What Are The Next Form Factors in CE Products?

According to Sarah Rotman Epps, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research, there are some cool new form factors we should be watching for to get commercialized/productized in the next couple years.

1. Wearables
2. Embedded Devices
3. Surfaces
4. Flexible Display
5. Miniprojectors

Personally, I think Health & Fitness products are beginning to drive real demand for "wearables".  What do you think?   Do people really want to track their bio-metric data and monitor lifestyle behavior?  And based on what's hitting the market now, are the manufacturing suppliers and R&D labs in tune with what consumers really want out of their wireless gadgets?

The Social Media Probook

Looking for some cool new social media resources? Then look no further than The Social Media Probook (#Probook), launched a few months ago from Eloqua and JESS3. It’s a 42-page free eBook collaboratively written by a cross-section of social marketers from brands and agencies, analysts, and social support professionals across both business-to-business and business-to-consumer industries.  (Thanks to Sarah Evans for the tip!)

The #Probook was developed to respond to issues organizations are dealing with right now. A few of the topics covered include:

·         Social operational models for businesses

·         Critical elements for scaling social globally

·         Practical uses for geo (location-based apps)

·         10 “rules” for social advertising

Web version: http://media.eloqua.com/documents/ProBook.pdf

Print version: http://media.eloqua.com/documents/ProBook-Print.pdf

The Grass Is Always Greener...

I know that a lot of my Hoosier friends & colleagues often wonder why I moved from sunny Florida to Indianapolis 5 years ago, especially since I’m such a water person, but after 30 years in the Sunshine state, it seemed like the time was right for ‘change.’  And as much as I like the seasons here, the reduced traffic and the slower, simpler life, I’ve often found myself daydreaming about moving again…to get near the ocean again…to be near more culture.  So you can imagine my surprise when I recently read that CNN Money Magazine just named the City of Westfield one of the best places to live in America.  In fact, Westfield was ranked #48 out of 100 – and #1 among all other Indiana cities!

 

I’ve always said that, “It’s a great place to raise a family and enjoy a bigger house for less money”, but I had no idea that all the other variables in the equation caused it to rank so high.  So, the next time you hear me complain about being landlocked or “stuck” in Indiana, please remind me about the Blessings of making so many wonderful new friends, being able to afford a finished basement to entertain guests & family, the great schools, the upcoming Grand Park Sports Complex, the World-class jazz clubs and all the friendly neighbors/residents in our awesome neighborhood at Maple Knoll…

 

Just sayin’……

A Principal of Good Design

Here’s a great quote I saw recently  in the NY Times w/r/t Apple’s chief designer Jonathan Ive’s successful approach…."Good design is as little design as possible - less but better - because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity." -Dieter Rams, 10 Principles of Good Design

Habla Espanol?

Apparently, "new 2010 census data shows that Hispanics are the second largest group in the US, at more than 50 million and 16.3% of the population.  It's grown 43% since the 2000 survey and is the fastest growing sector of the population."  (thanks Audio4cast!)

I Lost 50 lbs in 6 months !!

OK, today is pretty exciting for me as I hit my goal weight of "175" after losing 50 pounds in 6 months and I feel great!! Many of you are asking how I did it and the answer is simple. Go to: MySecretToWellness.com and opt-in to find out how easy it is to control your weight and improve your health. (Praises to God for giving me the willpower, thanks to Stefany for being such a great coach - and a special Shout Out to Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen!!)

TechCrunch Disrupt: Interactive Sheet Music for iPads

San Francisco’s annual technology conference TechCrunch Disrupt recently ended and one of the coolest companies I read about in attendance was Tonara, who makes  sheet music available for iPads.  As musicians played on stage, an interactive bar moved along to show their exact place in the sheet music – AND - the pages turned automatically.  Very cool!  According to the NY Times Blog, “Musicians brought on stage showed how the technology coped with multiple people playing different instruments simultaneously. Banging in the background did not seem to confuse the software.  The judges, however, dismissed sheet music as a small market and questioned whether the company could get rights to contemporary music. A show of hands by the musically inclined in the audience, however, showed that there was at least some potential market.”

 

My Notes from Today's AMA Webcast on Mobile Marketing

(First off, thanks to American Marketing Association (www.ama.org), HubSpot and Readytalk Web Conferencing Platform for sponsoring the webinar - #GoMobile)

• iPhone growth is 10x faster than the original growth rate of AOL
• Mobile coupons generate 10x the redemption rate of traditional coupons
• Search is twice as prevalent on mobile web than on a PC (and focus is on "local")
• Not just for teens: The average age of a person who is sending text messages is 35
• Top 3 uses of smartphones are: email (82%), directions(63%) and Social Media (62%)
• It only takes 1 line of code to determine the type of devices visiting your site (helps render the right version of your site)
• Popular banner ad platforms are iAd (Apple), Millennial Media (independent), and AdMob (Google)
• Potential banner uses: GPS determines the user's location, share coupon codes & promotions, share contact info
• Sendza is a good solution for SMS: www.sendza.net
• Mobile paid search has less competition that regular search
• Games and weather are the top 2 apps used on smartphones
• www.MobileCommerceDaily.com is a good resource to learn more about mobile media
• Claim your business on top Location Based Services (LBS)
• What your website looks like on mobile devices: www.mobilemoxie.com
• Free mobile tool from HubSpot: www.websitegrader.com

Does Social Media Ruin Your Current SEO Strategies?

Here's a great primer on SEO and how it's being affected by Social Media written by Neil Patel.  The truth is, the primary Search Engine algorithms are constantly being tweaked, so what worked last year (or last quarter) may no longer be relevant.

"In SEOMoz's 2011 Search Engine Factors Ranking report, almost 132 SEO and social media experts predicted that social signals at the page level and domain level would have a greater impact on search engine rankings than traditional SEO factors."

The bottom line is that marketers now more than ever need to understand how search engines are ingesting and using this plethora of behavioral data so they can quickly react and adapt their marketing plans to achieve a competitive advantage in this (as Neil put it) socially-optimized  world that we live in.

Also, according to the post, "Social media is impacting search engine results and if you want to get more traffic from search engines, you need to do 3 things:

• Build an active, engaged presence on social networking sites
• Optimize your sites for social media sharing
• Encourage your readers to share your content

However, to maximize your coverage, it's still highly recommended to maintain your traditional SEO strategies while the market quickly shifts....

Quickening Trojan & Malware Growth On Smartphones

I don't know about you, but I've always thought that MACS were generally safer than Windows machines, based on personal experience with the blue screen of death.  That is not so true anymore, as Apple machines gain market share in the home and corporate environment.  Fast forward a few years and I feel pretty safe on my iPhone too...but the truth is that mobile users have a 30 percent likelihood of clicking on a malicious link too.  The explosive growth of smart phones (especially Android) has apparently inspired bored hackers to invent new forms of entertainment for themselves.

"Web-based threats such as phishing attacks do not discriminate based on platform, while others, such as Websites containing browser exploits, are targeted at a specific operating system."  In other words, when you click on on a dangerous link in an email or a Social Network post, you can land on web pages that can be harmful to your phone's OS and your personal information !!

According to this CNET article, there are new techniques to distribute the malware, including "malvertising" in which mobile ads direct users to a malicious site that automatically downloads malware when visited.

Even worse, there are approved Apps out there that seem safe upon initial installation, but then when upgrading later, you are then infected.

BE WARNED: To stay safe, mobile users should only download apps from trusted sources, pay attention to the address of URLs they click on, and be on alert for unusual phone behavior that could signal an infection.

Cool Infographic Creation Tool = WORDLE

I discovered a cool site today called www.Wordle.net

You can quickly and easily create a creative keyword infographic to embed or link to - for free!

Enjoy :-)

STAT-Of-The-Day:

"A new report from Informa Telecoms & Media predicted that the worldwide sales of Internet-connected TVs this year would outstrip game consoles for the first time.  Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are slated to sell 37 million game consoles this year, but consumers will buy 52 million connected TVs from companies such as Samsung, Sony and LG ." Folks, this is a major shift in consumer behavior and will require lots of useful apps - free and paid!  Smart TV's are a new touchpoint to bring content, services and messaging to consumers with minimal development and no investment in hardware...

33% of Americans Using Smartphones (COMSCORE)

Smartphone Platform Market Share

"76.8 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in May 2011, up 11 percent from the preceding three month period. Google Android ranked as the top operating system with 38.1 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers, up 5.1 percentage points. Apple strengthened its #2 position with 26.6 percent of the smartphone market, up 1.4 percentage points. RIM ranked third with 24.7 percent share, followed by Microsoft (5.8 percent) and Palm (2.4 percent)."  (COMSCORE)

Top Smartphone Platforms 3 Month Avg. Ending May 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2011 Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
	Feb-11	May-11	Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
Google	33.0%	38.1%	5.1
Apple	25.2%	26.6%	1.4
RIM	28.9%	24.7%	-4.2
Microsoft	7.7%	5.8%	-1.9
Palm	2.8%	2.4%	-0.4

3 SEO Trends for 2011

Trend Number One: Exact-Match Keyword Domains Going Away

Trend Number Two: Social Media Directly Affects Search Result

Trend Number Three: More End-User Usage Data Playing Into Search

(Source Article is HERE and the Research is HERE)

Useful Marketing Research Sites

Thanks to Jamie Turner over at The 60 Second Marketer for sharing these 28 sites which are all free!

General Research Data:
CNN Student News: (www.cnnfyi.com) U.S. and World news multimedia site tailored to the needs of students.
Conversion Tables: (www.convert-me.com) Convert length, area, speed, temperature, etc., into different units and systems.
eLibrary Research: (www.elibrary.com) Search any topic using a database of current newspapers, magazines, books and more.  
Encyclopedia Britannica: (www.britannica.com) Online version of one of the world's most trusted sources of information on every topic imaginable.
Fact Monster: (www.factmonster.com) Designed for kids of all ages, this site offers an amazing array of facts and figures in addition to homework help, an almanac, dictionary and much more.
Gallup Organization: (www.gallup.com) Search thousands of poll results, special reports, societal trends and social audits.  
Information Please Almanac: (www.infoplease.com) Online almanac offering millions of interesting and useful facts on a wide variety of subjects.
Internet Public Library: (www.ipl.org) An exhaustive collection of over 20,000 titles.  
iTools Research: (www.itools.com) Collection of online research tools including dictionaries, translations, quotations and more.  
Library of Congress: (www.loc.gov) Easy to use reference catalog for accessing the collections of the Library of Congress.
National Archives: (www.archives.gov) National Archives online director of U.S. Federal records.  
Smithsonian Institution: (www.si.edu) User-friendly site from the world's largest museum complex and research organization.
U.S. Census Bureau: (www.census.gov) A wealth of basic information about the U.S., broken down on a national, state and local level.
U.S. Department of Labor: (http://stats.bls.gov) Bureau of Labor statistics site containing current labor statistics and links to hundreds of state and Federal agencies.
U.S. Federal Government: (www.fedstats.gov) Statistical information from over 100 federal agencies.

Competitive Intelligence:
Forrester Research (www.Forrester.com): One of the best resources for the latest trends and predictions in the technology industry.
Hoovers Online (www.Hoovers.com): Competitive intelligence on almost all publicly traded companies.  Paid subscription necessary for in-depth research.
The List (www.TheListInc.com): A top-notch contact database with names, addresses, phone numbers and even e-mail addresses of key employees.  Paid subscription necessary.
Securities and Exchange Commission (www.SEC.gov): Visit this site for annual reports and, more importantly, 10K filings, which provide threat and opportunity analyses for publicly traded companies.
Standard & Poor's (www.StandardandPoors.com): Analysts reports on industry trends as well as corporate profiles.
Plunkett Research (http://www.plunkettresearch.com): Another source for industry trends.

Demographics and Marketing Research:
MarketResearch.com (www.MarketResearch.com): A resource for research into a multitude of industries.  Costs range from several hundred to several thousand dollars, but a good resource for solid, credible marketing research.
Trend Watching (www.TrendWatching.com): A web site devoted to consumer trends.
Google/Uncle Sam (www.Google.com/unclesam): This site searches government documents from federal and state websites.  Good for demographic and census data.

Marketing Related Sites:
MarketinProfs.com, MarketingSherpa.com:  Websites dedicated to sharing marketing knowledge from marketing experts.  Excellent resources for recent thoughts and research in the field of marketing.
Ad Forum (www.AdForum.com): The best commercials from around the world.
Peppers & Rogers Group (www.1to1.com): The web site from one of the leaders in the world of CRM.
World Advertising Research Center (www.warc.com): Valuable research on the effectiveness of marketing, advertising, creativity, etc.  Subscription necessary.

Quote of the Day

"If you have the average consumer living room with an HDTV, a Blu-ray and an average quality audio system, you have more computational power than the most advanced missile in the world."  - Dr. Levy Gerzberg, President & CEO of Zoran Corporation

13 Business Mistakes That Can Nearly Break You

Here's some great practical advice fom Neil Patel, who is the co-founder of 2 Internet companies: Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics.  (His blog is at Quicksprout.com)

Through his entrepreneurial career Neil has helped large corporations such as Amazon, AOL, GM, HP and Viacom make more money from the web. By the age of 21 not only was Neil named a top 100 blogger by Technorati, but he was also one of the top influencers on the web according to the Wall Street Journal.

13 Business Mistakes That Can Nearly Break You…Literally

- Don’t spread yourself too thin
- Pick the right business structure
- Don’t get ahead of yourself
- Be careful whom you trust
- Hiring doesn’t solve all of your problems
- Make your employees accountable
- Collect your money on time
- No detail is unimportant
- Time is not on your side
- Be cautious about advice
- Don’t be afraid of the unknown
- Money doesn’t solve problems,it causes them
- Emotions and business are a bad mix

Ever Wonder What a Smart TV Is...?

"A smart TV is a TV that can retrieve content from the Internet without the restrictions of a portal, that has intelligent search and recommendations, is upgradeable by its owner and is able to network seamlessly with other devices in the home."  - Santa Clara, Calif.-based research firm DisplaySearch

America Getting Close To Connected Ubiquity

"According to a new forecast from Interpublic Group's Magna Global, as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2010, about 84.7 million homes -- or 71.5% of the total -- were online, while 90% of these homes accessed the Web using broadband services."

Did Cisco Bail on the FLIP Too Soon?

Did Cisco jump too soon - or does this quote resonate louder each day that a new App gets released? "...The single-task device is becoming an endangered species in the
consumer electronics market..." Is there still strong consumer demand for devices that do 1 thing, but do it really well and are easy to use?

Quote of the Day For April 21st

QOTD: "If you want to connect with them, making sure you know where your customers are on the web, knowing how they want their information served up, and delivering it in that fashion is the quickest route to not only happy customers (who tell others how happy they are), but also to greater profitability and improved service."

5 Things All Email Marketers Need to Know

Here's a great primer on email marketing by Blue Sky Factory and my favorite quote: "Anyone could argue that content or permission (the list goes on) is king, but I’m going to make the bold statement in this particular post that in email marketing, relationship is king."

So true....

ANDROID 3.0 = Honeycomb

Ever wonder what all the hoopla about Honeycomb is. This short video does a great job of showing you what all the noise is about and demonstrates what an OS specifically built for a tablet can really do.

How To Enchant Your Audience

Great summary by Guy Kawasaki

Build Your Own Website With Drupal!

I've been looking for a while for a simple (and free!) tool to help me revamp my personal webpage at toddbeals.com, which I built in 2003 using Microsoft Frontpage.  A friend recently suggested Drupal Gardens as a possilbe WYSIWYG editor and flexible Content Management System (CMS).  I signed up for a free account and played around with it one weekend.  It's pretty cool and definitely more stylish than WordPress...Word!

http://toddbeals.drupalgardens.com/

Stop by and let me know what you think!

IFPI's Digital Music Report

Here's a LINK to IFPI's free annual report entitled "Digital Music Report 2011 - Music at the touch of a button".  The executive Summary is worth taking a look and the main topics are below...

• Consumers drive new business models
• Digital piracy is a continuing problem
• The need for ISP responsibility
• The Government response - momentum builds in 2010
• The importance of education
• Global top 10 digital singles