Thursday, May 15, 2014

YouTube, Facebook Account for Nearly a Third of Mobile Traffic

Facebook and YouTube are now dominating mobile traffic shares in early 2014, as more people shift to a mobile device to upload photos to social networks and watch cat videos.Facebook and YouTube now account for 32% of data sent to and from mobile devices, according to a report by Sandvine. Individually, Facebook's share was 26.9% for upstream traffic and had a 14% share for downstream traffic during peak periods in North America through the beginning of this year, while YouTube only had 3.7% share for upstream traffic, but a 17.6% share for downstream.With Facebook's high upstream traffic, it seems users are uploading photos and videos from mobile devices more than ever before on the social network. YouTube's downstream traffic share is essentially unchanged from the Sandvine's number from last year, 17.7%.
The following chart, created by Statista, lists the top 10 web services ranked by mobile traffic share. 

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Adobe Launches Standalone Storytelling App for iPad

Many of Adobe's mobile offerings have been extensions of the company's popular software products, such as Photoshop or Lightroom.
Increasingly, however, Adobe is focusing on providing more tools for its mobile users. The company rolled out Adobe Voice Thursday, an all-new storytelling app for iPad users.
SEE ALSO: The 25 Best Free iPad Apps
The app gives users a way to easily create and share animated videos that combine images, music, voice recordings and special effects.
"Adobe Voice puts the power of Creative Cloud's industry-leading video and audio technology into the hands of the masses," Winston Hendrickson, Adobe's vice-president of products for Creative Media Solutions, said in a release.
The app is meant be simple to use, and provide people — especially those who may not be able to use traditional video-editing software — with ways to tell stories through video.
Adobe Voice app screen
Users begin by choosing from a preset story template that helps outline the structure of their video. They can then import their own photos, draw from the app's library of 25,000 icons or search the web for their own images.
Adobe also included specially created soundtracks, so users can add music to fit the story. Users can also record their own voiceovers.
The company said it envisions the app to be particularly useful in schools, where students and teachers may want to create interactive videos, but don't necessarily have the knowledge or resources to use conventional video software. Adobe even had students and teachers test the app during its beta period.
News of Adobe Voice first surfaced last fall, when images of the app's private beta, codenamed "Ginger," leaked online.