Media meets communication: Cooliris CTO speaks at ChinaBang 2013
Cooliris CTO Austin Shoemaker was in Beijing last week to speak at ChinaBang 2013, an annual conference on the start-up ecosystem in China.
To an international audience composed of engineers, business managers, and journalists, Austin spoke about the need to further bridge the gap between media centric apps and broadcast apps, where you take photos, stylize them and broadcast them to a vast audience.
Today, the need is answered only in part by chat applications, where media can be shared in a private sphere. But the limitation with chat apps is that they are linear, allowing you to only share one thing at a time.
Austin described how the new Cooliris app provides a solution to fill this divide, where you can share media in smaller groups and in a private context. He explained how Coolris combines media and communication into a unified experience across both private groups and public social networks.
In his words, “We add a personal layer to social media networks”. Cooliris aggregates all your media into one library, organizes it by context, and helps you share it with your specific audience.
ChinaBang is organized by Technode, one of the biggest names in tech media in China.
Submit your Earth Day photos to #Coolearth to raise awareness
April 22, 2013, a billion people around the world will come together to take part in Earth Day, creating awareness about climate change and its impact on our lives and those around us.
To express our solidarity with the organisations, communities and individuals across the globe calling to protect our planet, Cooliris will create a mesmerizing collection of photographs that highlights problems we face as result of climate change.
We invite you to take part. Tell your stories by submitting photographs to us between now and next Monday. We’ll pick the best ones and display them through our social media channels and our blog post on April 22.
To submit your Earth Day photos, just post them through Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest with the hashtag #Coolearth.
To learn more about other ways you can contribute on Earth Day, click here.
Robert Scoble and the growing trend in selective sharing.
“I want people to present something that has value to me. And that means selection,” says Robert Scoble. The renowned tech blogger shared his thoughts with us on the growing importance of selective sharing and keeping one’s public and private profiles in control. Often you end up asking yourself lots of questions before you post to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
What image of yourself are you building when you post personal media to the public? What will people think about it? What will their thoughts be? Will it probably come back to you at some point in the future?
We posed these questions to Scoble and this is what he had to say. “For most people, it’s about control. For me, I just want to signal the system who should see that picture. If you want to see my baby photos, you can see them, but I don’t waste your time if you’re not interested… . So, selective sharing matters a lot.”
With the new Cooliris, the power to choose is with you. You decide who to share your photos and conversations with. The tide is changing and selective sharing is soon becoming the new norm.
New features in Google Drive make organizing photos a breeze
Organizing and viewing your photos in Google Drive is now easier than ever. We added several features with our update yesterday – if you are a Google Drive user, you should check them out!
When you think of organizing your photos, you think of being slouched over your computer and tediously dragging and dropping photos into their proper places. Or perhaps, you’re simply too busy to bother. Now, there’s a better way to organize your photos. With the new Cooliris update, you can sit back and relax on your couch with a good cup of coffee and your iPad, and get the job done with ease and flair.
In the new version, you can not only bulk save multiple photos from any source to Google Drive, but also easily save them into existing Google Drive folders or create new ones on the fly. Then, when you are viewing Google Drive in the Cooliris app, you can easily find your photos in your folders within seconds.
With the new Cooliris update, you can finish saving, organizing and sharing all your photos before your coffee gets cold. Get it now in the iTunes App Store!
Endless Discovery: Cooliris Features Photos From Friends, Followers and Dropbox
Team Cooliris has been working tirelessly for the last few months to bring you yet another super cool update. For those of you who have been following our journey, this update brings a sublime photo discovery experience with it. Your beautiful 3D wall now not only showcases your own photographs but those of your friends and followers as well. Version 2.6 delivers a host of new features that promise endless discovery.
So WHAT’S NEW:
Endless Discovery of friends’ photos - Deeper integration with friends for enriched and meaningful social discovery.
Facebook friends’ photos, Instagram followers and following photos, Flickr contacts’ photos, and Renren friends’ photos are all now surfaced in the app for a beautiful experience. Now you can truly see all of your photos in one place - whether it is your own photos or photos from your friends, followers, and so on.
And that is not all we have in store for you in this release. We have added yet another useful source to store and share your beautiful treasures: Dropbox.
Furthermore, we have added folder navigation into the menu, so you can select any folder in Google Drive and Dropbox and explore them with delight. You can also save photos from any other source, whether it’s your mobile library, Facebook, Instagram, Renren, Picasa, Flickr, directly into a specific Google Drive or Dropbox Folder. This gives you an easy way to organize and save photo collections from your mobile device.
In short, there’s no other app that does it like we do. It’s a fast and fluid experience with selective sharing. With the launch of this new version, Cooliris is the “one-stop app” for all of your photos. We’re creating a better experience for you to connect, discover and selectively share your photos the way you want, from any source of your choice.
So what are you waiting for? Download version 2.6 from the iTunes App Store for free. Time to begin your endless discovery.
We are getting major momentum in Asia: Cooliris gets the media buzzing
The press has spoken; they absolutely love Cooliris and its gang. And this is how we show our appreciation for all the support they have given us; by honoring them all with a post on our website. And of course, for our readers, to find the news about Cooliris all in one place.
As the world prepares for the ominous ides of March, we here quite enjoyed the popularity this month brought for us. At the outset was an epic article written by Robin Wauters titled:
“ Here are 600 million reasons to replace the Photos app on your iPad with Cooliris”
Writing for TheNextWeb, Wauters summarizes the Cooliris journey and the milestones it has achieved on the way. In fact it was a great compliment to read that he has replaced the Photo’ app on his iPad. In his own words, “ I’ve replaced the Photos app on my iPad 2 to see if it’s an adequate alternative, and was pleasantly surprised” . The best part is the article was shared 4784 times so far. You can read the rest of what Wauters said about us here:
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2013/03/07/cooliris-ipad-app-stats/
But it wasn’t all play at the Cooliris HQ, as our team headed by CEO Soujanya Bhumkar left for a tour to Asia. First on their itinerary was the bustling Japanese city of Tokyo. Cooliris being super popular in Japan, with our second highest downloads coming from there, it was no surprise how responsive the tech media was to us. One of the most popular tech writers in Japan, Techdoll, tweeted about us to her thousands of followers and Techwave Japan organized an interview with our CEO and other editors. Rick Martin of the ever popular Start-up Dating Japan had this to write after a sit-down with Soujanya;
“ Catching up with the CoolIris team in Tokyo” http://www.startup-dating.com/2013/03/cooliris-japan
Next stop was the effervescent South Korea. The media was buzzing with the idea of interviewing the Cooliris team. Each media outlet contacted was eager to send their reporters for a meeting with the Cooliris team. Language was not a barrier, it was their enthusiasm that made for excellent press. The first morning our team was met by the popular ZDNet, whose article can be found here:
http://www.zdnet.co.kr/news/news_view.asp?artice_id=20130313160632&type=xml
Korea’s number one IT Trade paper, The Electronic Times, also featured Cooliris
http://www.etnews.com/news/contents/internet/2734535_1488.html
It was a busy morning with Korea’s number one Economic Paper, The Maeil Economic Newspaper had their time with the team as well:
http://news.mk.co.kr/newsRead.php?year=2013&no=191381
Known as one of Korea’s most popular tech news sites, Bloter.Net also took the time out to meet with our team
http://www.bloter.net/archives/146718
It was a busy first day, but there was no stopping the media in Korea. The next day, Korea’s oldest and largest English news publication, The Korea Times, sat down for an interview with our CEO:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/people/2013/03/178_132064.html
It has been a great few weeks for Cooliris in the media and we humbled by the coverage we have gotten, especially from across the shores. It just gives us the impetus to work harder and come out with ever cooler updates for everyone to enjoy.
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and share your Irish food.
St. Patricks Day is coming tomorrow and since we are having some teammates with irish roots, we want to pass on, what they shared with us about this day. Guess what! It is mainly recipes on how to cook with beer. Since we are all about sharing, and it’s St. Patricks Day weekend, we want to digress from our usual topics and share the food experience of this St. Patricks Day with you.
Splashes of green hues, shamrocks, Ireland and beer; all synonymous for the day most people around the world eagerly await. March 17th is celebrated as St. Patrick’s day, a day full of feasting and revelry. Parades and festivals are not only held in Ireland but as far away as Argentina as well. The day has now evolved into celebrating everything ‘Irish’, especially their beer. Front runner for Irish Ales, Guinness, uses this day as the focus of its marketing strategy with St. Patrick’s Day events worldwide. But where can you find most of the population on St. Patrick’s Day? The answer is simple, flocking around an Irish pub.
Charles M. Madigan quipped, “St. Patrick,one of the few saints whose feast day presents the opportunity to get determinedly whacked and and make a fool of oneself all under the guise of acting Irish.” That however, does not seem like the only way to enjoy beer on St. Patrick’s Day, cook up a feast using the favorite ingredient of this holiday;beer. A good beverage to use while cooking as it includes ingredients that we use on a daily basis; grains, herbs, water and yeast. In order to help you decide, I have compiled a list of the top 5 things to cook with beer on St. Patrick’s Day.
1. Beer Batter
Famously found in the pubs of England and Ireland, beer battered fish and squid top the list. Drowned with a pint, beer battered seafood is one of the pillars of British gastro-pub cooking. Simple enough to make yet crispy and flavorful for a fun night out. Just whisk together 1 1/2 cup of flour, salt, pepper and 1 tbsp olive oil, then slowly add 2 cans of beer while stirring. Once mixed, carefully fold in 4 egg whites till combined. Your beer batter is ready. Just dip the seafood of your choice or even onions thoroughly in the batter and fry. Crispy beer battered snacks will be ready in under 10 minutes.
2. Beer Bread
Best eaten hot and straight out of the oven. The aroma that will fill your house would be enough to make your stomach rumble and devour the bread. The idea behind beer bread is straightforward, just substitute some of the liquid ingredients for beer. Add a can of beer with 2 beaten eggs to your dry mixture (2 cups bread flour, 2tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp baking powder and 2 tsp salt). Mix well and knead on a lightly floured surface. Grease your loaf pan and pour the bread mixture evenly. Bake the bread for about an 1 hour at 375f. Let it cool before serving. Pat it with butter or eat on its own, a great use for the leftover beer in the fridge.
3. Beer Can Chicken
It is one of the most popular barbecue recipes in the world. It can either be cooked on a charcoal grill or in the oven. If cooking on the charcoal grill, soak the woodchips in beer too for extra aroma. If cooking in the oven, discard half the beer from the can and make holes on top of the can for the liquid to steam. Cover your chicken with your favorite barbecue dry rub and place it upright, resting on the beer can in the roasting pan. Roast for about 2 hours at 275f and carve after about 15 minutes. Soft, succulent chicken boasting a full-bodied aroma will leave your palate asking for more.
4. Beer Puffs
Another snack to serve with drinks, especially your favorite Ale or Stout are beer puffs. These mini puffs can be stuffed with any filling of your choice, vegetables, tuna, chicken or even a mixture of them all. Melted cheese over these puffs also turns into a delicious appetizer. Heat a stick of butter with 1 cup of beer. As the butter melts add 1 cup flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper and 1 tsp red chilli powder. Mix well for about 5 minutes. Add 4 eggs one at a time, whisking after every addition. Spoon the mixture onto the baking sheets in round balls and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350f. Let them cool and either add the stuffing on the top or slice the puff through and place it in the middle. Easy party snacks for St. Patrick’s Day
5. Irish Stew with Beer
No St. Patrick’s Day celebration can be complete without an Irish dish on the menu. Hence, its appropriate to mention their traditional dish, Irish Stew, albeit with beer. Cook 1 1/2 lbs of chopped beef in two batches. Once browned in oil, set aside the meat. Simmer 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp dried thyme, 1 tsp dried rosemary and 2-3 star anise in 4 cups of chicken stock for an hour. Lower the heat and add 4 chopped potatoes, 1 diced onion,3 sliced carrots, salt, pepper, 1 cup beer/ale and the meat. Cover and cook till the potatoes are tender. Add cornflour if you want to thicken the stew but I prefer it to be soupy. Serve it with beer bread and eat like the Irish do.
A lot has been said about cooking with beer; never cook with beer you cant drink, the less you boil beer the more flavorful the dish and use beer in any recipe by substituting it with the liquid ingredients. But the main point always seems to be left out. Drink the beer while cooking with it and enjoy. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
5 tips to help you take better photos with your phone’s camera
Everyone is taking photos with their mobile phones these days, especially now that the camera quality has gotten so great!
Being a photo app company means that we’re constantly taking photos everyday. Here are 5 questions that you can ask yourself when you are capturing photo memories to make them even better, before you share them in Cooliris afterwards! ;)
1. What story are you telling?
Before you take your photo, it is very important that you have a clear idea what you want to show in the photo. What is your goal with the shot? What do you want to capture and deliver to people viewing the photo? Is there something that you want to discuss while showing the photo? Keep this in mind and it will help you with the right framing and composition of the photo.
2. What is the background and foreground?
This is important for your composition. If you want to point out an object in the foreground, like in a portrait shot, make sure your background is not distracting from that. If your background is very colorful or attention-grabbing, a tilt-shift or depth of field filter may help in defocusing the background. Here is how to do it with Instagram.
3. Do you have enough light?
With phone cameras, this can be especially tricky when there is not enough light. Make sure you have a main source of light that is strong enough to light up your subject. In low light situations, stabilize your camera to make sure your shot doesn’t get blurry.
4. What is the best time for an outdoor shot?
The best outdoor shots with phone cameras are usually taken during sunrise or sunset. Since the light is smoother during that time, it gives your subject the best exposure. During noon the sun is very high, so your subjects will look washed out and flat. Also, the shadows will have high contrast.
5. Are the lines straight?
If you are taking landscape shots, make sure the horizon is not sloping. With the iPhone camera you can activate grid view to help, which you find in the camera screen under “Options”.
Once you take your great shot, you’ll probably want to share it with people who share your passion or the memories you captured. For that, we can provide you the best solution – the Cooliris app. :)
Let us know if you have other tips for taking better photos to share with the community. We might even feature you on a guest post!
Meet team Cooliris at Mobile World Congress 2013
It is that exciting time of the year again when telcos and tech giants converge upon the Spanish city of Barcelona. Yes, it is time for Mobile World Congress 2013. Mobile operators, app developers, start-ups and journalists will all come together under the Catalan sun; all to conduct business, network, collaborate and demo new products/services. And with so much to look forward too, Team Cooliris will be right there in the middle of all the action. From 25th-28th February 2013, cool members of Team Cooliris will be at the Fira Gran Via for the biggest mobile event in the world. Our team would love to meet you if you are attending the MWC this year. A sneak peek into who you have a chance of meeting up with from Cooliris:
· Austin Shoemaker – CTO @shoe2
· Sebastian Blum – VP Business Development @lebastif
· Derek Tan – Business Development @derektrex
· Jenny Lum – Press Relations @jennzz
This year’s Mobile World Congress will focus on innovation and new applications of mobile technology; which goes hand in hand with what Cooliris has to offer. We would love to meet you, demo, discuss and share some cool upcoming features, stats and unique usage trends. All you have to do is email us at (team@cooliris.com), connect with us through our twitter account (@Cooliris) as we tweet our way across the halls of the MWC, or simply just come up to us at the MWC. There is lots to talk about.
With over a billion photos connected in the app and over 350 million engaged meaningfully, you too can become part of the Cooliris revolution. We are eagerly looking forward to Barcelona and even more excited to meet you.
Share the love this Valentines Day with Cooliris
Cupid strikes again this year as the world celebrates Valentine’s Day today. Walk through malls, restaurants, coffee shops and stores, all you will see is a blanket of red color. From tiny nuances to large drapery, all shades of red will be the order of the day. As you make your way throughout the day, visiting different parts of your city or town, make sure to snap these beautiful adornments to add to your photo collection. Who knows, at some point when you need décor ideas, you could always access these photos via Cooliris and thank your lucky stars that you didn’t miss the opportunity to take these momentous snaps.
Celebrating Valentine’s Day has become a norm on the 14th of February ever year, whether you are single or attached. Couples surprise each other by making breakfast in bed, spoiling their spouse with chocolates, filling the house with aromatic red roses and ending the day with a candle light dinner. These are moments you want to treasure forever and the best way to do so is to capture them in your phone. These moments turn into precious treasures as time goes by, with the tap of the Cooliris button, you can relive what you did on Valentine’s Day, every day of the year. Look through all your wonderful pictures in our amazing 3D wall and bring a smile to your face. For those who are unattached, celebrate your singledom by having a crazy night out with your friends. Don’t forget to click and record those memories, who knows you might look at those photos a few years down the road and laugh at the crazy times you had.
We, here at Cooliris plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day together with our whole crew and embed those memories forever in our minds and of course our iPhones. Make memories this year with Cooliris and share the love with us as well. Send your special photographs to your family and friends to celebrate this day with them too.
From all of us at Cooliris, help spread the love and a very Happy Valentine’s Day!
