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Making Your Blog Mobile: Testing the Web Strategy iPhone App

Categories: MobilePosted on December 14th, 2009

Experimenting With Mobile Apps
It’s clear that content can become more contextual and personalized as it transects with location based devices.  A few weeks ago the folks at the company MotherApp, created a “Web Strategy iPhone App (download in iTunes)” to take on the go. This isn’t just a “m.” mobile website that shows essential content minus heavy graphics, this is a true iPhone app, with the native interface of Apple products, see screenshots below. I’m not the only one, they created the app for Tim Ferris (iTunes), Guy Kawasaki (iTunes) and Brian Solis (iTunes) and others.



Screen shot 2009-12-14 at 6.36.57 AM
Above: Screenshots of the Web Strategy iPhone App, featuring latest Tweets and Options

Screenshots of the Web Strategy iPhone App
Above: Screenshots of the Web Strategy iPhone App, featuring latest blog posts details and summary of posts



Mobile Based Apps Offer Content On The Go
The content can be accessed on an iPhone, even if there’s no internet connection, the content is downloaded. Secondly the content is in a clean Apple native user interface making it easier to read and navigate, rather than some clunky “m” looking site. Also, you can serve up a variety of content sources related to your brand. Also, the app has location based content, I’m looking at Brian’s app, and it can serve up Fan comments based on location (it asks you for your current location, first). In the future, it would be interesting if two fans of Brian Solis’s app would be signaled to each other they are in proximity, resulting in unique engagements. Brian’s app links directly to his amazon page, where his books (products) are available for sale.




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Brian Solis’s Apps Requests To Access Your Location

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Brian Solis’s Apps Filters Fan Wall Shout Outs By Proximity.

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Conversion: Brian Solis’s App Promotes His Books, With Links to his Amazon Store.



What’s the downside? The URLs and comments are visible, only my voice. In the future, I’m sure these will be native into the app, so the community can talk back. The barriers to entry are still high, you’ll need to find an app developer to build this for your iPhone or other mobile device.

Apps for Events and Corporate Conferences
It’s not just personal brands, I recently noticed the Forrester Consumer Forum iPhone app that listed out the schedule, top topics “What’s hot” based on attendee votes (I think) and the ability to create a schedule of tracks to attend. LeWeb has the most impressive event iPhone application, with links to previous videos, session list, news, maps, and speaker roster. Nearly the entire event website was ported to the device on the go.




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Forrester’s Consumer Forum App Highlights the “Hot” sessions. No doubt, of course, it’s Josh Bernoff.

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LeWeb IPhone App Streams Archived Videos



Key Takeaways

  • Expect majority of top blogs to have mobile apps within the next few months, at first they will be custom created, then a platform will emerge allowing them to quickly ported to multiple platforms (blackberry, droid, etc).
  • This platform will emerge that will create this blog network, and new advertising opportunities will emerge who are able to cascade the information to the mobile devices. Players like Federated Media, Blogher, should move quickly.
  • Content will become location-based, as blog posts, tweets, and other content is based on a specific area (a foodie blog, reviewing restaurants in Mission district, SF) the content will auto-surface to the application when needed.
  • A standard will be set for all conferences and events to have a mobile based event that encourages members to find out about sessions, find other attendees, and even tweet from it.

I’ll continue to experiment with the Web Strategy brand in a variety of mediums, to test, and report back to you what works and what doesn’t.

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How Local Businesses Can Benefit From Mobile Social Networks

Categories: Mobile, Social Media, Web StrategyPosted on October 19th, 2009

Local Businesses Can Benefit From Mobile Social Networks
The nearly mainstream social web is now evolving and graduating to mobile devices.  This emerging space of mobile-based social networks are empowering customers to find the best venues and prices, and offering savvy companies unique ways to cater to this new medium.  Yet, despite the emergence of applications like FourSquare, Yelp, and recently launched GoWalla, there are risks as customers talk directly to each other and opportunities for businesses who harness the tools.  Local businesses should approach the mobile social networking space by first listening to their customers, responding to commenters, provide special offers to advocates, and prepare for pricing to be impacted.

Mobile Social Network Offers Discounts Based On Location
Using FourSquare, a location based social network, I ‘checked in’ to the movie theatre indicator to my friends my location.  Immediately after the application identified my approximate location it offered a ’special nearby’ which I clicked.  The Savvy Cellar Wine Bar offered me 50% off a wine flight to a store 2 blocks away. Using both my general location using 3GS on the iPhone and my explicit checkin to the location, it was able to serve up advertisements based on my physical location.  We should expect FourSquare to evolve and eventually offer advertisements based on your friends interests “John, Amy, and Allen all like Los Taqaritors, invite them now for a 20% off discount”.  Location based ads will soon connect with social information.

Catering To “Top” Customers Spur Word Of Mouth
The opportunities aren’t just focused on location based, but also provide opportunity for developing an unpaid army of advocates.  Take for example Foursquare’s point system, those who ‘check in’ the most to a location can become the ‘mayor’ of their particular store, indicating they’re the top customer.  Some savvy restaurants provide free drinks or other services to the mayor, who will continue to spread their affinity for a restaurant using social networks.   A few weeks ago, I spent time with Yelp’s marketing team and their community manager Connie who oversees many of the community facing events.  I learned that many local restaurants cater to Yelp Elite, and will likely provide them with quality service above and beyond, in fact, Yelp has launched a program for restaurants to offer a prix fixe menus for Yelp users. Expect to see Yelp’s mobile application advertise these special deals for Yelpers as they search for restaurants online using mobile devices.

Empowered Customers Check Prices In Real Time –Impacting Buying Behavior
Even if you don’t have a physical store, but offer a consumer good, consider RedLaser, which is a real-time bar code scanner that allows any phone to scan UPC codes and find them cheaper online.  This means that retailers with higher priced products may miss out as consumers can quickly buy it from a competitive store down the street or find it online.  If this trend continues, manufactures may shift their supply away from high-priced retailers to compensate for the change in demand.  (Thanks Andrew Hyde for the tip)

Innovative Market Dependent On Adoption
Despite the innovation, location based marketing and advertising has its limitations as it’s dependent on: total number of consumers with mobile devices, adoption of mobile social networks, and their desire to find location-based offers.

Key Takeaways For Local Businesses:
Local businesses should approach these mobile social networks in a four part strategy –not simply reacting without a plan.  Companies should approach this space by:

  • Listening In For Free Research. Local businesses should immediatly montior their brands on mobile social networks like Yelp and FourSquare.  Use this information as free research: find out the perception of customers opinions both good –and bad to learn about their market.
  • Responding To Reviewers. Use negative information as a way to improve products and services and let your community know you’re listening to their feedback.  Although there are always two-sides to any complaint use these same tools to respond to customers in public, but be sure to abide by the terms of service.
  • Rewarding Top Customers.  Customers that frequently patron your store and tell others on these mobile social networks should be rewarded.  Build both in person and online relationships with them so they’ll continue to advertise and market on your behalf.  Free drinks anyone?
  • Preparing for pricing impacts and positioning.  With disruptive tools like RedLaser appearing, customers can quickly find pricing of products and find them at nearby retailers.  Retailers like CVS, Walmart, Target, BestBuy, Safeway should take heed as consumers continue to become empowered through instant information.  Companies will need to respond by:  making product pricing more competitive, or offering other deals such as bundling, speed, time, or other value-based offerings.

Update: Here’s some screenshots, I learned how to take screenshots with your iPhone by holding the main button and power button.


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Posted in Mobile, Social Media, Web Strategy | Comments

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Three Future-Looking Videos Of Augmented Reality For Business

Categories: Augmented Reality, MobilePosted on September 20th, 2009

Augmented Reality is certainly in it’s infancy, and we know that at best, is experimental. I’m new to this space but am watching, and learning from Robert Rice and Dave Elchoness to see  how it develops. While a few years out, see the proposed Hype Cycle, let’s spend time thinking about what the future could hold.

I’m in intake mode. Over the last few weeks, I’ve watched as many augmented reality youtube clips as possible, reading blog posts (as there are no real articles yet from mainstream) and talking to smart folks. What I’ve noticed? Many videos are folks excited about the toys –yet with little reference to how it impacts business. I’ve also been experimenting with Yelp’s monocle, which is sub-par at best, it’s really early days. My biggest challenge? I’m in the wrong country. The innovation and adoption with these tools will come in Europe and Asia –not the tethered American market.

I found a few videos that are void of the “Shiny object” syndrome and focus on how this could improve people’s lives –or fulfill a meaningful business need, here’s three:


Above Video: Supplemental Information Added On Location.
Dutch company Layar appears to be one of the emerging platforms that enables data to be added to physical locations. It’s location specific and allows content to be shown through the display of a phone related to real estate, shopping, and healthcare. Add on a social layer (where are my friend, or should I know them?) and things could become more useful.

Realtà Aumentata – Augmented Reality from soryn on Vimeo.

Above Video: Contextual Information While Reading Book, and On Location
This Italian video shows how virtual reality glasses (glasses are more fantasy than reality… yet) could be used to provide auxiliary content while reading books –or in real world as the character goes to those physical location and is able to get more information. Imagine if every book you read could provide supplemental information from the web or other digital devices. What if every example you read in Groundswell showed a YouTube video of each story –each executive who is mentioned shows their profile information powered by wikipedia, and pictures and speeches from flickr and YouTube. I’ll chalk this video up as certainly futuristic, but showing potential increase knowledge opportunities.

Above Video: Social Data and Contact Info Overlayed in Business Setting.
This future video created by Tat, doesn’t get into the business setting until half way the video, but shows how additional information can be seen in real life. An audience member can ’scan’ the speaker, and get additional information about their presentations, contact info, and even rate them. Scanning around the table, I had a chuckle when you could see people’s “Mickey Mouse ears” of social site icons appear above their faces.

Early days –but interesting to watch.
It’s early days for the Augmented Reality space, yet that shouldn’t keep us aware of what’s going to emerge in the coming years. Expect innovation and adoption in Europe and Asia, with the US trailing behind. Early bridges will display data from existing web-data bases like Yelp, Facebook, Wikipedia, and review sites. Remember when some websites were not compatible with certain browsers, the AR space is also in it’s infancy as many applications don’t run on all mobile platforms and the data sources are limited.

Lastly, I’m considering hosting an event at our “Hangar” in San Mateo, CA to focus on the business potentials of mobile social networks and augmented reality. Perhaps in Q1, 2010. Let me know if you’d be interested in participating, leave a comment below.

Posted in Augmented Reality, Mobile | Comments

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The Social, Mobile Web: An Entourage In Your Pocket

Categories: MicroMedia, Mobile, Social MediaPosted on March 17th, 2009

There’s been a series of announcements this last two weeks, many which are happening here at SXSW, yet it’s important to look at what these changes mean as a collective, here’s my take:

While working on my report the future of the social web, I was white boarding out ideas with Josh Bernoff on some of the changes that will be happening as social technologies become more important. It’s clear that as mobile devices become more prevalent, and social communities grow online that they’ll take main stage in our personal and business lives.

As I was explaining to him how I think they could be all pieced together, I said “your friends will be with you as you travel”, being an expert wordsmith he suggested it’s more akin to having an “entourage in your pocket”. The thought is that everyone will feel just a bit more secure and confident knowing they can instantly access their community.

One of the key changes is the access that we’ll have anytime and anywhere to our trusted network of friends, family, and colleagues –and not just asynchronously, but in real time. Here at SXSW, Facebook announced that it would tie to iPhone extending mobile application to be present wherever users are at. This impacts both retrieval of information from your network –and publishing to your network in real time.

What to expect when the mobile and social web combine:

Access to your trusted network anywhere
We know from data, that users trust peers more than any other group, and now, consumers have access to their most trusted network wherever they go. Take for example my colleague Nate Elliott who recently moved to Vancouver, using Tweetdeck he just asked what the best restaurants are in his area. Imagine consulting your peers (or perhaps their peers) in near real time for what they think of big ticket items like TVs or cars, or even more daily items like checking to see which one of your friends rated a restaurant in Yelp, or a product in Amazon before you buy it in the physical store.

Access to your trusted network anytime
As we’ve seen from Twitter, and now the recent Facebook redesign, the web appears to be moving more real time. We’re starting to see life streams and activity streams as more common design elements in mainstream websites even like Yahoo YOS, and Microsoft Live. We may even see uses of asking your peer network directly in Twitter in real time maybe tools like Tweetdeck that now connect Twitter and Facebook, granting the ability to shout out “has anyone had experience with this product? Love to hear your thoughts before I buy”

Growth of location specific applications
When you start to think of what this means for the next generation of apps, we will start to see location specific applications. Perhaps you’ve heard of mobile based social networks like Loopt, Whrrl, and Brightkite, yet these applications could provide further context to users as they maneuver the terrain. An example could be of an individual being a fan of a product in Facebook, like Starbucks, an iPhone can already track where you are on Google Maps, but now can find the nearest cafe to you. What’s the change? Now it can recommend product specials for you as you get closer, enticing users with their favorite beverages. Mix in social, and it may suggest for you to invite your nearby friends, which would result in a discount for both of you or other reward.

We’ve yet to fully explore what the real time, and location specific social web has to bring, the opportunities are nearly limitless. Love to hear from you what potential applications could be built.

Posted in MicroMedia, Mobile, Social Media | Comments

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eWeek captures my thoughts on Google’s Mobile Social Network, Latitude

Categories: Mobile, Social NetworkingPosted on February 5th, 2009

Above: Video by Google about it’s latest social network for mobile devices and Google IG, Latitude

I was going to write a post about Google’s new mobile social network (see video to learn about Latitude), but after an excellent interview with eWeek’s Nathan Eddy, he really captured my thoughts well. Rather than repeat it, please read his article: “Analyst: Google Latitude Not a Threat to Facebook, MySpace“.

Don’t just take my word for it, have you tried Latitude? What do you think the impacts are to marketing, advertising, developers in the next few years?

Update: I’m not alone Nicholas sees the opportunities for advertisers.

Posted in Mobile, Social Networking | Comments

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Video: Marketing in Japan? Think Mobile (4 minutes with Gen Kanai)

Categories: Asia, Mobile, Video, Web MarketingPosted on December 8th, 2007

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Gen Kanai, Mozilla’s (makers of the Firefox Browser) marketing manager in Japan shares with me how mobile has impacted the culture of Japanese. From communications, payment, media consumption, and internet usage, Japan’s mobile culture is unique. Gen also blogs at the Mozilla Asia blog, where you can see how they specifically serve their Asian market.

Recently, I was checking out Forrester’s Jonathan Brown’s blog he focuses on the web and user experience in Japan, a related read. The sound on the video wasn’t that great, just to let you know in advance. Ironically, during this conversation on mobile marketing my cell phone starts to ring.

Posted in Asia, Mobile, Video, Web Marketing | Comments

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Reviewing the Nokia N95

Categories: Feedback, MobilePosted on November 23rd, 2007

I recently received into my possession a Nokia N95, one of the top phones from the Nokia line. I was intending to buy this phone, but apparently Nokia had provided Charlene with one for analysis. I’ll be reviewing the phone, it’s features, and web capabilities over the coming weeks.

Initial Attractions: Large screen and 5 megapixel camera. The last time I ran into phones of this quality, I was in Japan (live video streaming via cell phones were already available). I take a lot of pictures (over 20,000 in flickr) so this will help me reduce gear –gotta love convergence.

Setup: I went to AT&T, the only service provider (I asked my twitter network for help, responses came in fast) and signed up for a low voice plan and unlimited data plan ($20) and $5 worth of monthly text messaging (for Twitter). Picked up a jawbone headset, will test this too.

Expectations:

1) I hope to be able to fully manage my blog comments, approving comments, and alerts easily.
2) Access websites like Techmeme and my feedreader with ease, and the rest of the world wide web.
3) Use this as my ongoing camera and video capture going forward. (see this flickr pool of N95 photos)

What’s better, the iPhone or the Nokia N95? Robert says the iPhone is better, but the N95’s camera saves it.

One of Nokia’s top bloggers and social media strategist is, Karl Long who I run into quite frequently, if this topic is of interest to you, I recommend you read his blog, or connect with him.

Posted in Feedback, Mobile | Comments

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Utterz: Mobile Audio MicroMedia, is blogging old and slow?

Categories: MicroMedia, MobilePosted on October 28th, 2007

I just created my first utter, a new mobile web service. What is it? yet another form of MicroMedia (a phrase that I coined, and it’s taking off, see Steve Rubel and Scoble).

What is Utterz? An audio version of Twitter.

Here’s how I did it (with a time breakdown):

1) I went to their site and registered (2 minutes)
2) Dialed the phone number, listened to greeting messages (1 minute)
3) Recorded it, reviewed it (and took a second cut) and confirmed (2 minutes)
4) Saved the number to my phone so I can use it again (15 seconds)
5) Refreshed website and was amazed to see it was instantly there. (30 seconds)
6) embedded on blog and wrote this post (5 minutes)

Looking at the breakdown analysis by time, blogs are long form, and perhaps a richer and older form of social media. I could easily embed a twitter and utter feed in my blog, and let it self update, saving me time from writing these longer formats.

Are you prepared to embrace the media snackers? A few days ago, I started the media snackers meme, and tagged a few people, asking them to share how they respect media snackers, it’s now taking off (see all incoming links to that post, and what the mediasnackers team is tracking).

Communication is moving faster, smaller, and hooking into mobile, are you prepared?

Posted in MicroMedia, Mobile | Comments

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Yusuf on Hong Kong: 150% Mobile ownership? Why is Facebook a fad? (2:30 Video)

Categories: Asia, Interview, Mobile, Video, Web Industry, Web UsagePosted on October 22nd, 2007

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Yusuf Goolamabbas shares with me from the Oublaze offices in Cyberport (see pics), in this short clip we cover a lot of ground. In the time I spent with him, I learned that he sees the web from a very strategic point of view, and shares his views on the state of the web industry in Hong Kong.

You’ll find out:

1) What’s his view on the web industry in HK?
2) How can 150% cell phone penetration be accurate?
3) Bloggers: creators vs readers
4) Social Networks in Hong Kong, why is Facebook hot, but yet a fad?

Yusaf, wishing you and the rest of the folks over there good wishes, hope all is going well.

Posted in Asia, Interview, Mobile, Video, Web Industry, Web Usage | Comments

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Exploring Hong Kong’s Web Industry

Categories: Asia, Global Web, Mobile, Web Advertising, Web UsagePosted on September 18th, 2007

View of Hong Kong Harbor from Grand Hyatt Pool Deck (on 11th floor)

Arrived in Hong Kong, although my fifth time here, the sheer size and energy of the city that’s always under construction always amazes me. The flight over, on Singapore’s luxurious planes was fantastic, I feel rested when fully reclining in a chair after 14 hours of flight (flickr photos). On the way over, I was able to read a ton of Forrester material, analyze a few strategies, and just relax.

Tonight is the Hong Kong Blogger dinner that I encouraged everyone to come to, there’s over 60 folks, and OutBlaze, a white label communications company has offered to be a gracious host. I’ll be hanging with them and other technologists over the next few days to understand Hong Kong’s web scene better.

I’m here as I’m speaking at the CLSA investors conference. CLSA is a brokerage, consulting, event and analyst firm. There are about 2500 investors from all over Asia here at the Grand Hyatt (flickr photos), with speakers from the largest corporations and China, and even entertainment by the band INXS, which I grew up on. I have distinct memories of them in Sixth Grade, although my kid sisters had a blank look on their face when I brought up their name “in excess what?”

When I meet people from the Finance industry, I often tell them I’m in “new Media” first, if they probe farther I’ll explain it as social media or social computing, so far, most understand.

I’m also reading, listening, and absorbing data points about Asia’s web scene. Today, one of the executives of China Mobile presented, she gave quite a few facts, trends and data points. Wireless infrastructure for one of the world’s largest cell phone market (China), will access the web via the phones.

Asia’s Growing Web and Mobile Industry

  • China Mobile has 21% growth last year
  • China Mobile has 68% market share in China
  • They are deploying ‘nodes’ into Rural areas, which can quickly scale
  • In other reports, from CLSA’s Elinor Leung, I learned that China is 2nd to Japan in Web Advertising
  • The Beijing Olympics will be a major web advertising opportunity and spike
  • Beijing is pushing the digital/broadband experience for the Olympics
  • Broadband in China is 14%
  • Advertising Spend: Online Growth is 68%, while the second highest, radio is a mere 20% growth.

    • It’s truly an international conferences, at the back of some rooms, there’s small glass enclosed boxes where translators sit and transmit to wireless devices so everyone in the audience can absorb the knowledge.

    Hey Web Strategist! Are you paying attention to what’s happening in Asia? There’s going to be a lot of eyeballs here, what are you doing about it? Here’s some stats from the World Internet Usage.

    Have a story to tell?
    My schedule the rest of the week? It’s Tuesday right now, but on Wednesday, I’ll be visiting some of the offices of folks that hosted the dinner, and will meet a few other entrepreneurs. I speak on Thursday, and am free on Friday if you wanted to meet for tea or coffee here at the Grand Hyatt to discuss Asia’s web industry, I’m very curious in learning more.

    Posted in Asia, Global Web, Mobile, Web Advertising, Web Usage | Comments

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    Marketing Voices interviews Biz Stone of Twitter, questions asked from community

    Categories: Mobile, Podtech, Social Media, VideoPosted on May 21st, 2007

    A few weeks ago, I pinged my network (using Twitter) to find out what you wanted ask the management team at Twitter. Jennifer Jones took that feedback (our shows are about community) to ask take questions from Ross Olson, and David Dalka and others. She was able to sit down with co-founder Biz Stone, to get answers, thanks Jennifer.

    Be sure to see the list of questions that were raised in these comments, the cat questions are the funniest. (If you’re not a Twitter user, you’ll need to watch this video to find out what that means). Twitter’s icon is a bird , so when something goes wrong with the site, the Twitter’s 404 page is a cat icon, a lol cat to be specific.

    And Jennifer asks the hard question: “Why are there so many error pages, and when are they going to be fixed?”. This is very relevant considering now that some are defecting to Jaiku.

    By the way, if you want to add me as a Twitter contact, my profile is jowyang.

    Posted in Mobile, Podtech, Social Media, Video | Comments

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    Twitter, a useful Communication Tool of SXSW

    Categories: Mobile, Social NetworkingPosted on March 10th, 2007

    Picture 323

    Above: Twitter is being promoted at SXSW conference as an encouraged communication channel. You can watch this screen live, and hear the voices and thoughts of SXSW Attendees in real time. (link from Paul)

    As you may know, I’ve cut out Instant Messaging completely out of my life, I found it too disruptive and distracting. I think I may have found a better tool, that’s less invasive and puts the user in control.

    A lot of folks are using twitter here at SXSW, if you’re not familiar with it, it’s an online and mobile chat room, where you can add (or remove) the contacts you prefer. It’s a social network, where individuals can share their status, location, or communicate directly with others. Since this is an opt in and opt out model, there should be more difficulty for marketers to spam the site, or users will remove them.

    Here’s why I like Twitter:

  • Puts me in charge
  • Mobile Hooks
  • Web based
  • not invasive, not disruptive
  • Synchronous and asynchronus communication
  • I can choose my contacts
  • Scalable: RSS, mashups, etc

    • Eddie Codel and I cruised to some of the tech gatherings last night, and we were using Twitter to check the status of our shared contacts to find out where things were happening. Other folks are using this tool as well as text messaging to find out where people are. Eddie commented that last year, Dodgeball was all the rage, and now it’s seemed to have moved to Twitter.

    You can add me as a Twitter contact, my profile is live on the web as well as the chatter of my preferred network.

    Attention Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, and others. It will be interesting how this early adopters of this tool will spread to mainstream, and then to the enterprise space.

    Update: It’s amazing how many folks came up to me today and said they read my twitter messages about how bad the bed is at the hotel, amazing.

    (Shelbinator has an interesting analysis, looking at Twitter from a different point of view, worth a read.

    Check out what Ross Mayfield says about Twitter, he suggests we’re reaching a critical mass

    Chris Brogan has written a helpful “ways to use Twitter” usecases for LifeHack)

    Posted in Mobile, Social Networking | Comments

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    Shannon Clark on Mobile Identity and Security (5min Video)

    Categories: Interview, Mobile, Security, Video, Web Strategy ShowPosted on March 6th, 2007



    (If you can’t see the player, access the file directly)

    I got the opportunity to interview Shannon Clark at Doc Searl’s Mobile ID workshop. He shares with us a few of this projects that he’s working on, Never Eat Lunch Alone (NELA). Of course the topics of how to gain that identity and information is important.

    I hope Shannon swings by and leaves us an update with how things are going with his projects.

    Posted in Interview, Mobile, Security, Video, Web Strategy Show | Comments

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    Chatting with Doc Searls at the Mobile Identity Workshop

    Categories: Interview, Mobile, Podtech, Video, Web Strategy ShowPosted on February 27th, 2007

    Some of the footage from the unconference that Doc Searls invited me to is finally up. Check out the text and picture capture of this Mobile Identity Workshop. I’ve been hearing a lot of Doc, recently hosted a great talk with podcasts, the one with Dave Winer on this NPR podcast both of which provide some very important messages.

    In the following video, Doc tells us why Mobile Identity is so important, and why the format of the event as an unconference is undesigned to help promote dialogue from the mind trust of those attending.


    If you’re reading this in a feedreader, check out the media post.

    Posted in Interview, Mobile, Podtech, Video, Web Strategy Show | Comments

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    Trying out Twitter and on being a Second Generation adopter

    Categories: Media 2.0, Mobile, Social Media, Web ToolsPosted on February 5th, 2007

    I’m now on Twitter, will check it out for a while, profile page here. I don’t be doing any of the mobile updates or checking that content from my phone. I’m wondering how much is signal vs noise. I’m also wondering if this is a tool that Gen Y will use to communicate, or if they still prefer chat tools. Also, I’m wondering how this is anything new? The unremarkable Yahoo 360 had a status type bar, as well as most IM clients, is it just because it’s tied to mobile?

    I’m a second generation adopter, I look for signs from the network before trying out new tools, there are certain people that I watch and listen for indicators before jumping in, a ‘network filter’ in some way.

    For example, I tried out MyBlogLog a few weeks ago, I visit the reporting pages once in a while. Brian Oberkirch told me he finds the intelligence helpful to find out about his audience. I suspect that anyone who is so engaged into blogging to sign up for MyBlogLog (which assumes they are also a blogger) is also likely to interact with my blog at some point, either linking to me or leaving comments. While he’s right, one should pay close attention to their audience, I’m under the impression that my corporate audience is unlikely to sign up for MyBlogLog.

    Posted in Media 2.0, Mobile, Social Media, Web Tools | Comments

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    Mobile Identiy Workshop, an Unconference by Doc Searls

    Categories: Conference, Events, MobilePosted on January 26th, 2007

    Picture 455

    I’m live blogging right now. I’m sitting at Cnet with over 50 people discussing the future of Mobile technology, identity, security, contextual marketing, and the impacts of social networking at the first Mobile Identity Workshop hosted by Internet Uncle Doc Searls and Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

    I sense a lot of annoyance with traditional telcos, there’s quite a bit of sharing, it’s really more of a think tank, that’s why I love unconferences. An unconference is sort of a workshop where the agenda is determined by the participants, and everyone gets a chance to talk and share. Yes, a bottom up conference.

    Windley is taking notes     and comments on Doc’s stats at the opening of the day:

    “Doc started off the day with a list of statistics, noting that there are 800 million cars in the world, 1.2 billion PCs, 1.3 billion Internet connection points, and nearly 3 billion mobile phones. Mobile phones are nearing ubiquity and are intensely personal, so identity is incredibly important.”

    There were a few interesting points such as protecting one’s personal information while giving out preferences, sharing with others, deploying traditional media over mobile devices. In one session it was agreed upon that the password will be dead in a few years, and some other type of technology will be able to determine identity.

    We also talked about the next generation of mobile users, Gen Y and somewhat X. The term “digital natives” was used to describe this generation. Mobile technology is more advanced in other cultures outside of North America.

    Some folks suggest that one’s online persona will be an accurate reflection of their real life persona.

    One of the more interesting sessions, we were throwing out ‘dream features’ for the ideal podcasting device, Dave Winer took notes. I suggested, easy to publish, on board real time mixer, ability to create audio ‘conversations’, and ability for multiple people to contribute to the podcast.

    I had lunch with two cnet employees. What a cool company to host this event, they even provided lunch.

    There were some other interesting conversations about the future of mobile technology, will be become so small that it’s pervasive. eTelepathy I like to call it.


    Picture 423
    Unconference: The attendees determine the agenda by placing the topics on the board, you can attend any of the tracks you want

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    Healthy conversations in every track

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    Deep thinking

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    Our gracious hosts, CNET

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    Technorati tag = miw2007

    Posted in Conference, Events, Mobile | Comments

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    Battle for Mobile Screens to be theme of 2007

    Categories: MobilePosted on January 8th, 2007

    Apple continues to put effort on it’s mobile devices, claiming focus on the ‘fouth screen’ following movies, tv, and internet. Their soon to be released mobile device is expected to have elements of mobile gaming, media player, and standard cell phone features. I’m expecting it to be part of the whole Apple experience, tying in with other Apple products. Some have concerns that Apple will build a proprietary system called a ‘walled garden’ while others expect it to have open hooks to other systems.

    After my trip to Japan (and I saw quite a few mobile devices) I proclaimed that iPods soon to be irrelevant, and Apple must move to mobile phones or convergent systems quickly.

    For Web Strategists (a few exist under different titles at every company) understanding how mobile will play for internal communications, partner communications, and public communications will be telling.

    Today, at CES, I hope to learn more about IPTV, which I’m expecting an area to start focusing on this year.

    Posted in Mobile | Comments

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    Mobile Devices get Thinner

    Categories: MobilePosted on December 29th, 2006

    A new friend caught me drooling over his next gen smart phone comes embedded with Wi-Fi, letting it connect to other Mobile hotspots reports cnet. I guess this is a win for Starbucks. I hear after rebates the price for this T-Mobile Dash is a equivalent to buying 50 Grande Soy Mocha Frappa Macchiatos (a total value of $200).

    T-Mobile Dash

    Below: Don’t get too excited about this picture, it’s just an example of the size difference between a Treo 650 (bottom) and the T-Mobile Dash (top).

    T-Mobile Dash Mounts Treo 650

    Have you seen my mobile phone pics from Japan? Some have some fascinating stylish designs, while others have real time video conferencing.

    Posted in Mobile | Comments

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    iPods will be Irrelevent, Apple must deliver iPhone

    Categories: Mobile, TechnologyPosted on December 3rd, 2006

    I’m having a hard time understanding why anyone would think that the iPhone is not going to be a reality.  iPods will be irrelevant by 2008 as cell phones offer convergence.  I witnessed this in Japan with my friends phone, convergence is coming.

    It’s absolutely strategic that Apple MUST play with the mobile phone industry or provide their own phone. YouTube is showing this latest Diggnation where they’ve spilled the beans on the upcoming rumored phone.

    Here’s some rumored specs of what the Phone is expected to look like.  I doubt I’ll renew my warranty on my iPod, something better is always coming.

    Featured I’d like to see (add comments for wish list)

    • Wireless synching between laptop and iPhone
    • Download media via cell phone, (mobile client)
    • Share peer to peer media
    • iPhone is integrated with other Apple products

    Don’t be surprised if Apple enters the digital camera market soon.

    Posted in Mobile, Technology | Comments

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    Web Strategy: Fisher Price launches Niche MP3 Player and Digital Camera

    Categories: Mobile, Podcasts, Web StrategyPosted on November 25th, 2006

    Let’s get em hooked to Podcasts at an early age!

    It’s interesting how Fisher Price has adopted a hardware and relevant web strategy to provide parents of users with additional content, and market accessories.

    This $70 MP3 player is ‘kid tough’ and is advertised heavily this holiday season. Bios Magazine reports that:

    “The Kid-Tough(TM) FP3 Player is the first digital media player that provides preschoolers with a durable and easy way to play their favorite downloadable songs and stories. Big buttons and visual icons on the LCD screen let preschoolers choose from their favorite songs & stories – all by themselves. The headphones are sized just right for little ones and play at a safe volume.

    The player comes preloaded with preschool appropriate songs and stories, but Moms and Dads can also add more content by uploading any music they already own to the player, or by using the safe, user-friendly Fisher-Price(R) Song & Story Online Store to purchase songs and stories from top-selling children’s artists and authors. The Fisher-Price(R) Song & Story Online Store will be the first of its kind to specifically offer preschool appropriate content and suggestions for parents on a safe and easy-to-use website.”

    You can learn more about this MP3 player (and Digital Camera) and the official Fisher Price’s Preschool Electronics website. There’s opportunities for cross marketing campaigns. As kids listen to MP3s, it can promote brands characters and additional lines of revenue (Clifford the dog seems to be highly promoted currently). It appears that this MP3 will allow parents to select other MP3s to upload, an ‘open’ model, smart.

    I wonder if the kids would be interested in the Scoble show or Data Storage Best practices, wadda ya think?

    Posted in Mobile, Podcasts, Web Strategy | Comments

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