How to Publish to Apple News to Increase Your Blog Readership

Do you have your own blog?

Are you getting regular traffic coming to your site to view your content?

Or maybe you’re creating lots of new content but your audience isn’t engaging with it – even if you’re promoting it to your email list and through your social media channels.

If you find you’re in this situation and you’re not seeing the results you would like, it’s time to look at spreading out your content to other channels to help you do some of the heavy lifting and drive more readers back to your site!

One way to do this is using Apple News Publisher.

If you’re not familiar with Apple News, it’s a news reader similar to Flipboard where you can easily view your favorite news sources, blogs and more from your iOS devices.

With more than 1 billion iOS devices sold, how would you like to bring some of those users over to your site to read your content?

In this article, you’ll learn how to publish to Apple News. This way you can start capitalizing on the large number of iOS users who will be using Apple News to read their favorite content.

Let’s take a look at how to add your blog to Apple News Publisher.

How to Publish to Apple News Continue reading How to Publish to Apple News to Increase Your Blog Readership

How to request the desktop site in Safari for Facebook

Have you ever had clients need help and all you had with your mobile device?

Are there Facebook features you can’t access from your mobile device?

In this article, I’ll show you how to request the desktop site in Safari for Facebook.

Facebook mobile frustrations

Have you ever tried to access a website from your mobile device only to be directed to a mobile-friendly version?

Often times, mobile-friendly means limited.

According to The Next Web, 30% of Facebook’s active user base are mobile-only.

I’m expecting those numbers to continue to increase as more and more people go completely mobile.

In the meantime, while Facebook has some great mobile apps by way of the Facebook mobile app and Facebook Page Manager, sometimes it can be frustrating to switch back and forth between apps.

Fortunately, there’s a hidden shortcut that will let you switch to the desktop version of Facebook.

To use the request desktop site feature, you will need to be running iOS 8 on an Apple device.

Follow these instructions to request the desktop site for Facebook.

How to request the desktop site for Facebook

Continue reading How to request the desktop site in Safari for Facebook

4 Takeaways from a Fireside chat with Tim Cook at Duke University

Over the weekend, I spent some time at Duke University, where I had the pleasure to listen to Tim Cook, a Fuqua school of business alumni and the CEO of Apple.

Tim Cook at fireside chat at Fuqua school of business

For anyone who knows me, I love technology. Not just the new gadgets, but learning how to incorporate it into my business and being able to then share my knowledge with others who want to do the same.

A few things to note about the fireside chat, Tim was extremely personable (that’s probably because the room only sat a few hundred people) and while Tim spoke for just over an hour, what impressed me the most was that the conversation wasn’t just about Apple’s current share price (there were a few jokes on that).

Instead, Tim talked about his experiences, what it was like to work with Steve Jobs, product development, finding your north star, and what spurred him to join Apple. All-in-all, I took a lot away from the fireside chat with Tim Cook.

Here are a few of my favorites:
Continue reading 4 Takeaways from a Fireside chat with Tim Cook at Duke University

How to add Google Maps in iOS 6

Adding Google Maps in IOS 6

Yesterday, Apple CEO, Tim Cook announced that Apple “fell short” with Apple Maps in iOS 6. While Apple Maps received a lot of negative press when it first launched – in particular,  users complained that Apple Maps was buggy and provided the wrong directions, I had the opportunity to use it and while I enjoyed using Apple Maps (no wrong directions here), what I missed most were walking directions. Other than that, I felt it was an adequate solution, that will continue to improve over time.

With no official app available for Google Maps, how do you add Google Maps in iOS 6 (or can you)? Fortunately, there’s a very quick and easy way to add Google Maps in iOS 6. Details are below.

How to add Google Maps in iOS 6

Continue reading How to add Google Maps in iOS 6

What to do when opportunity knocks

Creating opportunityA lot of people think that people are born successful.  For most people, that isn’t true. Most people are not born successful.

Sure, some people are born into a situation; for example, a family business.  Others happen to be in the right place at the right time – often when a business is failing and the owners are ready to throw in the towel.

For the most part though, people are successful for one main reason – they see opportunity where others do not.

Here are a few examples to consider.

Continue reading What to do when opportunity knocks

App of the day: Xbox LIVE iPhone app

Xbox LIVE app for iPhone and iPad

Microsoft’s latest app for Apple iOS users called Xbox LIVE mobile app just got a sweet update for video game players. Now, you can control content on your Xbox using your iPhone and iPod Touch.  If you’ve ever used an iOS device to control your Apple TV or your iTunes library, you’ll love this because now you can “play, pause, fast forward, and rewind” just by swiping across your device!

While this is my favorite new feature, here’s a quick rundown on the new Xbox LIVE mobile app.

What I like about this app:

Continue reading App of the day: Xbox LIVE iPhone app

App of the day: Notability

Notability app for Apple iPadThose of you who have seen my office know that I take a lot of notes – at one point, they were on my computer, on my iPad, on papers from conferences and strewn across my desk. That was until I decided to get organized with my notes. If there is one thing that I find helps keep me organized, it’s having a great notes app – especially considering that I take my iPad. For some time, I’ve kept a handful of apps around for doing the standard task – one for sketching out ideas, another for recording voice memos (not just where I parked, but new ideas I thought about, along with notes from conferences I have attended). Unfortunately, having too many apps to essentially do the same thing – take notes – means there’s a lot of maintenance involved and so I wanted to simplify things.

Enter Notability app for iPad.

What I like about this app:

Continue reading App of the day: Notability

App of the day: Photon Flash Player

For those of you who have followed the Apple iPhone and iPad since they first launched, although the products have gotten better (and insanely more popular), one thing that has remained is their lack of Adobe Flash support. What this means is that you can’t visit websites that are build entirely in flash (see here), play many of your favorite Facebook games, such as Farmville, or watch Hulu. Fortunately, there are a few alternatives, such as iSwifter (read my review); however that app only works for the iPad and it only works if you’re using a wireless network. For those of you who want the best app, I recommend Photon Flash Player (download). Not only does it give you all of the functionality for your iOS device, but it’s also very inexpensive, considering it’s the best flash player app on the market.

Photon Flash Player

What I like about the Photon Flash Player app:

Continue reading App of the day: Photon Flash Player

Apple launches iCloud, looks to compete with Amazon and Google

Earlier this week, Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, unveiled a long-awaited new service — iCloud. Upon initial glance, it seemed more like a revamped version of MobileMe, and it kind of is, except a much more powerful service.

With iCloud, users can seamlessly download any music, apps and books (hopefully there is more to come) that they have purchased through iTunes to any iOS device using simply their Apple ID.  What this means is no more cords, more free-time (no more backing up apps), and the ability to keep all of your iOS devices in sync with just one download.

I’ve been fortunate to try this new service out and it’s iCredible!  On my laptop, I Continue reading Apple launches iCloud, looks to compete with Amazon and Google