Hasta La Gadget!

[CEATEC 2013] The world has gotten a whole lot more social these days, what with social networks such as Facebook and services like Twitter which allow the dissemination of information in a viral and speedy manner without having to wait for obstacles such as press time or the TV program time. Sony knows this, and they want to leverage on the momentum of social media with the introduction of their Sony Info Eye service, where it is capable of snapping a photo (preferably using a Sony device, of course), before making an analysis of that captured photo to deliver various types of information.

Take the Eiffel Tower for instance – snap a memento of it, and you will be on the receiving end of various “views”, where the first might show off related photos to the iconic building, whether from the top or the bottom, while a different view would depict the Parisian map. Changing views to the next one might show what your friends are saying about the Eiffel Tower, so on and so forth.

Will it be able to catch on? Perhaps, and considering how nearly everyone has something to say about everything, it could very well turn into a popular way of sharing stuff and being interactive about it. The thing is, if folks remain reserved and do not want to take part in this “experiment”, you might not get all that many different views to begin with.

Sony Info Eye Social Camera original content from Ubergizmo.

Facebook has updated its Graph Search feature to now include both posts and status updates, expanding the usefulness of the socially-enabled search engine as it digs through more online content. Revealed back in January, and rolled out across the US in July, Graph Search had until now only handled people, places, interests, and photos. That […]

Those who enjoy Twitter‘s @MagicRecs recommendation system can now enjoy the same sort of recommendations via a new personalized series of push notifications being sent out to mobile users. Both those on Android and iOS can enable the personalized recommendations feature on their app, receiving curated suggestions on their mobile. The announcement was made today […]

Companies are inclined to give freebies and complimentary services to people who have a huge following on social networks. As a marketing move, it makes perfect sense. The odds of these people tweeting and talking about the event is high, and the more people they get to share it with, the better, right?

Jumping on this bandwagon is the 1888 Hotel located in Sydney, Australia. They’re hosting a giveaway for Instagram users who have 10,000 or more followers, so if you’ve already passed that mark, then lucky you.

All you have to do is follow them on Instagram (their handle is @8hotels) and send an email to media[at]8hotels.com.

But first things first, what’s the 1888 Hotel? Staying true to the promo they’re hosting, it’s a five-star luxury hotel with an Instagram theme. Just think of the Twitter hotel, only this one is optimized for Instagram users instead, beginning with the selfie wall where guests are encouraged to take a selfie after checking in. The hotel offers beautiful views on every floor and luxurious facilities that are, as they claim, “Instagram-worthy.”

Naturally, you can find more pics of the 1888 Hotel on Instagram, under #1888hotel.

[via TAXI via BitRebels]

Although Facebook has seen phenomenal growth over its years, it also saw a substantial decrease in users this year, prompting discussion once again about how Facebook will fair over time as the “cool” factor wears off. Such a question was posed to Mark Zuckerberg in Washington D.C. at Newseum, and Zuckerberg responded that the aim […]