Wednesday 23 December 2009

Your Head Explodes: iPhone in an iPhone



We’ve seen all sorts of augmented reality applications for mobile devices, with varying degrees of usability, but this one, created for Orange Telecom, definitely takes the cake when it comes to originality and craziness.

Created by augmented reality specialists Ogmento, the application lets you launch a simulated iPhone on your iPhone screen. You can zoom your virtual iPhone or spin it around, but (here comes the crazy part), you can also run applications on it. The virtual “apps” aren’t real applications, but still, if there ever was an iPhone app that threatened to break the time-space continuum, this is it.

Source: http://mashable.com

Friday 18 December 2009

Putting a Bar Code on Places, Not Just Products

Google Favorite Places Bar codes
If you walk past the gift shop of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, or Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles, or Cheeseburger Baby in Miami, the chances are that you will see a sticker in the window that has a Google Maps logo and a one-inch-square with a series of pixelated black-and-white cubes called a QR Code.

In the coming weeks, Google plans to send out 100,000 of these stickers, each with their own QR code, to a new demographic of businesses Google is calling “Favorite Places”. These favorites are based on search results from users interacting with local business listings on Google Maps.

Google Sticker A close-up of a Google sticker.

As Louise Story reported on the front page of The Times in April 2007, QR Codes have been around for several years across Asia. In Japan, for example, you can find the codes on food wrappers in grocery stores, helping customers get more information about calories or possible recipe ideas. The codes are also visible on bus stops, allowing access to up-to-date bus schedules, or in real-estate agents’ windows, allowing passers-by to click with their phones to view more images and floor plans of a property.

The idea sounds great on paper (or pixels), but because of privacy concerns in the United States, the process can be a little laborious in reality. First, you have to download the right code reader for your specific mobile phone.

Then, when you see a code in a store window, you have to start the correct code-viewing application, allow the application to access your camera, take a photo of the code, and then agree again to allow the application to use the image to open the particular Web page with the additional information. With all these legal hurdles, it can take 45 seconds or more to look up a code.

In Japan, by comparison, nearly all phones ship with an embedded QR Code reader, and the legal hopscotch doesn’t exist. Activating the code becomes a one-click adventure.

In most instances, when the experience works, it can be incredibly rewarding. In Google’s case, if you pass the myriad of legal warnings, you will be taken to an associated mobile Web page with rich information about a specific venue, including user reviews, a star rating, maps, contact information and a link to the Web site of the business.

Google is also promoting another great use of these codes by allowing businesses to share mobile coupons. You follow the same drill as above, but the end result shows a coupon on your mobile phone which can then be redeemed at a respective store.
Bits QR CodeThe New York Times A QR Code for the mobile version of Bits.

If you want to give it a try, you can download a code reader for your mobile phone and try out some codes on Google’s Favorite Places page.

Source: New York Times

Thursday 17 December 2009

The power of Social Media and UGC – Success stories



YouTube is probably the most famous example of the network effect power. It benefits from 2 closely interdependent factors: 1- the first mover advantage that allowed the company to 2- reach a critical mass of users. The paradox is that it's win-win situation: this critical mass gives as much power to YouTube than it does to the crowd. Users flock to YouTube because they trust their network, or at large the crowd, to find the best videos that are out there. They also find first hand information they wouldn't find somewhere else: it' the social journalism aspect. It's a snowball thing. And then great success stories happen with unknown people uploading a little video reaching fame and production deals. And that's the cherry top: who doesn't like a funny video or a great story where a John Smith gets a break.

Before telling you of 2 such stories reported by the BBC, I have to add that there is more than that to YouTube. First there is amazingly great content out there: I am thinking for instance about the TEDTalks videos. Second, there is so much content on YouTube that can you find tutorials about anything. People are stating to use YT as a Search Engine and that's where the Google/YT wedding makes sense. Search and content organization. Third, it's social and convivial, and a great sharing tool. Fourth, it's still under used by companies to reach their customers.

In conclusion, as promised, 2 success stories reported by the BBC.

- YouTube video leads to Hollywood contract
- Web makes Tajik migrant a star

The Social Piece of the Customer Service Puzzle

ect logo
Social CRM employs the wisdom of crowds to improve service delivery. As customers search, shop, browse and work in forums, that information found to be most pertinent can be used to drive success for those that follow. Companies can quickly enhance service -- automatically changing, reprioritizing and improving information presented to a customer based on the collective input and insight of the crowd.

A decade ago, electronic communications channels were new to customer service. This discipline was dubbed "eService" and touted as an entirely different way of providing value to customers. eService came in a variety of flavors: Web self-service, email, SMS, instant messaging, to name a few. Many people felt that eService was completely different from a company's overall customer service strategy Download Free eBook - The Edge of Success: 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales. They were wrong.

Over the past decade, companies and their customers have grown accustomed to eService. In most cases, electronic communications channels have been merged into the overall service strategy and are considered by successful business leaders as just another way for customers to interact with the brand. While companies might handle eService inquiries differently on the back end -- compared to the traditional phone channel or in-store experience -- customers still expect the same type of service experience whether it's over the phone or via an electronic channel. In fact, businesses have gotten so used to electronic communications channels that "eService" has become simply "service."

It's important to keep the story of eService in mind when thinking about social media's role over the past few years in reshaping the ways customers interact with brands. Undoubtedly, the influence of social channels has been at least as profound -- and perhaps even more profound -- than that of eService. With social networks, forums, blogs and so on, customers now possess powerful, public channels for voicing their opinions, crowdsourcing and, ultimately, exercising their influence over how brands are perceived. Businesses are no longer in complete control of their images.

Because the popularity of social media engagement has risen with such fervor, many are advocating a need for completely different "social CRM" strategies. However, to be successful in the long run, companies must look at social channels as part of an overall strategy -- much like the evolution of eService -- ensuring that their brand remains aligned with customers across all touch points. Their service offering must be consistent across all types of communications. Business leaders need to devise and implement strategies for their employees to engage customers within social communities while keeping in mind the broader framework and philosophy of service at the organization.
Align Service With the Brand
Before companies extend their brands into the social arena, business and service leaders must ensure that they're controlling customer expectations and properly aligning the service experience with their brands. Customer service needs to be in line with the company's business model and meet customer expectations. In some cases, this means that the highest quality, highest-touch service may not be the best choice for supporting a brand.

If a company's brand offers low-cost, do-it-yourself products, then its customer service offering can reflect that with simple, self-help Web service and limited assisted-channel support. If a company's brand offers expensive products delivered with the utmost care, then its service offering requires multiple high-touch channels, including the phone and live chat.

Determining the type of service that best fits the brand requires careful analysis and understanding of service operations, as well as the nature of inquiries, customer preferences, costs and infrastructure demands. Businesses need to translate their brand promises into measurable service key performance indicators (KPIs) such as cost of service, customer satisfaction, retention and compliance overhead.

To do this, they must accomplish the following:

* Understand their target market and the customer segments within it,as defined by marketing;
* Understand the goals and objectives for each persona within these segments;
* Measure customer satisfaction and loyalty according to the different personas, or segments, by establishing benchmarks for relevant KPIs and using techniques, like the Net Promoter score, market awareness, and customer satisfaction surveys, at the end of each customer interaction; and
* Alter the customer service experience and re-measure the service KPIs so that business and service leaders are relying on hard data, instead of "instinct," to identify the best service experience for their brands.

Once business and service leaders understand how to align service with the core brand -- and have tested this understanding by improving service KPIs and meeting customer expectations across other, more traditional communication channels -- they can determine how to properly extend their brand into social environments. Businesses must apply the knowledge they've gained in these other service channels to define an effective social CRM strategy that reinforces their brand promise and remains constant across all service channels.
Social Media Moderating and Monitoring

Most businesses today have company forums and blogs that they moderate. The purpose of these social media outlets is to provide an open, constructive environment for information exchange between the community and the company. To be successful, these communities must be in line with the entire service strategy and uphold the brand promise. As with other service channels, businesses must actively monitor KPIs, regularly gauging the effectiveness of communities in meeting service expectations, and tune their offering based on results. Data gathered might be applied to, for example, improving marketing campaigns, updating service processes and aligning product offerings with customer requirements.

Dell's (Nasdaq: DELL) IdeaStorm discussion board serves as a good example of a moderated community. IdeaStorm helps the company determine which ideas are most important and most relevant to their customers. After registering, users are able to add, promote, demote and comment on content. Dell also influences rankings to promote content that it feels is important -- for instance, by polling user interest. The company demonstrates it's listening by labeling content as "implemented" once it has been incorporated into brand, product and service strategy. It's also actively measuring KPIs that allow it to determine whether it is upholding the brand and meeting service expectations.

Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSK) is also successfully moderating a community through its Comcast Cares Twitter profile. Social pioneer Frank Eliason established the community a few years back to address the overwhelmingly negative customer feedback the company was receiving across the social network. Because its customer base actively engages within Twitter, Comcast likely monitored the social forum from a distance before choosing to moderate its own Twitter community.

Businesses can also extend their reach of the brand by judiciously monitoring and reacting to feedback from communities that are not under the purview of the company. They are communities where customers express emotions and opinions about brands, products and their service experiences. They often include social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter; rating and review sites like Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Yelp; open source communities; and/or popular industry publications and blogs that solicit reader input.
Social Strategy to Support the Brand

Whether businesses choose to moderate or monitor communities, it's important they create a social strategy that is true to the brand and allows the company to control the service experience for their customers. Like any other channel, these strategies differ from company to company.

For example, a low-cost, do-it-yourself home improvement company with a loyal customer base might want to create a moderated community where customers contribute content. This fits with the customers' expectation of the brand -- one that listens to customer input but doesn't necessarily provide live agents to discuss the ins and outs of product and service offerings. Alternatively, a high-end retail brand that demands white-glove service may choose not to have a social media offering, opting to cultivate a client base in more traditional, face-to-face ways.

So, how can business and service leaders tell which strategy is right for their brands? The way they would for any other communication channel: experiment, measure and refine.

Businesses that haven't yet engaged in the social space should start slowly, picking a handful of communities to monitor. Based on their observation and careful measurement of core business metrics across these social channels, they can decide how, if at all, they will begin moderating communities and actively engaging customers.

Those companies that are already deep into social media should also be experimenting with ways to more effectively moderate and engage. They must continually implement changes, measure results and optimize their strategy based on hard facts. This experimentation loop is of utmost importance if businesses are to ensure that their social CRM strategy is consistent with other communication channels and aligned with the brand.

In the real-time world of the social Web, it's critical that companies drive a dynamic and precise strategy -- one that's just another arm of the overall service offering.

Source: E-Commerce times

War? There is an app for that!

American military contractor shows off iPhone application intended to help soldiers track and kill insurgents on the battlefield

In little more than a year, applications for Apple's popular iPhone have become a sensation - with more than 100,000 downloadable programs that do everything from stargazing to virtual farting.

But now one of America's biggest military contractors is taking the concept to extremes, by building a series of apps for use on the battlefield.

At a conference in Arizona on Wednesday, US defence company Raytheon announced its plans to launch a new range of military-oriented programs that can turn the popular touchscreen mobile phone into a tool for use in war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

The first application in its plans, called One Force Tracker, uses satellite positioning and mobile networks to give soldiers constantly updating field maps that track the position of friendly troops and enemy fighters in real time.

The program – dubbed a "situational awareness application" by Raytheon executives – would combine data from many sources to try and give an accurate picture of hotspots such as sniper hideouts and vantage points. Troops could also use their iPhones for secure communication, said the company.

"We are committed to providing innovative technology solutions for warfighters and all of our customers," said Jay Smart, chief technology officer of Raytheon's intelligence and information systems business.

The application can run on ordinary iPhone handsets – a decision that came, Smart said, because building software for the gadget was cheaper and simpler than some of the expensive options specifically designed for military use.

"Raytheon's experience with mobile communications in the tactical environment and the government customers' need for low-power, simple plug-and-play applications led to the development of a real-time situational awareness application using Apple's touch technologies," he said.

It is not the first time the iPhone has been linked with military uses, however. Earlier this year Knight's Armament Company, an American weapons maker that supplies rifles to the Pentagon, launched a $12 ballistics application called BulletFlight which helps snipers and sharpshooters to hit their intended target.

Although it is most notorious for hi-tech weapons such as the Silent Guardian – a pain-inducing microwave gun - Raytheon, which based in Massachusetts, has a history of using popular technology for military purposes. Among its innovations are systems used in the unmanned aerial vehicles that are based on video games consoles.

One Force Tracker is not only for the battlefield, though. Raytheon told the Intelligence Warfighting Summit that the software could also be used – with some tweaks - by emergency workers such as doctors and firefighters responding to major incidents.

Source: The Guardian

Monday 7 December 2009

Avent Calendar for Geeks… and Gamers

If you are as lucky as me, you have a traditional Avent Calendar at home. But to add a little zest to your digital life, here are 2 links to online Avent calendars.... This first one offers 1 free game for your iPhone everyday, and only during this day: http://appventcalendar.com/ . This other one, http://24ways.org/ "offers throughout December a daily dose of web design and development goodness to bring you all a little Christmas cheer".

Enjoy!

Tuesday 1 December 2009

Google Publishes Zeitgeist 2009

Google Blog
Google is probably the hidden master of the world. I mean if humanity disappeared tomorrow, it could be recreated using Google's knowledge. It is the biggest content repository ever dreamed of, it also organizes this content and in order to do that, it studies our queries to understand what information we are looking for. In fact it publishes every year what are the most researched subjects in the world and by country. It's a fascinating snapshot of what's on our minds.... Have a look: Official Google Blog: Zeitgeist 2009: the collective consciousness