| Facebook mobile app ads lets advertisers put up videos, bid based on actual results Oct 22nd 2013, 05:54, by Juan Carlos Torres Facebook is introducing two new changes to its mobile app advertising system that should give advertisers new ways to maximize their mobile presence. Starting today, the Facebook mobile app will be showing video ads on News Feeds. And now advertisers can choose to bid only on the clicks that actually earns them users. 
Moving pictures are always a more effective way to generate interest. At least, that’s what Facebook is saying as it opens up its video creative to mobile. After all, it’s far easier to get enticed by a video showing how something works than just looking at a series of screenshots or, worse, reading walls of text. Of course, it could go both ways, as video ads are definitely one of the sore points of user browsing experience. Luckily, they don’t autoplay. At least for now. Facebook is also announcing a new way for advertisers to get their money’s worth. Instead of bidding for mobile ads based on cost per click (CPC) or cost per impression (CPM), Facebook will now be allowing them to bid based on on cost per action (CPA). In layman’s terms, advertisers will only get charged when a user actually installs an app rather than when they simply click on an ad. After all, it’s the actual install count that matters, right? Facebook will be rolling out the two new advertising features to all developers and advertisers over the next few days. Interested parties will, of course, have to use the Facebook SDK, especially for monitoring app installs based on Facebook ads. SOURCE: Facebook
VIA: TechCrunch |  | Gartner sees 4.5 percent rise in PC, tablet, mobile phone shipment in 2013 Oct 22nd 2013, 05:29, by Juan Carlos Torres There year isn’t over yet, but Gartner is already feeling and sending good vibes about the state of shipments of tablets and mobile phones for 2013, at least compared to last year. The same, however, cannot be said for the PC market, which is continually experiencing a period of decline. 
Overall, the outlook is quite good. In its third quarter report, Gartner projects that the total number shipments encompassing PCs, tablets, and mobile phones to climb up by 4.5% from 2.22 billion units in 2012 to 2.32 billion this year. Driving the spurt will be tablet shipments, which it forecasts to grow by 53.4 percent with shipments of 184 million units worldwide. Curiously, it believes that these tablets will mostly be of the mid- to low-range variety, particularly those sporting sizes of 8 inches or lower, which seems to be a favorite among consumers in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US. Even smartphones, the long-time darling of the geek world, might have trouble finding warm hands this coming holiday season, according to the firm. Needless to say, Android will, of course, be behind majority of those figures. Windows, both its desktop and mobile incarnations, still come at second against Apple’s iOS and Mac OS combo, but Gartner expects that to decline by 4.3 percent this year, mostly due to decline in PC shipments. Neither the demise of Windows XP next year nor the acquisition of Nokia by Microsoft affected Gartner’s forecast. 
Indeed, the PC market seems to be on a rapid and worrying decline. Worldwide desktop and notebook shipments are expected to drop by 11.2 percent this year compared to 2012. Adding ultramobiles to the group only reduces the decline to 8.4 percent. The latest Bay Trail and Haswell processors might not do much to curb the trend as consumers reach out for smaller and more affordable tablets even while keeping an eye out for interesting new ultramobile devices. SOURCE: Gartner | | APPoint lets you quickly launch apps from any screen Oct 22nd 2013, 04:59, by Juan Carlos Torres Just when you thought you had your fill of multitasking utilities for the day, XDA hits you again with another power tool. This time, the new APPoint (yes, that’s how it’s spelled) multitasking app doesn’t exactly let you switch between open apps. It does, however, help you launch your favorite apps from any screen, without having to go back to the homescreen. 
While the earlier reported Switchr offers a fancier way to switch among apps that you already have running, APPoint, in essence, is a floating launcher windows that can be invoked anywhere. This is done by tapping a semi-transparent circle that is always visible on the screen. The dot can be moved, resized, recolored, or, in the paid version, can be changed to any image. Of course, it can also be turned off, but that would take away the usefulness of the whole app. APPoint features three tab categories, favorite apps, games, and settings, allowing users to quickly launch their most needed apps when and where they need them. Unfortunately, the Lite version is quite heavily limited, only allowing for four favorite apps, no lockscreen support, no custom sorting, and no WiFi and mobile connection toggle for the settings tab. Here’s a video of APPoint in action, though it seems to be taken from a virtual machine, which could explain the lag which isn’t present when installed on a device. APPoint Lite, the free version of the app, is available on Google Play Store via the link below. However, given how limited the version is, you might want to shell out $1.47 for the full version if this is your kind of tool. Download: APPoint Lite on Google Play Store
VIA: XDA | |
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