Head of Time Warner Cable Is Unfamiliar With Apple's AirPlay - NYTimes.com -
Surprising? May be a little bit… TWC should know about AirPlay and have a few reason on their script why they are better than what Apple and AirPlay can do. Without that, they are just acting “dumb” about the “dumb pipe.”
How Verizon tried to unsell me an iPhone | Technically Incorrect - CNET News -
Come on Verizon… You should be a better partner to Apple. You’ve only been selling iPhones for a year and you are already trashing them? This reminds me of how lousy retailers were in the 90s selling Macs. And so Apple created its own stores and revolutionized the retail experience. No wonder so many people prefer the Apple Store retail experience to the wireless companies’ stores! (via How Verizon tried to unsell me an iPhone | Technically Incorrect - CNET News)
iFlop: 60% of iOS developers lose money on apps
Sean Ludwig, venturebeat.comNearly 60 percent of iOS developers don’t break even with the apps that they create and market, according to a recent study by App Promo.
While the focus on app news is often about the blockbuster hits like Draw Something or Angry Birds…
Insights on the #mobileapps that don’t break even. #marketing
Hey Scott – Lying On Your Resume At Yahoo! Could Result In Immediate Discharge!
Jon Orlin, techcrunch.comWhat’s the penalty for lying on a resume? It’s an important question for new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson, after his PR department offered up the laughable excuse that he made “an inadvertent error” on Yahoo’s website and in an SEC filing…
What an embarrassment to Yahoo! when they can least afford it. The Yahoo! board must respond to this swiftly with high standards and the CEO has to go for this dishonesty he has maintained for many years at PayPal and Yahoo! We all know this wasn’t an “inadvertent error.”
Saw this coming…
Article: Amazon Low Prices Disguise a High Cost - NYTimes.com -
Competition in the ebook market is a complex thing to sort out. True - collusion is not a good thing. But did collusion, strictly defined, happen between Apple and the book publishers?
If Apple proposed an agency model and each book publisher accepted (making its own independent decision), all with the hope that there would be a viable competitor in the ebook market to Amazon, is that “anti-competitive” and against the consumer’s interest? I struggle to see that.
Sure Apple has swung its weight around in various markets but this seems like a poorly chosen attack by the Department of Justice.
Amazon Low Prices Disguise a High Cost - NYTimes.com
(via Instapaper)
Beer makes men smarter: study - NY Daily News -
Mark Zuckerberg was on to something that night he developed Facemash…
The ugly truth: why beautiful wins in 2012 | Tech News and Analysis -
Nice assessment of three successful online services that clearly focused on untapped opportunities that made a difference to Internet users, are simple to use, and appealed to them emotionally.
Apple HQ -
It’s amazing to me how Apple HQ looks the exact same 20 years after the first day One Infinite Loop opened (my first day at Apple) - the foosball table is new.
Impressive innovation in mobile/social product and marketing by American Express with Sync for Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare at SXSW, kicked off with a musical event promotion (secret Jay-Z concert.)
Have you heard about the hottest startup to announce a new product at South by Southwest Interactive? It had the most ubiquitous new product, it threw the biggest party with one of the world’s top celebrities, and it may change how we think about social commerce. Presenting the winner of the SXSW 2012 buzz bowl: American Express.
In the year thatAKQA’s Rei Inamoto presented a keynote talk on why ad agencies should act more like tech startups, a 162-year-old financial services company acted like a tech startup, and stole the attention away from the thousands of startups represented there. Here’s how AmEx did it:
It debuted an innovative product.AmEx Sync now allows merchants to offer special offers that consumers can redeem by tweeting an offer to Twitter. There have been enough attempts at Twitter commerce before to warrant some using the shorthand t-commerce, but no company – Twitter included – has done so with such a broad reach, an aggressive marketing campaign, and major brand partners likeMcDonald’s, Whole Foods, and Gulf Oil.
It expanded on a pilot, giving it a launching pad.AmEx actually introduced Sync in Austin last year, but with Foursquare only. At dozens of locations around the city, AmEx offered consumers a way to earn $10 in statement credit when they loaded the deal through Foursquare. AmEx already had credibility with these early adopters, so it didn’t have to sell the concept of this brand innovating with social commerce.
It was digitally ubiquitous, at least for the target audience.Sync now works with Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook, but AmEx hasn’t been pushing Facebook at SXSW. Why? Even though Facebook has a major advantage in terms of user numbers, the SXSW audience is obsessed with Foursquare and Twitter. It’s possible that Facebook will wind up being the dominant platform for Sync, but that wouldn’t have gotten the attention of the Austin crowd.
It offered a clear value proposition.Consumers with an AmEx card can get $10 credit at a wide range of local businesses, and there’s the potential to receive more credits through Facebook and Twitter.
It was the loudest marketer in all of Texas during SXSW.The initial campaign for AmEx Sync with Twitter was a Jay-Z ticket giveaway. Nothing came close to that in Austin for generating excitement. It helped that he put on an excellent show.
AmEx had plenty of competition. Before the festival even started, most pundits — myself included — declared Highlight the hottest technology to launch at SXSW 2012. We were wrong.
What’s even more jarring is the next-most-buzzworthy product debut, from a baby of a company 48 years young. It was theNike+ FuelBand, a product that attempts to encourage people to be more physically active, also with social underpinnings. The $149 gadget sold out quickly whenever the limited supplies were restocked, and Nike created high-tech, interactive experiences centered on some of the most central real estate in downtown Austin.
Last year, SXSW die-hards were concerned that corporate brands were taking over Austin. This year, brand marketers were far more prominent, but no one was complaining. Next year, startups should spend less time courting major brands and more time acting like them.
Thumb Offers A Reality Test For SXSW Winners
Anthony Ha, techcrunch.comEvery year, before, during, and after South by Southwest, everyone’s eager declare someone the winner of the conference. Then comes the inevitable backlash, with questions about whether Popular App X will ever catch on with “regular…
Interesting ranking #mobileapps
Carolyn West Side #nofilter (Taken with instagram)
“
Nick Bilton: I prefer my iPhone over my television because it allows me to consume and create on the same device. I’m immersed in it.
If it were a TV, I could leave comments on YouTube clips, send Twitter messages in the middle of a show or movie, and most importantly, share the content I like, or dislike.
The winner in the living room won’t be decided by the size of the screen, or how thin it is hanging on the wall. Just like the smartphones and tablets that exist today, those “features” will quickly become standard.
Instead, it will come down to apps and the software that ties them to the hardware. And as we have seen with the iPhone and iPad, Apple knows how to rattle sleepy industries.
” — Disruptions: TV Makers Ignore Apps at Their Own Peril - NYTimes.comDr. Tina Strobos, Who Harbored Jews From the Nazis, Dies at 91 -
Quite an honorable life lived…
Dr. Tina Strobos, Who Harbored Jews From the Nazis, Dies at 91
Dr. Tina Strobos, a fearless woman who hid more than 100 Jews in a gabled attic in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam just a few blocks from the hideout where Anne Frank was captured, died on Monday at her home in Rye, N.Y. She was 91. The cause was cancer, said her son Jur Strobos. The ethos of rescuing the imperiled was…
View full story at
Up Close With the New Apple iPad 4G
Lance Ulanoff, mashable.comThe best thing about the new iPad 4G (or “iPad New,” as I like to call it) is the retina screen. This 2048 x 1536-pixel screen makes people, places, things and games look real enough touch. It also makes the iPad’s 9.7-inch display (the same si…
Really looking forward to the new iPad with Retina Display, and iCloud + iPhoto on the iPad to access edit and share photos so easily.