Thursday, March 31, 2011
Google +1 Button (Like)
See +1's
Sometimes it’s easier to find exactly what you’re looking for when someone you know already found it. Get recommendations for the things that interest you, right when you want them, in your search results.
The next time you’re trying to remember that bed and breakfast your buddy was raving about, or find a great charity to support, a +1 could help you out. Just make sure you're signed in to your Google Account.
Show +1's
In order to +1 things, you first need a public Google profile. This helps people see who recommended that tasty recipe or great campsite. When you create a profile, it's visible to anyone and connections with your email address can easily find it.
Your +1’s are stored in a new tab on your Google profile. You can show your +1’s tab to the world, or keep it private and just use it to personally manage the ever-expanding record of things you love around the web.
via google.com
Google's own "Like" Button
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
RT @mesutersahin Social Media and the Law: Police explore new ways to fight crime - TNW Social MediaTNW Social Media
This particular practice could become even more effective with the advent of new technology. In June 2010, the United States Air Force requested bids for the development of a “Persona Management Software,” which would let an individual manage a unit of up to 10 fake identities on social media sites. These non-existent personas would have background, history and supporting details, allowing the controller to seem legitimate when “friending” targets in order to gain access to private profile information.
#Microsoft Is Said to Plan #Mobile #Payment in New Phone Software #nfc - Businessweek
Microsoft plans to include mobile-payment technology in new versions of its operating system for smartphones as part of an effort to narrow Google Inc.’s lead in handset software, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the features aren’t public. The first devices boasting these features may be released this year, the people said.
The company joins a growing list of software providers aiming to benefit from rising demand for ways to purchase products and services on the go. Mobile payments may be used in $245 billion in transactions in 2014, up from $32 billion in 2010, according to Gartner Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer is under pressure to regain mobile-software market share lost to Apple Inc., maker of the iPhone, and Google’s Android.
The phones running Microsoft’s new software will be based on so-called Near Field Communication, which lets devices communicate wirelessly with objects immediately nearby. NFC technology enables payments and also lets consumers use a handset for other tasks, such as redeeming coupons and loyalty points at local merchants.
via businessweek.com
Salesforce Buys Social Media Monitoring Company Radian6 For $326 Million
Commented Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce:
With Radian6, salesforce.com is gaining the technology and market leader in social media monitoring. We see this as a huge opportunity. Not only will this acquisition accelerate our growth, it will extend the value of all of our offerings.
Founded in 2006, Radian6 helps companies monitor the social web (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, forums and so on) in order to provide actionable insights in real-time and thus enable its clients to effectively join conversations with customers and prospects.
The company just made an acquisition of its own, snapping up one of its resellers, 6Consulting, to establish a presence in the UK.
Salesforce expects the transaction to close in its fiscal second quarter ending July 31, 2011, subject to customary closing conditions.
via techcrunch.com
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The Advantage of Cloud Infrastructure: Servers are Software - ReadWriteCloud
Software applications traditionally differ from server environments in several key ways:
Guest author Joe Masters Emison is VP of research and development at BuildFax, the only national provider of building, remodel, and repair records on homes and businesses. He designed BuildFax's cloud infrastructure and Pragmatic Extract-Transform-and-Load (PETL) data-processing pipeline.
- Traditional servers require humans and hours–if not days–to launch; Software launches automatically and on demand in seconds or minutes
- Traditional servers are physically limited–companies have a finite number available to them; Software, as a virtual/information resource, has no such physical limitation
- Traditional servers are designed to serve many functions (often because of the above-mentioned physical limitations); Software is generally designed to serve a single function
- Traditional servers are not designed to be discarded; Software is built around the idea that it runs ephemerally and can be terminated at any moment
via readwriteweb.com
Monday, March 28, 2011
Testing Checkout Sign-In Pages: Inspiration Gallery « Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog
The checkout process is a popular area of your site to test, and for good reason. When a visitor has added items to cart and clicks the “proceed to checkout” button, it’s a good indication of purchase intent! But often carts are abandoned early in the process – even at the login screen. Your design and copy on this page have a major impact on whether customers figure out which option is right for them (sign in, create account or guest checkout) and make it smoothly through to the next step.
As I’ve written about before, Amazon and Sears’ radio button approach is likely the “path of least resistance.” But if you want to test for yourself, the following is an inspiration gallery of 4 different approaches to log in: the aforementioned radio button, two-option, three-option and expanded/one-page.
via getelastic.com
Must read for anyone involved in usability and web design..
Seth's Blog: Faster, Better and More
The trifecta of competition:
Faster than the other guy. Faster to the market, faster to respond, faster to get the user up to speed.
Better than the other guy. Better productivity, better story, better impact.
and More. More for your money. More choices. More care. More guts.
You have more competition than you did yesterday. I expect that trend will continue.
RIM: The inmates have taken over the asylum | Monday Note
RIM is scrambling to gate a tablet to market “before it’s too late’’.
First, for its tablet, the PlayBook, the company needs an OS. Luckily, RIM lives close to one of the great Canadian universities with strong Computer Science and Mathematics programs: the University of Waterloo. QNX was invented there, a very good operating system for embedded applications. Last year, RIM buys QNX from Harman Industries.
Next, hardware. Multi-core ARM SOCs are aplenty and Asian suppliers are at the ready to build hardware to your specs.
Now, we need apps. And for apps we need a development system, specifically one running on QNX.
This is where the madness really starts: the Native SDK, meaning the programming tools required to write high-performance QNX apps in C or C++, isn’t ready for the coming April 19th launch. According to Mobile Beat, “The company has a limited version of its BlackBerry Tablet OS Native Development Kit that will be in open beta by this summer.”As an interim measure, RIM offers a number of other solutions, called ‘‘app players’’. These are emulators or, if you will, a kind of virtual machine. The app players run existing applications, and new ones can be developed using the tools from the emulated platforms.
So, you have app players for games, for HTML5 apps, Adobe Air and for Blackberry Java used on the company’s smartphones. This is complicated and not developer-friendly, leading Jamie Murai, an experienced app developer, to write RIM a strongly worded open letter. To the company’s credit, the head of Developer Relations, Tyler Lessard, responded quickly and honestly. But Lessard couldn’t really solve the basic problem: as Murai explained in great and vivid detail, developing for the PlayBook can’t compare favorably to the competition, to Android or iOS.But wait, there’s more.
You’ve noted the curious “application tonnage” phrase in Balsillie’s utterance above. Justifiably, RIM is worried about getting enough applications on the PlayBook. No apps, no sale, as Robert Scoble succinctly explains.
Where do we turn to?
Apple is out of question, but Android is open. Let’s go Android and make their 200,000 apps run on the PlayBook. Problem solved, we have “tonnage”.
This is serious madness, in two ways.
If Android apps do run on the PlayBook, why bother writing for QNX? The PlayBook becomes an Android tablet and QNX no longer matters, right?
In response, Balsillie treats us to more contorted language:
And if you think the whole world’s going to want to develop for Gingerbread [a version of Android], fine. Do I think that’s going to happen? Then why is there a different environment for a tablet? And you know about the performance issues and you know about the app volume issues, cause it’s tough. And that’s why QNX matters.
Android apps will run slowly, [so far inexistent] QNX native apps will be faster.
Why?
Because the Android apps are running inside another app player, another emulator. As a result, performance will suffer. This could be a useful stopgap measure: you buy a PlayBook and go to the Android Market for your app needs. Killer QNX apps will arrive later — assuming developers are committing to the ecosystem.
But, no.
We now move to the second part of the madness: the “going to the Android Market” part is false. It is a deliberate attempt to mislead.
The Android apps won’t work directly into the app player. The developer, not the user, will need to “quickly and easily” port their apps to run on the tablet OS, according to RIM. The same developer will also need to repackage, code sign and submit their apps to the Blackberry App World for approval.
There is more: the PlayBook app player will only run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) apps. These apps are designed for smartphones, not tablets. According to Google, for tablets you need Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).RIM succeeded because word of mouth, not advertising, sold the Blackberry. Proud users begat more proud users. What will happen when users “share” the true value of the “running Android apps” claim?
No one could fault RIM for the “iPad surprise”. After decades of misbegotten tablets, no one was prepared for the rise of the new genre.
Reacting quickly, not wanting Apple to gain too much of a market stronghold makes business sense. But launching what is clearly an immature product and trying to compensate for a dearth of applications with a misleading claim of compatibility with the wrong version of Android is insane.Those whom the gods would destroy, they first render mad…
via mondaynote.com
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Color Will Get You A Date With The Girl Next Door
How is this different from other photo sharing apps?
With any other photo sharing app you are limited to viewing photos taken by you or your social graph. With Color you are able to remember an event you attended, or a place you were at, from the perspective of all that took photos and videos - even if they are complete strangers. This happens because Color automatically groups photos together based on where and when they were taken. If you were there at that time - you will see them and can engage in the comments. Easy as that.
To help you wrap your head around it lets look at a couple real world examples of Color:
Example 1: Your Birthday Party
Its your birthday party. Your friends are there as well as some of their friends that they have brought along (you do not know these people but it's cool because the party is awesome, etc.). Assuming everyone is using Color to take photos you will be able to see all photos taken at your party without making a connection between yourself and those attendees who you do not know. You will no longer have to ask that stranger to find you on Facebook and send you that awesome photo/video they took of you. It will just be there - automagically.
Example 2: The Cute Girl Next Door
Not only can you view photos of those nearby but you can also communicate with them via comments. This is huge. Typically in the online world you are engaging with people you know in real life and have existing relationships with. Now with Color you can quickly view a photo of that cute girl next door, leave her a comment, and if you do it right go out to drinks later that night.
Think about that - Color, a mobile photo app, helps you make meaningful connections with people nearby.
Conclusion
I think Color will do great. They have the funding, they have the team, and the idea is hugely innovative in a space that is blowing up. I can't wait to use it at a concert and view the experience from everyone in the audience as well as the crew member backstage snapping an up close of the artist. Download the app here.
Can Banks and Credit Card Issuers Outflank Groupon with Merchant-Funded Rewards? (NetBanker)
Groupon may be the biggest company in history that everyone thinks they could have built. Facebook, I guess, is up there too.
It seems everyone is wondering how they could do the "Groupon of (fill in the blank)". In my world, the blank is "banking." I already wrote about the potential for selling financial products through Groupon and other flash marketing sites last July, so I won't repeat that part. Anyway, that's Groupon 1.0.
It's Groupon 2.0 that I think is even more interesting for financial institutions. The new model, coming in a few weeks, is all about mobile deals.
The company is said to be planning on adding two buttons to your smartphone:
I'm hungry...which will alert you to nearby Groupons you can use for food deals.
I'm bored...which will alert you to just about anything else Groupon sells.
It's brilliant. And so simple. Again, everyone will wish they'd built it.
___________________________________________
Banking Opportunities
________________________________________________So how could you do the same thing in personal finance? What would those buttons be?
- I'm broke....leads to ATM finder, cash-back location, credit card site, loan app, friends & family loans, P2P lender, etc.
- I've just been paid...leads to ATM finder, branch locations,
deposit accounts, billpay, investments, automated savings plans, etc.- I'm out of town...leads to ATM finder, FX locations, travel services,
resource locator, notifies card issuers, security preferences, etc.But those are all pretty much standard functions of online/mobile banking today. The bigger opportunity may be to beat Groupon at the local level, with merchant-funded rewards tied to debit/credit cards (see note 1). Banks could potentially use the same "hungry/bored buttons" and direct customers to cash-back deals at restaurants and other merchants making offers to your cardholders.
Bottom line: Location-based rewards is another example of why mobile banking will be more important than online banking. To put it simply:
Banks enable commerce.
Mobile enables location-based commerce.
So financial institutions are right in the middle of a multi-billion dollar shift in retail spending. Enjoy all the opportunities!
-------------------------------------------------
Notes:
1. For more on merchant-funded rewards, see the latest Online Banking Report.
2. Picture credit: All Things Digital
via netbanker.com
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Are Happy People Dumb? - Harvard Business Review
In psychological experiments, a "prime" causes a person to experience an emotion; then we see how that new state affects their performance. You can prime people to become more altruistic by giving them something small yourself. When you prime a four year old child to be happy — by asking them to think of their happiest memory — their spatial memory increases dramatically, allowing them to put blocks together up to 50% faster than children at neutral. Doctors primed to be positive come to the correct diagnosis 19% faster when primed to be positive as opposed to negative. Salespeople have 37% higher levels of sales when optimistic. In fact, a meta-analysis of employees at companies reveals that nearly every single business outcome improves when a brain is positive. Happiness is a significant advantage.
In fact, happiness is the single greatest competitive advantage in the modern economy. Only 25% of your job successes are predicted based upon intelligence and technical skills, though we spend most of our education and most companies hire based upon this category. The "silent 75%" of long-term job success is based upon your ability to positively adapt to the world: optimism, social support creation, and viewing stress as a challenge instead of as a threat.
via blogs.hbr.org
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
How should a social media report look like? - Socialbakers
1. Total number of fans
Yes, it is an important metrics to follow, although, not the only one. Having a good base of fans is always good for your brand.
2. Stable positive growth
Besides number of total fans, you should also take into consideration the daily/weekly/monthly growth of fans on your Page. Is it relatively stable or are there big ups and downs? Your fan base should be always steadily growing. Make sure you do not start losing fans. If that happens, try to identify why are your fans leaving you. Is it a wrong content on your Wall or simple loss of interest?
3. Regular postings on your Wall
Connecting with your fans on a regular basis allows you to give your fans daily information from your company. Make sure you post regularly and don't spam your fans.
4.User wall posts and interactions
While analyzing your Page, you should always look into the number of user wall posts and also their interactions (likes and comments on your wall). This way, you are able find out if your Page is "alive", if it has engaging fans, etc. Having tens of thousands of fans is nice, but they are worthless if they don't interact with you.
5. Evolution of your Engagement Rate
Keep your audience interested by posting regular and engaging posts. If the total engagement on your Page drops, analyze your content to find out why.
6. Response rate
Facebook is all about communication. Fans expect you to talk with them. Make use of this platform and engage into conversations with your fans. They will appreaciate it.
Here is a simple report which analyzes all of the above mentioned metrics on two Facebook Pages compared to each other. We decided to compare Vodafone UK and T-Mobile USA.
Socialbakers Social Media ReportView more documents from Socialbakers.
via socialbakers.com
Monday, March 21, 2011
Using QR Effectively in Your Next Guerrilla Marketing Campaign | Creative Guerrilla Marketing Examples
The World Park QR Code Campaign
The purpose of this campaign was that New York City’s Central Park wanted to engage a younger, more wired visitor, who spend less time in urban parks and more time being entertained by the Internet and their digital devices. By employing the technology that young people are the most comfortable with, their mobile devices, we used this as a key motivator to re-invent the park experience.
Through this campaign, the World Park event captured more than 1,800 visitors who used the QR code which goes to show using QR codes in some cases can truly spark interaction!
Click here to find out more about the World Park Campaign
Leo Burnett’s Hidden Sounds AR Code campaign for Zoo Records
This marketing campaign from Leo Burnett Hong Kong was designed to promote alternative music label Zoo Records in Hong Kong. By carefully placing visuals of an array of animals, comprised of download codes, people could take cell phone pictures of the animals and stream new music to their mobile devices instantly. This campaign resulted in sold out records, immeasurable street cred for Zoo Records, and the widespread dispersal of an underground sound.
See more great QR Code video examples on SocialWayne
More Great QR Code Marketing Examples
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Why #PayPal Doesn't Care About #NFC | Fast Company
You'd think that wave-and-pay smartphone technology would be top priority for PayPal, one of the biggest competitors in the mobile payments space. But while big retailers love NFC for its hyper-targeted marketing potential, small businesses that run on payment services like PayPal may actually be interested in mobile payments for something far humbler: customer loyalty.
"The problem with NFC payments is that they don't do anything to help generate new leads," says Laura Chambers, Senior Director of Paypal Mobile. They also don't do much to encourage repeat business, she says. PayPal services about 9 million merchant accounts, many of which are mom-and-pops who don't want the expense of credit card terminals from a big company like Verifone. She says those merchants are ambivalent about how a customer pays--as long as they come back with friends and do it again.
via fastcompany.com
Socialbakers launches Facebook city statistics! - Socialbakers #istanbul #2
Have you wondered how many registered Facebook users is for example in London, New York or Sydney? Well, now you can easily find out in our cities list!
From the first data that we have gathered so far, these are the most Facebook populated cities in the world:
via socialbakers.com
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Visa Announces P2P Payment Service for U.S. Customers
Credit card giant Visa announced a new peer-to-peer payment service today that will soon give its U.S. customers the ability to receive and send money from their Visa accounts. The new personal payments service moves Visa's focus away from being just a handler for point-of-sale transactions and takes aim at an area that has long been dominated by PayPal.
Visa's announcement includes a partnership with CashEdge and Fiserv, two person-to-person financial transactions companies, which will now have access to VisaNet, the company's payment processing network.
via readwriteweb.com
#Akbank Cep Bütçem #iPhone Uygulaması AppStore'a 1. sıradan girdi!
Akbank Cep Bütçem Uygulaması ile, Akbank müşterisi olmasanız bile;
- Aylık gelir - giderlerinizi ve nakit durumunuzu kolayca takip
- Ay boyunca gelirlerinizi ve yaptığınız harcamaları gün ve kategori bazında uygulamaya girebilir,
- Geçmişe dönük bütçe girdi-çıktılarınızı takip edebilir,
- Birikim olarak ayırabileceğiniz miktarı görebilir,
- Birikimlerinizi değerlendirebileceğiniz mevduat ve yatırım ürünlerimiz ve güncel faiz oranları hakkında bilgi alabilir,
- Gelir ve gider detaylarınızın raporunu alabilir, e-posta’nıza HTML veya CSV formatında gönderebilir,
- Size en yakın Akbank şube, ATM ve BTM’lerinin yerini öğrenebilirsiniz.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
#Google Getting behind #NFC to Reportedly Test New #Mobile #Payment Service | Mobile #Marketing Watch
Anyone looking to confirm Google’s burgeoning interest in mobile payment systems should have a full plate of additional evidence this summer as the Internet search giant is reportedly pushing ahead with a trial run for a new mobile payment service at New York and San Francisco-based stores.
Bloomberg reported Tuesday morning that in four months the trial program Google is launching will enable shoppers to use their phones to ring up purchases in the aforementioned locations.
The company will pay for installation of thousands of special cash-register systems from VeriFone Systems Inc. (PAY) at merchant locations, said one of the people, who requested anonymity because Google’s plans haven’t been made public. The registers would accept payments from mobile phones equipped with so-called near-field-communication technology.
Socialbakers launches Facebook city statistics! - Socialbakers #istanbul #2
Have you wondered how many registered Facebook users is for example in London, New York or Sydney? Well, now you can easily find out in our cities list!
From the first data that we have gathered so far, these are the most Facebook populated cities in the world:
via socialbakers.com
80% of Children Under Age 5 Use the Internet [STATS]
Nearly 80% of children between the ages of 0 and 5 use the Internet on at least a weekly basis in the United States, according to a report released Monday from education non-profit organizations Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Sesame Workshop.
The report, which was assembled using data from seven recent studies, indicates that young children are increasingly consuming all types of digital media, in many cases consuming more than one type at once.
Television use dwarfs internet use in both the number of children who surf the web and the amount of time they spend on it. The analysis found that during the week, most children spend at least three hours a day watching television, and that television use among preschoolers is the highest it has been in the past eight years. Of the time that children spend on all types of media, television accounts for a whopping 47%.
via mashable.com
Monday, March 14, 2011
Apple, Google, Intel and Others Go Gaga for the Go Game | Fast Company
You might say that the Go Game, an iPhone game launching this week at SXSW, is the best-researched project in the history of location games. Founders Ian Fraser and Finnegan Kelly have spent the last 10 years running a hacked-together version of the game at corporate team-building events for Google, Apple, EA Games, Zynga, Facebook, Microsoft, and Intuit.
"The managers at Intuit, the guys that do TurboTax--they love it too," says Fraser. And apparently so does every other company in the Valley. In fact, the Go Game is already pulling down $3 million per annum in revenue without any apps at all.
Until this week, the game worked like this: Your business would hire Fraser and Kelly to come out to your company's home city for a party or event, where they'd build a game for anywhere from a few dozen to a few thousand employees. They spent time before game-day traversing the neighborhood you select for the game and setting up what the founders call a "textured scavenger hunt." (Depending on the complexity of the game, your company pays $50 to $100 per player.)
via fastcompany.com
Thursday, March 10, 2011
MIT Media Lab: Identity - Interactive (video) - Creativity Online
Shape shifting
MIT Medialab's new visual identity is based on an algorithm that produces a unique logo for each person, including faculty, staff and students. Each person can claim and own an individual shape, based on the three geometric shapes in the design used, and can use it on their business card and personal website. They can also create animations for any video content the Lab produces, using custom software.
The identity is aimed at highlighting the spirit of collaboration the Lab represents, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new building.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
30 Things We Need — and 30 We Don't - Tony Schwartz - Harvard Business Review
WE NEED LESS: WE NEED MORE: Information Wisdom Shallow billionaires Passionate teachers Self-promotion Self-awareness Multitasking Control of our attention Inequality Fairness Sugar Lean protein Action Reflection Super sizes Smaller portions Private jets High-speed trains Calculation Passion Experts Learners Blaming Taking responsibility Judgment Discernment Texting Reading Anger Empathy Output Depth Constructive criticism Thank-you notes Possessions Meaning Righteousness Doing the right thing Answers Curiosity Long hours Longer sleep Complaining Gratitude Sitting Moving Selling Authenticity Cynicism Realistic optimism Self-indulgence Self-control Speed Renewal Emails Conversations Winning Win-win Immediate gratification Sacrifice
via blogs.hbr.org
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
#Android Overtakes #BlackBerry As the Top U.S. #Smartphone Platform [REPORT]
The trend was obvious for quite some time, and now it finally happened: Android is the most popular smartphone platform among U.S. subscribers.
According to comScore’s data, Google’s Android rose from 23.5% market share in October 2010 to 31.2% in January 2011, enough to securely grab the first place from RIM’s BlackBerry, which fell 35.8% in October 2010 to 30.4% in January 2011.
Apple’s iOS experienced a minute growth in the same period: from 24.6% to 24.7%, while Microsoft and Palm continued losing market share, ending at 8.0% and 3.2%, respectively.
via mashable.com
Monday, March 7, 2011
Egyptian Protesters Raid State Security, Post Government Secrets to Facebook | Fast Company
Egyptian protesters who infiltrated the offices of Egypt's State Security apparatus on Saturday found exactly what they were looking for: surveillance files on millions of Egyptian citizens and caches of information on hundreds of sensitive subjects.
They also found secret torture chambers, evidence of vote rigging, possible complicity in terrorism, state surveillance of the Christian minority and extensive lists of passwords to Skype and Facebook accounts used by ordinary Egyptians.
According to the Meta-Activism Project--and the Twitter/Facebook accounts of Egyptians involved in the State Security raid--the use of WikiLeaks was the primary inspiration for the Facebook page and Yfrog Postings. According to Al Jazeera, the action involved hundreds of protesters and a search for documents detailing the hacking, targeting of human rights groups, plus torture devices and secret detention rooms. The protestors left with plenty of those documents, although Egypt's armed forces called them to return them, as they were part of "a larger investigation into corruption and rights violations."
Then, following the discovery, the Egyptian protesters did a very 21st century thing with their new, liberated information cache: They posted it to Facebook and other social networking sites.
A new Facebook group called Amn Dawla Leaks (State Security Leaks), which is posting scans of secret Egyptian security files, already has more than 12,000 fans. Use of it is accompanied by Egyptian protesters who have taken it upon themselves to upload scans of controversial state security files to Twitpic, Yfrog and similar services.
via fastcompany.com
Friday, March 4, 2011
Salesforce.com Bringing Apple's FaceTime to the Contact Center
Last night Salesforce.com announced version 3.0 of its ServiceCloud product. Today at the Cloudforce event in New York City CEO Marc Benioff revealed more about the new version. Most importantly, ServiceCloud is transforming into a unified communications system for customer support by integrating VOIP and video conferencing technologies - including Apple's FaceTime. Benioff didn't specify, but it's possible some of the new features were built using technology from Salesforce.com 's acquisition of DimDim earlier this year.
How will the ability to contact customer support via FaceTime change the behavior of both the customer and the agent? Face to face video customer support could be a game changer.
via readwriteweb.com
#Nielsen: #Android Tops #iOS And #RIM As Top #Mobile OS In The U.S. | Mobile #Marketing Watch
Android now holds a 29 percent share of the market, while both iOS and RIM’s Blackberry stand at 27 percent each. Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7 devices account for 10 percent of the U.S. smartphone market; Palm is at 4 percent; Symbian holds onto a 2% share; and finally, there’s a 1 percent “other” category, which would include OSes like the Linux-based MeeGo.
Looking further at an analysis by manufacturer shows RIM and Apple to be the winners compared to other device makers since they are the only ones creating and selling smartphones with their respective operating systems. HTC follows with 12 percent of consumer smartphone owners having an HTC Android device and 7 percent owning an HTC device running a Microsoft OS. Ten percent of consumer smartphone owners had a Motorola Android device and one percent owned a Motorola device running a Microsoft OS.
I know what you’re thinking, these are stats from only one research provider, but Android has been steadily growing and it was only a matter of time before it took the number one spot. Conflicting reports will likely surface in the near future, but the report from Nielsen is a clear indication of Android’s continued dominance.
Four New Types of CIO for the Future
Wang is a global traveler who meets with CIOs on a constant basis in his role as principal analyst and CEO of Constellation Research, an independent firm with a key focus on the transitions the enterprise is experiencing.
In the report, he proposes four new types of CIO: Chief "Infrastructure" Officers, Chief "Integration" Officers, Chief "Intelligence" Officers, and Chief "Innovation" Officers.
"The top CIOs will seek mastery of all four personas," Wang writes. "Others will bring expertise within the four personas into the team."
Chief Infrastructure Officers
Infrastructure officers will do much of what is expected of modern CIOs: reduce infrastructure costs, manage legacy technology and ensure smooth IT operations. Top priorities for infrastructure officers will include eliminating "shelfware," adopting virtualization and cloud technologies, and renegotiating contracts.
Chief Integration Officers
Another term for this might be "Chief Connection Officer." The integration officer will connect various IT systems. One important task will be bridging legacy and cloud services.
Chief Intelligence Officers
We don't need to tell you that data is the future. The intelligence officer will be tasked with getting the right data to the right people on the right devices. Their top priorities will be establishing and measuring key performance indicators, improving data quality and choosing the right business intelligence and analysis tools.
Chief Innovation Officers
We've seen this title thrown around a lot over the past few years. A few months ago, Business Week did a piece on this role. According the article, AMD, Citigroup, Coca Cola, DuPont, Humana and Owens Corning all have chief innovation officers.
According to the Constellation report, innovation officers will focus on identifying disruptive technologies and finding ways to apply them in the enterprise.
via readwriteweb.com
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Seth's Blog: Jumping the line vs. opening the door
Jumping the line vs. opening the door
Every morning, the line of cars waiting to get onto the Hutchinson River Parkway exceeds 40. Of course, you don't have to patiently wait, you can drive down the center lane, passing all the civilized suckers and then, at the last moment, cut over.
Drivers hate this, and for good reason. The road is narrow, and your aggressive act didn't help anyone but you. You slowed down the cars in the lane behind you, and your selfish behavior merely made 40 other people wait.
This is a different act than the contribution someone makes when she sees that everyone is patiently waiting to enter a building through a single door. She walks past everyone and opens a second door. Now, with two doors open, things start moving again and she's certainly earned her place at the front of that second entrance.
Too often, we're persuaded that initiative and innovation and bypassing the status quo is some sort of line jumping, a selfish gaming of the zero sum game. Most of the time it's not. In fact, what you do when you solve an interesting problem is that you open a new door. Not only is that okay, I think it's actually a moral act.
Don't wait your turn if waiting your turn is leaving doors unopened.
Seth Godin.. you are truly a man after my heart and soul..
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
In defense of doodling: Sunni Brown at TED2011
In defense of doodling: Sunni Brown at TED2011
Published on Boing Boing | shared via feedly mobile
I'm at TED2011 in Long Beach. I've seen several interesting presentations today. One of my favorites was with the head of Al Jazeera ( "Corrupt regimes have lost the power to deceive") Another was Sunni Brown, author of Gamestorming, who offered a persuasive defense of doodling. She said throughout history doodling has a bad rap. It's considered rude an inappropriate at work ("Akin to masturbating"). There's a strong cultural norm against it. The press likes to write about "catching" politicians doodling when they should be paying attention.
However, Brown says, the fact that they are doodling means they probably are paying attention. "Doodling is a pre-emptive measure to stop you from losing focus." Research has shown that you retain information better when it is combined with some kind of stimulus. Doodling helps with retaining information, because when you are doodling it engages four types of stimulation: visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic.
Doodling is "a portal to move people through higher levels of visual literacy."
I think doodling focuses the brain in the same way knitting, whittling, and kneading silly putty does. As a big-time fidgeter, I need to be doing something with my hands when I'm talking with people or I start to go nuts.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Test your Website: A 57-Point Checklist for Maximum Usability | Virtual Hosting Blog
So you’ve got a website, but do you know whether it’s usable or not? The answer to this question can make the difference between a successful site and one that’s just ignored. Go through this checklist to make sure your site is up to snuff.
- Do you answer your user’s questions?: Users visit a site because they want answers, so it’s vitally important that your site gives them what they are looking for.
- Is your navigation clear and simple?: Make sure that your navigation lets the user know where they have been and where they can go in a clear, consistent manner.
- Do you provide anchor text?: Ensure that your visitor always knows where links are headed by discussing the site before you ask them to "click here."
- Does your design guide the eye?: Use color, position, size, and more to create a specific flow for your site.
- Do you start link names with important keywords?: Use important keywords in your links so that users know when they’ve found the right information.
- Is your wording straightforward?: Take a look at your language to make sure it’s simple enough for all users to understand.
- Does your writing look like an inverted pyramid?: Give web users the instant gratification they want by offering the most important information early on.
- Do you have "white space?": By placing too many elements too close together, you may overwhelm users. Spread things out a little.
- Have you offered contact information?: If your site doesn’t answer all of a visitor’s questions, they will probably want to speak to you about it. Allow them an easy way to contact you.
- Do you change URLs?: Don’t. This creates linkrot, in which links to your site are broken, and discourages other sites from linking to you in the future.
- Do you have a site map?: A site map is very important for a large site, because it helps lost users find their way and also makes it easy for search engines to spider your site.
- Does your information look like an ad?: Users will ignore information if it resembles a promotion, so avoid using large red text and other design elements found in advertisements.
- Does your site require unnecessary plugins?: Be aware that not everyone’s browser is fully decked out. Use a plugin only if it adds value and is absolutely necessary.
- Have you enabled graceful degradation?: Be sure that even if your site can’t display certain elements, the rest will still function properly.
- Does your logo link home?: Users expect that your site’s main logo will always link to your homepage, so make sure you’ve done this.
- Have you grouped information?: Make it easy for users to find what they’re looking for by arranging related information together, such as your corporate history alongside your career offerings.
- Do you provide visual clues for links?: Make sure that you’ve made your links obvious with colored, underlined text.
- Have you used color properly?: Avoid placing light-colored text on a light-colored background, or it will be hard for visitors to read your content. The same goes for dark-on-dark.
- Do you support deep-link users?: Check all of your site’s pages to make sure a user could orient themselves if they arrived on that page before any other place on your site.
- Is your site organized with a consistent structure?: Be sure to include headings, lists, and a unifying structure from page to page.
- Do you show users where they’ve been?: Differentiate between visited and unvisited links so that visitors can navigate with ease.
- Is your text annoying?: Use bold, italic, and upper-caps text sparingly.
- Do your graphics mean anything?: If your graphics seem irrelevant or frivilous, users won’t be impressed, so make sure that any images you use are directly related to the content.
- Do you date your content?: Don’t make users guess about which content is current and which is obsolete. Add dates to articles, press releases, and other content.
- Is your site full of animation?: Cut down on unnecessary animations to avoid overwhelming the user.
- Have you optimized your writing for the web?: Ensure that your text is short, scannable, and to the point, offering answers and common language.
- Do your links work?: Always double check your site for broken links, as they’re one of the worst user annoyances out there.
- Do you have a tagline?: Use a tagline to give visitors an extremely quick summary of what you do and what the site’s about.
- Do you offer prices?: If you’re using your website as a sales tool, it is vitally important that you answer what is almost certainly your customer’s biggest question-how much is it?
- Do your error messages help?: Take a look at your error messages, and consider whether they just tell the user they’re wrong, or if they actually provide suggestions for how to remedy the problem.
- Have you tested alternative browsers?: Although the majority of the Internet is still on Internet Explorer, it’s vital that you make sure your page renders correctly in browsers like Firefox, Safari, Opera, and more.
- Does your content require horizontal scrolling?: Cut down on user annoyance by ensuring that your page’s width does not exceed your visitor’s browser.
- Have you added descriptions to images?: Let your users know what purpose an image serves by placing information in the ALT and TITLE attributes.
- Do you link within a page?: If so, cut it out. Linking to a different position on the same page will confuse visitors and undermine their understanding of the browser.
- Is your design consistent?: Don’t leave users guessing whether they’ve stumbled upon a different site. Use similar colors and typefaces throughout your entire site.
- Is your name and logo on every page?: Don’t assume that just because a user is on your site, they know who you are. Place your name and logo prominently on your site.
- Have you accelerated to the next step?: Make it painstakingly easy for users to see where they’re supposed to go next.
- Does your FAQ answer real questions?: If your FAQ is full of questions that you only wish your visitors would ask, you need to reassess. Make sure that you’re actually featuring frequently asked questions so that the FAQ is actually useful.
- Can users find information quickly?: Follow the 3-click-rule, which states that users will stop using a site if they can’t find the information they want within 3 mouse clicks.
- Is your information cluttered?: If so, you need to break pages down into different sections.
- Are your forms too much trouble?: Cast a critical eye on your forms to make sure you’re allowing flexible inputs and not asking for unnecessary information.
- Is your site accessible for users with disabilities?: Check to make sure your site is readable by those with disabilities, especially the blind.
- Are your fonts readable?: Make your text readable by avoiding small font sizes and allowing font resizing.
- Is your site broken down into digestable chunks?: Follow the 7, plus or minus 2 principle, which states that users can retain only about 5-9 things at one time.
- Does your page load quickly?: Make sure your pages load quickly so that your website is friendly to those on slow Internet connections, or who have to pay per minute of Internet access.
- Is your title descriptive?: Make sure that your page title makes sense for the content you offer.
- Does your site render correctly in different screen resolutions?: If you’re only optimized for 1024×767, you’re rendering your site incorrectly to a lot of visitors.
- Offer a search function: Make it incredibly easy for users to find information by providing a search box.
- Have you outlined a privacy policy?: It drives users crazy to give away their contact information without knowing what will be done with it. Make it explicitly clear whether you’ll sell their email address, and how often they’ll get email from you.
- Do you have a liquid layout?: Frozen layouts and fixed page widths make it difficult for large browsers to render your page, and this design poses problems with printing.
- Does your content have spelling errors?: Check your content for errors in spelling or grammar, and don’t rely solely on a spell-check function because sometimes that software’s online engineering isn’t perfect.
- Use tabs responsibly: Use tabs to change views while still in the same context, and make them incredibly readable and logically broken up.
- Is your splash page absolutely necessary?: Most users prefer to get right to the content instead of watching and waiting for a splash page to complete.
- Do you have a brandable URL?: Use a short URL so that it can be easily relayed from one user to the next, and you’ll make viral marketing easier to come by.
- Have you filled out TITLE and META tags?: Make sure you’ve filled out this information to let users and search engines know what your site’s all about.
- Do you emphasize high-priority tasks?: Make sure that your homepage highlights the important actions you’d like visitors to make.
- Do users know when they’re clicking an email link?: Ensure that users know when to expect their email program to pop up.
via life.rumake.ru
#Mobile Operating System Market Share, Feb. 2011 #infographic #os
The infographic was created by www.icrossing.co.uk and we spotted on the excellent Posterous site "Cool Infographics" maintained by Techmeme editor Mahendra Palsule.
Click on the image below for a larger version.
via readwriteweb.com
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