Why Apple should buy Square & Foursquare

Posted by on Apr 30, 2012 in Blog, Social Media, Technology | No Comments

This is an interesting and makes sense at multiple levels: Apple should acquire both Foursquare and Square.

To summarize: after the deal, Apple will immediately become a giant payments company, with an installation base that is expected to encompass half of all mobile devices sold. The company will have the best local search abilities, far exceeding any existing recommendation engine. And due to its enormous reach, it will possess a payment system that merchants will line up to support.

Apple dominates mobile sales. Mobile apps. Music. Why not electronic payment and local search as well. Makes sense to me.

How Google Search Works

Posted by on Apr 25, 2012 in Blog, SEO, Technology, Video | No Comments

It only takes half a second for Google to return a search based on keywords you type in, but there’s a whole lot more happening behind the scenes to give you the results you need. Google on Monday launched a video that explains the science behind how the massive search engine actually works.

Infographic: The Internet of Things

Posted by on Sep 18, 2011 in Infographic, Technology | No Comments

This infographic provides a snapshot of how the number of connected devices has exploded since the birth of the Internet and the PC, as well as a glimpse forward to 2020. The Internet may be huge, but it’s going to get alot bigger. According to infographic below, there will be 31 billion devices and 4 billion people will be connected to the internet by 2020. Read more: http://www.smashingapps.com/2011/09/11/the-internet-of-things-infographic.html#ixzz1YIJtVn00

[Found via SmashingApps]

The Groupon IPO

Posted by on Jun 4, 2011 in Blog, Business, Technology | No Comments

I haven’t been following their IPO very closely.  I don’t use the service. I won’t invest. I long ago decided not to invest in technology firms like this. Heck I am basically just a mutual fund dude at this point in time. So heck I don’t really care.  But David Heinemeier Hansson, a partner at 37Signals does:

Groupon has filed its S-1 and hopes to raise $750M in its initial public offering. Given they’re currently losing a staggering $117M per quarter, despite revenues of $644M, they’ll be burning through that cash almost as soon as it hits their account.

At the moment, it’s costing them $1.43 to make $1, and it doesn’t look like it’s getting any cheaper. They’re already projected to make close to three billion dollars in revenues this year. If you can’t figure out how to make money on three billion in revenue, when exactly will the profit magic be found? Ten billion? Fifty billion?

Now clearly the IPO is as much about future performance as anything. But it still makes you wonder doesn’t it.

NoteSlate

Posted by on Apr 13, 2011 in Blog, Technology | No Comments

I so have to have one of these. NoteSlate, a monochrome e-ink tablet built for writing.

First models are due in June and will retail for $99. My Sony Vaio laptop and my smart phone do everything I need (and a lot more) when I am on the move. Therefore, I don’t need an iPad or other more expensive tablet. But I am an avid notetaker. Rarely are my mechanical pencil and legal pad more then a few feet from me. So something like this might be just what I need.

No One Uses The Phone Anymore

Posted by on Apr 8, 2011 in Blog, Business, Technology | No Comments

We have so many communications options these days. SMS Email. IM. Therefore, increasingly the phone call is too viewed as an intrusive form of communications for many folks.

“I literally never use the phone,” Jonathan Adler, the interior designer, told me. (Alas, by phone, but it had to be.) “Sometimes I call my mother on the way to work because she’ll be happy to chitty chat. But I just can’t think of anyone else who’d want to talk to me.” Then again, he doesn’t want to be called, either. “I’ve learned not to press ‘ignore’ on my cellphone because then people know that you’re there.”

“I remember when I was growing up, the rule was, ‘Don’t call anyone after 10 p.m.,’” Mr. Adler said. “Now the rule is, ‘Don’t call anyone. Ever.’”

I have never been a huge fan of phone calls. But I just finished a project with a client I only spoke to once on the phone. She would just never return a phone call. Email and text messaging are wonderful communications tools. Don’t get me wrong. But somethings a good old phone call can be more effective and even faster way to communicate.

Google New

Posted by on Dec 8, 2010 in Blog, Technology | No Comments

I’ve been meaning to post this for awhile, cause it launched more than two months ago. If you work in interactive marketing, or heck just use a lot of Google services it is kind of hard to keep up with everything that is going on. Well enter Google New.