 |
 |
|
Bridging the Gap: JavaFX for Mobile Devices (Info World)
|
|
Posted: 07/18/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
With more than 2.6 billion mobile phones deployed with Java worldwide, Sun Microsystems is heralding the JavaFX extension as a bridge from desktop to mobile device to television. "JavaFX Mobile delivers rich, expressive user experiences and we know that this is what our customers require these days," Sun’s vice president of marketing Eric Klein said recently at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco. Improvements to the new 1.2 release of JavaFX Mobile include optimized performance, a user interface library, and localization. Future plans include building the JavaFX technology into “smartbook” devices that boast Internet access and GPS capabilities on small, hand-held devices.
|
 |
Industry:
Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,
Telecommunications
Topic:
Creative & Design,
Experience & Interaction,
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Business to Consumer
|
|
 |
|
Chinese Company Premier’s World’s First Phone to Run Windows XP (Info World)
|
|
Posted: 07/18/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Chinese company In Technology recently unveiled the first-ever mobile device capable of running Windows XP. A cool hybrid of mobile phone and pint-sized computer, the device can wake Windows from standby mode to receive calls and text messages and support Wi-Fi, optional WiMax, GPS and next-generation mobile. Other key features include a customized chip from Advanced Micro Devices, pull-out Qwerty board, 120GB hard disk, and a 4.8 inch LCD touchscreen. Battery life averages seven hours while larger batteries can power the device for up to 12 hours. Product release within the Chinese market is scheduled for mid-September with international release slated a bit further down the road.
|
 |
Industry:
Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,
Telecommunications
Topic:
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications,
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global,
Asia Pacific
Audience:
Business to Consumer
|
|
 |
|
Alcatel-Lucent Takes the Plunge Into Mobile Advertising (Information Week)
|
|
Posted: 07/18/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Redefining the drive-by, Alcatel-Lucent recently announced plans to launch a product allowing cellular carriers to reach millions of mobile customers with location-relevant advertisements. Partnering with mobile ad company 1020 Placecast, the technology will
help mobile operators determine the location of the customer with accuracy within a few meters. The new advertising vehicle, dubbed proximity marketing, is poised to reach sales of $10 billion by 2013. So don’t be too surprised if soon it’s more than your taste
buds beckoning you into the nearest Starbucks for a cup of joe and coffee cake.
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,
Retail & Products,
Telecommunications
Topic:
Business Intelligence,
Content Strategy,
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications,
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Business to Consumer
|
|
 |
|
Hooked on Location: Skyhook Plug-In Delivers with Pin-Point Accuracy (Information Week)
|
|
Posted: 07/03/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Building on the recent wave of location-centric applications, three leading Web applications–MapQuest, Flickr, and WeatherBug–are using Skyhook Wireless’s Loki plug-in to determine the precise location of any Wi-Fi enabled device that permits it. With a database featuring more than 100 million Wi-Fi access points, Skyhook triangulates signals from GPS and cell phone towers to deliver precise locations. The app can be seamlessly added to any Web site with a few simple lines of JavaScript. Companies utilizing the technology include Glympse, T-Mobile and Apple’s iPhone App Store. For example, T-Mobile G1 phone users can now download free software from Glympse that enables them to establish local links with other phones to track users' changing locations with pin-point accuracy.
|
 |
Industry:
Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,
Telecommunications
Topic:
Business Intelligence,
Content Strategy,
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications,
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Business to Consumer
|
|
 |
|
Surging Ahead: Companies Unveil New Cellular WiFi (Internet Evolution)
|
|
Posted: 07/03/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
With WiFi spreading like wildfire, cellular companies can no longer ignore the technology without ignoring consumer demand for higher speeds, better coverage and performance, and low- or no-cost access. As consumers also begin to expect computer-like functionality from their cellphones, carriers like AT&T, Comcast, Qwest, Cablevision, and even Verizon, the biggest WiFi hold-out, are embracing WiFi as an important part of their strategic business plans. Recently, Qwest launched free WiFi to both consumer and enterprise customers, while T-Mobile introduced a low-cost WiFi business phone service. Consequently, Verizon will offer free service to DSL and FiOS customers as early as this summer.
|
 |
Industry:
Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,
Telecommunications
Topic:
Experience & Interaction,
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global,
North America
Audience:
Business to Business,
Business to Consumer
|
|
 |
|
Closing the Sale: SeeWhy Helps Businesses Put Abandonment Issues to Rest (Intelligent Enterprise)
|
|
Posted: 07/03/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
You’re spending huge chunks of money to drive traffic to your site, you’re bound to close the sale, right? Not necessarily. Businesses today are finding a significant number of visitors abandon their shopping carts before completing their purchases. SeeWhy helps retailers put their cart abandonment issues to rest with the launch of their new software, Abandonment Tracker. The free service is designed to entice customers into upgrading to Abandonment Tracker Pro, a paid service that will be released in a few weeks. While the price for Abandonment Tracker Pro has not yet been disclosed, the advanced software promises to improve sales conversion rates and reduce abandoned shopping carts. SeeWhy will help retailers lure potential customers back to close the deal rather than having sales evaporating before their very eyes.
|
 |
Industry:
Retail & Products,
Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic:
Business Intelligence,
E-Commerce,
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Business to Consumer
|
|
 |
|
In a Flash: Time Saving Tips for Creating Animation with ActionScript 3.0 (.net)
|
|
Posted: 07/03/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Pulling another all-nighter to meet tomorrow’s looming deadline? Download Paul
Wyatt’s article unveiling time-saving tips to producing keyframe animations and
motion tweens in a flash. Rather than wasting hours of effort creating similarly-styled
animations from scratch, Wyatt’s clear-cut tutorial will teach you how to copy Flash
animation to ActionScript 3.0 code by reusing code that can be applied to any movie clip
across the platform. Eventually, you’ll even be able to compile your own unique master
document of signature animation styles. Once you learn Wyatt’s simple, practical
techniques, you’ll be delivering client creative with time to spare.
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,
Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic:
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business
|
|
 |
|
Club Med Latest Hotel to “Check In” with its Own Social Network (ClickZ)
|
|
Posted: 06/19/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Travelers now have the chance to ‘check in’ to Club Med’s new social network long after checking out from an exotic Club Med vacation. After testing its viability on Facebook, the luxury brand recently launched its own social network, Club Med Insiders, offering guests the opportunity to share experiences long past the last Mai Tai. Since its April launch, the site is exceeding its platform goals to encourage bookings, pass along expert travel advice, and create a loyal community of Club Med vacationers. In a down economy, the French-based company has already seen a nearly 2 percent jump between first quarter revenues in 2009 and the first quarter of 2008.
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic:
Business Intelligence,
Content Strategy,
Creative & Design,
E-Commerce,
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications
Region:
Global,
Europe
Audience:
Business to Consumer,
Peer Groups & Communities
|
|
 |
|
Study Finds That Mobile Ads Deliver the Goods to One in Three Smartphone Owners (Promo Magazine)
|
|
Posted: 06/19/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Now that nearly one of every seven minutes of digital media consumption takes place over a mobile device, it’s no small wonder that more smartphone users are actively embracing the ‘smart’ technology to enhance their lives. A recent study by Interpublic Group division Universal McCann and sponsored by Platform-A, AOL’s digital ad service, discovered that more than half of all smartphone users have responded to ads, requesting more information from their Web-enabled devices. The study also found that thirty-five percent actively requested to receive a mobile coupon, while 245 made purchases from their high-end handsets. UM director of consumer insights Graeme Hutton said in a statement. “Now mobile is less about ‘wireless online’ and more about being a highly personal, customized medium. Smartphone users are reaching for their devices to help answer unmet needs. Services that don’t have dedicated mobile formats are going to miss out on this huge and continual media consumption shift.”
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,
Retail & Products,
Telecommunications
Topic:
Business Intelligence,
Creative & Design,
E-Commerce,
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Business to Consumer
|
|
 |
|
Driving the Competition (BrandWeek)
|
|
Posted: 06/19/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
With 1.2 million members worldwide and more than 145,904 fans on Facebook, brand behemoth Harley-Davidson is now driving their brand power home online with social media and mobile marketing. Proud of its powerful offline impact, according to Randy Sprenger manager of electronic advertising and direct promotions, online campaigns and mobile marketing are helping the company get in touch with what people are saying outside the walls of Harley. Sprenger claims the brand’s strength can be attributed to the personal connection established between company and rider. “We are actually riders. We participate in events as riders. I think one of the greatest strengths is the passion and enthusiasm here at the motor company for our riders. We always want to be out, talking to them.”
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic:
Business Intelligence,
Content Strategy,
Creative & Design,
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Consumer,
Peer Groups & Communities
|
|
 |
|
Twitter’s New Swan Song (Fast Company)
|
|
Posted: 06/19/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Twitter’s new change may appear to be one small chirp in the Twitter universe, but has the potential to turn up the volume even further on the lifecasting powerhouse’s increasing relevance. Tweeters now have access to “hive-minded” buzz through the new “search” and “trending topics” additions that appear on every homepage, reflecting real-world trends and socially-relevant topics. With its speed and real-time social relevance that even extends beyond Google’s reach, the powerful new tool could help Twitter top the charts with marketers seeking to spread their latest advertisements and become even more relevant to Tweeters looking to connect with the world around them.
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic:
Business Intelligence,
Content Strategy,
Marketing Communications
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Business to Consumer,
Peer Groups & Communities
|
|
 |
|
Art Meets Internet Commerce, Reality TV, Social Media (Promo Magazine)
|
|
Posted: 06/05/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Continuing the surge of story-based marketing, Coca-Cola brand Sprite is launching a new European campaign that boldly unites art with multi-channeled commerce. A young, unknown British singer headlines the ongoing YouTube series that follows as she hits the New York music scene. With the prequel getting upwards of 60,000 views on YouTube, the show is also linked to Facebook Connect, creating the first interaction of its kind between YouTube and Facebook.
“With this show, Sprite shifts from creating the perfect branded content to content that perfects the brand,” Coca-Cola head of European digital marketing Stafford Green said in a release. “Instead of repeating single messages in traditional media, Sprite supports these new experiences and deep storytelling to communicate our core brand values over time. It’s a fresh advertising model, and everyone wins: the artist, the brands and especially the audience—getting free on-demand, truly interactive content without commercial interruption.”
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,
Retail & Products,
Telecommunications
Topic:
Creative & Design,
Experience & Interaction,
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global,
Europe
Audience:
Business to Consumer,
Peer Groups & Communities
|
|
 |
|
Finding Common Ground: Insights on Engineering and Design (BusinessWeek)
|
|
Posted: 06/05/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Microsoft Research Principal Scientist Bill Buxton is calling for engineers and user-experience designers to find some common ground. Faced with ongoing questions from well-intentioned engineers regarding design, Buxton acknowledges the answers are more complicated than becoming a designer themselves or simply learning to “do” design as many engineers suggest. First, Buxton counsels that professional competence equal to the task must be added to your team. While the UX and engineering tasks certainly go hand-in-hand, expert proficiency is difficult to come by for each discipline, making it often impossible to jump seamlessly between the two. Buxton advises a four-layered approach: Design awareness, Design literacy, Design thinking, and Design practice to achieve results and solutions worthy of your customers.
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,
Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,
Telecommunications
Topic:
Creative & Design,
Experience & Interaction,
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Business to Consumer,
Peer Groups & Communities
|
|
 |
|
Online Communities Strengthen Brand Power (Chief Marketer)
|
|
Posted: 05/24/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
No matter your product or service, building online brands means building virtual communities that cultivate customer loyalty and provide lasting value. Shaping customer experiences that allows for custom-control, targeted e-mail follow-ups and strategic communications will not only maximize the time your customers spend with your brand, it will also increase your messaging impact and build mindshare, too. It never hurts to make the experience enjoyable, too, through elements like compelling visual design, intuitive navigation and user-generated content. Take for instance, the Pen Collective, by eROI and Wacom. The group now boasts more than 3000 active members, due to the brand’s intuitive mix of tutorials, testimonials, wit and social networking to create an inimitable personal connection to the brand.
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,
Retail & Products
Topic:
Business Intelligence,
Content Strategy,
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications,
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Business to Consumer,
Peer Groups & Communities
|
|
 |
|
Strength in Numbers: Unveiling the Benefits of Eclipse (Forbes)
|
|
Posted: 05/24/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Faced with the increasing squeeze of a down economy, many companies are forgoing the expense of programming their own software without losing their competitive edge. The experimental Eclipse software consortium offers companies within sectors like technology, finance and insurance the opportunity to collaborate, build and share computer code. “People these days are interested in doing more with less,” says Michael Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. With a budget of $5 million this year, the company is seeking to expand its 185 member base even further into the automotive and telecom industries. Nonmembers can take advantage of the foundation's free software library, while companies who pay dues of up to $125,000 a year get to hand-select upcoming programming projects.
|
 |
Industry:
Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,
Telecommunications
Topic:
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Peer Groups & Communities
|
|
 |
|
The Plain Truth: Winning Email Tactics (BtoB Online)
|
|
Posted: 05/24/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
It’s no surprise that marketers looking for high-impact email solutions take maximum advantage of Web technology to reach their audiences. Simply put, that means incorporating plain text e-mails into the marketing mix. While flashy HTML e-mails are great attention-grabbers and response-trackers, they aren’t always accessible to every user. The first rule of thumb: key content should be viewable without scrolling. Keeping offers, calls to action, brand identity and deadlines/time markers all at-a-glance is likely to increase your impact. While you can legally send unsolicited emails to anyone in the US without asking permission, it’s vital to keep your communications targeted and provide opt-outs. E-mail offers an easy, effective, affordable way to stay connected and build strong, lasting relationships with your customers.
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic:
Marketing Communications
Region:
Global,
North America
Audience:
Business to Business
|
|
 |
|
Crutchfield Optimizes First Impression (MarketingVOX)
|
|
Posted: 05/13/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
This case study explores how online retailers can turn the average welcome email into a powerful conversion driving tool. A Retail Welcome Email Benchmark study estimates that only 76% of the biggest online retailers are even utilizing a welcome email—which is not to assume that the ones being sent are effective. The welcome email can be used to educate the recipient about your brand and what benefits they receive as a subscriber. In the case of Crutchfield, an online electronics retailer, they transformed their welcome email from a text only email to one that highlighted the differentiating factors of their brand. The redesign added images and was more consistent with the look of the newsletters recipients would receive. Crutchfield’s approach represents a changing trend with up to 89% of retailers sending HTML welcome emails, up 11% from 2007.
|
 |
Industry:
Retail & Products
Topic:
Content Strategy,
Creative & Design,
E-Commerce,
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Consumer
|
|
 |
|
Web Analytics Key to Performance (Target Marketing)
|
|
Posted: 05/13/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Carol Ott, director of e-commerce finance and web analytics, of the San Diego based company PETCO gets a fond feeling when she considers how web analytics serve her company. In a discussion with Target Marketing she explains why following the complete picture of customer behavior online can more clearly gauge marketing ROI than first and last click. She emphasizes the importance of continuous assessments and optimization of online programs to stay on top of and adjust to the constant changes in customer behavior. This combined with benchmarks and key performance indicators will help companies evaluate their success.
|
 |
Industry:
Retail & Products
Topic:
Business Intelligence,
E-Commerce,
Experience & Interaction
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Consumer
|
|
 |
|
Social Networks Growing Popularity (CRM Daily)
|
|
Posted: 04/22/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
According to Nielsen, social networks and blogs are quickly becoming the most prevalent uses of the web at three times the rate of search and e-mail. Nielsen also notes that social-computing sites like blogs and social networks are visited by over 67% of the worldwide online population and represent 1 out of every 11 minutes of activity online globally. As the social networks become more varied, they are also growing to be more mobile with 19% of mobile device users in the US state they use their phones for social networking and as many as 3 million mobile users were regularly texting Facebook at the close of 2008. The statistics prove that social networks are now and will continue to be an essential part of the online experience globally.
|
 |
Industry:
Retail & Products,
Telecommunications
Topic:
Content Strategy,
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Consumer,
Peer Groups & Communities
|
|
 |
|
Salesforce.com Expands Service Cloud to Include Tweets (CRM Daily)
|
|
Posted: 04/22/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
As the popularity of Twitter increases companies are struggling for a way to participate in exchanges on Twitter. To address this, Salesforce.com added Twitter to its Service Cloud as a way for their clients to track, search, and even respond to customer discussions among Twitter’s 8 million users with tweets. The service allows companies to sift through millions of tweets and uncover conversations related to their brand or significant to their industry. They can then monitor all related replies to the original post and even use the Service Cloud to direct the appropriate replies back to the original poster. Since launching the service in January Salesforce.com has experienced impressive uptake of the service verifying that this approach symbolizes where customer feedback and response is headed.
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic:
Business Intelligence,
Content Strategy,
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Business to Consumer,
Peer Groups & Communities
|
|
 |
|
Facelift for Facebook (Ecommerce Times)
|
|
Posted: 04/22/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Facebook recently underwent a redesign of its user home pages to put a direct spotlight on instant updates to friend posts. This has led many to compare the new look to Twitter but the additional result is a cleaner page based on more traditional web design and focused on information hierarchy. The new approach also generates several opportunities for Facebook to reach people interested in advertising to members of the social networking site. By offering the additional ad space, Facebook is hoping that marketers will embrace the idea of mixing ads with content and take advantage of the abundance of information on consumer behavior at their fingertips.
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic:
Business Intelligence,
Content Strategy,
Marketing Communications
Region:
Global
Audience:
Peer Groups & Communities
|
|
 |
|
Conversation Sells: Using Twitter to Boost Your Sales (Practical eCommerce)
|
|
Posted: 03/31/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
In a virtual world that often lacks a personal touch, Twitter offers retailers a unique opportunity to make meaningful connections with customers online. Whether you’re quirky or serious, you can customize conversations directly with your customers that authentically reflect the personality of your business while giving you the tools to grow, manage and reward a loyal customer base. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, raves about Twitter's usefulness in building personal connections with customers and employees and Dell's Twitter success led to the creation of the Dell Outlet to offers exclusive discounts to its Twitter supporters. Learn how you, too, can turn conversation into conversion by incorporating Twitter into your online marketing arsenal today.
|
 |
Industry:
Retail & Products
Topic:
Content Strategy,
E-Commerce,
Experience & Interaction,
Marketing Communications
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Business to Consumer,
Peer Groups & Communities
|
|
 |
|
Get Rapid Results with Lightweight Code Review (TechWeb, Dr. Dobbs Portal)
|
|
Posted: 03/31/2009
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Ready to learn everything you need to know about peer code review in the shortest amount of time? With so many code review techniques available, your team can weigh the pros and cons of each method to discover an effective solution that matches the team's existing culture and the goals of your organization. Eliminate the vulnerabilities of your code by implementing these proven, time-saving tips to uncover those tricky little bugs that often escape even the most thorough peer reviews. This simplified, modern approach to code review removes cumbersome steps from traditional review processes to help you achieve measurable results that ultimately improve the integrity of your code.
|
 |
Industry:
Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications,
Retail & Products,
Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services,
Telecommunications
Topic:
Technology Implementation
Region:
Global
Audience:
Business to Business,
Business to Consumer,
Peer Groups & Communities
|
|