You Are the Message

Apple TV and iOS

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 11:23:53 -0400

Some support to my iOS/Apple TV post. Might not get apps on your TV at launch, but it looks like apps on your TV could be part of a future Apple TV software update. Cool.

Pretty Loaded

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 10:47:05 -0400

Pretty Loaded:

If I have wait through yet another Flash loader, my head’s going to EXPLODE. At least some of these are ALMOST tolerable.

This is helping Chrome

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:55:42 -0400

This is helping Chrome:

People around me are asking IT to install Chrome. I wonder why? It’s pretty cool how a browser experiment by an indie Canadian rock band is going to help boost Chrome’s usage.

Apple TV with iOS? Now that's a game changer.

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:05:25 -0400

The iPad is a pretty cool device, people love them. That said, I hear so many people that it isn’t really the game changer they thought it would be. They say that because the iPad doesn’t really give us anything we couldn’t do before on a laptop or a smartphone. The iPad just gave us a new form actor. Then it was iOS4, the next gen iPhone/iPad OS which brings us a bunch of much needed new features (multi-tasking is the big one, even though it’s not true multi-tasking). Now there’s whispers that Apple will be announcing a new Apple TV with iOS4. Sure, like the iPad we just get a new form factor… but man, what a form factor! We’re talking apps on our HD TV! Big and beautiful! Match this new Apple TV with the magic trackpad, a bluetooth keyboard and the little apple remote and we have ourselves a pretty awesome couch-sitting-tv-watching-interacting experience. And from marketing POV, iAds would part of the deal. This is something the traditional agencies will be all over, a new way to focus on the TV again. :)

Google Easter Eggs

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:23:20 -0400

Google Easter Eggs:

Gotta love a company with a sense of humour… even if it is geek humour. :)

A tablet for business running Android. You go Cisco!

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:09:18 -0400

A tablet for business running Android. You go Cisco!

http://office.live.com

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:09:02 -0400

http://office.live.com:

In it’s continued tradition of following (and not innovating), Microsoft releases Office Live via SkyDrive. Word/Excel/PPT/OneNote files can be created and edited online. Having played around with it a little, it seems GOOG might have a little competition for Google Apps. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

http://blog.echoenduring.com/2010/05/28/down-to-the-last-pixel-the-pursuit-of-perfection/

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 10:06:15 -0400

http://blog.echoenduring.com/2010/05/28/down-to-the-last-pixel-the-pursuit-of-perfection/:

This blog post articulates the much needed attitude change with cross browser design issues. A website is not paper. The design should stand on it’s own in each browser. Now we just need to convince the clients.

Innovation is sexy.

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:49:37 -0400

But innovation isn’t an idea. True innovation is found through people and process. Although people can certainly be sexy, process isn’t known as the sexiest thing going. Ideas can come from innovation, but it doesn’t work the other way around. Ideas are just that, ideas. Lets focus a little less on ideas and focus more on the people we work with and the processes we use.

Facebook gets open

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:07:46 -0400

Facebook gets open:

Looks like they’re shelving Facebook Connect and opting for OAuth. A good move, makes sense in light of them putting Open Graph in the spot light. Open Graph is an important stepping stone for the systems on the Internet understanding your behavior. It’ll give context to a lot of the data out there, and it can help validate that data too. By tapping into your social graph, systems (and marketers) can target you much accurately.

Everyone in our education systems needs to see this

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:04:00 -0400

Everyone in our education systems needs to see this

Have you seen your site on Mobile lately?

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:54:38 -0400

Is there anything more annoying than visiting a website on your phone and seeing that “you need Flash” message? Why do brands and companies choose to cut out the mobile market by making Flash-only sites?? Makes me nuts. One day, most of the mobile devices will play Flash (maybe not so much for iPhone/iPad), but until that day, show that you care about the people going to your website on their smart phones.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve looked up an address on my phone by going to the company’s website, and then being left in limbo with the Download Flash nonsense. Either choose a platform that works across all devices (like HTML/jQuery) or make versions of your site for the devices (desktop & mobile). As the web moves toward the device-in-the-hand, sites really need to work on those devices.

Can’t wait until HTML5 is the norm.

Are you a startup? Focus on 1) collecting user behavior, 2) behavior analysis 3) link behavior to...

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:12:35 -0400

Are you a startup? Focus on 1) collecting user behavior, 2) behavior analysis 3) link behavior to ROI. Don’t try to change behavior. Learn your target’s behavior and give them what they need when they need it.

Steve Jobs has some big cojones!

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 11:11:00 -0400

Steve Jobs has some big cojones!:

Yeah, iPhone OS4 has some much needed new features. But the new license agreement that goes with it cuts Flash right out of the OS. This article is spot on. The users don’t care about dev gripes, they’ll keep buying and using the iPhone. And the devs will have to stick to the frankenlanguage objective-C to make the apps the people crave.

QR Code Revival?

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:53:50 -0400

QR Code Revival?:

Google’s been using QR codes for their Favourite Places and some brands have been toying around with QR codes too. But if Facebook integrates QR codes into their next gen mobile app, QR codes might actually get some traction here in North America. And using them for checking in to a location is an OK idea, although GPS based checkins are a little easier. That said, QR checkins will work on more devices and will give the locations more control over their brand.

Locative coupon notifications on the iPhone

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:24:42 -0400

With the release of OS4 for iPhone, we can write apps that geo-locate in the background while someone’s walking around town. If they walk by a store they were in last week, the phone could vibrate to notify them that there’s a sale on HDTVs. Tie that to behavioral data and you got very relevant advertising, no doubt Apple’s plan with iAds.

Targeting your emotions

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:03:33 -0400

Targeting your emotions:

Using localized keywords, Facebook has been mining status updates to calculate the “Gross National Happiness Index” of the US, Canada, the UK and Australia. Using this data, Facebook could target ads based on our collective moods - and possibly your personal mood trends.

You Are the Message

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:53:38 -0400

Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message.” He argued (among many things) that the various media are extensions of, well, us – our human mind, body and senses. We’re not too far off from a time when media no longer needs to extend us… we will be the medium. If the medium is the message, and we are the medium, then that means we are the message. YOU are the new medium baby; YOU are the message.

It’s certainly not news, but data is playing a huge role in media – and that role is getting bigger and bigger. All the smart companies are busy as bees collecting data. They’re not too interested in data about you, that’s old hat. What they’re interested in is data about your behavior: when you like go to movies, when you tend to buy stuff, when you send emails and text messages, when you go to stores, how & when you communicate. Because as every good marketer knows, it’s not really about price or need, it’s about timing. You can target the right TV to the right person at the right price, but if they’re not buying (ie: sitting at home on their couch), you lose. And changing someone’s behavior is next to impossible (ever try to lose weight, or quit smoking?).

The successful companies of the future will know enough about your behavior to not only target that TV you wanted at a great price, but they’ll target you when you’re out shopping for TVs. Take a look at the emerging trendy sites. FourSquare, Groupon, Blippy, OpenTable, Tumblr. And don’t forget the old standbys like Facebook, Google, Flickr and Twitter who are working furtively on adding easy to use geo-location to their services. The common thread here is that these sites are learning about YOU my friend. The more they learn, the better they can target you with the message you want when you want it. Yes, I said message youwant. Advertising will become that personal, true one to one advertising.

In the near future, when you’re walking by The Future Shop, you’ll get an ad for that awesome LED TV you wanted… and it’s on sale! And you got paid yesterday! In you go to get your TV with a smile. This is why data will be the next revolution in advertising. Since this data is a digital representation of you, it’s your message… you’re own behaviors determine the message. YOU, my friend, are the message.