« February 2009 | Main | April 2009 »

03/ 2/2009

Sprint Speed Brings The Wall of Widgets To NASCAR

sprintnascar.jpg

In November we posted a threeminds write-up on SPRINT NOW and the wall of widgets spelling out the playground that are current 3G mobile networks. I recently came across this adaptation of the idea promoting NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile (http://sports.sprint.com/speed/). They are offering in-car audio, live updates of the races, and other dynamic content. The fun widgets are a data geek and designer's playground all wrapped around the symbolism of "America's Race." Click on the "THIS IS NOW" link to bask in all of the bite-sized, widgity goodness. I second the motion from Dave Feldt's original, November post... more Kudos to Goodby Silverstein.

Scott Lange

BREAKING NEWS

Breaking News.jpg

So I am clicking through the TV channels hoping to watch the news. I click through 10 or so channels and turn the TV off, annoyed. This never seems to happen when LOST is on. LOST actually makes TV better.

What is it that's bugging me? The list is lengthy so I'll stick with my top gripe. It seems to me that everything is referred to as BREAKING NEWS, even when BREAKING NEWS has a subhead that reads "Gourmet Meals on a Budget". Is this really news that deserves a bold, bright red, ALL CAPS level of attention?

Imagine being able to swap out some of the content that we've all learned over time to ignore for something intriguing. Content that made it onto the screen because the masses, not the networks, decided it should. Imagine being a participant beyond voting for American Idol contestants with your phone.

Mike Elgan of Datamation had these suggestions for How Social Media Can Save TV News:

  1. Instead of using "tickers" and peripheral space to promote programs and other stale "news," they should instead turn this over to live running commentary.
  2. Hire a small team to monitor Twitter and other social media sites 24/7 looking for breaking news, which always appears there first.
  3. Fire all opinion-show anchors.
  4. Go ahead and cover your career-making, inside-the-beltway stories, but spend at least half the show summarizing a very large number of stories that are getting traction on social media.
  5. Never let news anchors choose viewer comments.

This probably wouldn't help much with my BREAKING NEWS gripe but might improve everything that surrounds it.

Jason Randall

Laziness or Boldness? A New Way To Use Twitter

Thumbnail image for skittles.jpgWith brands flocking to Twitter, there are many that still need to take the time to understand how it can work for them. In a recent post about the evolution of brand conversations, our own David Feldt describes how much work it takes to engage in meaningful conversations with customers.

This morning, Skittles is letting you do the work for them. Instead of guiding the conversation, they've handed it over. The site's homepage it pulls in every -- absolutely no editing -- twitter reference to the name "skittles."   They've added Twitter to their social media repertoire without ever tweeting a character themselves. Their new website may be generating quite a bit of buzz, but at what cost?

skittlesmac.jpgHere's what folks around our network are saying:

"The Skittles' twitter homepage "strategy" makes NO sense whatsoever and adds nothing to the Skittles brand.  All they did was put up an unfiltered, generic Twitter search page that is open to all kinds of abuse. If they had put some thought into it they could have done something worthwhile that actually tied to the Skittles' customer base and made sense."
-David Feldt, SVP, Managing Director

"More than just the Twitter feed, the "Media" link is their YouTube channel and the "Friends" link is their Face book page. Another argument for the "do brands really need a .com anymore" thesis."
-Craig Ritchie, Strategy

"Interesting and not unexpected from a brand known for some extreme marketing ;)"
-Jay Bain, Project Management

"Fail or no fail. I have to say I'm hankering for some Skittles right about now. Maybe that's the point."
-Sandy Marsh, Experience Architecture

"There's no such thing as bad press, as long as they spell your name right."
-David Freeman, Technology

"Skittles has taken the "you are what they say you are" adage literally which is not a bad approach or a new one - Jeep Experience was a similar strategy.  But the execution lacks.  When a consumer arrives at your brand page they should get a sense for what the brand is about. A handful of 140 character blurbs conveys a scattered and convoluted message. It might have been more interesting to bubble up key phrases or terms from the multitude of skittles tweets or draw in imagery from Flickr."
-Russ Hopkinson, Strategy

How long before skittles revokes their campaign? Check it out and tell us what you think. And if you twitter it, please include that too.

UPDATE 3/3/09: Skittles has moved their Twitter feed to a less prominent page titled "CHATTER" and replaced the home page with their Facebook page -- content they are controlling. Skittish or part of their long-term strategy?

Sarah Jo Sautter

03/ 3/2009

tv.com beats Hulu to the iphone

tv-com1.jpg

Hulu still has a greater breadth of content, but CBS/Showtime via tv.com have beaten them to the iphone with an app just released last week:

http://i.gizmodo.com/5161237/tvcom-iphone-app-streams-free-full+length-cbs-and-showtime-shows

After downloading the free app, I was very quickly watching a full episode of the original Star Trek, at a better quality than YouTube mobile video. The tv.com app only works on wifi (can't bring down the network) and the episode I saw was divided into clips - very disruptive compared to the full episodes intercut with ads (from one sponsor per episode) on Hulu for web. I checked to see if shows on tv.com are also available for purchase through the iTunes store, and on dvd (they are), so they must have figured out a way to work around legal/biz constraints and leverage the strength of each of those digital channels.

While the tv.com app fills an immediate need, I would expect to see Hulu - and a nice UI that complements their slick web UI -available in the future.

Jay Bain

03/ 4/2009

Yelp Me Out

salsa.jpgI was recently on the receiving end of a company using their customer base (email subscribers) to help counter negative reviews, but I'm not so sure I agree with their tactics. This restaurant -- which I frequent for take-out -- has been getting some bad reviews on Yelp. In an effort to pump up their rating, they sent out the following email:

Subject: Yelp me out Please!

In the the last month I have gotten some really bad Salsa Bar Reviews.

Jason M.,  Royal Oak
The food was alright, nothing any better than what a chain like Qdoba or others could do. It seemed fresh and the staff was nice. I would have probably given it three stars until I walked around to the salsa bar. What a disappointment! They were watery, it seemed like the tomatoes used were canned, stewed at best. The others were boring.... I hope to give it more stars, but lose that poor excuse for a salsa bar!
                        
Tim E.,  Detroit
All in all it wasn't too bad. The food was good enough... the salsas were awful! From the mild that seemed to be mostly a mooshed up can of stewed tomatoes to the others that seemed watery at best. I wish I would give it more stars, I really wanted to, but those darn salsas got in the way!
                       
Janelle P., Clawson
But now for the bad...  The salsas are terrible.  So terrible, in fact, that they should be ashamed to serve them.  The mild salsa tastes like spaghetti sauce, the tomatillo is too acidic, and the chipotle-tomatillo is garbage.  Seating is also limited and kind of awkward, especially when the restaurant is busy.  Not the best seating layout ever designed. 

I would love to hear your opinion! Thanks!


The problem is that it appears they are banking on these negative experiences being the exception (where the Company is right and the customers are wrong).  I tend to agree with some points from the customers in the email and I might not have bothered to Yelp about it until now.

Another point is how credible will those one-time reviewers, even though positive, be to a frequent Yelper like myself? I tend to place more weight on the heavy reviewers and ones who have positively reviewed restaurants that I have liked as well.

I think a stronger action might have been for Zumba to compliment this with a statement as to how they are working to improve their product/service based on this feedback. Remember, the customer is always right.

In case you're wondering, I love their spicy Pico de gallo.

Sarah Jo Sautter
 

03/ 5/2009

Roti Thursdays Goes Mobile

iphonerotitron3000.jpg
About three years ago, a couple people in our Toronto office shared their cravings for roti. Little did they know it would drive new traditions -- or enlighten those of us who had never heard of the addictive bread. It started as a communal gathering that spawned the need for online ordering (known around the office as Rotitron 3000). The ordering system provides weekly stats on the number of rotis ordered, the type ordered, strength of roti and more. Since November 10, 2006, Organics have spent $9,703 on roti lunches.

rotiorder.jpg
Today, we've launched the iPhone app "Rotitron Mobile." No more missed rotis if you can't get to your computer before the Thursday deadline.

Thanks to David Feldt in Toronto for the scoop.

Sarah Jo Sautter

03/ 6/2009

ThreeMinds Weekly Digest 03.06.09

jonstewart_twitter.jpg
"It's no wonder the young people love it... according to reports about young people by middle-aged people" - Samantha Bee

I love Twitter. In fact, Twitter made reporting the first Camp Organic of 2009 a smashing success. But, even us social media evangelists have to admit to ourselves sometimes... maybe this stuff is really rotting our brains and the kids actually don't think it's cool at all.

What's Been Happening This Week

The Dynamic Duo: Twitter and Facebook
Facebook wasn't having such a good month, especially after all the hubbub surrounding their new Terms of Service, which they ended up having to apologize for. More recently, however, Facebook announced some major changes to the way the home page and fan pages are designed. Will this make for a better user experience? Is this a new nightmare or opportunity for marketers? Whatever the case, Facebook seems to be infusing more real-time conversation into the platform, even going so far as allowing app invites to be sent via chat.

Twitter, besides the drama over Skittles use of the platform, has been having a great month. They are crushing rumors that they have no business model. Celebrities on Twitter are bringing a new level of intimate and exclusive content to fans. Google has implemented Twitter into their search results. Omniture is offering Twitter analytics for brands. And they have recently rolled out search trends into the navigation, bringing real-time relevant conversation to the forefront.

The Outliers... iPhone, MySpace, Yahoo!, Flickr, YouTube
Despite it's small screen, the iPhone is making some leaps forward in becoming a great reading device. The NY Times just launched an application that makes their content available to read offline and Amazon Kindle will also be coming to the phone soon. YouTube went from being the White House's platform of choice, to not being ideal, and back to being a-okay again.

Yahoo! has launched a supposed "challenge" to the Facebook Connect platform. MySpace is flirting with finance in the form of branded credit cards. And Flickr brings HD and video options, long something you could only get with Pro, to people with free accounts.

Marta Strickland

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Green Internet to the Rescue

windturbine.jpgimage credit: Caveman 92223 (Flickr)

Different statistics show that worldwide Internet usage is still growing from 400 to 1000% a year. More use of the Internet means, among other things, more data centers to be built around the world to handle the ever growing traffic. The amount of energy needed to power all the data centers is staggering. Worldwide, the energy consumption of data center servers and related infrastructure equipment doubled between 2000 and 2005. In 2006, American data centers already consumed more power than American televisions.

Google, among others, has been criticized for the high amount of energy necessary to maintain its servers. Therefore the company has pledged to spend millions of dollars on investigating cheap, clean, renewable energy, and is making efforts to build its new server farms near clean energy facilities.

Continue reading "Green Internet to the Rescue" »

03/ 9/2009

Facebook Fan Page Changes Are a Win

facebook.jpgThe Evolution
Just when everyone was getting comfortable with the last fall's redesign, Facebook is changing the game again. So what does the social network powerhouse have in store? How about a simplified publishing model, elevating real-time activity, rounding out the corners of the design, oh, and changing the way we interface with brands and fan pages. The future is here right? Well, let's see.

Power to the People!
The new profile home page is giving more power to the users. Win right? Yes! Filters allow you to completely customize your feed quickly. Get the content you want and follow the people you care about most. The stream is getting faster, smarter and cleaner. Publishing content has become easier and faster as well. Posting directly from your wall increases the likelihood of continuing the conversation. I love changing a simple thing like asking, "What's on your mind?" instead of "What are you doing?" It entices users to pontificate a bit. Share thoughts as well as activities. Not unlike another social friend of mine that rhymes with twitter.

Continue reading "Facebook Fan Page Changes Are a Win" »

03/10/2009

The Rise of the Creative Technologists

dm_tech1.jpgToday's marketer has to wrestle with a plethora of new platforms, channels, and delivery medium. She needs to deliver emotionally resonating messaging to online, offline, out of home, set top, personal computer, mobile, laptop, occasionally connected, touch sensitive, and always on devices.

A week or two ago, Randall Rothenberg's post on "heartbeats and mouse clicks" broke open a topic that has been seething below the normal work-a-day lives of interactive marketers for a long time. Randall opens his article with: Quick -- name four fantastic, emotionally resonant, culturally significant and successful interactive advertising campaigns from the past year.

How did you do? Did you find a campaign that really emotionally engaged you? That nameless visceral reaction to an idea, an image, a word, an experience. Like Randall, I couldn't name any. Nothing. The closest I could come was the RG/A Nike+ integration. I didn't have a visceral reaction to it, but the elegance and simplicity and the change in behavior it has wrought with me is certainly something that stands out.

Continue reading "The Rise of the Creative Technologists" »

Digital Democracy

democracy.jpg
image credit: Dead Air (Flickr)

The brainchild of an English soccer fan, myfootballclub.co.uk originally launched in 2007 with the aim of recruiting at least 50,000 soccer enthusiasts from around the world to donate £35 each to buy a real soccer team. The site collected the necessary amount of donations quite quickly, and in the beginning of 2008, the donors voted to buy a 75% share in Ebbsfleet United F.C.

Thus having gained control of the club, the members of MyFootballClub then began to run decisions on things from player transfers to team selection and even things like what type of food to serve at the stadium, through a democratic voting process conducted on the website. The members have also voted against taking certain things to public control. For example, last year the members voted to leave picking the starting lineup for matches to the team's head coach Liam Daish.

Not all have been happy with Ebbsfleet becoming the world's first fan-controlled soccer team and it is rumored that the team could be facing some financial trouble, but it's an interesting experiment and the team has also enjoyed some significant success after the members took over. The head coach says he's 100% committed to this concept. The current MyFootballClub members come from almost 80 different countries and EA Sports has also agreed to invest in the team.

If this can be done in sports, could, or rather should, it be done with companies, brands (some may say examples of that already exist) and everything else? Is this the next step towards ultimate democracy and a better world, or something to create chaos and instability? This kind of system could hardly be created and run without the help of Internet, at least not internationally. Is this the way we are ultimately going to be making decisions - before the digital age we just didn't have the tools to make this possible? What are your thoughts?

Thanks to Craig Ritchie for the link.

Karri Ojanen

03/11/2009

Imitation Isn't Just Flattery, It's Entertainment

thruyou.jpg

Remixing is an often unappreciated art form, but there are some groups out there who take the art of remix to such level, there is no denying that it is exactly that... art.

I've always been a fan of the Emergency Broadcast Network, a multimedia group from the early 90s who use clips of news, music video, and movies to create seizure-inducing, but amazing videos. EBN's videos can be found today on YouTube, but during the 90s they were circulated tape-to-tape by art students and fans of odd entertainment along with MST3K episodes and Heavy Metal Parking Lot (Hell yeah!).

More recently, Israeli funk mucisian Kutiman launched Thru-You.com, a new album which was painstakingly created entirely from YouTube videos and mixed into 7 track songs. The website allows you to listen to each track in an easy interface that mimics the best of YouTube and MuxTape. The result is nothing short of incredible. It's art, it's entertainment, and it's evidence of something pretty amazing...

We are living and have been living in the Remix Culture for quite some time. We have taken entertainment out of the hands of studio executives. We have taken broadcast channels away from the hands of networks. The social web itself represents a platform based on letting go of control, sharing ideas and code, building on what others have built, and freeing your data. The perfect environment for the art of remix to thrive in full entertaining glory.

Marta Strickland

Projected, gesture-driven interface + Augmented Reality + Semantic Web = Never-ending Wows.

sixthsensehand.jpg MIT's Pattie Maes revealed we're quite a bit closer to usable, wearable tech than we realized at the TED conference this past month. Currently named "Sixth Sense," it combines a projected gesture-driven interface with image recognition and a connection to the Internet, or potentially, the semantic web to create an augmented day-to-day experience that brought TED audience members to their feet.

This video provides the best examples of the eye-opening tech, as Pranav Mistry demonstrates how to auto-magically invoke a watch on to his wrist with a circular flick of his finger; get live updates on his plane's status on the way to the airport just by looking at his ticket; take a photo just by framing a scene with his index fingers and thumbs in Spielbergian fashion; or project a web-fed tag cloud of meta data on to someone he is speaking to - directly on to their body.

Currently in the prototype stage, one of the most astonishing facts is that the setup costs less than $350. The pendant projector hangs from the user's neck, a small but significant change from common wearable tech experiments, most of which are attached to a baseball cap or helmet, the head itself or the wrist. This allows the user to use their head and eyes to be unencumbered during pauses between interface tasks. This also places the interface directly between the fingertip gesture controls for obvious benefits.

Maes claims they're "far" from a commercial product. "Who knows," she states, "maybe in another ten years we'll be here with the ultimate 'sixth sense' brain implant."

But game-changing tech has a way of jumping in to our lives very suddenly. Here is 3M's mobile projector that became available a year ago at CES 2008 (with plans for cell phone integration), and Logic Wireless/T-Mobile's launch of the Logic Bolt with of this very technology at CES 2009.

Are we a year away from having a Sixth Sense? I see us jumping ahead, people.


Craig Ritchie

03/12/2009

iPhone Volkswagen Polo Challenge 3D

audi_iphone.jpg
After Audi's success of the A4 Driving Challenge on iTunes App Store, Volkswagen has teamed up with Fishlabs (http://www.fishlabs.net) to release Volkswagen Polo Challenge 3D. With stunning graphics, fast/addictive game play and 10 un-lockable stages - this app is sure to gain a long running top spot as Audi did. And yes, it's free.

There are a few stability issues being reported, but as all iPhone owners know this is common with new apps and a update to fix will most likely be out within the next week or two.

Eric Diem

Life Is For Sharing

Editor's Note: Yes... some things are worth sharing, even two months late. Originally a post sent around by Sam Cannon, praise for this fantastic campaign reentered my inbox this week from Adam Turinas as something his "70 something aunt in Canada emailed it to me. Hhhmh! This internet thing could be big". Proving a good campaign doesn't just touch the hearts of us marketers, but 70 year old Canadian aunts.

On an otherwise average Thursday morning in January, T-Mobile UK made good on its campaign theme, "Life is for sharing," by giving some unsuspecting commuters at Liverpool Street Station something to share: a blaring music mix interrupted the drone of PA announcements as 400 "undercover" dancers stepped into a tightly choreographed routine for about two-and-a-half minutes - just enough time for people to take notice and whip out their camera phones. Relevant and entertaining, the dance and related clips have racked up millions of views already on YouTube. Goes to show, good ideas promote themselves.

The Dance
The Rehearsal
The Tease
Audience Reaction
"Share Your Best Moves" YouTube Channel

Sam Cannon

03/16/2009

Comcast Goes Indie, Artistic and Isometric

Thumbnail image for home_comcasttown.jpgGot that new "C-O-M-C-A-S-T" song stuck in your head?  The catchy indie-folk tune is the only audio in a new Comcast TV spot about all the cool stuff you can do via their Triple-Play service package.  In the TV spot, people sing the song as they move around diagonally on a beautifully rendered isometric grid.

Online, the recently launched "ComcastTown" site keeps the song as a looping background track while giving you a bank account and a library of furnishings to decorate your own apartment and share it with your friends via Facebook and email.


I quickly and easily decorated my "studio" with furniture, brick walls, a faux-panda rug, a couple of turntables and a "maneki neko" lucky cat statue. One thing I found annoying was its auto-notify feature telling my Facebook network as I added each item. Overall, though, I was very happy with my decorating results and the ease of use selecting items and moving them around the isometric sandbox.

Thumbnail image for myroom_comcasttown.jpgIMHO this site is a great way for Comcast to show how it can play a central role as a digital media provider/connector in customers' homes, while reiterating its Triple Play offering. The charming illustrations of the town and room furnishings go a long way to put a soft touch on this branded experience. The seamless Facebook integration also helps to make this socially entertaining and ensures a wide reach.

Jay Bain

03/13/2009

Here Comes Foursquare. +10 points for Downloading.

foursquare.jpg

Hot on the eve of the South by Southwest conference, Dennis Crowley (founder of the mobile social service "Dodgeball") and Naveen Selvadurai opened the gate to a new new mobile lifestyle application called "foursquare" for the iPhone. Foursquare, introduces a new twist to the burgeoning landscape of mobile social applications. So far, the reviews are promising.

What makes "foursquare" different is it's, well, game play.

Built on a solid location based platform, foursquare makes mobile check-ins seamless (telling the network where you are in the form of a place, not a location, i.e.: "I'm at The Reservoir" not its latitude and longitude and approximate street address). As users check-in, their friends are alerted to their whereabouts along with "shout-out" messages with more details about what they are doing. Foursquare also includes Twitter integration so a user's whereabouts and what they are doing can be pushed directly to their Twitter followers. And yes, all of this can be turned off if you don't want anyone to know that you are with your best friend's girlfriend.

While other applications offer the user the ability to check-in and alert friends, foursquare provides users with an actual social incentive to participate and maintain repeat usage. As foursquare users check-in, they earn points and unlock badges for various achievements. For instance, go out four nights in a row and you'll unlock "bender." When you check-in to the same place more than any other user, you become "the mayor" of that location for everyone to see.

While check-ins and badges appeal to a competitive nature, foursquare also provides user generated lifestyle guides in the form of shared to-do lists. Users can post things "to do" in specific places and share them with friends. As friends complete these "to dos," then can mark them off on their own list.

Foursquare currently supports 12 cities including: Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minn/St. Paul, NYC, Philadelphia (ed. note: boo), Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and DC. More cities will be added over the course of the next few months and as users from these markets adopt foursquare.

While foursquare is best optimized on the iPhone, it's also usable via SMS and most mobile web browsers. More information on foursquare can be found here.

I've been an alpha tester of foursquare for the past few months and have been impressed by the functionality and game play nature of the service. It's the social competition that keeps me coming back and I strongly believe that the competitive nature of the product will lead to the formation of an active user community of socially incentivized users who will "go out and play," as opposed to some of nascent mobile social networks that are out there.

With plane loads of social media and entertainment influencers hitting up Austin this weekend, foursquare is poised to be the talk of South by Southwest and may even be one of the mobile breakout hits of 2009.

Chad Stoller

ThreeMinds Weekly Digest 03.13.09

I was tempted to add a Friday the 13th image at the top, since this is our second of three superstitious Fridays of 2009. But, there was a more important date to recognize. On March 13th, 2009 the World Wide Web will turn 20 years old. Which begs the question, what will become of the web next year when it's old enough to buy alcohol and gamble in Vegas? Watch out!

On a more serious note, the birthday of the web is a good chance to take a step back and look at how far it's come and where it's going. About a year ago this time, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the web, said that we are finally ready to "realize the potential of a world of structured, machine readable data". I hope that he is right because the next generation web is going to change the way we connect, discover, and share with the social online world. Something I am going to speak more about at this year's Web 3.0 conference.

What's Been Happening This Week

Facebook World Dominance
It's now being offered in Arabic and Hebrew, Facebook is taking over the world. Social networking is now more popular than e-mail. Facebook has continued to beat MySpace in just about every type of traffic, and in just about every demographic. The wealth of people and data has lead to laser precise ad targeting. And on top of all that, there are significant indications that the social grooming we are doing online is increasing the amount of relationships we are able to maintain. Social technology breeds social evolution.

Twitter + Money = Monitwized?
Apparently Twitter is now loved by everyone form congressmen to Chicagoans, from Washington to the Windy City. But at the same time, Twitter is driving traffic to blogs (including this one!) and social networks, but not to retail sites. So, if begs the question about how valuable that twitter traffic really is? Well, at least one person, Jason Calacanis, thinks a suggested slot on Twitter is worth $250K!!

Traditional Media Takes One Step Back, Two Steps Forward
While Stephen Fry might dislike traditional media and for some good reasons, there has been a lot more love between social and traditional media over the past year. We can all admit the darling that Hulu has become, and the interesting implications of their announcement that they are going to turn their platform social. Not in a backwards way, but in a "fish where the fish are" Facebook integration way. Then there is everything newspapers have been doing to try and save their industry... from sensors and smart content to printing customized papers (circa 1939?).

Marta Strickland

What's a Twitter in Austin?

pepsi.jpgPepsiCo wants you to be able to see what's happening at one of the biggest idea forums this year. They're not only a huge sponsor of this year's SXSW in Austin, they're running a Twitter-based "visualizer" of happenings and ephemera at the event.

Immersing themselves in emerging trends -- namely social media -- is what PepsiCo deems necessary to stay "sharp and innovative" according to Josh Karp, the company's Manager of Digital and Social Media. Their three big brands are individually sponsoring the different festivals and conferences: Pepsi is aligned with Music, Sierra Mist with Film and Mountain Dew with the Interactive Festival.

Hence, PepsiCo built their latest site, titled "SXSW 2009 Twitter Visualizer", specifically for the conference. (Thanks to Chad Stoller for sharing via twitter.) The first page features a constant stream of tweets similar to www.twitterfall.com. The eye-catching data is displayed in a bold, typographic manner. While it looks pretty cool, there's just too much going on to read too many of the actual tweets.

The front page isn't the best part though. Check out the "Swarm" page, which shows tweets as they're posted at specific event locations. All are nicely overlaid atop an animated map of Austin. So you get an idea of how the event is laid out even if you're not there. "Popular" tracks keywords while "Overheard" clues you in on who has sonic ears.

The most interesting part is that it looks to have been designed and built by a two-person team. Though they give props to others on their website.

Are you headed to Austin for the events? Will you be tweeting while there? Or are you following anyone who is tweeting in the midst of the experience?

Sarah Jo Sautter

03/16/2009

Playpower Distributes Educational Software in Emerging Markets

playpower_band.jpg
image credit: Wired

Playpower.org is a group dedicated to Computer Aided Learning in developing countries, currently targeting $12 TV-computers already in sale throughout China, India, and South America.

Last week I went down to O'Reilly's ETech conference to support Playpower during their presentation by playing some improvised beats off my PSP. It was a lot of fun, and on the surface it makes sense: pairing video-game-console produced music with video-game-console based learning.

But the pairing of Playpower and Starpause runs deeper than video-game aesthetic. I started producing music with a classic gray brick gameboy after I realized some new software from Sweden on homebrew carts from China could it into an electronic music workstation with four monophonic synthesizers for under $100.

In the same way, Playpower has looked at what technology is already available to the "the emerging middle class" in developing countries and connecting the dots to get quality learning games on those machines. It's a bit like the now-expected web2 mashup but instead of tacking feeds to maps with ajax, Playpower is arming retro-enthusiast coders with Computer Aided Learning studies and slipping the results to Chinese manufacturers (who are hungry to clone and publish any content, original or not).

They're is calling it a Market Intervention and you can follow their progress via the Playpower blog or on twitter.

Jordan Gray

03/17/2009

Sci-Fi Channel to become SyFy Channel? Fail

syfy_scifi.jpg

As a fan of science fiction, it pains me to see the latest in rebranding and marketing genius from my beloved network--a switch from the sensible truncation of "Science Fiction" (Sci-Fi) to SyFy, a name that doesn't really mean anything. It's not an abbreviation for anything, it eschews the well established roots of the genre and well, it just seems plain silly. I'll need a reason to watch this network after Battlestar Galactica ends, and this is not it. I don't get it. Here's a link: http://redesignrelated.com/post/87022865/sci-fi-syfy-rebrand-redesign

Gary Nelson

Is the Word "Newspaper" on Its Way To Becoming A Historical Noun?

spi.jpgToday marks the last day of print editions for the 146-year old newspaper Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The paper, owned by Hearst Corp., had been for sale since January with no takers. It's a sad, but growing trend around the country. Due to the increasing shift of readers and advertisers flocking to online news sources, papers have been losing subscribers and money for quite awhile. And forecasters predict yet a further decline in ad revenues this year.

This story kicked off 2009 right here on Threeminds. Seattle marks the second major city to lose a daily newspaper already this year. Denver lost The Rocky Mountain News for the same reason. And Gannett Co.'s Tucson Citizen in Arizona is set to close Saturday. The list continues with the San Francisco Chronicle, which will either be sold or close if it can't cut enough costs to sustain itself. It's only a matter of time before others likely follow suit. Four other major papers have recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Last week, Time.com reported the top ten printed papers in jeopardy.

In an effort to save some semblance of the paper and its editorial stance, some publishers are proposing a new model. One that moves subscriptions online instead of folding entirely. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will become the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. to make the shift to a completely digital offering.

With so many readers used to getting news for free online, will loyal readers pay for an online version of their once favored print paper? Some of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's prized writers, photographers and illustrators are staying on for the new online edition. So readers still get that familiar, personable storytelling. But is that enough? The New York Times and Wall Street Journal's online paid editions manage to do okay.

News is news. But editorial is different depending on the author who pens it. News sites will have to work even harder to brand and distinguish themselves from the news site three or four states away.

A few weeks ago, I received a letter in the mail -- printed nonetheless -- from my local newspaper (the Detroit Free Press) letting me know they are discontinuing some of their daily deliveries in lieu of online editions, postal delivery or purchase through a retail outlet. Thankfully my Sunday delivery is safe -- for now.

There's something about waking up a bit later than usual on Sunday mornings, knowing that there's a paper waiting outside my front door just beckoning to be held, studied, saved, carried, clipped, shared...

But I still wonder: what will my son read on Sundays when he's my age?
 
Sarah Jo Sautter




03/18/2009

There's Branding in the Wind

ricoh_billboard_01.jpg
Despite the irony of integrating wind power into a meter-cranking, electricity-vaporizing location like Times Square, another company, Japanese printing manufacturer Ricoh, is about to follow up on Coca Cola's eco-billboard debut with a wind-powered billboard of its own.

In a time when some companies are either cutting back on or shifting their marketing investment from offline to online marketing, it's nice to see a company like Ricoh doing something innovative and ecologically conscious in the digital out-of-home space.

Ricoh's wind-powered digital billboard is scheduled to launch sometime in the next few weeks at 42nd and 7th Ave. The project will be powered WePOWER wind turbine technology (video demo), including 16 wind turbines and 64 solar panels.

How much juice are they saving? A Mediaweek article estimates "about 18 tons of carbon per year and about $12,000 to $15,000 a month in electricity." I'm not sure what the cost of building and installing this type of an eco-advertising spectacle amounts to, but surely saving $12,000-15,000 on electricity alone is a decent ROI.

For full story, including an interview with WePOWER's CEO about the future of "windvertising," see: "Ricoh to Launch First Wind-Powered Ad" on MediaWeek.

Stephanie Jorgl

03/23/2009

Mmm, Data...

statistique-19.jpg

I just picked up a copy of Data Flow, a 200+ page anthology of data visualization examples from around the world, and I can't put it down. The collection is deep and wide, from the playful (pictured) to the abstract (meandering lines of measurement representing the meandering prose of Kerouac's On the Road) to the narrative (a comic-influenced non-linear story of lives intersecting).

Even better, the book is light on words, save for the concise and insightful intro, a few choice interviews, and five thematic chapter titles -- Datasphere, Datascape, Datanoid, Datalogy, and Datablocks. Simple as they may sound, these titles help make sense the vast world of information design by identifying the most common metaphors by which designers communicate complexity. An inspiring and informative reference.

Sam Cannon

03/18/2009

The Net's Mid-Life Crisis: What About The Browser?

Google-Chrome-Cartoon-Item.jpg
This week's On The Media (NPR Show) has an interesting look at the net's "mid-life crisis" - discussing outmoded routers, anonymity, and viruses, among other things. I found it most fascinating that in all of the discussion of where the net's at currently, where it's been and where it's headed that there was no mention of the single-most used application used when dealing with the internet - the web browser.

Yes, of all the tools that need to be standardized on the web, browsers have had the most attempts at regulation via the W3C but, yet, still prove the most irksome. Likewise, they exemplify the problems that OTM focuses on - they're outmoded (IE6 still proves to be a major player though it's not two versions behind) and they open up users to Trojans and other malware via their poor coding (again, IE6). I wonder if OTM requires some kind of metaphor to make this point clear. For me, I describe the difference in web browsers as if looking out four windows and seeing four completely different versions of the same view. (though others have more colorful methods of describing this troublesome topic)

Listen to OTM's story here:http://onthemedia.org/transcripts/2009/03/13/06.

Mike White

03/19/2009

Siftables: Toy blocks that think



I have two children: Rory (7) and Penelope (4). I also have several home computers, a laptop for work, an iPhone, a PSP,  Xbox 360, and a Wii. All of these these are linked together on a wireless network at home. By "these" I mean the devices and the kids. We also have a giant tub of legos. They are wire-less, many of them are connected, and as a set they are infinitely more stimulating than most of the games on the computers and consoles.

I'm a great supporter of my children embracing technology and exposing them to games. I am a greater supporter of my children embracing creativity. The puzzles in the games on the wii engage this part of the brain, but the infinite numbers of starships, racecars, buildings, lettersforms, and beasts contained in the lego tub spark those synapses in a way that I haven't seen the computers or consoles manage, yet.

After watching David Merrill's demonstration on his modular, computerized tiles -- called Siftables -- I see a new frontier of computing. In this computing world the human-machine interface is ALREADY intuitive. The user manipulates physical objects and builds with their hands -- not by pushing keys and moving a mouse, but by stacking and arranging computing blocks. The entire experience is very... physical.

 

Continue reading "Siftables: Toy blocks that think" »

Connecting with the Traveler Staying in the Room Down the Hall

podculture.jpgHow do you attract young, adventurous travelers? Try giving them something they can't get from the other hipster hotel down the road -- a social network where they can connect with other travelers prior to their arrival.

That's exactly what The Pod Hotel did last January. Labeling themselves as "Great for Stylish & Spend-Thrifty Travelers," the renamed hotel (formerly Pickwick Arms) set up a new website where those with reservations could go to connect with other guests prior to their arrival. Guests can invite others to "Drink With Me," "Eat With Me," "Shop With Me," or "Go Out With Me."

Their new name and site hit the hipness bulls-eye and their new way of offering their social crowd more social outlets reinforces that.

What's surprising is that the hotel doesn't do much to promote this on their website. The only reference I found to PodCulture was a small call-to-action on the home page that led to a Gallery. Then on two pages in, I found this copy:

You can also plug into the Pod community before you even arrive on our customized PodBlog. Swap stories, trade itineraries and ideas, and get to know your fellow Pod mates.

So maybe they're just banking on it being a Lucky Strike extra once your reservations are confirmed. And that seems to be the case as a rep from the agency noted that the target audience tends to be skeptical of marketing.

That bonus appears to be working. The creative agency who developed the site for The Pod, 321 Worldwide, claims the new social network added an additional 40 percent revenue to the hotel's bottom line the first year it was launched.

David Bernstein, general manager of the Pod Hotel, stated in an article that he's seen more people meeting up in the lobby or upon check in.

Pod Hotel seems to be fairing well with it's guests these days. It rates four stars on TripAdvisor. Though after sifting through the reviews, I found no specific comments about PodCulture. So I'm not sure how much the reviews relate to their experience before they arrived at the hotel (e.g. interacting with fellow travelers via PodCulture) or once they were there. The one thing I did see consistently was appreciation of the free wi-fi throughout the hotel, including in guestrooms.

One reviewer on TripAdvisor stated, "During my 4-day stay, I had seen tons of young hotel guests gathering in the lobby. I never used the area myself but can imagine it would be a great meeting point."

So how are travelers hearing about PodCulture? And if they aren't, are they just booking on name and look hipness factor alone?

Maybe they should take advice from Chris Brogan. This frequent traveler and blogger also has some suggestions for hotels.

For a "hostel" with shared bathrooms, the Pod Hotel has found a way to compete with the trendy boutique hotels that NYC is known for. Reminds me of traveling in Europe where you meet people from all over who are eager to chat and share travel stories over dinner.

I can see how this would be pretty sweet when traveling to a conference. Would you log on and connect with guests prior to your arrival?

Sarah Jo Sautter

03/23/2009

LCD Coding: Should All User Experiences Be Equal?

animalfarm.JPG

In Progressive Enhancement (PE), the strategy is deliberately reversed: a basic markup document is created, geared towards the lowest common denominator of browser software functionality, and then the designer adds in functionality or enhancements to the presentation and behavior of the page, using modern technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets or JavaScript (or other advanced technologies, such as Flash or Java applets or SVG, etc.)

One of the biggest influences on my history as an HTML Geek had to be David Siegel's Creating Killer Websites book. If Siegel beat two ideas into my ideas they had to be that images need to be optimized within an inch of their life and that websites should look and act the same regardless of what browser a user employs.

Published in late 1997, the landscape of the web has changed considerably since those nascent days of web design. Careful use of Photoshop definitely helps in the fight against bloated images along with the increasing acceptance of Portable Network Graphics (PNG) as a web standard. As long as smart decisions are made about what files get saved in which format, we should be looking good.

Yet, there fight for browser compatibility still remains one of the biggest hurdles in a web developers life. "Yes, but does it work in IE?" has become the impetus for many a late night of stylesheet and/or javascript tweaking. The question that might need to be asked sooner rather than later is, "Does this need to work the same in IE?" Or, conversely, "Does this need to work in Chrome?" While websites should still be a relatively similar experience from one browser/platform to another, are we cheating ourselves and our users by omitting a bell or whistle simply because it can't be "heard" in another person's experience?

That is to say, does the web experience have to be identical for everyone or are there arrows in our quiver of "web tricks" that we can let fly for those who happen to browse one way or another?

Continue reading "LCD Coding: Should All User Experiences Be Equal?" »

03/25/2009

Fish Where the Fish Aren't

3364454826_238748c537_b.jpgimage credit: afagen

Introducing an interesting out-of-home timewaster from Carnival Cruises (and Arnold Worldwide through Monster Media), popping up in various major cities around the country. Passers-by are first engaged by the motion responsive virtual marine life. Once hooked (sorry, couldn't resist) they learn that they can create a fish of their own by dialing a toll-free number on their phone and following a few steps. For more, watch AdAge's three-minute overview.

My favorite part: you create a fish by making weird noises into your phone. What a simple way to a) avoid klunky menu trees, and b) get people living your brand values right there in the street.

My other favorite part: they used vacant storefronts for their installations. Advertising as entertainment is nothing new, but advertising as beautification? That's a nice thing to see in these times.

Sam Cannon

03/24/2009

A New Code for Marketers, Retailers and Consumers

img.gifBarcodes and QR Codes could be a thing of the past. I'm betting Mobile Multi-Colour Composite codes (MMCC) will be the new "barcodes."

The MMCC codes are 2D barcodes that can hold video, pictures, text, ringtones, games or any other multimedia that you might dream up. The embedded clip would play when scanned into a user's phone.

The ability to see a sample of something fast would be a quick sell for me. Maybe a 10 second clip of a music video or a quick trailer for a movie. Or it could be something that has the potential to spread - like a Jeep® "Lost" tie-in a la scavenger hunt style.

With any new technology there is always the fad issue where it's hot one moment and in the bargain, unwanted bin the next. However if there is value behind it, I believe marketers will support this cool technology. The real reason this might stick is that there is an actual use for this technology. Regular barcodes or QR codes are very ambiguous, often lost within our daily routines.

I haven't seen any cool implementation of this...yet. And I've never actually found a QR code in the wild yet either.

What would make this innovation really take off? If you had a product to sell, how would you use an MMCC code?

Jason Law

ThreeMinds Weekly Digest 03.24.09

I'm running out of stories about how popular Twitter has become. Twitter was mentioned in last weekends episode of The Soup, and not even as a joke a la Old Man Stewart Shakes His Fist At Twitter. Yes, all this social media stuff if mainstream. Social media marketing budgets are on the rise. Even in a recession year, more than 50% of marketers are increasing spending on social media. And yet, that also means higher expectations on results... this isn't a playground anymore, playtime is over.

What's Been Happening This Week

iPhone 3.0: Sexy, and Just Because of "Cut and Paste"
The next generation of the iPhone operating system has arrived, and it is a beautiful thing. Besides adding some long forgotten features like MMS and "cut and paste", the implications of the new iPhone OS are game changing, creating a new mobile economy. Apps no longer have to be non-integrated one-hit wonders that fade in popularity. Push notifications, in-application purchases, and the announcement that Facebook Connect will be available for applications will change expectations for what applications can and should do.

Are You All Twittered Out Yet?
The ratio of Twitter news in my inbox vs non-Twitter news is alarmingly high. We are approaching a tipping point where it won't be even cool for social media hipsters to talk about or blog about soon. Twitter is growing up... 3 years old and ready to change the world. The platform has been growing at a staggering 1382% rate over the past few months. Twitter search is becoming an ever popular way for brands to find out what people really think. So much so that Salesforce.com has now integrated a module that lets brands answer and track consumer complaints on Twitter.

Marta Strickland

Can the PCPM Save the (Digital) World?

social-graph-api.gifAlthough not new, the notion of a personal CPM seemed to be threaded through more than a few panels at this year's SXSW interactive conference. Popularized by former Forrester analyst Charlene Li, the PCPM can be loosely defined as the value of one thousand page views multiplied by an individual's influence. More specifically, it's the idea that, if you can quantify the amount of influence someone has in their social graph, then you can use that person as a filter for advertising.

So, if I'm influential within a group of people and I raise my hand by interacting with a brand, then there's a good chance that the people who hold me in some esteem will also be interested in that brand. Presumably, a value would then be placed on my filtering power in specific verticals based on the size and composition of my social graph. From there, advertisers would pay a premium to serve ads to members of that influencer's social graph.

As standards like Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect, and Open ID come into force and become interoperable we will move to a web where the PCPM is technically viable. It's true that as social functionality seeps into every corner of the web "wuffie," as Tara Hunt another SXSW keynote speaker, has dubbed social capital, will be a juicy target for monetization through targeting. But, there are still a lot of unanswered questions to be addressed.

Perhaps as interesting as the idea of the PCPM was the impetus behind its prominence at SXSW. People are starting to realize that there's something fundamentally wrong with the ad-supported business model. When sites as popular as the NY Times, Facebook, and Twitter can't, through display advertising, make enough money to sustain themselves let alone turn a profit, it's clear that change is needed.

There are many pieces to the puzzle of why high traffic doesn't always equate to high profits. Many would argue that Twitter and Facebook are only interested in maintaining growth without compromising user experience. Or, that both have viable business models that just need to be "discovered." The fact remains that these sites have value to many millions of people that is not being converted my display advertising.

Is the PCPM the answer to the problem of monetization and profitability for some of the web's most loved sites? The answer is likely "no." But, that won't stop it from becoming a reality and, I suspect, add a new dimension to the value of display advertising inventory.

Dan Neumann

03/27/2009

Not All Apps Need To Be Killer

iphorest_green_design.jpgThe Conservation Fund, Organic's carbon offset vendor, has partnered with iPhactory and Ecolife Apparel to launch iPhorest, a new iPhone app that helps the environment by planting real live trees.

By downloading the app, the user activates a seedling both virtually and physically. For each virtual tree planted, The Conservation Fund will plant a native tree in real life - starting with restoration of vulnerable wildlife habitats along the Gulf Coast in the United States.

  • Once you've downloaded the app you can virtually grow your tree
  • Dig a hole: shovel and scoop with your iPhone until your seedling appears
  • Touch the seed to plant the seedling
  • Shake your phone to create a storm and when the sun comes your tree begins to grow
  • Repeating this six times enables your tree to reach full growth
  • Share your tree growth at any stage with others by pressing the share button to email them
  • Grow another tree in the forest view screen by clicking on the shovel
  • Go up to see all of the other iPhorest users. Help green the Earth - the app places a dot where you first launch iPhorest.

Product Page: http://www.iphorest.com
iTunes URL: http://www.itunes.com/app/iphorest
Video Promo on YouTube

Jocelyn Startz

03/26/2009

Is Social Media Today's Snake Oil?

snakeoil.jpg
Today I searched for a "Social Media Expert" on Google. The results? 84 million. The same staggering numbers surfaced while searching on Twitter or Facebook. Lately, anyone that has a profile on Social Media seems to call themselves a Social Media Expert.

The phenomenon of social networks has officially begun the free fall from their Tipping Point. Talk about mass market appeal - Twitter was even featured on The Today Show last week. Millions of new users are wandering aimlessly on-line trying to uncover: what can social media do for me? And social media experts, or those that claim they are, are ready to sell them.

It brings to mind images of the snake oil peddler from old Western movies - the traveling salesman who claims to hold the remedy for all one's ails. Is today's economy producing a legion of PT Barnums looking for the suckers who weren't early adopters of social media? How can marketers interested in entering the social media world protect themselves from fast-talking wanna-bes and instead find a trusted consultant?

Continue reading "Is Social Media Today's Snake Oil?" »

03/30/2009

Diagnosis From A Kiosk

MedicalKiosk.jpgSince I work on a financial account, it's cool to see something outside of banking that could impact everyday life just as ATMs did. Hence, I heard about an interesting device involving Medicine 2.0: The Virtual Practice Project.
 
Massachusetts General Hospital is developing this computerized kiosk that physicians hope can help bring some relief to the healthcare system. The kiosk will be able to track a patient's medical history, weight, pulse, blood pressure, and other vital signs. It'll even perform simple blood tests for glucose and cholesterol. The Project is a small Windows computer with a few attachments -- a blood-pressure cuff, a scale, to start. The goal is to decrease the wait time at doctor's offices and the time the doctor usually needs to assess your problem. 
 
The new product is intended to appeal to people who don't typically go to a doctor until they are sick. Diagnoses still have to come from your doctor, but you'll be able to find out if you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a host of other symptoms. The results would be stored in a system for your doctor to access during your visit. 

Testing is scheduled to being in June in the UK. If it goes well, you may see a kiosk at the supermarket, pharmacy or your local Wal-Mart sometime down the road. 

It'll be interesting to see which companies might be interested in advertising on the idle screens.  Is an ad asking a customer to check their financial health a stretch?

Madi Benjamin
 

03/31/2009

Moleskine Storytelling


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Designer Mike Rohde was hired to created real time sketchnotes for this year's SXSW. I am only on slide eight and my eyes are wide:

1. Love the way this tells the story of SXSW.
2. SXSW's brand is catapulted thanks to this and similar types of UGC. What happens when great creators are allowed to express their engagement with a brand or brand event?
3. The art direction is inspired. It would be difficult to plan this depth design + content.
4. It's on Flickr -- why not the SXSW web site? It might be there, but the user chose this platform for his own reasons -- Flickr offers so much more for the user's benefit. Now it's up to SXSW to leverage this, if they can...
5. Slide 8: "Couldn't write fast enough..." This guy's humble.

Speakers and presenters should feel honored to be in this moleskine. To hear more about how Mike Rohde creates these real time sketchnotes, you can listen to this Thirsty Developer podcast from last October. Thanks to David Feldt for the link.

Craig Ritchie