We’re working on a bank pitch, so there’s a lot of banking chatter happening right now at our office. Someone just sent me a link to this article to read from the New York Times. It’s about banks adding all kinds of penalties and fees to stay profitable in light of the new banking regulations.
You know, police make a business out of penalties, fines and involuntary confinement, and this seems kind of like that model. Great for maintaining social order, but when you’re on the receiving end of it, it’s not much fun.
This can’t be a sustainable business model, can it??? Imagining that I just over-drew my account, which is embarrassing enough, and now my friend, my banker, is going to slap me with a monstrous fee on top of that?
I think I’m going to be looking for a new bank soon
What does this have to do with online marketing, you ask? Probably, not too much except all of our transactions and bill paying is moving online, making us susceptible to more and more of this abuse. I guess it just strikes me as supremely arrogant and short-sighted that such an ubiquitous institution would have as its customer growth strategy, profiting during someone’s personal struggles. I think I smell me some change coming….
KidWithMatches is the personal blog of Pete Eberbach, VP Director of Online Marketing & Technology at St. John + Partners.
This message is exactly what the Olympics should be about; the world being brought together by a shared interest.
I saw this as pre-roll on NBC’s Winter Olympics 2010 site, but it’s also on YouTube. When it first started to run, I thought it was self-promotion for Vancouver, but it turns out it’s for the 2012 Olympics in London. Not that it matters, as the message works equally well either way.
This should be the best Olympics ever in terms of coverage because of the technology, and because all the content providers have figured out how to supplement their broadcast Olympics coverage with additional coverage on the web.
KidWithMatches is the personal blog of Pete Eberbach, VP Director of Online Marketing & Technology at St. John + Partners.
Very interesting research into technical gadgetry that can help with real time information processing and intuiting.
Although in its current state this somewhat patched together set of gadgets is a bit clunky, you can see where the technology is headed.
One group this validates are those who have, for years, been developing wearable technology. Here the value proposition is obvious vs. just offering convenience, to which most of the previous development has been limited.
You’ll notice the obvious augmented reality that they’re achieving with a projector vs. the onscreen data display employed with some of the previous iPhone posts I’ve made.
KidWithMatches is the personal blog of Pete Eberbach, VP Director of Online Marketing & Technology at St. John + Partners.
Talking about best practices and integrity in the SEO world…
There are so many unscrupulous companies in this space who promise #1 rankings in 2 weeks or less, charging ridiculous fees and setting false expectations.
I found this while doing some research on domain name aliases, and even though this post didn’t exactly answer my question, (;-)) the principles stated were expressed about as well as they possibly could be.
Obviously I love augmented reality, as evidenced in previous posts. I first posted about it months ago with GE’s Ecomagination commercial on the Super Bowl, and a couple month’s later when magician, Marco Tempest, used the technology to make his slight-of-hand magic even more amazing.
Now, SPRXmobile in Amsterdam has begun exploring a practical application of this technology, as you’ll see in this demo:
Their product, Layar, is a video-mode application that works with your 3G phone and its GPS system, plus a compass and an accelerometer, also both built-in to the phone. These elements work to establish your position on the planet, which direction your phone is facing and its angle or tilt. With that information, the application is able to pull data feeds that are relevant to the environment you’re viewing through the video display.
Wonder what the reviews have been like for the restaurant you’re standing in front of? Or maybe if there are any apartments for rent in that building nearby?
All kinds of relevant data will be available, and presented in a visually appealing, 3D context relative to the environment you’re viewing through your phone’s video camera, turning that view into a detailed and highly engaging dynamic interface.
More than six-months in the making, Jane Nation is now live as a new community devoted to women.
Congratulations to the development team involved…lots of time spent and people involved to birth this baby. Special thanks to Steven (a.k.a. “Stevie”), Mike (a.k.a. “Michelle”), Jen (a.k.a “Jen”), Erin (a.k.a. “Erin”) and Sean (a.k.a. “Shana”) who were the core development team.
Definitely check out the site.
It’s got a lot of information and conversations happening, geared to what may be going on in your life right now, so almost any woman would find a bunch of relevant content and a number of interesting women with whom you can connect.
It’s kind of like they were contemplating re-inventing the wheel and instead came up with the mag-lev train.
Microsoft is dangerously close to stealing the cool factor away from Apple, not for its PC/Mac war of the ages, but because it is getting ready to shift the paradigm of the gamers’ UI experiences. What’s in the offing is Project Natal, introduced to reporters and VIPs on the eve of the E3 in Los Angeles.
Not being on the guest list, I can’t make any first hand observations, but one of the guys on our team is an avid gamer and Xbox 360 aficionado, as well as being versed in all things gaming, and he had to take a few days off to calm-down after viewing the video feed from the press conference on the Xbox Channel.
This demo and presentation is pretty crazy stuff. A lot of bloggers are disbelieving that Microsoft has really cracked the code on this, at least not to this level.
Here’s another video that shows more of the gaming experience vs. the artificial intelligence that Milo demonstrated above.
That’s enough of a difference that Wii and other gaming systems should be pretty nervous. Although Wii is much easier to master than the current Xbox, and PS3, there is virtually no learning curve with the controller-free gesturing in Natal. No “A” then flick your wrist while hitting “Trigger” style interaction here. Just do what you’d do normally if you were engaged in the activity and you’re playing. If the AI layer is anywhere close to Milo, we’re talking mag-lev trains, baby!
I guess some people still need training wheels to confidently navigate the Internet, at least OneClickMoms is counting on that.
Offering a free newsletter that is “a daily review of some of the newest, hottest sites called ‘One Click Daily’”, One Click Moms provides interested “moms” an easy guide to what’s happening on the web.
The site and the newsletter are pretty breezy and easy to consume, and cover social networks, virtual worlds, games and other sites moms might find of interest.
No advertisers or sponsors visible right now, so clearly still in the eyeball-gathering phase of development.
But if you’re a mom and interested in finding new sites both for yourself and your kids, and having some confidence in the appropriateness and safety of the content, this could be for you.
Although pretty heady stuff for a simple blog like this, the Aspen Institute recently released an eBook on cloud computing and the affects it may have on society in the coming years.
Arguably the ultimate expression of the web, “the cloud” is defined by A.I. as “a vast, always on, accessible, broadband-enabled next-generation Internet that is fast approaching.”
It will be a time where applications and data become a shared and distributed cyber-sea of information, communications and services, and with this evolution comes a huge set of issues around the idea of “identity.” Defining identity, validating it, preserving it, making it hack-proof and building reputation around it are just a few of the issues examined in the report.
The report concludes by saying, “The cloud will usher in a seismic shift in the locus of control in our culture, and it will have ripple effects in all walks of life—energy, the environment, national security, learning, health care, business processes, emerging markets and much more. The cloud is about open access, rapid delivery of services, the ability to scale quickly and the power of networks. Ultimately, though, the cloud story is not just about computing, communication or information but about empowering citizens.”
HOME
