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iPad and iPhone Dominate Online Shopping Traffic

'Tis the season for online shoppping — with “The iPad Factor” in full effect according to an IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark report which tracked 2012 online holiday retail sales throughout Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Over 2011, online sales saw a 17.4 percent increase on Thanksgiving Day followed by 20.7 percent growth on Black Friday — with the biggest surge in mobile sales made on an iPad and iPhone.

“The iPad generated more traffic than any other tablet or smartphone, reaching nearly 10 percent of online shopping. This was followed by iPhone at 8.7 percent and Android 5.5 percent.”

In fact, Apple's iPad dominated tablet traffic with 88.3 percent compared to the Barnes and Noble Nook at a minor 3.1 percent, Amazon Kindle at 2.4 percent and the Samsung Galaxy at 1.8 percent.

What the colorful infographic below does not show, is that eBay rang up 133 percent growth in mobile transactions by shoppers on Thanksgiving Day and 198 percent increase on Black Friday compared to last year — with sales of iPad 2 gobbling up all of the attention.

“The company noted that one of its bestselling items on Black Friday was the iPad 2, selling 250 per hour from 12 am to 8 am PT.” according to All Things D.

View the entire IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark report. [see Infographic after jump]

Watch Black Friday Walmart Shoppers Fight Over Cheap Samsung Cell Phone

 

 

The darker side of humanity came bubbling to the surface on Thanksgiving night when crazed hordes of Black Friday shoppers at a Walmart store in Moultrie, Georgia began fighting each other over a cheap Samsung 255G prepaid cell phone — officially kicking off the 2012 Shopocalypse with a viral video seen around the world.

At about 1:10 into the video you can actually witness one old lady bite another shopper in the hand when he tries to granny-snatch her device as she battles to make her way out of the vicious redneck dog pile with a cell phone in her grasp.

In a news release this morning, the store said that during the “high traffic” period between 8:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. last night, “Walmart processed nearly 10 million register transactions and almost 5,000 items per second.” Electronics — big-screen TVs, tablets, laptops and digital cameras — have been the best-selling items so far.

A second video posted below, shows Walmart shoppers doing hand-to-hand combat over a $5 dollar pair of headphones. David Quigley, who shot the video, can be heard talking to his children about standing by to witness the craziness and fighting that's about to begin — offering his kids a ring side seat to view the  cheerless, consumer-obsessed madness.

In 2008, a 34-year-old temporary Walmart employee Jdimytai Damour of Jamaica, Queens, was knocked to the ground and quickly trampled to death by Black Friday shoppers who rushed the front door at the Valley Stream store in Long Island.

Fortunately the frenzied mania at the Moultrie store only produced some biting, scratching and shoving as the first Walmart viral video of the Shopocalypse was born.

In more horrific Walmart news, a 71-year-old man suspected of driving drunk rammed into two Black Friday shoppers at a Seattle area Walmart store on Thursday night as crowds waited to enter the store. The man was arrested in the parking lot of the Covington Walmart on suspicion of vehicular assault.

I decided to stay home and just shop online... it's much safer. [more videos after jump]

Yahoo and Facebook Not Plotting Search Alliance

 

When the Telegraph reported that Yahoo and Facebook were working closely on a “collaboration based around web-based search” today — the interwebs jumped all over the news like it was hard cold fact. It was a scandoulous affair that rivaled the likes of General Petraeus.

Kara Swisher from All Things D, who makes it her business to closely eyeball Yahoo, quickly put that cheap little rumor to bed — killing the idea straight away.

“Yahoo and Facebook are not currently in talks about forming a search alliance, according to my sources, who scoffed about such a deal reported in a thinner-than-tissue-paper post by the Telegraph earlier today.” Swisher says.

“In addition, Yahoo is not anywhere near ending its search partnership with Microsoft, although new CEO Marissa Mayer has been in touch with the software giant about improving performance that has been less than lackluster over the course of its history so far.”

So now everyone can unwad their panties and get back to viciously poking fun at the "It's Thanksgiving" video — an absolutely awful viral video sung by seventh-grader Nicole Westbrook.

via All Things D

Instagram Uploads Spike Hard After Obama Win

It turns out that Twitter was not the only social media service that saw a ginormous boost on election night when the race was called in Obama's favor for a second term as president of the United States.

It took roughly six minutes for Instagrammers to upload images at 2.1 times the normal rate per second — sending Instagram into overdrive with wild enthusiasm from its users (see chart below).

“People from around the United States tagged more than 100,000 photos with #IVoted, and 150,000 photos with #election2012, allowing folks to share their own — and tune into others’— election night experience in real-time.” Instagram wrote on their blog.

Twitter reported escalating to a hyper 327,000 tweets per minute at about 11:15 just moments before the networks called the election victory for Barack Obama. That number represents “the largest election-related Twitter conversation” during their 6 years of existence, according to Twitter.

No matter how you slice it — the Instagram upload surge was a force to be reckoned with. My favorite image was the "green party" vote posted by gemz023.

 

Most-Liked Obama Facebook Photo of All Time Set to Tour United States

 

Last night this image of Barack and Michelle Obama made social media history. Within 30 minutes after being posted on Twitter, the photo surpassed 500,000 retweets — making the image the most retweeted post of all time.

This touching embrace quickly gained momentum on Facebook to become the most-liked Facebook photo of all time with a current number this morning surpassing 3.5 million Likes.

Plans are already underway to take the wildly popular "Four More Years" photograph on a national tour across the U.S. in an attempt to unite a divided America — with a poignant snapshot that underscores the enduring power of marriage between one man and one woman.

Tour organizer Elam Nikserof expects to see even longer lines to view the image than the country experienced on election night — as millions of Americans are expected to turn out not only to show support for their President, but to also join in a social media phenomenon taking place offline.

“People just love this photograph because it makes them feel really happy inside,” Nikserof says. “Although it was taken several hours before the election results were actually announced, it still brings people a false sense of hope and a feeling of national pride — more so than a similar image with Obama tenderly embracing Vice President Joe Biden.”

“One thing Americans love as much as their freedom is the ability to post and like photographs online no matter how incredibly dumb or unnecessary they are — which is why Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have become so popular, especially with images of cats.” Elam Nikserof added. "

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney called upon all Americans to turn out and support viewing the image when it arrives in their town.

“Now I urge every one of my supporters to set aside their differences with my opponent and join me in coming out to 'Like' this image of our president and his wife, so that we all may come together in a spirit of understanding and cooperation to build a better America.” Romney says.

The 450 city photo tour is expected to begin on December 26 in Chicago and continue through summer of 2013. Framed prints, note cards, blankets and commemorative plates featuring the image of the Obamas will be sold at all gallery showings.

“If Norman Rockwell painted a picture of our 44th President it would look just like this one," a Facebook follower commented. “Except it would probably include their kids and dog in it too — which would totally ruin it.”

Why Josh Whedon Fears A Zombie Mitt Romney

 

Filmmaker Josh Whedon, known for his work on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Firefly” and “The Avengers,” has released a pro Romney video just in time for Halloween.

His satirical spoof is designed to prey on the fears of undecided Americans who are convinced a zombie apocalypse followed by insolvency and chaos is inevitable if they vote in Mitt Romney for President.

“It’s his commitment to ungoverned corporate privilege that will nosedive this economy into true insolvency and chaos, the kind of chaos you can’t buy back,” Whedon says in his video. “Money is only so much paper to the undead.”

Does anyone remember four years ago when images of a zombie John McCain went viral after he completed the final presidential debate with Obama at Hofstra University?

The idea of a zombie Mitt Romney is definitely not original — in fact, it's tired and played out just like Whedon's lame jokes about Spam.

Josh Whedon is an awful choice as a spokesman for the zombie apocalypse becuase he's just not believable. He's all about superheroes and vampire slayers — but he doesn't know crap about zombies. He fails to promote the positive aspects of a lumbering zombie nation.

He would be the first one to piss his pants if a horde of zombies showed up at his front door. Maybe he can feed them all Spam to keep them from engorging on his skull.

“If Mitt takes office, sooner or later the zombies will come for all of us” Whedon says.

Wha, wha, wha! We're all going die a horrible death without Obama. An undead president isn't the worst idea — neither is a zombie nation that feeds on brains, especially if they start with Wall Street bankers.

So don't fear what you can't understand people - no matter what Josh Whedon says.

Instagram User Captures Jane's Carousel Submerged By Sandy Flood Waters

 

A sad and tragic Instagram image went viral late Monday night showing Jane's Carousel at The Brooklyn Bridge Park completely flooded in the wake of Hurricane Sandy — while the lights inside the pavilion illuminated the dark waters surrounding it.

The 48 wooden horses which reside inside the pavilion located between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges — were restored by artist Jane Walentas who spent over 20 years on the project. The horses came from a theme park originally installed in Youngstown in 1922.

Hundreds of comments left under the eerie photo captured by Andjelicaaa underscored the tragic picture — with many grieving over what could be just one of many devastating losses for New Yorkers should flood waters continue to rise.

“I was there in August. My heart cries seeing all this happening.” said francychicca65.

At the time of this writing, there were over 453,000 Instagram images tagged with the hashtag #Sandy. Although dozens of faked Hurricane Sandy photos populated Instagram on Monday, it was this one image that struck a nerve with New Yorkers, as well as with some as far away as Australia.

“Maybe its not ruined? Maybe it can be cleaned and salvaged.” pantherspix added.

Against all odds — maybe the flood waters will subside in the morning light and maybe this labor of love can survive the wrath of Sandy. 

The image below offers a beautiful look at the walk up to Jane's Carousel — taken just four weeks ago by Ramon Nuez.

UPDATE: This just in from Jane Walentas: “The horses are fine! The wooden carousel and horses as well as the building, are all fine. Unfortunately, however, the basement that houses all the electronics was totally flooded—5ft. of water. As soon as we can pump it out we 'll assess the damage. We're optimistic that the carousel will be fine, but it will probably take some time to get it fully restored to happily prancing again.”

 

[Photo by Ramon Nuez]

Scott Forstall Bounced From Apple Mothership

 

Scott Forstall, Apple's Senior Vice President of iOS software was asked to leave the company after reportedly refusing to sign his name to a letter apologizing for the Apple Maps gaff that accompanied the launch of iOS 6 — according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The move is being called “one of the most significant management shake-ups in Apple's recent history” as Forstall, a 15-year Apple veteran and protégé of Steve Jobs is relegated to serve CEO Tim Cook as an adviser in the interim until his official exit from the company sometime next year according to an Apple news release.

“This is his second consecutive high-profile screw up with iOS software,” Jay Yarrow wrote about the Apple Maps disaster for the Business Insider. “Last year he pushed Apple to add Siri to iOS. Siri has been an embarrassment for Apple.”

One person close to Apple's executive team conveyed that the mood of people at the company was mostly positive after learning of Mr. Forstall's departure — as reported by The New York Times.

“This was better than the Giants winning the World Series. People are really excited.”

Some pundits are already speculating that Scott Forstall could ultimately end up leading the Android team at Google — although “advising” Tim Cook into next year could hold him in check through the end of 2013, making a hire by Google, Microsoft, Amazon or even Samsung impossible in the near term.

Regardless of why Forstall was ousted from Apple or even if he was difficult to work with as some insiders have suggested — cheering his misfortune is simply poor form and ultimately reflects badly on those seen smirking in the bleachers.

At the end of the day Forstall is still credited with building a phenomenal iOS for iPhone and iPad — a grand legacy that most of us can only dream about playing Monday morning quarterback while passing gas sitting in an overstuffed lazy boy recliner chair.

Scott Forstall is going to land on his feet and end up doing just fine living life beyond the great mothership. It's not the end of the world — just the end of an era.

So get over it.

The Boring Button Gets A High Tech Upgrade

 

Steve Jobs said; “I want to put a ding in the universe.” — but it was Olive Bird who decided to put a ding on the side of a common shirt button to keep our dangling EarPod cords neat and tidy.

Say hello to Button 2.0 — the art of building a better button.

By adding a slot on the side of a common button, Olive Bird has transformed ordinary into extraordinary — forever changing the garment universe for generations to come by adding a simple cable-wrangling design.

Button 2.0 costs $3.28 each and is expected to ship by November 8th. The thread and sewing part is up to you.

My feelings about this inspired innovation can be best expressed through the words of mister Neil Armstrong; “This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Yes sir... it certainly is.

[via Shapeways]

Are iPhone Users Battling A Text Neck Epidemic?

 

Move over tennis elbow — text neck has arrived.

There are plenty of maladies in our modern age, but a new one has been introduced as a by product of the growing smartphone revolution.

And it's not simply a malady any longer, it's been classified as a "world-wide health concern" by Dr. Dean L. Fishman, Chiropractic Physician.

The Text Neck Institute talks about the added risks of this repeated stress injury and warns if left untreated, it can eventually cause permanent damage. Americans on average spend about 2.7 hours per day on their smartphones and even more time looking down while searching the web.

Hunching over to read on a tiny portable device causes undue stress on your neck and shoulders — resulting in headaches as well as creating a huge pain in the neck from poor posture. It's so common that it has been coined "text neck" by Dr. Fishman.

"The average human head weighs 10 pounds in a neutral position -- when your ears are over your shoulders. For every inch you tilt your head forward, the pressure on your spine doubles. So if you're looking at a smartphone in your lap, your neck is holding up what feels like 20 or 30 pounds."

While I'm not quite convinced that text neck is a "global epidemic" as Dr. Fishman calls it— the remedy is remembering to take frequent breaks from your devices (about every 20 minutes to stretch).

And if you can't, The Text Neck Institute created a mobile app, "Text Neck Indicator" to keep your device correctly positioned while reading.

If you happen to suffer from text neck, Self.com has a helpful list of simple exercises aimed at relieving your symptoms.

"Text Neck is not just a texting problem," says Dr. Dean Fishman. "Text neck is a gaming problem. Text neck is an e-mailing problem."

[via CNN]