TECHNOLOGY - Motorola Droid X: The Android Attack Continues

TECHNOLOGY - Motorola Droid X: The Android Attack Continues

Here's great article on iPhone's newest competitor! And below a separate video.



Another new Android based phone...yeah...I mean....YEAH!

The best part of competition is that it will continue to make Apple up its game to stay on top. Which at this point I am sure it will,at least in the hardware arena. I do not think that it will be that long before all the software will become compatible to run on all phones. Kind of like having the ability to run PC on Mac and vise versa. Customers are demanding it!

I have heard that it is possible now to run Android on the iPhone. I just bought a used 3GS that it is currently too updated to be hacked for T-Mobile, so I think I may just have to give it a try. Just did a quick Google search....and there's a ton of info out there!

iPhone Chatting....Really???

Apple continues to push the envelope of technology bringing us closer together. The new Apple iPhone 4.0 will have the capabilities of live face chatting with a forward facing camera that allows people to see each other. Still there are a lot of unanswered questions. Will other applications have the ability to tie into the teleconferencing...like web cams? Or will it only be iPads? Will other phones with similar set ups and different OS have the ability to tie into the teleconference capabilities? Will it be one-way?  Is the phone camera always on?  How many of us have accidentally called a number in our contact phone book?  Will this give the synonymous "butt-call" a new name?  Maybe a new view to be sure.

This technology will be a paradigm shift of the face to face communication....or face time to be sure. Right now I want one! But I am now wondering if it's utility will rise to my expectations. Who would I talk to, who "could" I talk to?  What if I have some food stuck in my teeth, and the other person sees it...would they tell me?

Eventually rest assured all the bugs will be worked out, and customer demand will drive the answers to these questions. I would have to say that this is one technology that will most likely take off but will be slow. Not all people will use it, but like other technologies such as the smart phone in general, techies will embrace it and develop it. Maybe even make it their own....

Social Media and the Direction it's Going....

Is Twitter Getting Too Popular? I just wanted to test out Twitter and see how it works, and see if I can get a good feeling for it...for the first time. Right now it keeps telling me, it's too busy! Is this normal....?

Minutes pass....

So I am all signed and waiting to think of something to say....wait it doesn't matter nobody is following me. Not much of first impression yet; I am @mcmatther276 in case you're wondering!

I can't look up my friends with from my Google gmail account....it's too busy again.  But cool it's possible, just like Facebook!

 And Speaking of Facebook.....

Facebook has a storefront capability in case you have not heard!

"Payvment E-Commerce Storefront Great new data by Forbes shows that Facebook "Fans" are 41 percent more likely to recommend a brand and 28 percent more likely to
continue using them. Plus the average value of a fan was found to be $136.38 (USD), meaning that’s how
much a company can expect the average Facebook fan to spend. Make sure to turn on your ...Facebook store's "Fan Discount" feature and start building your Fans!"

The melding of media continues and seems to be spiraling; I am now just wondering now in which direction. Is everything getting too interconnected? Too commercialized?

As marketers competing in the Internet Age we are expected to embrace all that the Internet has to offer including some (if not all) of the most popular social media outlets. If we take a look back and see why a lot of the social media websites were developed we would see a distinct evolution of social outlets into market focused, big dollar revenue generating machines. Sorta like Google  and all its affiliates too!

I just have to think that there will be a time in the not too distant future that the general public, the supporters of the social media will start to resort back to the roots and go elsewhere, to different sites not yet commercialized. A bubble burst or an implosion? Is there a new social media outlet on the horizon?

Or maybe there's no end to the inter-connectivity and we soon we will be able to eBay,Boocoo, Tweet, Facebook, and Blog right on our Google homepage....amongst everything else Google now offers. Everything in one location..a compiler of sorts.

Either way it looks like there will some additional opportunities!

eBay under attack!

eBay will have some new competition on or around 6-21-2010 as Boocoo.com launches its new on-line auction site. Just today I saw my first advertisement in a local newspaper, with a launch date of June 14th. I followed the subdirectory  url in the ad and it is redirected to the boocoo.com main site. So is it the 14th or the 21st?  The media frenzy is starting to build. The first I heard about this site was back in March, and from what I gathered so far it looks like it is going to be a mix of eBay and Craigslist. Great idea I hope it works!

I have not used eBay in long time to sell anything because of the high fees; hopefully this site will keep the fees low and offer eBay enough competition to persuade them to lower their fees as well. Boocoo is allowing users to transfer their buyer and seller ratings over to their site.....interesting....wonder how that will pan out! 

Right now the Website is for invitation only. If anyone out there has access to a password please let me know, I would love to get a peek at what this new auction site will offer!

Stay tuned, I looking for a lot more hype to build up before the official boocoo,com launch!

Bar Code Mania

Bar codes are hitting mainstream....er, I mean Main Street!

I just read a great story (put together by Rachel Metz for the Associated Press, Bar Codes Get Around Town and Get More Useful, June 6th ), and I needed to share! I actually found the story in the local newspaper here, where I am vacationing, but for a great read, check it out on Yahoo! News: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100606/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_better_bar_codes

We are familiar with bar codes and use them every day in our lives when shopping; the little vertical lines on the back of virtually every product we purchase in the stores. You know what I am talking about; they give the retailer all the info on a particular product so (most importantly) you get an accurate price at checkout. This technology has been around for years and is generally accepted as normal protocol.

In the early 90's a Japanese company Denso Wave Inc., who creates scanning equipment came out with a new type of bar code called QR, for quick response.  You know these too. All the little boxes and squares making it possible to store a lot more info. United Parcel Service (UPS- What can brown do for you?) now uses these for all your packaging needs. I have heard these also referred to as 2D bar codes, which really makes a lot of sense because you are able to use lines in both the vertical and the horizontal directions....broken up, of course, into the little squares we see.

The article refers to a new use of the technology for downloaded movie tickets for Fandango. I can't really relate to that, but if you are like me and travel a lot, you may also use the 2D bar codes for instant message plane tickets. Right now Delta uses this technology at certain airports and I am sure other airlines, if not already' will follow. I love this as it allows me to use ether my iPhone or Blackberry to do quick scan and move on through. No need to print out the ticket at home or stop by a kiosk. And more importantly I always have at least one of my phones on me, and it is always frustrating to me trying to remember where I put my ticket. I have to warn you though not everyone has embraced the mindset of adopting this technology. I still see very few people using the IM tickets and I have had to literally show TSA agents how the scanners work. And of course there's always the murmurs from the other passengers on how it shouldn't be allowed because "anybody" could just find my phone and check in as me......really....really??? Seriously people they would need my ID too, that hasn't changed! And you know why you don't have to show your boarding pass "again" as you walk through the metal detector? Yes that's right, protocol changed after the TSA allowed the technology because you have to put the phone through x-ray belt. You're welcome!


Now the QR technology is being utilized for yet another use, and is being embraced by none other than Google.

Google in conjunction with Google Places has been sending out the QR or 2D bar codes to hundreds of thousands of companies to promote businesses in their local listing service. The codes are placed at the bottom of a business decal that businesses place in their window. When customers scan the code with mobile device like a phone, a plethora of things can take place; though right now you're directed to a Google page dedicated to your business that can link the customer to your Website, a coupon, or whatever you desire!

I can't say for sure what public opinion is on this technology but I think it's great! A direct connection of cyberspace to the physical world, initiated by the customer. This technology will allow marketers a lot more flexibility and will enable much more targeted advertising in the future. We are currently studying how marketers can optimize SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to increase the probability of getting found on the Internet. Soon bar codes will need to be integrated as tool in SEO optimization, as well as RFID tags! And yes it is possible....because after all the bar codes represent data! Cool!

The Internet is all around around us and this is a huge step ( can I say leap-frog) to the next generation of the inter-connectivity that will envelope our lives. I say let us embrace it, develop it, and move forward!

Appreciation

Not too ago I was forwarded an email about a world class violinist who gave a street concert with a violin worth millions on a street street corner. The donation only (free) presentation was near the theater where the night before he sold out, selling tickets for hundreds of dollars each.  During the free concert only a handful of people stopped by to give him a few bucks. The music was beautiful, as it had been the prior evening, yet only a couple of people were actually able to fully appreciate it. This exercise in human perception, and appreciation, was purposely set up. Nobody knew the violinist, nobody knew the quality of the violin or of the quality of the music, even when they could physically hear it.

My point in writing this story is to make an analogy to Websites.  If search engines can't recognize you, or social media doesn't promote you, how are you really perceived? Or even found?

Let's face it, the Internet is getting ever more crowded and it is getting more difficult to get noticed. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and using social media to work up a buzz does work now and it will continue to work in the future. It will be more important in the future!

Just think of the crowds that may have attended the violin street concert if the word had gotten out. Remember no marketing, no appreciation? SEO and social media outlets are functions of marketers for companies large and small; don't let the opportunity pass you by!

For those of you really interested in the true facts of the violinist, and the story behind it, it is true and verified on snopes so check it out for a good read!

HubSpot Website Grader

I recently had the pleasure to use HubSpot's Website Grader for the anyalysis of the company I work for, Pall, against one of our largest competitors, Millipore.

The Report of that was generated can be found at http://websitegrader.com/site/www.pall.com . Based on this report I have several recommendations that Pall could use to help raise their Search Engine Optimization (SEQ) score.

• First and foremost I would recommend not just one blog, but multiple blogs. Pall has always been very secretive about pretty much all of their information. The time has come to open the floodgates and allow the information to flow. Every press release we have is timely and accurate but sometimes I wonder how long it takes to hit the mainstream or popular medias. We have a lot of great scientists working for Pall who are more than articulate on the functions of filtration and separation. I think it would be great if we could promote more products by highlighting the features and benefits in a blog, not to mention increasing the SEO scores! Blogs about anything related to Pall would be great...just get them started.
• Images should all have ALT text, right now Pall has 4 images of out 5 viewed without the Alt image tag. Not that big of deal for the typical user, but very important for those using the Website without the image viewing capability. Personally I would like to see more of the ALT images used as a default for the Mobile version to enable quicker page loads, and  easier viewing. I know you can turn them off but I would rather had the option of turning them on when I needed them, versus having to wait for pages to load while I get to where I need to be.
• Let's Tweet about it. We only had 3 recent tweets. I know that we can do better than that, and I know that it would be something a lot of our customer base in the University setting would use and appreciate.  I personally do not use Twitter at this time, but I have friends that do...and it seems to be very viral in nature. Which is why I don't do it right now. But when I do have more time, and a reason, I am there! I say for now though.

Hey Pall let's get a couple of personas built up around our customers and start blogging and tweeting!