Garden Apps in Full Bloom

Now that spring is finally here, gardeners around the country are looking forward to spending their days planting, weeding and tending their favorite flowers, fruits or vegetables.

And instead of picking up shovels or spades, some gardeners will start by reaching for their smartphones.

That's because there are actually a ton of smartphone apps out there that are geared specifically for gardeners, including things like growing requirements, planting and bloom times.

For instance, the Garden Pilot app for the iPhone has over 14,000 plants in its directories, covering plant diseases, fertilizers and chemicals, organic gardening and eco-friendly ideas, and shows which plants are available for purchase at local app-participating retailers.

The iPhone also has the Gardens app, which is a collection of short, informative videos about different gardening topics. There's even a Bugs & Insects app that provides info on 900 different pests.

But Apple doesn't have the garden app market cornered, because there are several Android apps for green thumbs out there, including Botanica, which pairs plants with hardiness zones, provides space for photos and journal entries, and issues alerts telling you when it's time to water.

But what I'm wondering is, how many of you actually garden with your phones on you enough to take advantage of these apps? And would you actually consult apps like these?

Opening the Floodgates

Technologically speaking, we live in a copycat world. If a company has even a small amount of commercial success with a new device, you can be sure its competitors will follow suit and ride the wave of momentum.

And over the past few weeks, it's been a wave of iPad news soaking into almost every blog and media outlet.

But now that it's been a week since Apple's tablet has launched and the waters have settled slightly, it seems like the tide may start to turn in this budding tablet market over the coming months.

That's because there's a steady stream of new tablet releases expected to launch in the next year, and each one is looking to offer its own unique spin on the tablet device (The HP Slate with its 2 cameras and USB ports or the Microsoft Courier, which has 2 screens and folds in half).

The list of companies that have tablets in the works is long one, including Dell, Acer, Lenovo, Nokia, Asus, Compal, Notion Ink, MSI, Quanta and ICD.

The latest news is that Google is testing the tablet waters as well and confirmed it's partnering with HTC to develop an Android-based tablet device, but hasn't even released so much as name yet.

Regardless, what is abundantly clear is that companies across the board obviously feel that the tablet market is a strong one with a lot of potential, and that should lead to more innovation and design.

And whether you love the iPad or hate it, it's hard to argue that it hasn't opened the floodgates for more and more tablets in the future.

Facebook Gets the South Park Treatment

You know you've achieved iconic pop culture status when you've been mentioned, or ripped apart, by the foul-mouthed kids on South Park.

Well, this week the creators of South Park finally got around to aiming their satirical sights on Facebook in their newest episode "You Have 0 Friends" that aired on Wednesday.



The mocking of the Internet's most popular social network was hilariously perfect, covering everything from stressing over Farmville to "poking" family members. They even squeezed in some references to ChatRoulette (which has upwards of 1 million visitors now) and Tron (which has sequel coming to theaters later this year).

So did the episode raise any groundbreaking issues about Facebook? Not really, in fact the only question is why they waiting so long to slam the website that's dominated our lives for years now.

Regardless, it was well worth the wait, because sometimes it's nice just to sit back and laugh at ourselves for our social media obsessions.

End of the Line for Checkin Cheaters

If there was one social media tool that could really benefit from the "iPad fever" that's been sweeping the country over the past few weeks, it's Foursquare. An easily portable, internet-accessible tablet is perfect for a location-based app like this.

Not that Foursquare needs the help, with over 1.2 million site visitors and no sign that the momentum is slowing down.

Case in point: back in mid-March, I wrote about the big brand partnerships Foursquare made with companies like Starbucks and Bravo Network for different giveaways and contests.

And with more and more companies looking towards location-based apps for promotional work (and Foursquare being arguably the biggest of these apps right now), Foursquare recently took steps to fix the biggest problem the service has; cracking down on users who checkin to places they're not actually at.

The site is now using the GPS built into mobile phones to verify that cheating checkins are kept to a minimum. The reason this is so important is that because Foursquare is shoring up its biggest issue, current users who were frustrated with checkin cheating will remain loyal, while people who haven't tried Foursquare will be more likely to give it a shot.

More importantly, companies may be more willing to look into Foursquare as a viable promotional tool because these changes further legitimize it as the top of the location-based food chain.

Primetime Product Placement

Last week I wrote a post about how advertisers had to overcome TiVo and short attention spans through creative means. Well for years, the main weapon advertisers have used in their war against digital recording devices was product placement.

Usually, this tactic is limited to a well-placed (and name brand) beverage for our favorite TV characters to drink, or a casual off-the-cuff reference to certain restaurant or fast-food chain.

However, last week I watching the show Modern Family and the product placement went from deceptively subtle to overwhelmingly obvious.

That's because last week's episode was entirely devoted to the iPad...as if we hadn't already heard enough about the iPad, right?

The plot of the episode was basically that Phil, one of the main characters, gets an iPad for his birthday. After blowing out the digital candles on his birthday cake app, he and his family continued to gush over how great the iPad is.

And seeing as how it was indeed a real iPad and not a mock-up or a fake, I doubt it was a coincidence or the producers simply looking to capitalize on a trending topic.

Now I understand it's timely, what with the recent iPad launch and all (not to mention the flurry of media coverage that followed), but I'm not sure how I feel about being whacked over the head with the product placement.