Sometimes we all need a little extra “oomph” to get our rears in gear. That extra motivation “oomph” can provide may mean the difference between success and failure. Or maybe it will just mean the difference between you having a solid Twitter presence or one that overwhelms you with information

Social Oomph is a tool designed to help users better leverage their social media accounts. Formerly known as “Tweet Later,” Social Oomph aides in the management of your social network quiver. With two versions, FREE and Professional, there exist a wide-array of tools to help “boost your social productivity.”

For those of you looking to be Tweet-Stars on a low budget: the free base account offers plenty of useful features to aide in your success.

• Schedule your tweets: Type up some Tweet drafts, save them, publish instantly, or save them for later. Decide when to Tweet and walk away to do other things like go on Facebook.
• Tracking Keywords: Feed Social Oomph some keywords and receive email updates of the usage of those keywords. It is good to be in the know about what people are saying.
• Bit.ly URL shortening service: Bit.ly is another great tech-tool. Having Social Oomph paired with Bit.ly is like getting two scoops of ice cream for the price of one. Seriously though, schedule your tweet, insert your link, have it shortened, and Bit.ly will provide analytics for the click-thrus on your link. This all happens in one easy to use interface.

Inspired social media users with a larger budget may opt for the professional version of Social Oomph. For 29.97 per month users have added features to leverage their presence with even more OOMPH.  A few of the key professional features include:

• Facebook status management and wall post scheduling.
• Scheduling blog postings.
• More robust keyword searching.
• Other Twitter features like direct message management and follower measurement.

Visit the full list of professional features to see what Social Oomph Professional can do.

By far and large the most useful part of Social Oomph for us has been the ability to schedule Tweets for promotions. Rather than take time to hop back on Twitter every hour. Users can type up tweets, save them as drafts and schedule to post them as much as they desire throughout the day.

Social Oomph does not replace the real-time aspect of Twitter which is necessary to be a great Tweep. However, Social Oomph helps alleviate common obstacles which inhibit tweeting like board meetings and conference calls.

Give Social Oomph a try and schedule some tweets to tell us what you think!

Google is the full-service gas station of websites.  From search to email and now to social: Google does it all.  Aptly named, Buzz is the latest step in Google’s emergence as a social network.  Buzz has all the characteristics that you have come to enjoy from your favorite social media websites along with some extra pieces of flair.

• Buzz uses the all important “status update.”
  Tell your followers what you’re doing, what you did, what you’re thinking or maybe just to share your latest haiku.  The status update has become the crutch for Social Internet.   What differs with this status update is the unlimited amount of characters you can enter.  No more using weird abbreviations in a struggle to express yourself in under 140 characters.  Also notable are the privacy settings, which are decided per post by choosing either public or private.  For the forgetful out there be sure to double-check before post. [the default is a public post]  Also, Buzz connects with Twitter. So all you Tweeps out there have no fear, you won’t miss a single tweet.

• Content sharing capabilities.
  Post links and videos into your updates to share with your followers. Along with Twitter, you can connect your Buzz account to your Flickr, Google Reader, Picasa, and YouTube accounts.  The content  you post on these other sites become part of your Buzz instantly.  One piece that I feel cannot go without mention is the photo gallery.  Accessed by clicking an image within the post, the photo gallery appears in light box style and allows for quality viewing and easy scrolling through the images within the post.

• Social Interactions.
  Users have the ability to interact with others in your network through commenting on posts, email forwarding, and  “liking” [To my disappointment there is still no “dislike” or “stoked” option for posts].  Comments are tracked by also being sent to your Gmail inbox.  Other social networks utilize the email notifications but Buzz and Gmail are part of the same platform so you get to save time and browser tabs.

• Suggestive Content.
  Buzz includes algorithms to suggest content which the algorithms deem interesting based on your past habits.  So if your friends aren’t sharing interesting content, at least  Buzz is there for you to hook you up with some good blog posts.

• The @ Reply.
  Buzz allows you to send @replys to others’ Gmail accounts.  The @reply, popularized by Twitter, is now the newest way to send emails.  Simply type @ and then the person’s Gmail address and you’re message is on its way.

• Buzz on the go.
  Buzz and Mobile were meant for each other.  Some of the mobile features include Buzz knowing your location, searching for people Buzzing nearby and layering capabilities with Google Maps.  Buzz mobile is accessible through mobile Google, Google Mobile maps and from buzz.google.com on iphone and android phones.

To become part of the buzz go here buzz.google.com. To watch a video about the buzz scroll down a little bit further. And lastly, to read more more of our cool posts about technology  click Tuesday Tech Tango.

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We are taught from a young age that sharing is a good thing. We’ve all heard the clever rhyme to induce sharing amongst youngsters: “sharing is caring.” In an age of a hyper-connected social web; knowledge sharing is caring. Your presence online is bolstered by your ability to generate content and share that content. Today I present to you a tool to share your knowledge through slide presentations. Presenting “Slide Share” for our Tuesday Tech Tango post.

Slide Share is a place for businesses to share slideshow presentations with the greater web community. Uploading and sharing slides is just the tip of the ice berg. Other features which may tickle your fancy are the ability to embed audio into the slides and upload general text and spreadsheet documents. Ok so you are thinking: “cool I can upload my documents; how does this differ from just emailing them?”

Social capabilities! Users have their own SlideShare profile page where other users can comment on their wall, create and join groups, follow favorite users, use custom widgets and also have their Slide Share accounts connected to LinkedIN and Facebook.

If your business creates documents for public consumption; specifically slide presentations, then Slide Share is definitely something worth your while. Not only will you have a convenient portal to direct folks interested in your presentation; you will be able to expand the audience for your presentations.

One last benefit of Slide Share is the credibility you can generate for your business. As a business, you are viewed as the expert.  The key to growing your perception as the expert is to share that expertise.  Slide Share is the key to sharing and becoming a resource for your community.

Enjoy the slides below from a presentation we did on the basics of Twitter. If you are interested in more knowledge via slide shows; visit VQC’s Facebook Page where our other presentations are posted.

| Get your SlideShare Playlist

The Apple Tablet?

The online grape vines are a-buzz with talks of Apple’s proposed tablet computer which could possibly “change the news media”, what Steve Jobs says is “the most important thing he has ever done” and what one Twitter user claims “to be able to remove lipstick from collar.”  Okay so maybe it won’t do all those things, but 2/3 isnt bad.  Get ready world; the itablet cometh, at least thats what’ve heard.

On Wednesday, Jan. 27th Apple will quiet all these rumors with a press event titled “Come See Our Latest Creation.” Although, there are no specifics as to what will be unveiled, there is visual evidence that an event is being planned. To witness the event first hand, you can watch live via Gizmodo.

So what you can expect from Apple this Wednesday:

• The rumor mill is leaning heavily towards the unveiling of a tablet computer for Apple. For Steve Jobs to come out and unveil something different would be a complete let down for tech-fans across the globe. Plus, Paddy Power, a UK bookkeeping service, is taking bets on the tablet’s name. So far “islate” is favorited with 4/5 odds and ‘itablet” is at 6/1 odds.

• A tablet computer with multi-touch screen interface, 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi and the ability to download print media including books, magazines, newspapers and textbooks. These are the supposed key features for the tablet, which is beginning to sound a lot like a large version of the iphone. The separating factor will be the subscriptions offered for traditional print media.

• A device that looks and acts like an enlarged iphone. Online concepts stay true to the iphone’s design. The user-interface will most likely include Apple’s multi-touch technology, which is being introduced across an array of Apple  products.

• An explosion of tweets leading up to and following the event in San Francisco. Search #itablet in Twitter and you can keep up to date with all the rumors and add your own thoughts to the mix.

The proposed Apple tablet computer will be entering markets occupied by net books and e-readers like the Kindle. But, as we can always expect from Apple, the tablet will be something completely unique and stand in a field of its own. Just as the ipods did in the portable mp3 market and the iphone in the cell phone market. The big question is who will provide service to the tablet computer and will it be determined by the size of their map?

With iPhones, 3Gs and the ubiquitous Google; us humans have become accustomed to having answers at our finger tips. Just as long as we could type in our question.  However, how often have you been out with friends staring at some big monumental piece of architecture and wondered, hmmmm, I wonder what this is but have no way to describe it? Or perhaps you have a book you are interested in learning about but don’t have enough motivation to type in the title.  Or maybe even you receive a business card and would like more information on the company but once again do not desire to type in the full contact information.

Viola! Your wants and desires are once again satiated by Google.  Google Labs released Google Goggles on Monday.  Google Goggles is a visual search tool for Android Devices.  Snap a photo and Google Goggles is able to decipher what your picture is and search based on your picture.

Due to its freshness, the new technology does have its limitations.  For now, Google Goggles is only available on Android enabled smart phones.  (Don’t fret iPhone users, you can utilize other augmented reality applications for your visual search needs.)  Also, not all subjects are easily recognized by Google Goggles; think more general objects like food, cars, animals and people.  The Goggles will recognize artwork, business cards, landmarks, logos and books.

This technology could open up new realms of search optimization and internet marketing. Imagine a world where search optimization plays a roll in the manufacturing phase of products and buildings.   Will search’s influence continue to grow and take us to this level?

It takes two to tango.  It also takes two to use technology, the user and the piece of technology.  Hence our new weekly blog covering the wonderful world of technology.  We spend all week dancing around the internet and come Tuesday we are ready to perform.  Each week VQC will highlight a piece of the tech world which caught our eye and will hopefully catch yours.

This week we’ll take a dive into augmented reality; would you like the red pill or the blue pill?  Okay, so augmented reality may not be on the level of the Matrix, but once it becomes widely available, augmented reality will redefine the way people use their mobile devices.  The technology allows a live digital image of a physical environment to be integrated with virtual information.  Take a moment to let the gears grind and imagine the possibilities this technology offers to users. Check out these examples to get a better idea of what AR offers.

Info for shoppers

FoodTracer concept+demo from gusepo on Vimeo.

This past summer an Augmented Reality Consortium of 8 AR companies was formed with a focus on developing tools, technology, applications, and content for AR.  This technology has been conceptual for nearly a decade and is now being pushed towards widespread application.  President of the consortium and CEO of Ogmento, Ori Inbar, has gone as far as to refer to this technologies development as a “digital renaissance.”

One of the leading companies of this digital renaissance is Layar based in The Netherlands.  Layar, a mobile “reality browser”, launched in June 2009 has recently become available globally on all Android Devices.   I’ll allow the video below speak for itself.  Just imagine the possibilities yourself.