Need Coffee? There's an App for That!

I must admit that I'm a Starbucks fan, despite their over-priced products, I just can't resist their mouth-watering creations. I decided to register for their email newsletters a few months ago to stay in the loop about any delicious new beverages they're offering. In a recent newsletter they sent to my inbox, they were promoting a new iPhone app called "My Starbucks". For those of you lovely readers that aren't familiar with the world of apps, "the App Store is a service for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad created by Apple Inc. which allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store that were developed with the iPhone SDK and published through Apple. Depending on the application, they are available either for free, or at a cost. The applications can be downloaded directly to target device, or downloaded onto a computer via iTunes." (wikipedia.com) The App Store opened on July 10 2008, and over the past year and a half it has truly taken the digital world by storm with over 60 000 apps to choose from and over 3 billion downloads to date! On average, there is said to be approximately 300 new apps being released per day. Those are extraordinary numbers for only a year and a half of service, illustrating just how popular these apps are becoming!

My Starbucks describes itself as "the official iPhone application from Starbucks! Want to find a store that’s open, with a drive through? Now you can do that and more with myStarbucks. Explore our whole bean coffees, find nutrition information, and build your own perfect drinks. Want to share? You can send your drink to friends by email, SMS, or directly to their iPhone or iPod®" (iTunes.com) That's right, now from the convenience of your iPhone, you can find the nearest (open) Starbucks to your current location, learn more about the coffee, create your perfect drink and be able to share it with your friends and even your barista who will make it for you! This app really helps to personalize your Starbucks experience (not to mention that the company makes it more convenient for the customer so they won't stray and go get their coffee fix from a competitor). However this app is not available for Canadians yet.

There are thousands of other apps available for download, including everything from checking the weather, to playing games, to recipes to cook dinner, to CNN updates or job postings, as they say.. there really is "an app for that!" According to an article listing the top 35 apps of 2009, a few of the most popular apps include: "Slacker Radio" a free music app, "Tweet Deck" to constantly stay updated on Twitter, "Print and Share" to wirelessly transmit and print documents, "Flight Tracker" to get up-to-the-minute arrival and departure times of flights, "Kindle" an e-book reader, as well as the "Skype" app to make long distance calls using audio and visual over WiFi networks.

The entire app world is definitely revolutionizing the way in which people interact with the world around them. Now people can read a book, use a level, go grocery shopping, read the newspaper, check gas prices, calculate tips and learn new pilates moves all from the convenience of the iPhone and the App Store. But how does this effect traditional means of doing these everyday tasks and other forms of media? Is the iPhone adapting to our world, or is our world adapting to the iPhone and its apps? How have apps changed the name of the game and what is its effect on us? These questions, at least for now, only apply to iPhone/iPod Touch users, but perhaps in time that will change. Apple is either trying to make or world easier/more accessible... or to monopolize it.

Oscar Buzz

Well it's that time of year again, countless celebs in glamorous gowns and tuxes graced the red carpet on Sunday night in eager anticipation of the 82rd annual Academy Awards and all the excitement it brings. Thousands of people flock to the television set on this night every year to first see the red carpet arrivals, then anticipate who will win what award, and of course the typical Oscar upsets. However, this year was slightly different as people flocked to their TV AND COMPUTERS.

This year, broadcasting the Oscars to Canadians, CTV hosted an 'live chat' on their website during the Oscars. CTV.ca boasted that as of 6:30pm on Sunday night, Canadians could chat live "with Canada's pre-eminent celebrity gossip maven, Lainey, direct from carpet and press room; etalk’s resident fashionista Susie Wall; and MuchMusic’s Trevor Boris, comedian, producer, and juror on the MuchOriginal series, Video on Trial." I found this to be an interesting idea, so as my friends and I were watching the awards ceremony, we would periodically check in with the online forum to see what people were talking about. We got many laughs as people would say ridiculous things about dresses, hair styles or adding in their own commentary to the evening's events. We found the whole live Oscar chat to be quite entertaining, but ultimately came to the conclusion that there was no rhyme nor reason for the live chat. There were no brilliant ideas or reflections brought forth in the forum, it was simply a shared space where like-minded Oscar enthusiasts could gather to share their opinions on celebrities, movies, and whether or not people deserved the award they had won. It was an interesting chat to browse during the awards ceremony, but in reality it only mediated and interfered with my own Oscar experience with my friends. Instead of discussing it as a group as the night's events unfolded on the TV, we had added a third party to the mix...our laptops (and with it came hundreds of other online personalities). Perhaps other people felt differently, and appreciated the interaction with practical strangers online, but that was my conclusion of the experience.

However, an online chat was not the only means of online interaction offered during the Academy Awards. CTV also promoted, through online and televised ads, an interactive contest taking place in real time during the awards. The sponsor, Quaker Crispy Minis ran a contest called "Red Carpet Party Picks" consisting of several different polls that asked various questions about the Oscars, allowing participants to answer, and if correct they would gain points to hopefully win the grand prize of a trip to Los Angeles. I didn't have any grand plans of winning the prize to LA, but my friends and I tried out the game as a fun way to test our "Oscar IQ". The polls mostly asked for predictions of who would win each category. The poll would start as the presenter started talking, and the poll would close as the winner was about to be announced. Due to the quick nature of each poll, as a group we would get easily side-tracked by talking or debating the likelihood of each candidate and would not get our vote in on time resulting in not earning a lot of points. But the contest/game was highly entertaining, and was a better way to facilitate a 'party' (as the name "Red Carpet Party Picks" would suggest) or interactions between a group of people than that of the CTV live chat.

These two online Oscar initiatives that CTV promoted this year were quite interesting, particularly seeing the ways that users played with an online sense of community during an event such as the Oscars which is typically viewed in groups in front of the TV. I wonder if other people felt as if the live chat or real-time contest negotiated their experiences at all, or perhaps enhanced it? It will be interesting to see if this type of 'live' community during 'live' events will continue in the future, and to what degree.