Occasionally, there is some situation that you do not want to answer calls from a particular person. So, many cellphones provide "blacklist" function -- you put a phone number into this blacklist, and your phone will ignore calls from this number.
It seems that my Android phone does not directly support this function. But, you can get pretty much the same result by using the following trick: open your phonebook, edit the contact you want to block, choose "Send calls directly to voicemail", done!
I heard the latest Android (Android 2.2?) has the blacklist function. It will be a useful function to many users.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Behavior-targeting of Display Ads
This past week, Google announced the quarterly report. Display Ads and Mobile become a significant part of Google revenue source. For Display Ads, Google revenue is $2.5 Billion in the next 4 quarters. Excluding fee paid to partners, it is estimated that Google will earn $2 Billion in the next 4 quarters.
Display Ads was actually born earlier than Search Ads. But Search Ads is much more effective than Display Ads because it captures user intent. That's why Google Search Ads is so successful.
In the past few years, however, display Ads is catching up because behavior-targeting technology. Among behavior-targeting technologies, data is the core part. With user intent data, display ads can be much more effective.
According to a report, Rocket Fuel can lower their eCPA as large as 64%.
Here is the breakdown for different verticals:
• Automotive: 64% lower effective cost per action (eCPA)
• Retail: 24% lower eCPA
• Travel: 37% lower eCPA
• CPG: 50% lower eCPA
I believe that display advertising has a bright near-future as long as it deals with privacy issue well.
Display Ads was actually born earlier than Search Ads. But Search Ads is much more effective than Display Ads because it captures user intent. That's why Google Search Ads is so successful.
In the past few years, however, display Ads is catching up because behavior-targeting technology. Among behavior-targeting technologies, data is the core part. With user intent data, display ads can be much more effective.
According to a report, Rocket Fuel can lower their eCPA as large as 64%.
Here is the breakdown for different verticals:
• Automotive: 64% lower effective cost per action (eCPA)
• Retail: 24% lower eCPA
• Travel: 37% lower eCPA
• CPG: 50% lower eCPA
I believe that display advertising has a bright near-future as long as it deals with privacy issue well.
How to improve the battery life of your Android phone?
I bought a new Android phone, mainly because I’m not quite happy with the battery life of my old phone. After searching in the market for a while, I noticed Ericsson Xperia X10. The ads says that its battery is rated at up to 8 hours of talk time, and up to 415 hours (17+ days) of standby time. So I bought it.
It is a very cool cellphone. But I noticed that I had to charge the battery almost every day, without any heavy use. It is far from the advertised “415 hours (17+ days) of standby time”. So I did some research and tried to improve the battery life of my new phone. After some tune-up, my phone now can stand by for almost 5 days without heavy use. It is a great improvement, isn’t it? Although it is still far from its ads.
So, what did I do? I did the following things:
1. Turn off its wi-fi, bluebooth and gps service when you do not use them. It seems that this is the most critical part. From the “battery usage” provided by Android, I noticed that wi-fi really used a lot of battery.
2. Download and install “Startup Auditor” application from Android Market. You can use this application to prevent some applications from running when you turn on the cellphone. Your cellphone usually will start up a lot of creepy (and useless) applications when you turn it on.
3. Turn of the Synchronization function of your gmail and facebook applications. Frequent synchronization uses too much battery.
4. Download and install “Andvanced Task Killer” application from Android Market. You can run this application from time to time and kill some applications. When you open an application and then return to the “homepage” of Android, this application is usually still alive and running in the background.
If you are not happy with the battery life of your Android phone, you should try those tricks out!
It is a very cool cellphone. But I noticed that I had to charge the battery almost every day, without any heavy use. It is far from the advertised “415 hours (17+ days) of standby time”. So I did some research and tried to improve the battery life of my new phone. After some tune-up, my phone now can stand by for almost 5 days without heavy use. It is a great improvement, isn’t it? Although it is still far from its ads.
So, what did I do? I did the following things:
1. Turn off its wi-fi, bluebooth and gps service when you do not use them. It seems that this is the most critical part. From the “battery usage” provided by Android, I noticed that wi-fi really used a lot of battery.
2. Download and install “Startup Auditor” application from Android Market. You can use this application to prevent some applications from running when you turn on the cellphone. Your cellphone usually will start up a lot of creepy (and useless) applications when you turn it on.
3. Turn of the Synchronization function of your gmail and facebook applications. Frequent synchronization uses too much battery.
4. Download and install “Andvanced Task Killer” application from Android Market. You can run this application from time to time and kill some applications. When you open an application and then return to the “homepage” of Android, this application is usually still alive and running in the background.
If you are not happy with the battery life of your Android phone, you should try those tricks out!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
from semi-smart phone to smart phone -- my two-year experience with AT&T
My current cellphone is an LG Vu from AT&T. I bought it at year 2008, just before the first iphone was shipped. I am quite happy with this phone -- it has all necessary functions I need (bluetooth, internet browsing, big screen, friendly user interface, etc). But after two years, the battery deteriorates a lot and I have to charge it almost every two days. Last week I decided that it was time to get a new phone, so I ordered a SonyEricsson Xperia X10. This is a very powerful Android phone.
A lot of things happened in the last two years, especially in the IT industry. From LG Vu phone to Xperia Android phone, I clearly see the changes. Two of them are especially interesting:
1. My old LG phone has an application called “AT&T Mall”. You can browse and buy music, pictures, games and applications from AT&T through it. Sounds familiar? It is very similar with Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android market. But it did not get success as big as those two. In my new Xperia Android phone, this “AT&T Mall” is gone and now it is Android market.
2. My old LG phone has an application called “MySpace Mobile”, which allows you to access your MySpace account easily. Remember MySpace? Now everybody is talking about Facebook. Accordingly, I can not find MySpace application in our Xperia X10 now (of course, you should be able to install a MySpace application through Android market). Instead, Xperia has a Facebook application supporting your addiction to Facebook.
What do those tell us? A good idea does not necessarily lead to good business, and the roaring wave of internet business is so unpredictable.
I’ll post a review on my Xperia phone when I get more experience with it. So, stay tuned :-)
A lot of things happened in the last two years, especially in the IT industry. From LG Vu phone to Xperia Android phone, I clearly see the changes. Two of them are especially interesting:
1. My old LG phone has an application called “AT&T Mall”. You can browse and buy music, pictures, games and applications from AT&T through it. Sounds familiar? It is very similar with Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android market. But it did not get success as big as those two. In my new Xperia Android phone, this “AT&T Mall” is gone and now it is Android market.
2. My old LG phone has an application called “MySpace Mobile”, which allows you to access your MySpace account easily. Remember MySpace? Now everybody is talking about Facebook. Accordingly, I can not find MySpace application in our Xperia X10 now (of course, you should be able to install a MySpace application through Android market). Instead, Xperia has a Facebook application supporting your addiction to Facebook.
What do those tell us? A good idea does not necessarily lead to good business, and the roaring wave of internet business is so unpredictable.
I’ll post a review on my Xperia phone when I get more experience with it. So, stay tuned :-)
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