Mobile technology is moving at an amazing speed. As Apple CEO Tim Cook said recently, “Apple’s lifetime iPad sales across all generations have now topped 67 million. To put that into context, it took us 24 years to sell that many Macs, five years for that many iPods, and three years for iPhones.” The world is shifting its preference for consuming and producing content to mobile devices. What can you, as a content producer, do about it?

With the increasing use of mobile devices for the consumption of content, you, as content producers, have to understand the mobile consumer so that you can produce content that reaches and appeals to them. This is not just about having a mobile-optimized website, this is about having the type of content that actually captures attention through all the other distractions that surround a mobile user. Content producers have to understand the setting and context of the mobile user and how it differs from that of the non-mobile user (even though those two may, in fact, be the same person at different times in their day).

The experience of consuming content while sitting at a desk is vastly different from that of sitting on a train or in front of the TV. While you may well believe you have optimized your existing content for mobile, did you do it because your audience needed it or did you do it because you were told it was something that should be done? If nothing else I suggest checking out your Google analytics and seeing how many of your readers/content consumers are viewing your content from a mobile device, and seeing which areas they are consuming. Then, place your focus for optimization on that content.

Remember mobile optimization isn’t about your content as much as it is about the audience experience. In our efforts to be better at what we do as content producers one of the most valuable assets in our arsenal is knowledge. Aside from reconnecting with friends and making new contacts, attending a conference like Blogworld Expo is one of the easiest ways of gaining new knowledge.

If you come to my session in New York, “Smartphones, Smarter Users – The Who, When, What of the Mobile Consumer,” I am going to discuss the day in the life of the mobile user. The research I will be unveiling is brand new, never seen before, and the presentation is tailored specifically toward content producers. So if you want to know the when, how, why and what of the mobile content, consumer I’ll see you in my session.

The previous URL Lightbox users were given has now been turned into their very own photo blog, where the photos are automatically organized. Here’s a description of The Photo Journal from the Lightbox app page:

YOUR PHOTO JOURNAL:Lightbox is a place to capture, enhance, and share your moments. Photos you post are automatically organized into a timeline of postcards on Lightbox.com. Keep them private or selectively share them with friends, family, or the entire Lightbox community.

MANAGE YOUR PHOTOS ONLINE:
All the photos you take with the Lightbox app are automatically uploaded to Lightbox.com for safe storage. So if you lose your phone, you won’t lose your memories.

As you can see in the screenshots of the app above, each user is given a follow button. When you hover over their photo, you’re given the opportunity to “like” that particular photo. And just like the blogs we are all familiar with, you can comment, Tweet, Facebook or add to Google+ each individual photo page.

The Lightbox app update was already added to the Android market this morning.

So Android users, what do you think of the new photo journal feature to Lightbox?

They have re-released the app today. The problems have been fixed but users still aren’t happy with the outcome. Some say the notifications are super slow and that it’s still basically the same app that was originally pulled.

Google does plan on enhancing some of the features, which they mentioned in a blog post from today:

In the short time the app was public we received a lot of helpful feedback and feature requests. This included requests for everything from bigger features like multiple account support to customizations like improved notifications and mobile specific signatures.

We’re just getting started with the Gmail app for iOS and will be iterating rapidly to bring you more features, including all the ones listed above plus many more. Based on your comments we have already improved our handling of image HTML messages – they are now sized to fit to the screen and you can pinch to zoom in.

Here’s a description of the features from the iTunes app store:

With the Gmail app, you can:

• Receive notification badges for new messages
• Read your mail with threaded conversations
• Organize your mail by archiving, labeling, starring, deleting, and reporting spam
• Keep track of important messages with priority inbox
• Auto-complete contact names as you type
• Send and receive attachments
• Search through all your mail

Have you tried out the new Gmail app for the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch? Let us know what your experience has been with it.

Shuffler.fm iPad screenshot

Music blogs are an incredibly popular way for music lovers to discover new music. Shuffler.fm calls their iPad app a “flipboard for music”.

Shuffler.fm made the announcement today via their blog:

Shuffler.fm was made for tablets and today it’s finally here on the iPad. It’s the world’s first real audio magazine, one which compiles itself and changes by the hour, giving you the latest, hottest, newest music from around the globe. Sit back, relax, listen, and read.

Shuffler.fm is a free download from the App Store. Find out more about the app on their site.

The company made the announcement today via their blog.

There’s one particular iOS app you all have been asking and patiently waiting for. Everyday, we read your tweets, comments and messages asking us when we’ll be releasing an official iPad app. They say that ‘good things happen to those who wait’ so today, we’re super excited to tell you to it has finally arrived: SoundCloud for iPad. It’s gorgeous.

And here are a few of the highlights of SoundCloud for iPad:

• More intuitive: Flowing screens to help navigate and discover sounds more easily along with simplified ‘stream’ and ‘activity’ tabs.
• More waveform: More space to interact with the newly designed waveform allowing you to add comments directly to the waveform and see them scroll as a sound plays.
• More social: Easier to ‘find & follow’ people and now record dedicated private messages to someone with a single tap.
• More visual: Larger profile images throughout the app.

You can see the app in action in this video they put together.

Introducing the SoundCloud iPad app from SoundCloud on Vimeo.

Some other fun stats include “130 million monthly users, 30 million daily active users, and 300 million minutes of game play each and every day” according to TechCrunch.

Not bad for a few unhappy birds wouldn’t you say?

Oh, and get this. Their total marketing budget is $0. No, that’s not a typo. It’s $0. Amazing.

For all of you Angry Birds fans, you’ll be happy to know the rumor of a new bird being released is true. It’s been confirmed the company will release a new bird for the game on Halloween. This photo was posted on the Angry Birds Facebook page Monday.

Their message was “The Angry Birds have a big surprise for you! Can you guess what it is? Share this for more clues!”.

I may or may not be excitedly awaiting the release of this bird. Okay, I will. I absolutely can’t wait. What do you think the bird is going to look like?

Apple’s description of their Find My Friends app:

Meet up with friends at an outdoor concert. Keep track of the family during a day on the ski slopes. Or see when your out-of-town guest has finally made it past baggage claim. The Find My Friends app is a great way to share your location with people who are important to you.* Friends who share their location with you appear on a map so you can quickly see where they are and what they’re up to. And since Find My Friends works with Contacts and Maps, you can do things like find the quickest route to a surprise party — and avoid running into the birthday girl — all at once.

Now before you raise your eyebrows about stalking issues, the app does allow temporary sharing. I don’t know about you, but there is no way I want all of my friends and family to know where I am all the time. It looks like they’ve done a good job with their temporary sharing, privacy settings and parental restrictions.

Apple also released the “Find My iPhone” app. Lost your phone? No need to panic!

Description:

Don’t panic. As soon as you realize one of your Apple devices is missing, iCloud can help you figure out where it is.* Just sign in at icloud.com or use the Find My iPhone app on another device to see your missing iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac on a map.

You can download the apps at the Apple Store.

Can you think of a situation or two where these apps would come in handy?

Well, after months of speculation, Facebook has released their iPad app and it’s for real this time. See, they even have a dedicated page for it here. Are you saying “It’s about dang time”?

The team at Facebook is calling it a new way to experience Facebook with bigger and better photos, games on the go and more.

Here are a few of the features you’ll enjoy when you download the app:

• Play games in full screen mode, thanks to Facebook Platform for mobile devices and iOS
• Fast navigation – tap, pinch or slide to get from one place to another
• A drop down menu to easily send messages
• Less on the screen, which allows you to focus on what really matters
• Big, hi-res photos with easy flip through – like a real photo album
• Supports HD video

Have you downloaded the Facebook iPad app yet? If so, tell us your thoughts on it in the comment section below.

There are a lot of fantastic kid-friendly apps out there, but finding them can be a little tricky sometimes. I was recently searching around the Android Marketplace for an app for my 7-year old and ended up giving up. I saw some apps that looked like they had potential, but didn’t know if I was ready to spend my hard-earned money on them.

This is where Famigo comes in. On their website, they say they make smartphones work for families.  Not only do they find and review the apps, but you can also subscribe via email for app recommendations.

You can browse their site for kid-friendly apps in their sections labeled “New”, “Highest Rated”, “Most Popular” and “Staff Favorites”. They also have a Power Search feature which allows you to search for an app based on age, what you want the app for and what you don’t want it for. For example, you might want an app for your 6 year old that is great for tablets and is good for a single player.

Here’s a walk-through of the features of their first product: Family App Review.

Does this sound like a valuable service to you?

With Kobo Pulse, you can see who’s reading the same book you are, share ideas on passages and books with other readers. The new feature also has Facebook integration using their newly announced Open Graph.

Back in December of 2010, Kobo announced a new product called Reading Life. It collects your reading activities and displays your reading statistics in a series of graphs and charts. It also rewards users with badges when they meet new characters or reach new milestones in their reading. Kobo Pulse has been integrated into this product as well.

The new feature was announced last week at f8, Facebook’s developer conference.

Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis said, “We’re moving into an era where social eReading will change the nature of how and what we read. With Kobo Pulse, readers can get more out of reading. Books are now alive.  The end is no longer the end.  Readers get to participate, adding their voice, which actually lives within the reading experience itself through Pulse.”

Here’s a video walking you through the Kobo experience.

For those of you who are big e-book readers, what do you think of the added social features? Is this something you would find useful and fun?