bring the future of streaming media to all devices around the home.

If you're keen to get your hands on one then the device is available to buy from the Google Play store and other retailers including Currys, PC World and Amazon.

Google Chromecast: My Verdict

Google has come to market with a fantastic bit of kit, providing many features offered by Smart-TV's, but at a very competitive price point. Whilst still in its early stages, it's platform is open to third party developers which will bring plenty of new and upcoming services to the platform. It's small size and portability means you aren't restricted to just using this at home and can easily be taken out and about with you, making it ultra portable. It's simplicity and popularity amongst users has made it one of the fastest selling gadgets of 2014 and at only £30 - it's a steal.

Amazon Prime: Why Prime Is Worth Every Penny

Amazon is a company that has built itself a very successful name throughout the internet, for supplying quality products, competitive prices and fantastic customer service. I challenge you to find somebody that has not heard of the company that continues to grow and continues to widen it's range of products and services all of the time.

I have always been an enthusiastic, yet cautious Amazon shopper for a couple of years... the convenience, wide range of products and product availability, plus the outstanding customer service Amazon prides itself on naturally led me to it's latest shiny offering - Amazon Prime.

Amazon Prime is a pioneering product for the company. In the UK, Amazon originally saw Prime as an offering allowing Amazon customers to "Get unlimited, FREE one-day delivery on millions of products" and this continues to be the case. With the vast amount of shopping I already undertook via Amazon and other sites, normally paying additional delivery charges and regularly waiting 3-5 working days for my shopping to arrive, for me Amazon Prime was an offer I couldn't refuse... or at least try! 

Amazon didn't disappoint me. I originally enrolled on a 30-day free trial, which Amazon are happy to let you use without restriction or any charges to try out the service (you can get your own free trial, here). From the moment I upgraded, I could already see the benefits. Forgot a last minute gift? No problem, Amazon can deliver tomorrow. Need something urgently for a project? No problem, Amazon will deliver tomorrow. Increasingly, I found myself turning to Amazon for more and more of my shopping. More often than not, the item prices were very competitive and in addition I would not have to pay any shipping charges AND I could receive my item tomorrow, with the addition of courier package tracking on most deliveries. 

Recently, Amazon has increased the offerings included within Prime. For an annual fee of £79 per year, you can now receive the following:

• Enjoy all the benefits of Amazon Prime Instant Video.
• Borrow books from a choice of over 500,000 titles from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.
• Get unlimited, FREE One-Day Delivery on millions of items.

Amazon Prime Instant Video piggybacks off Amazon's existing company Lovefilm. It's a Movie/TV on-demand streaming service, which includes unlimited instant streaming of over 15,000 movies and TV shows, which you can watch anywhere, anytime with unlimited access throughout the UK. Another bonus feature of Prime Instant Video allows a UK user to watch exclusive hit TV shows before they air on British TV. Bonus!

Pricing

Amazon Prime has two pricing models. £5.99/month for Amazon Prime Instant Video only, or £79 annually which includes the one-day deliveries and 'borrow-a-book' from Kindle, which allows you to borrow a wide range of books from the Kindle store, for free. I'm not a Kindle user myself, so this didn't really have any benefit for me, however I decided to sit down and review my existing expenditure:

Before Prime:

• I would purchase a minimum of 2 items a month from Amazon, at about £3.95 P&P per item. This equals £7.90/month on carriage charges (3-5 day deliveries).
• I already have a LoveFilm subscription which I was paying £7.99/month.
• Total paid per year = Minimum of £190.68 a year!

After Prime:

The total of these two above points alone meant I was spending a minimum of £190.68 a year! Crazy. Thankfully, with Amazon Prime, this has saved me at least £111 a year and I get an upgraded 'VIP' delivery service for the items I was going to buy anyway!

Is Amazon Prime Right For Me?

The usefulness of Amazon Prime is different for each and every person. I now regularly make 5-10 orders a month, now incorporating my free, fast-tracked delivery whilst watching the movies provided by Amazon Instant Video on the big screen! It's entirely down to your personal preference, however if you often find yourself paying over the odds on P&P charges, get frustrated with delivery times or find you struggle for choice, Amazon Prime is a good bet for you.

Amazon provide a free, 30-day trial of Amazon Prime (including Amazon Prime Instant Video). Try it out, give it a spin, see what you think. It would be great to hear your thoughts and I hope this article has been useful and informative to you!

Good Luck! 

My Digital Life | Adam Prettyjohns

The first module of Googles' Squared Online concludes with a one-page submission, outlining "My Digital Life". It is intended to demonstrate our daily browsing habits, how digital has come into our lives and is used in every part of our day, from being at work, to your mobile, even the digital that now streams into your television. Here is an insight into 'My Digital Life'.

Click Image To Enlarge

Consider, Facebook was born only 10 years ago, only in 2006 was it then made available to the world, not only residents of the USA. Digital and the surrounding technology has evolved and adapted unrecognisably in a very short period of time - whether you realise it or not, digital is here to stay.

What digital services do you use on a daily basis? What service could you not live without? Why do you love digital? Leave you comments and thoughts below!

5 Tips to Curate Creative Content: Identify, Inform, Inspire!

User-Generated Content within Social Media and the technological world is a topic currently being raved about alongside 'Visual Content'. User-generated content was a topic covered and discussed recently on my Squared Online course, so I thought I would expand on this subject and offer 5 of my own tips for successful content.

What is User Generated Content (UGC)?

All digital media technologies are included, such as question-answer databases, digital video, blogging, podcasting, forums, review-sites, social networking, social media, mobile phone photography and wikis. UGC can constitute only a portion of a website. For example, there are sites where the majority of content is prepared by administrators, but numerous user reviews of the products being sold are submitted by regular users of the site. (Source: Wikipedia)

User-generated content has been the latest to gain attention from the masses and for a very good reason. Here are some interesting statistics: 

In 60 seconds...

• 2 million searches are made on Google
• 204 million e-mails are sent
• 278,000 tweets are made
• 2.4 billion Facebook updates are made
• 72 hours of YouTube video is uploaded.
  (Source: Qmee.com)

All of the above activity happens every single minute. User-generated content is becoming king of all internet content. With the vast amount of data and new content created every day, how do you 'put your 2 cents in?' and make sure you get noticed. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this and their is no proven formulae for guaranteed traffic, but there are a number of steps you can do to make sure your content ranks up there alongside piers.

5 Tips to Curate Creative Content

1. Identify Your Audience

As mentioned in my previous blog post: Keeping Current: Blogging | Sign Me Up, Scotty!, it is important to determine your audience and cater your content accordingly. If you are reaching out to an 18-21 year old audience, tailor your use of language accordingly. If your audience is a creative team of like-minded Marketeers (like my fellow Squared classmates!) then posts that provide useful and interesting information is always well received.

2. Be Informative

People are forever on the quest to read more, see more and learn more. If you can offer to your audience something they haven't already seen, something they don't already know and something that in itself informs them on a mutually interesting topic, they will be back for more or be inclined to share your information with others. People like to make informed decisions. If you can inform in the right way, they will appreciate and be grateful for the curation of your content.

3. Inspire!

A post that makes people question the way they do something currently, that makes them ask the question, 'can I do this differently?' will help inspire people to do great things. Inspiration is an amazing tool. Next time you get stuck or feel like their is no solution, just think to yourself... 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore, Dream, Discover." –Mark Twain

4. Be Knowledgeable

Create content around something you have a passion and something you are knowledgeable in. If you own a fishing shop, then write about the best places to fish, the best season to go, the best equipment to use. Your audience will question your authenticity if you go on to discuss the best stocks and shares to purchase on the london stock exchange, the latest colours in this years clothes fashion, the best way to cook a wild boar. This is unrelated to your speciality and the readers may question exactly how much of this information came from you, how much of it they should trust or going back to point 1, it may be completely unrelated and have no interest to your target audience.

5. Be Unique

Does your content come straight from the heart, or it something you have created to demonstrate your 'copy-and-paste' skills? Newspapers are well known for repeating information already readily available, readers will end up seeing similar or the same information again and again and this really doesn't help them! Their attention span is reduced, they may become uninterested and search elsewhere for original content. Make it your own, put your own touch on it and press on. Keep it unique!

6 Interesting Statistics on User Generated Content

• Online consumer reviews are the second most trusted form of advertising with 70% of global consumers surveyed online indicating they trust this platform. (Source: Nielsen)
  
• 83% of all holiday shoppers are influenced by customer reviews. (Source: ChannelAdvisor) 
  
• When asked what sources “influence your decision to use or not use a particular company, brand or product” 71% claim reviews from family members or friends exert a “great deal” or “fair amount” of influence. (Source: Harris Interactive)
  
• 59% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. (Source: Balihoo)
  
• 83% of consumers say it would be important to read user-generated content before making a decision about banking or other financial services. (Source: Bazaar Voice)
  
• Consumers between 25 and 54 years old were the biggest content drivers, contributing 70% of all UGC. (Source: Bazaar Voice)

Further Reading

A fantastic article I read, published by one of my fellow Squared Online classmates was by +Eleanna Smpokou, who wrote an article entitled "Making your content (into a) king: The 4 dimensions". Spend five minutes absorbing the fantastic points Eleanna makes. Take a read HERE.

What tips do you have to attract reader attention? Do you have a view on user-generated content? It would be great to hear your thoughts, post in the comment box below. Thanks!

SkyDrive changes to OneDrive | 20GB FREE for Enthusiasts

Microsoft SkyDrive has started its transition to Microsoft OneDrive (www.onedrive.com). Today, in a post published by Chris Jones on the Microsoft Blog, the announcement was made for the "global availability of OneDrive"

For existing SkyDrive customers, OneDrive will automatically be available when you login to your existing service, via OneDrive.com or SkyDrive.com. For SkyDrive/OneDrive enthusiasts that signed up to be one of the first to be notified of the service launch, their is an additional 20GB of free storage space up for grabs - check your e-mail inbox now an exclusive code from Microsoft, to redeem this additional space.

Starting with a free base of 7 GB, Microsoft will also give 3 GB to users who connect their camera rolls, 500 MB for users who refer their friends, 200 GB for two years for Surface buyers and 100 GB for Office 365 users. 

Microsoft continue to explain how their service works across multiple platforms:

"We’ve built OneDrive into the latest versions of Windows, Windows Phone, Office, and Xbox. You can even make OneDrive your default storage option, so you never have to worry about whether you are saving files to the cloud: They are just there. If you happen to carry an iPhone or Android phone, or use an iPad, Android tablet, Windows device, or a Mac—OneDrive is available there, too." - Chris Jones, Microsoft.

The service is running and available right now, so take a trip over to OneDrive to try it out. Microsoft said it planned to share details about OneDrive for Business at its SharePoint conference on March 3.

How Has Digital Impacted Brands of Today?

When the word "digital" is mentioned, bounded around and waved about the place, what does the term actually mean to you? An endless stream of 1's and 0's? Green and red flashing lights? A digital clock? The Matrix? The term digital now widely encapsulates a number of areas online, including (but not limited to!) social media, data analytics, mobile browsing and mobile experience, e-mail marketing or generic online advertising, plus a wide range of other online activities.

Digital has already impacted on how businesses operate on a daily basis, particularly with the explosion of well-known social media sites that have developed over the last 10+ years. I've listed below some great examples of companies using digital methods to their advantage, marketing, serving and conversing with their customers and prospects in a very different way or to provide a level of service over and above that offered by their competitors:

First Direct - Internet Banking, a division of HSBC Bank

firstdirect.co.uk | FirstDirect on Twitter | FirstDirect on Facebook

First Direct originally joined the 'social media bandwagon' as they very quickly realised that customer recommendations provided a very powerful tool for referrals and new business for the company. First Direct has always strived to provide the best customer service possible from a bank and this has been proven by the numerous awards the company has received since opening. Some of the more recent awards the financial institution have received; "Recommended Provider - Current Account 2013" - Which Best Buy Awards, "Moneywise Customer Service Awards 2013" & "Moneyfacts Awards 2013" - something that FirstDirect are proud to mention on their ever-growing awards page.

Typical FirstDirect Digital Advert (Source)

By incorporating social media into the brand, alongside informal brand advertising, it encourages their visitors to interact with the brand itself, not just the bank itself for transactional relationships. First Direct want to be more than just a bank. They want to to be your one-stop finance solution, a company you can trust and turn to. It also provided additional routes to market the business and stay closely in touch with its customers and fan base outside of the normal methods of telephone and internet banking. 

They openly accept and seek feedback, both positive and negative via Twitter and Facebook and are very quick at replying to these comments to try and leave the customer feeling positive and satisfied. Convenience also plays a massive part - allowing customers to get in touch with them through methods more familiar and convenient to the consumer. So confident are FirstDirect at their level of service that they even offer cash sums for leaving them - something that they hope is unlikely to happen, based on communicating more effectively with their customers and responding quickly to their needs.

Wonga - Short Term Cash Loans aka "The Digital Finance Company"

wonga.co.uk | Wonga on Twitter | Wonga on Facebook

Wonga, designed to provide a short term loan of cash on a day-by-day basis have broken out of the 'loan-shark' category by becoming a household name, with the clever use of TV, web and digital advertising. A self-proclaimed "Digital Finance Company", Wonga was founded in 2006 and were amongst the first company of its type to use fully automated risk processing technology, allowing decisions to be made on new loans instantly, with customers receiving cleared funds in as little as 5 minutes. 

Backed up by strong marketing campaigns, Wonga operates entirely digitally, with the ability to provide an instant quote on the web or directly via a mobile app. Clever branding and key icons such as the three distinct elderly characters used across their marketing strategies ensure continuity whilst putting a 'smiley face' on what would otherwise be a just another money lending business. Wonga has built a very strong personal relationship with its fan base with the use of "The Wongies" - smiley-faced digitally-created personas to front the Wonga brand, pictured below.

The "Wongies" Social Club (Source)

Wonga has provided over 7,000,000 short-term loans and operates in the UK, South Africa, Canada and Poland since 2007, they were also the first business to enable quick-quotes via a mobile application. Clever use of social media has led them to create the "Social Club", a Facebook app that records how much a user visits and interacts with the brand, earning points enabling users to redeem these as rewards or money-off vouchers. By measuring tweets, shares and competition entries, Wonga has the ability to collect user information on-mass and can distribute marketing messages very quickly. Additional the "#WongaFriday" hashtag used (you guessed it - on Fridays) as a competition method, has proved popular with its audience, by encouraging their audience to share a specific post on Twitter or Facebook publicly in return for the chance to win £100 weekly, therefore increasing brand awareness and widening their potential future clientele for only a minimal outlay every week.

It is clear the digital world has had a tremendous impact on every industry, from Finance to Healthcare. The youth of today are growing up in an ever-evolving technological world and businesses need to embrace this fact as oppose to ignoring it. Digital affects everyone - prospects, existing customers and general brand-engagement. What companies do you know of, that are using digital in a particularly noteworthy  or innovative way? Post your comments below!

Creating A Video | The Incomplete Guide

Let me firstly lay down a precedence for this post - I am not a professional videographer, in fact far from it, but I recently had to delve into the world of video creation myself to create my Squared Online introductory video, introducing myself to my fellow classmates. I thought I would share with you the ups and downs of the process and the research I undertook to do the best I could with the tools available to me! 

Please remember - I am not a professional videographer and this article is called "The Incomplete Guide", but I do hope that those finding it difficult making a start, feel a little more inspired!

Some questions I first asked myself:

1. Who was my audience?
   My audience would mainly be my Squared classmates and tutors. In the first instance, this is who I wanted to create the movie as the audience in mind. However, I could also publish this to my blog to show others that may be following my journey, outside of the course.
2. What look did I want to go for? Modern, Nostalgic, Mystery etc.
   My course was digital. I love digital. So a modern, fresh theme was what I wanted to achieve, something catchy that helped to present my view of digital and the explain to others a little more about me, in a simple, direct way.
3. What resolution did I want to produce? 360p / 720p HD/ 1080p HD?
   In fitting with my aim at a fresh and clean-cut look, I decided the only way I could achieve this was to use HD (high-definition) footage, shot in 1080p. I would then create my movie with HD in mind, remembering to output my final video in 1080p HD. This would allow those with the a higher broadband speed to watch it with the clearest sound quality and better definition to the pictures themselves. Further to this, bearing in mind the YouTube flexibilities, I also knew that those with a slower Internet connection could also stream the video in a slightly reduced quality, to allow the video to be shown.
4. Did I want my video 'branded' by a third-party company?
   I wanted to try and steer clear of free services that would add their logo to the corner or through the video, with the aim of the user paying an upgrade fee to remove the branding. For it to remain clear, concise and modern, I felt I needed to use a tool/service that did not brand my final video.
5. How much time did I have to play with?
   I had a few days to play with, so I knew I had a bit of time to play with my creation to get it right. Had I been restricted to a few hours, this may have affected the decision of programs to use.
6. What tools did I already have for the job? What else would I need?
   I knew pre-installed on Windows 7 & 8 is Windows Movie Maker. I had this already, it was free and included on my PC already. Having used this only once, I decided this may not be enough. I researched numerous other programs, including Animoto, Stupeflix and WeVideo. All of these services, I'm sure are great and fit a need, but all charge a fee to output at higher resolutions (anything above 360p) and some were restricted in length. So Windows Movie Maker it was! (no branding, free, 1080p output).
7. Where was I going to upload the footage to?
   I knew I was going to upload to YouTube, so I researched the type of videos that work best on the site: > YouTube Help.
8. What footage did I own, what footage did I need?
   I already knew I had a selection of videos that I had taken and wanted to include, but I also wanted to add other, more abstract videos. A great article that helped me find free, HD stock footage was published by Ashutosh KS on Hongkiat.com here.

After collating my personal videos, my stock videos, a storyboard of what messages I wanted to get across and a catchy background track I already had in mind, I took to Windows Movie Maker to start compiling the videos. I trimmed many videos down to 3 seconds, or increased the footage speed of longer shots to coincide with the music itself, interrupting the shots momentarily for key words or phrases to be shown. You will find the finished video posted just below. See what you think!

"This is Adam" - Adam Prettyjohns

Can you recommend any video editing software? Have you written a guide of your own video? Post your answers in the comment box below. Thanks!