Tech of the week! Check out Charitweet!

 

 

chrity

 

 

 

Right now at iPhone Antidote, we’re all about creating good in the world, and here is a great way to contribute to that.

 

Charitweet is a fantastic way to empower your social network as a force for good in the world, providing you with a simple way to give to your favorite charities, whilst encouraging others in your social network to do the same.

 

The Boston based company is making it possible to give 100% of your donation to your chosen charity through Twitter.

 

Skip the middlemen, give in 140 characters, spread the word, and you’re done. Giving is good. Simple giving, where 100% of the donation goes to the charity is great.

 

All you need to do is tweet, making sure you include the following :

 

@CHRTWT
@CHARITYNAME
$(AMOUNT)

 

For example: “I’m donating $10 to @helpkids with @chrtwt!”

 

After your first Charitweet, you’ll receive a notification on your Twitter account. You’ll complete a billing form (asking only necessary information that will remain completely confidential). After that first tweet, you’ll never have to do more than tweet to donate again!

 

Here’s a list of the Charities that Charitweet are partnered with currently. You can also contact them to request that another Charity you might have affiliation with could partner with Charitweet in the future.

 

The only caveat is that in order to donate, your Twitter account can’t be private in order to process your donation, but that is something the company is working on getting around.

 

If you’re looking for a way to give in 2015, do yourself a favor and check out Charitweet. Spread the word! 

 

 

 

 

How you listened to music in 2014

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Apple intends on releasing it’s revamped Beats streaming product in 2015, and it looks like they got the timing pretttty perfect on that, as the guys over at Nielsen SoundScan have just revealed their year-end stats for the music industry, and streaming gets a big ‘ol thumbs up.

 

 

There was a 54% growth in on-demand streams of audio and video content and total streams were up to 164 billion from 106 billion in 2013.

 

 

Sad face for the regular old retro (can we say retro yet in regards to this?) album, as digital album sales fell 9%, and digital song sales fell 12%. Physical and digital album sales fell 11%.

 

 

Happy face for the actual retro music format here, though – vinyl album sales in 2014 grew 52%. Fifty-two percent!  In fact, although vinyl sales have been increasing every year, 2014 was the best year for vinyl since 1991, and possibly only because that’s when Nielson SoundScan started keeping track of music industry stats.

 

 

Apple’s other streaming product, iTunes radio, has had a smaller than expected impact in the streaming music market, and is currently only available here in the States and in Australia.

 

 

So. The old big thing is Vinyl, and the next big thing is streaming. Which Apple knew, and is set to take a bigger advantage of the latter by revamping Beats Music, probably as a native iOS app in the first quarter of this year. It will either be entwined with iTunes or they’ll be looking to take another segment of the market with iTunes.

 

 

 

Beats Music will, of course, have some competition, with very loyal subscribers to Pandora and Spotify as well as other players in the market.

 

 

Currently, you can subscribe to Beats Music for $9.99 per month, or $99.99 for 12 months.

 

 

 

 

Future Tech Of The Week

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It’s the future! Kind of.. so let’s take a look at some future, in-the-works tech that we’re looking forward to!

 

So, there’s a company called Scanadu. Initially their products were part of an Indiegogo campaign, they’re rocking it with their proposed tech by building a bunch of products that are health oriented.

 

With these products, they’re looking to do what a lot of impressive and inspiring tech companies are trying to do – improve your life in a significant, impressive and historic way.

 

How?

 

By making collecting accessible data about your and your families health easy and intuitive. Take, for example, their product Scanadu Scanaflo which will test your urine and be able to tell you important details about it – i.e. Pregnant or Urinary tract infection. Always important to make a distinction between those two.

 

Or, take their product the Scanadu Scout which, once pressed to your forehead, will read health data such as your temp, blood pressure, blood oxygenation etc etc and send it to your phone.

 

Check out their blog here, to keep up with how their product developing is going and be excited about the future prospects of stuff!

 

 

 

 

Apple’s ‘Start Something New’ Campaign

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Apple introduced a new global campaign just before NYE called Start Something New.

 

The campaign is featured on both their website and in physical retail stores (NY, Toronto & London so far reported), and is showing off pieces of art from Twitter customers and artists such as Oz Hall, Matt Pyke and Craig & Karl. All the art pieces are created wholly on Apple Products.

 

Apple is pushing creative Apps for iOS such as  Procreate, Brushes 3, Slow Shutter, VSCOCam, Waterlogue and iDraw in their ability to create beautiful pieces of art.

 

 

“Every piece in this gallery was created on an Apple product. Every brushstroke, every pixel, and every frame of film was brought to life by talented Apple users from around the world. As you explore their work, we hope it inspires you to create something new.”

 

 

Go check it out – It is definitely inspiring and a perfect message for this time of year!

 

 

 

Apps to help you keep your new year’s resolutions!

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Welcome to 2015 guys!

 

How many of you guys have made or are making New Year’s Resolutions? Resolutions are pretty great things in our book, if only for the chance to evaluate and examine your life and understand how you might like to improve it, looking for ways to inspire you to become a better person. Even if that’s all you do, that’s success.

 

But if you want to really stick to your goals for 2015, here’s some apps to help you out. And remember – one slip up is not a breakage, it can be a way to strengthen the resolution!

 

 

 

Coach.me (previously known as Lift) is a motivational tool that uses in-app professional coaching (for an $14.99 in-app purchase), community support and providing you with data that makes it easy to track, analyze, and celebrate your progress. It also includes features goal inspired plans, challenges and guides to help you achieve anything you’re up for achieving.

 

Free from the App Store (with in-app purchases).

 

 

 

 

 

 

StickK is an app that’s all about goals and helping you reach them. So, perfect!

 

When you begin, you customize and sign a contract. The contract lists the things you will do in order to achieve your goals. As part of the contract you get a ‘Referee’ , someone to report to, to motivate you and someone  to hold you accountable. You also have the option to include cash incentives to your contract. With the cash, a good example is that if you commit to $10 a week that you’ll go to the gym every day, and you fail, then that $10 goes to a charity or person of your choice. If you succeed, you get the money back.

 

The app also provides social media networking and weekly reports. You can sign up for free and get the app here.

 

 

 

 

 

Kickit is an app to help you achieve a SUPER IMPORTANT goal for 2015. Yup, we’re talking about quitting smoking. No lectures here, just take a look at the app, and see how it can provide you with the data, incentives, social media interaction and support to help you quit and let you know just how much money you’re saving and exactly how you’re improving your health.  

 

Get it free from the App Store. 

 

 

 

 

 

Want to get more in touch with yourself and your understanding of the world in 2015? Take a look at Headspace. It’s a mediation app that has been praised all over and is used by over a million people. It provides you with mindfulness techniques that work towards the creator’s mission of creating a healthier, happier world, one mobile device at a time. Sounds awesome.

 

You can sign up for free for their Take10 program (10 x10 mediation sessions) and download the app for free, with in-app purchases if you wanted to continue to subscribe to the Headspace material.

 

 

 

If you would like to give back more in 2015, check out Charity Miles.  It’s a way of turning your time and energy into Charity and giving back. After you get the App, choose a charity and how you’ll be moving about – i.e. walking, biking or running. For every mile, corporate sponsers will give  10¢ per mile for bikers; and 25¢ per mile for walkers and runners to your chosen charity.

 

Free from the App Store. 

 

 

 

 

Another charitable App to check out is One Today. A Google initiative, it presents you with a new Charity every morning, with the option to donate $1. It will also explain how your donation will work towards the Goals of that particular Charity. It’s a way of letting you ‘Give a little, and change a lot’.

 

Free From the App Store. 

 

 

 

Some websites to help you achieve your goals and feel inspired in 2015 –

 

For weight loss goals, we would recommend LoseIt! or My Fitness Pal (also available as Apps).

 

For saving money check out Mint.com.

 

If you would like to travel more, check out www.theflightdeal.com and MileValue.

 

Spend some time on www.freerice.com. For every quiz answer you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to World Food Programme to end world hunger.

 

If you would like to feel good about the state of the world (we always do) check out the AMAZING things people are doing in technology and science at www.futurism.co

 

 

Happy 2015! May you achieve all your goals and may all your wishes come true! And teleportation. We think we’d like teleportation to become a thing in 2015.