Google's Drive file storage and syncing service is now available, with 5GB of free storage.

Small businesses and enterprise can upgrade to 25GB for $2.49/month or 1TB for $49.99/month. Gmail account storage is increased to 25GB with a paid Drive account. 

The service is built directly into Google Docs and it is integrated with other Google's products like Google+. 

Drive, which provides you with access to cloud-connected storage on PC and Mac desktops and Android phones, competes with Dropbox and Microsoft's SkyDrive.

I'm using it and it seems pretty useful. It works better with Chrome browser, especially if you want to upload folders, not just single files.

A final note: although the service is live, it's not available for everyone yet. You can request that Google notifies you when is ready. 

My client and friend Luis Gonzalez, co-head of the GSR Foundation, sends me an article highlighting the incredible growth of Goodreads social reading site, with 20 million unique visitors per month.

It is remarkable that in these social media times authors can sell over 13,000 books to their fans. And a lot -as many as 35,000- of self-promoting, social-networking authors have taken to Goodreads.

The site currently has 20,000 groups and 8 million registered members who have written more than 13 million reviews and bought more than 280 million e-books.

One of the great tech features of Goodreads is its next-book-you-should-read recommendation engine. This algorithm is based around ratings, what's on reader's virtual bookshelf and what readers with similar tastes have recommended.

Also, for self-promoting authors, bloggers and publishers is a fantastic tool.
 

Twenty days after Facebook's Timeline has become publicity visible for all Pages, and once I have used it extensively, it is clear to me that Facebook's goal is to make Pages more about storytelling than product selling. (I'd say that in a way they are going after Twitter).

The death of the default landing tab reduces engagement with signup widgets and contests. This is bad news for aggressive marketers, who are forced to use Facebook ads. 

Now the interaction with a brand is based on content and what friends are saying. Businesses need to express themselves more visually and their feed of updates must be more engaging. Brands with a long, colorful history have the most to gain from Timeline.

This is what the inventor of Timeline, Facebook product manager Sam Lessin, said about it:

"We're doing this because consistency matters. Organizations have identifies too. A lot of brands aren't great storytellers, but the best ones are. All brands should aspire to that level with their Timeline. It weaves together the best stories from the brand and the best stories from your friend about the brand."

Do you truly think that you are able to multi-task while you are in your smart phone?

I don't think so.

I captured this slide in a conference I attended last week in Las Vegas 2012 NAB Show. It was given by an analyst of Insight - MTV Entertainment Group.

Examine it carefully. It makes you think about the disruptions in our daily life that the multi-tasking and social media addiction are causing.

Google Plus is getting a major makeover. 

Now the site is cleaner and smoother, with soft gray tones, and it is easier to navigate. 

Photos are presented in a large view and flow into the stream seamlessly. 

We have been hired to empower the U.S. version of an European Facebook page.

We are going to use our Facebook marketing skills to bring in leads, opportunities and sales to the brand. 

The main goal is to increase the customer base, as well as retain the current customers. 

First advice we gave our client: Don't be just a brand, but be a community users love being a part of.

The key is keeping fans engaged. 
 

Here are a few more tips you might find useful:

• Implement a strategy to be likeable. Facebook pages allow an unlimited number of "likes". On a personal profile the limit is 5,000 friends. Once you reach that number, you'll simply be unable to accept new friend requests. 
   
• Send people to your Facebook page. Put its link everywhere, use every opportunity you have. 
   
• Use a lot of photos. The new Facebook Timeline design displays photos prominently.
   
• Interact with fans. In a way, everyone who Likes your page is raising their hand and expressing their interest in learning more about your business. 
   
• Use a custom URL --which is available on settings once 25 people like your Facebook page. 
   
• Check metrics on Facebook's Insights. It offers in-depth user data about your page, including information on the gender, age and location of who is looking at your page, as well as which types of status updates are the most popular. 
   
• Consider using automated social media tools to schedule content and status updates.
  

Above is a video about the new Facebook pages. A great place to learn more is The Official Facebook channel in YouTube. 

In today's times the online experience is about being quick and portable. 

Knowing so, About.me has launched an iPhone app that allows users to create their own public profile page, share with others and learn who is nearby, within a one-to-50 mile radius area. (To share your localion you have to opt in, like in the Girls Around Me app). 

About.me, which began in 2009 and was later sold to AOL, ties together dozens of social sites into one place and offers a free profile page for people online. 

I like this new iPhone / iPad app called Snapguide.

It allows people to create a mobile guide about anything using videos, photos and words. 

Some of the guides currently available include how to roast your own coffee or make easter egg pops

Snapguide was created by two former Yahoo and Google Chrome engineers, after their company received $2 million in funding last year. 

The Pentagon is pushing crowdsourced manufacturing as a way to accelerate military projects design. 

Through Vehicleforge.mil web portal, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA, a Pentagon agency) will gather, share and test ideas. The first contest, with a $1 million price, is about designing an amphibious vehicle for the Marines. 

Vehicleforge.mil will allow to simulate the behavior of complex systems using computer-aid software. For example, a vehicle body and chassis design, submitted as code, will be plugged into the Vehicleforge.mil platform and tested for aerodynamics by in a virtual wind tunnel. 

See the graphic below. 

The NYT wrote about it. 
  

G.E. Research

New video ads from Nokia to sell its new Lumia 900 smartphone is to make you feel dumb about your iPhone or Android phone, which are presented as unfinished beta devices. 

The campaign, called The Smartphone Beta Test, involves a series of videos depicting fictional decision-makers discussing the flaws of smartphones. The actors discuss the iPhone infamous "death grip", the difficulty of reading a phone's screen in the sun... An ad shows them saying it is just fine to sell a fragile smartphone, because they can sell new ones whenever they break. 

See all ads at SmartphoneBetaTest.com.

See how Google is testing their new augmented-reality glasses. 

This project is part of a secret initiative called Project Glass. This is Google's first venture into wereable computing. 

The glasses, which are not yet for sale, have a clear display that sits above the eye. They stream information to the lenses and allow the weared to send an receive messages through voice commands. There is also a built-in camera to record video and take pictures. It all runs on the Android mobile platform. 

In the above's video a man wanders around the streets of New York City, communicating with friends, seeing maps and information, and snapping pictures. It concludes with him video-chatting with a girlfriend as the sun sets over the city. All of this is see through the augmented-reality glasses. 

Who are the best universities at using social media?

When it comes to connect with students, potential applicants and the community, here are the top 10. 

The results are determined by how each school attracted attention to its social media pages — based on site traffic, followers, views and engagement — as well as receptiveness to listening to comments, interaction, network reach and trust.  

1. Harvard
2. University of Pennsylvania
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
4. University of Michigan
5. Stanford University
6. University of California, Berkeley
7. University of Oxford
8. University of Sheffield
9. University of Wisconsin, Madison
10. University of Texas at Austin

The leading university Harvard, with 1.6 million fans on Facebook and 107,000 Twitter followers, posts everything from news about researchs to video footage of basketball team.

The list was done by social media consulting firm Sociagility.

Their report about it is absolutely worth to download. 
 

To survive in a world of information abundance, we need a balanced information diet. 

The book "The Information Diet" states that consumers must take responsability for the type of information they consume, much like the foods they eat.

The problem is not the information overload. It is just an information consumption problem.

Clay Johnson, the author of the book, suggests in a interview to the NYT to "consume information locally, about your community and your family first." 

He adds: "You should demand whole and sustainable news, not news that is based on sensationalized content and placed next to advertising."

A handful of comediants are producing specials on their own, posting them online and selling them directly through their personal Web sites, eliminating the control of broadcaster and airing things that might be not appropriate.

• Louis C. K. released a stand-up special "Live at the Beacon Theater" as a $5 download and sold 220,000 downloads, grossing over $1.1 million. Above is an outtake from that special.
   
• Jim Gaffigan has used online content provider like Netflix, Amazon and YouTube, and make some shows available free to viewers who watched a block of commercials first.
   

Also, content that has been neglected by television has been capitalized on the Internet. Last month Yahoo offered a live performance by Bill Maher that generated more than 2 million streams. 

One thing is sure: once again, the Internet is many times the salvation of TV specials and shows. 

Eventbrite has released an interesting credit card reader for the iPad aimed at event planners who want to sell tickets at door. 

The device, which is on sale for $10 through EventBrite's online store, processes 400 transactions per hour and can connect wirelessly with printers to print out tickets and receipts for customers. It a proprietary reader because third-party payments companies like Square do not make available the data they capture.

Eventbrite ticketing start-up company based in San Francisco, processed more than 20 million tickets for half a million events during 2011.

Recently PayPal unveiled its own alternative to Square card reader.