What We Are Reading

What We Are Reading | What We Think | Subscribe to DigitalBeyond

We cut through the clutter of the web to highlight innovation and forward-thinking. The best stories from leading publications – hand selected and organized to provide you a single point of access.

Search Results

Results 51 - 100 of 107 for All Dates , All Industries , Technology Implementation , All Regions , All Audiences

Sort results by:

Newest |

M3W Favorites

Results per page: 5 | 10 | 25 | 50

iPhone App Enables Paying with Plastic (CNN Money)

Posted: 03/18/2010

Operating businesses remotely just got even better. While credit card transactions were standardized in traditional business settings long ago, paying with plastic was only a pipe dream for those conducting business on the road. Now, a host of software is on the market allowing mobile businesses to process credit card payments on their cell phones. From Apple's iPhone applications to Inner Fence, which developed the first iPhone app for processing credit cards, there are a slew of applications out there that allow proprietors to issue refunds, review sales, and email electronic receipts for transactions.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: E-Commerce, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Where New Technologies Emerge: The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (New Media Knowledge)

Posted: 03/18/2010

Driven by innovation, the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas again brought hot products to the forefront. A traditional showcase for new and emerging technologies and gadgets, the show provides an interactive forum for companies to reveal their latest and greatest products and services. This year, Yahoo announced a host of new partners for its Connected TV project, which aims to provide Internet service to televisions. In addition, Panasonic TV’s new built-in video camera allows customers to make Skype video calls. Andrew Lim, editor of mobile reviews site Recombu, told NMK, “It's about giving consumers better access to existing services….” Car manufacturer Ford is integrating social media into their services with its Sync MyTouch in-car Internet system, which allows on-the-go drivers to access the Web via WiFi or 3G mobile connection. CES 2010 demonstrated that once-complex technology continues to become more user-friendly.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Programming With Screen Shots, Not Just Code (Dr. Dobbs)

Posted: 03/04/2010

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a new system that allows one to program with screenshots. For more than three decades, the graphical user interface (GUI) has dominated computer programing, but its underlying reliance on code manipulation means it’s still relatively labor intensive for computer programmers to customize or build programs. The new system, Sikuli, enables programmers to develop programs using GUI screen shots. While it requires some knowledge of Python, the system enables even casual users to create new programs without mastering complex programming language. The user simply draws a box around the desired content, captures the screen shot and then places it appropriately into the Python code. The research team plans to present a paper entitled GUI Testing Using Computer Vision at CHI, the premier conference on human-computer interactions, where they will describe new applications of Sikuli aimed at large software development projects, both for programmers and non-programmers.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Market Intelligence the Smartphone Way (CRM Daily)

Posted: 02/04/2010

Context-aware software tries to connect the real world with the vast stores of information about places in a virtual world: the Internet. The technology channels the knowledge amassed to provide useful tools to the smartphone user. Consumers gain more control over their buying experiences and save time when they purchase from vendors who have critical insight into their shopping habits. The software’s diverse industry applications include retail, business management, hospitality, and food and beverage. Research firm Gartner projects the market for this technology will grow to $12 billion by 2012, with Google standing in prime position to address and profit from the new wave of demand. Other companies that stand to benefit are Nokia, Cisco Systems, Avaya, large telcos like China Telecom or potentially even social networks such as Facebook, Gartner says.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Apple and Facebook Key Influencers in New Tech Cycle (eWeek)

Posted: 02/04/2010

Apple and Facebook have literally changed the face of mobile internet. With mobile internet users projected to double by 2013, it’s easy to see a "mobile Internet cycle" emerging, a new cycle detailed in Morgan Stanley's "The Mobile Internet Report." Cited as the fifth computing cycle in five decades, the report claims this one is faster and bigger with a wider global net than previous cycles. While Apple, Google and Amazon.com lead the pack, the report suggests that the key influencers from previous cycles won’t necessarily be given the keys to this new kingdom. The analyst team, headed by Mary Meeker, attributes the high level of anticipation for mobile users to five of the most promising IP-based products and services: social networking, 3G network adoption, video, Voice over IP and "impressive mobile devices."

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global, North America, Asia Pacific
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

New Runa Software Helps Convert Customers Into Sales (Electronic Commerce Guide)

Posted: 02/04/2010

A huge challenge for e-commerce retailers is getting visitors to actually click through to purchase items. Runa, a company specializing in conversion marketing, is helping companies capture and convert Website vistors into paying customers before they abandon the process entirely. After tracking a variety of “actionable analytics” including key words, transaction history, profile information, products viewed and search patterns, Runa drums up a new dynamic sale price that evolves from the merchant’s criteria and shopper’s preferences. Price is typically the deciding factor for whether consumers follow through with transactions, so the new deal is only revealed once the shopping cart has been abandoned. Retailers can then expect to turn up to 15% of “recapture” offers into sales. Since the dynamic special offers are only revealed to visitors that abandon their carts, those paying full price from the get-go never even get wind of the deals.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business

Opening the Line of Communication with Feedback-Form Analytics (Electronic Commerce Guide)

Posted: 02/04/2010

We’ve all heard of shopping cart abandonment. Until now, companies have had no way of knowing if this so-called digital window shopper’s syndrome was due to Web glitches or other, more personal, reasons. Kampyle is changing that by offering on-demand feedback-form analytics so companies can improve their turnover rates by learning more about their customers. The customizable forms promote open communication between customer and company by directly asking customers relevant questions to reveal why they chose not follow through with their purchases. The software also features “smart pop-ups” that can be personalized to appear when the visitor clicks off the site. Easy to implement, companies can have the service converting clicks into sales in as little as five minutes.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business

Google’s Real-Time, User-Driven Display Ads (Ecommerce Times)

Posted: 01/21/2010

Google is paving the way toward revolutionizing online display advertising. The search engine leader’s acquisition of startup Teracent promises to significantly boost Google’s display ad prowess by tapping into machine-learning algorithms able to produce and personalize the ads in real-time. The user-driven ads can be optimized based on influencers like location, time, language, Web-specific content and past performance of similar ads. Proving that what’s good for Google is good for online display advertising in general, the new technology combats the somewhat antiquated, inflexible packaging of display ads and makes them more dynamic and customizable. Giovanni Calabro, vice president of user experience at Siteworx, told the E-Commerce Times, "Instead of merely selling a package, Google can offer a product based on an understanding of who is coming onto a site.”

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

On-Demand Software Adds Flexibility to Direct Digital Marketers (Ecommerce Times)

Posted: 01/21/2010

The robustness of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products positions them to effectively tackle emerging trends in direct digital marketing. The secret to their success? They share the same “it” factor ideals that often boost the best new businesses to the top of the rung: they are cost-effective, easy to implement and inherently scalable. On-demand products must seamlessly integrate between the three primary channels of direct digital marketing–email, mobile and Web–meaning developers must create software that is simultaneously heightened in usability and simple to implement. The bottom line is that the functionality and flexibility of SaaS and universal profile management systems enhance direct digital marketers’ own flexibility and success in their drive to leverage customer information and boost sales.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Silk Drinks Up New Media for YouTube Campaign (Strategy Magazine)

Posted: 01/06/2010

Silk Soy Milk is milking a new interactive-rich media campaign to boost public perception about its products. The natural strength of the campaign centers around a newly branded YouTube channel which houses “deep link annotation,” a first for YouTube worldwide. Users stay tuned to the Silk-branded and skinned channel while they play the game, “Bust it or Believe it”. The campaign also takes advantage of a QR code-enabled print buy with Metro commuter newspaper, which gives users the opportunity to believe or bust the facts presented when they activate the embedded codes on their phones. "The whole goal here was to use new and innovative technology to engage the consumer," Robin Hassan, digital director, Starcom Mediavest Group, told MiC.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer

The Name Game: The Web Becomes Truly Worldwide (BBC Business News)

Posted: 12/17/2009

Until now, Web addresses for other countries have only been written using the English language. Thanks to internet regulator Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), the Web just became more accessible by allowing countries to request new internationalized domain names in their own languages, including non-latin languages and scripts like Chinese. "The IDN [International Domain Names] program will encompass close to one hundred thousand characters, opening up the internet to billions of potential users around the globe," said Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of Icann. Approved in June 2008 and expected to go live in 2010, the months in between were dedicated to working out kinks in the translation system.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

The New SimplicITy – Technology for the Ages (BBC Business News)

Posted: 12/17/2009

The Office for National Statistics recently reported that “6.4 million people over 65 have never used the internet.” Responding to this age-old need, a new PC was developed to make computer technology more user-friendly for the 60+ age demographic. The SimplicITy–taking its name to heart–features a mere six buttons that allow users to perform a variety of practical applications like web browsing, file creation and documenting photos. Andrew Harrop, head of public policy for charity Age Concern and Help the Aged said, "Pensioners who aren't online are missing out on... potential savings... [and] also often miss out on the best interest rates for savings accounts, not to mention the social benefits of being online.” The SimplicITy is a smart investment for seniors seeking to further open themselves to a tech-savvy world.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Europe
Audience: Business to Consumer

From Business Revolution to Evolution in 15 Minutes (Harvard Business)

Posted: 12/17/2009

Struggling to create a breakthrough in your business strategy? The solution is as simple as turning the revolutionary into the evolutionary. It may sound like a slow process, but with the “15 minute competitive advantage” individual progressive steps occur quickly. As you build your business, each new lesson learned and experience gained (every 15 minutes) evolves into a step toward progress. Scott Cook, founder of Intuit, advises business owners “to turn business concepts into hypotheses to test fast.” Akin to rapid prototyping, this kind of “hypothesis testing” doesn’t require radical change when based on success markers like: Trial-able, Reversible, Familiar and Congruent with future directions, among others. The process gently leads consumers to the next level of business evolution without forcefeeding revolutionary new ideas before they are primed for mass consumption.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business

Watch Out iPhone – Dell’s Android Mini 3 Smartphone is Coming to China (Tech News World)

Posted: 12/17/2009

Dell is well-known for its PCs, but smartphones? That’s right. Dell’s answer to the iPhone, the new Android Mini 3, hits the global market in both China and Brazil in December with help from companies like China Mobile and Brazil’s Claro. Facing competition from a crowd of Android smartphones already on the market, Dell’s decision to focus its Mini 3’s release outside of the U.S. could prove to be a smart move. According to Gartner’s predictions, “[the Mini 3] could take the No. 2 spot in global marketshare by 2012, overtaking the iPhone.” Foreign consumers base purchasing decisions more on the brand’s name, which could position Dell to be first to market in China and Brazil. The technological goodies included in the Mini 3 are yet to be revealed. For now, consumers will have to wait until the smartphone is released.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence, Technology Implementation
Region: Asia Pacific, South-Central America
Audience: Business to Consumer

New AT&T Applications Target Enterprise (Info World)

Posted: 12/03/2009

AT&T, the nation’s 2nd largest wireless carrier, launched new hosted applications for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile targeting the merchandising and hospitality industries: AT&T MEAP: Merchandising for the Consumer Goods Industry and AT&T MEAP: Maintenance and Repair for Hospitality. Built on its Mobile Enterprise Applications Platform, the vendor is leading the trend of offering new apps that encourage enterprises to entrench smartphone usage in their daily operations. The merchandising app allows product distributors to submit delivery data in real-time for better tracking, smarter stocking and faster billing. The hospitality app allows hotel maintenance crews to access and update work orders and service requests, report incidents and receive alerts, resulting in quicker response times and more workflow.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Google and Bing Prepare Real-Time Searches to Compete with Social Media (BusinessWeek)

Posted: 12/03/2009

In a socially-driven market it’s tough even for the big dogs like Google and Microsoft to stay relevant. Harder still when Web surfers turn first for information to the sites they spend the most time on like Twitter and Facebook. Google and Microsoft will soon feature information plucked from social media sites on search pages. Microsoft users can perform searches for tweets and eventually status updates posted to Facebook. Google will add Twitter updates in search results and offer a search tool that delivers feeds posted by the searcher’s friends on social sites. Traffic to U.S. search engines grew 15% in the past year while traffic to Twitter exploded tenfold and tripled on Facebook. Considering those stats, Microsoft and Google are hoping to diversify their offerings by adding the new features and functionality searchers expect and capitalize on new ad revenue generated through targeted advertising.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Jruby is a Gem for Gilt.com (CNET News)

Posted: 12/03/2009

In a conversation with the Gilt Groupe’s CTO and co-founder Michael Bryzek, Software, Interrupted’s Dave Rosenberg unearths how Jruby powers the luxury shopping site. JRuby’s ability to seamlessly integrate and leverage mature libraries entices Java developers seeking additional productive frameworks to turn to the high-performance platform. Because Gilt.com deals with spikes in traffic when new items are released and items surge in popularity, the IT infrastructure must have the capability to scale and burst in order to meet customer demands. The company is gearing up to deploy Ruby on Rails 3.0, which offers great performance, scalability and the ability to write and expose elegant APIs written in the Ruby language.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: E-Commerce, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Mozilla’s Raindrop Seeks to Personalize the In-box Again (CNET News)

Posted: 11/19/2009

E-mail no longer has the last word in online communication. Mozilla's Thunderbird team created Raindrop to consolidate communications channels like e-mail, Facebook and Twitter into a single interface intelligent enough to differentiate correspondence from the high-priority to the pedestrian, from the personal to the pile. Raindrop developers blogged, "We hope to lead and spur the development of extensible applications that help users easily and enjoyably manage their conversations, notifications, and messages across a variety of online services." The smart technology will pinpoint and file messages from e-mail lists, retailers and social media outlets that send continual updates. Unlike Mozilla’s flagship applications Firefox and Thunderbird, Raindrop is a Web application, not downloadable software, but the vendor will also support front-end software, including mobile applications, that can use the Web-based service.

Wharton’s Future of Advertising Project (Knowledge@Wharton)

Posted: 11/19/2009

According to Wharton School's SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management, advertising has gone the way of the black and white television. Asking the question, “what will replace it?” Wharton’s effort is aptly named the Future of Advertising Project. Practicing what it preaches, Wharton is not only collecting case studies, data and fresh expert insight to identify best practices for the future; it is employing New Media techniques to expand its own audience. Wharton’s approach includes partnering on the launch of a new channel on Google's YouTube site called Fast.Forward. The site features short video clips called "quick perspectives" that elaborate on the future of marketing from executives, ad gurus and academic thought leaders. The project examines the creative combinations of old and new media that are defining the radical new terrain of advertising and expands it to a wider audience.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Legally Broadband: Finland Declares High-Speed Internet Access a Legal Right (CNN)

Posted: 11/19/2009

Finland recently declared broadband Internet access a legal right. While it is a view shared by the United Nations, Finland is the first country to actually make it legally required for telecommunication providers to supply connection speeds of at least 1 megabit per second for all 5.2 million Finnish citizens by July 2010. The mandate is an intermediary step to reach Finland’s real goal of reaching speeds 100 times faster–100mbps–by 2015. "We think it's something you cannot live without in modern society,” said Laura Vilkkonen, the legislative counselor for the Ministry of Transport and Communications. While the majority of the Finnish population (95%) is currently wired, the new law aims to stretch the Web to internet deprived rural areas.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Technology Implementation
Region: Europe
Audience: Business to Consumer

BI, Best-of-Breed Web Tactics Broaden Scope for Consumer Goods Companies (InformationWeek)

Posted: 11/08/2009

An InformationWeek 500 survey shows that consumer goods companies like Herbalife and E&J Gallo Winery are banking on business intelligence to control cost and boost Internet and mobile sales channels. The study reports that as many as 68% of consumer goods companies plan to make BI readily accessible to employees, compared to 37% for all InformationWeek 500 respondents. Gallo, the largest family-owned winery in the world, optimizes its product packaging, pricing, and channel strategies with SOA architecture, SaaS, and its BI repository. 32% of respondents consider improving Web operations critical to boosting their business globally compared to 26% from other groups. Herbalife, a company that dominates domestically, only attributes 10-15% of their global business to internet sales.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, E-Commerce, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Global Spending on Mobile Advertising to Rise Exponentially by 2013 (Marketing Vox)

Posted: 11/08/2009

New data from Gartner predicts that global spending on mobile ads will rise 74%, reaching $913.5M this year, escalating to more than $13B by 2013. The report claims that location-based targeting and bigger gains in GPS technology, along with wide adoption of smartphones, 3G network data plans and downloadable applications will incite the growth as early as 2010. Parks Associates reports that advertising revenues in the US and Canada will grow from $208M in 2009 to $1.5B by 2013, with smartphone sales accounting for 45.5% of all mobile phone sales that year. JiWire reports a 79% increase in the use of mobile devices at public Wi-Fi hotspots in North America in the first half of 2009, and while research from MRI shows early consumer disapproval with mobile ads, 20% of that same audience would like to watch live TV via their cellphones.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global, North America, Asia Pacific, Europe
Audience: Business to Consumer

Mini 5 Mobile Browser Means Big Business for Opera Software (Internet Evolution)

Posted: 11/08/2009

Norway's Opera Software, the leading maker of mobile browsers, recently released Mini 5, a redesigned, more user-friendly instrument. According to John Strand, chief executive of Danish consultancy Strand Consult, “Opera Mini has been the main driver of growth for Opera.” New features are designed to simplify web surfing: like speed dial, tabs and a password manager. Statistics from StatCounter show that Opera captures 25% of global mobile internet traffic, while Apple (22%) and Nokia (21%) are close behind. Google’s recent entry into the market and Mozilla Foundation’s plans to enter soon promises to widen the playing field. Opera, which markets its browser to cell phone makers and operators, gained 22% for its shares over the first three quarters of 2009. The browser can be downloaded directly by consumers for free.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

HP Closes the BI Gap with Informatica (Intelligent Enterprise)

Posted: 11/08/2009

HP recently advanced its partnership with Informatica to round out its business intelligence portfolio by offering a host of new “solution bundles,” including: HP Neoview, HP Master Data Management Services and HP Information Quality Management Services, all with Informatica Data Integration Platform. Informatica upped the ante of its own services portfolio with its recent acquisition of complex event processing (CEP) vendor Agent Logic to isolate events and patterns of events within high-volume, fast-moving data. Shipping, e-commerce, utility and IT are among CEP’s real-time applications, and HP will likely combine the new technology with Informatica's identity resolution capabilities to drive even more e-commerce applications like as real-time rewards, cross-selling and up-selling.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business

Motorola SmartPhone Targets Social Network Crowd (Internet Evolution)

Posted: 10/22/2009

Motorola’s new smartphone, the Cliq, targets a young crowd addicted to social networking. The Cliq features a dynamic home screen with a collage of emails, tweets and status updates flashing over the sender’s profile pictures. The moderately priced Cliq, estimated to cost around $100, will be available this fall from T-Mobile. Another more expensive version will be available from Verizon. Both phones use Google’s Android operating system, but Motorola transformed the Cliq’s software to include Motoblur–the wow factor that makes the phone stand out from the crowd of Android phones expected to launch in the 2009 holiday season. Users simply supply their account information and the Internet-based service will combine all the information from a user’s e-mail and social networking accounts into one handy address book.

Industry: Telecommunications
Topic: Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Getting Social with Adobe Flash Platform Services (InformationWeek)

Posted: 10/22/2009

Adobe partnered with Gigya, a social media management platform, to launch Flash Platform Services, to add more sociability and measurability to developers creating Flash applications. The service’s three core principles: Distribution, Collaboration, and Social, aim to take Flash viral and social in the online distribution of Flash applications over platforms like Web, desktops and mobile devices. Available later this year, users will be able to “Flash” forward with the service that enables them to share, collaborate and facilitate real-time application distribution, tracking, and monetization to get one solid application that can ultimately deploy over 70 social networks and services. 98% of PCs with Internet connections are equipped with Adobe's Flash software, but applications are not always installed.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

SaaS Hits the Sweet Spot for Business Intelligence (Intelligent Enterprise)

Posted: 10/22/2009

You’d be hard-pressed to describe a major business intelligence deployment as fast, flexible, and affordable. Which is exactly why BI service software (SaaS) is primed to change business intelligence. SaaS-based BI vendors aim to get the implementation process off the ground in days rather than the months it usually takes. Shaklee CIO, Ken Harris, views SaaS as more than a stopgap to on-premises BI software deployments. Harris deploys SaaS to stretch his small IT staff and budget by storing data in a PivotLink-hosted data warehouse and using report and query tools to evaluate the data across a network that has expanded from 50 employees to as many as 5,000 independent business people who sell Shaklee products. The cost is perfectly reasonable for small to mid-size companies with limited IT resources.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business

Doritos iD3: Unveils the Mysterious Flavor of London’s Underworld (Digital Arts)

Posted: 10/08/2009

Dubbed iD3, Doritos’ newest flavor plays on the mysteriously hard-to-identify flavors often found in packaged foods. To launch the savory snack, Doritos tapped rehabstudio to build an interactive advergame set among the grit and grime of London’s seedy crime world. The hook? Identify the exact flavor for the chance to win £20,000. Rather than going straight to the masses, Doritos engaged rehabstudio to design an interactive experience using elements of film and narrative to lead gamers through a suite of ‘choose your own adventure’ options. Utilizing a sophisticated back end system, the game pushes its cutting-edge technology to the max and extends beyond Doritos’ website. The 3D game uses the Facebook Connect app, allowing developers to create a personalized advergame that draws content from and links back to a user’s Facebook profile.

A Candid Conversation with OpenID’s David Recordon (.net)

Posted: 10/08/2009

Six Apart’s David Recordon, co-developer of OpenID, sat down with Oliver Lindberg to discuss his vision for the open web. The web is becoming more social and Recordon emphasizes that critical build-outs must enable users to interact between multiple sites without asking them to recreate accounts requiring repetitive data and tasks. OpenID enables users to sign in to thousands of online services with the same digital identity, which ultimately means users can access and share information from across various platforms. With its focus on user experience and usability, as well as benchmarking successful efforts like Facebook Connect, OpenID is carving a path toward mainstream technology by engaging major stakeholders like Microsoft and Google. A few months ago Recordan announced the Open Web Foundation, whose initial goal is to create open specifications for the web that anyone can implement for free.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Peer Groups & Communities

Transforming Innovation: New Technology. New Speed. New Price. New Customers. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Posted: 10/08/2009

Technology continues to transform the face of innovation at breakneck speed. Where it used to take major moxie, manpower and minutes to launch comprehensive testing campaigns, the newfound ability to incorporate new Web features faster and immediately measure consumer response means companies can now achieve rapid fire results for next to nothing cost. The result? Innovation–the lifeblood of growth–is not only more efficient and cheaper, it also more accurately pinpoints behavior to identify exactly what consumers want. Sophisticated tracking systems enable businesses–from web-based companies to retailers–to exploit new information technology to conduct testing and collect meaningful consumer data to ultimately capture even more consumer spending.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Write It. Snap it. Post it. Done. Posterous Launches Mobile App PicPosterous (Fast Company)

Posted: 09/25/2009

Touted as the simplest blogging tool to date, Posterous makes it easier for bloggers to post content to multiple accounts with just one step: by emailing post@posterous.com. Anytime users send a document or upload a photo or link, Posterous autoposts the content to any other accounts users specify, including other administered blogs and emailing posts to subscribers. Add the photoblogging app PicPosterous to the mix for yet an even easier way to upload photos and video to your sites quickly. By replacing your built-in camera app and using Apple’s in-app emailing, you snap photos continuously and post them live instead of having to wait until the end of an event. With ease and speed at the forefront of this power-tool app, this may just be the app to woo even non-experts.

Report Shows That B-to-B Marketers Harness the Power of Social Media (BtoB Online)

Posted: 09/11/2009

B-to-B marketers tend to dedicate a greater portion of their budgets to newer media platforms, so it’s no surprise that the report, “Harnessing the Power of Newer Media Platforms for More Effective Marketing,” shows a dramatic increase in social media among b-to-b marketers. The updated report from BtoB and the ANA (Association of National Advertisers)documents that 66% percent of marketers surveyed currently employ social media, up from 20% in 2007. An overwhelming 57% now target social media, a 42% increase over respondents two years ago. Blogging and mobile are the “newer media” tactics not currently being employed, but respondents claim they’ll begin using both in the next year. LinkedIn is chief among the social networks utilized by b-to-b marketers, while Facebook ranked highest overall. Viral video and podcasts are chalked up to be the next go-to b-to-b marketing tactic over the next year.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Business Intelligence, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Peer Groups & Communities

Figuring Out the Tools of the Social Trade: How Intuit Benefits from Social Media (BusinessWeek)

Posted: 09/11/2009

For many companies it may seem impossible to get measurable results from social media campaigns, but Intuit (INTU) appears to be profiting from its new social community, Quickbooks Live Community. Intuit’s secret to success? The accounting software maker aggregates tried-and-true users into a live community where they can exchange meaningful information. For customers, that means quicker responses to troubleshooting while the company is relieved of providing more paid technicians. The live community is immediately accessible to users opening QuickBooks 2009 on a PC or Mac. Since launching the new social element, the company has enjoyed multiple benefits from decreasing costs for tech support and enhancing customer service to tripling its channel traffic and increasing market share by 4 points, to 94%.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Breaking Through the Barriers to Adopting Social Media in Email Marketing (New Media Knowledge)

Posted: 09/11/2009

A recent survey by email experts StrongMail cited that 62 percent of firms plan to increase social media spending while 66 percent plan to integrate social media into their email marketing campaigns. NMK sat down with Paul Bates, managing director of StrongMail, to get an insider’s perspective for breaking through the barriers to effectively engage social media. Find out where your customers are hanging out online and observe their behavior there; engage competitive analysis across the social spectrum to find out where your competitors are lurking and determine whether they are or are not enjoying success. The conversation with Bates is packed with stats, insights and tips for marketers to engage customers in meaningful conversation and begin to integrate social media into an email marketing strategy with enormous ROI on their marketing dollars.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Peer Groups & Communities

Maximize your Web Site’s Mobilization with CSS (Practical eCommerce)

Posted: 09/11/2009

With mobile internet use and mobile-friendly browsing on the rise, expert Armando Roggio is encouraging businesses to consider his “Web Design Tips” before redesigning their e-commerce sites to address their mobilization. Simple techniques such as adding a second style sheet or slightly revising a page’s HTML can enhance mobile shopping experiences without wasting time to register new mobile domains or create mobile-specific styles. The best solution? According to Roggio, it’s more efficient to redesign your current site to render well across multiple platforms including mobile, desktop, RSS, and more, using CSS. To illustrate his advice, Roggio creates a home page for an e-commerce comic book store with an instructional video demonstrating how to create mobile-friendly background images.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Is Real-time Internet Worth All the Buzz? (New Media Knowledge)

Posted: 08/27/2009

You may be wondering what’s behind all the real-time Internet buzz. Before you determine the real worth of real-time Internet, consider Dell’s success with their @DellOutlet platform on Twitter, the front-runner in the real-time game. The company has experienced real financial gain (to the Tweet of $3 million dollars in revenue) from real-time marketing, “Tweeting” followers a mixture of exclusive content and time specific discount incentives. According to Joe Hughes of Yomego there are two key elements to real-time Internet: (1) practically no delay between composition and publishing and (2) the ability for users to discover content in real-time. With an estimated three to four hundred million people currently using some version of real-time Internet (across platforms like Facebook, Friendfeed, Yauba and jabber), the numbers are too large to ignore as merely a fad.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Shopping-enabled Display Ads are Blooming Success for 1-800-Flowers.com (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 08/27/2009

Success bloomed for 1-800-Flowers.com during its 2009 Mother’s Day e-commerce campaign, resulting in a 41% spike in sales per impression compared to traditional display ads. The campaign enabled consumers to purchase directly from “buy” buttons planted into display ads powered by Alvenda. According to Alvenda, consumer interaction among the ads, called Shoplets, flourished at more than 10.5 times greater than traditional banner ads. To accommodate the traffic spike and speed up response times, Alvenda shifted the bulk of the floral Shoplet campaign content over to Akamai Technologies Inc’s content management server. “We believe the majority of future online sales will happen offsite. Customers will be able to shop with brands wherever they happen to be, whether they’re on YouTube, a favorite blogger web site, or on Facebook,” says Wade Gerten, CEO of Alvenda.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Blazing the Broadband Trail Along the East Coast (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 08/27/2009

Akamai Technologies Inc.’s “State of the Internet Report” revealed that U.S. broadband adoption is on the rise, with East coast states tallying the most broadband Internet connections for the first quarter of 2009. Eastern states garnered eight of the top ten slots, topped by Delaware, where 62% of households have high-speed broadband web access, a 6.7% year over-year increase. Based on results from data collected from Akamai’s global server network, the study examined countries and U.S. states that averaged over 1,000 unique monthly IP addresses. The report also states that one-fifth of global internet connections operate at speeds greater than 5 Mbps, up significantly from the previous year. “The implication… is that Internet retailers can continue to add more rich media content to their site... to bring buyers and keep them on the site longer,” says David Belson, editor of the report.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Technology Implementation
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Great Expectations-Delivering Web Site Performance to Even the Most Discriminating Connoisseur (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 08/15/2009

Don’t expect to elude the connoisseurs’ expert judgement when it comes to your own web site’s performance-especially during the holiday rush. Dotcom-Monitor’s suite of externally hosted network and I.T. monitoring services helps companies like K&L Wine Merchants combat the annual holiday ambush. The wine merchant uses a robust e-commerce navigation system to enable shoppers to sort through the massive inventory of specialty and rare wine selections by variety, country, sub-region, price range, critics’ scores and special designations. No. 356 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, K&L relies on critical services like uptime verification, multi-page transaction monitoring and site performance monitoring to deliver an enjoyable and hassle-free experience to please even the most discriminating shopper.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Following the Digital Footprint with Google Friend Connect (eWeek)

Posted: 08/15/2009

New technology is making it easier than ever to follow your friends’ digital footprints as they trek across the web. Footprints, a gadget for Google’s Friend Connect service, was created by a Japanese programmer to reveal who’s visiting your Web site and when. The gadget displays the following information for up to ten visitors: the visitor’s name, time of last visit, and photo, which links to his or her personal profile. Users will have a reasonable degree of control when using Footprints, including the ability to erase their footprints each time a particular site is visited. The privacy controls also enable visitors to hide their profiles from the sites they visit. Further safeguarding privacy, visitors’ information will only appear if they are signed in and registered users of Friend connect.

Delivering Real Business Value… Fast with webMethods 8.0 (eWeek)

Posted: 07/31/2009

Companies looking to reduce time and cost to improve processes, deploy new services and applications, and integrate new systems can now do so even faster… up to 25% or more says Software AG. The latest release of Software AG’s webMethods 8.0 delivers new functionality to satisfy customer demand and innovation to hone the brand’s competitive advantage. New features include CentraSite ActiveSOA, an integrated Business Service Repository to tie business process management (BPM) to service-oriented architecture (SOA), and webMethods Mediator, a new service succedding webMethods X-Broker. A wealth of other features include a unified, Eclipse-based management and administration across SOA, BPM, and Integration and embedded Business Intelligence for document management to deliver real value faster in an ever-changing business climate.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

New Online Business Show Opens Up the Boardroom to “Everybody’s Business” (CRM Daily)

Posted: 07/31/2009

Microsoft is opening up the boardroom with an innovative new online show featuring Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, and his wife, Suzy to promote emerging new products and services. An extension of Microsoft’s business-to-business marketing platform and mission, the duo, who also write a weekly BusinessWeek column, will help companies like Hertz car rental company take on crucial business decisions and discover “people-ready solutions” to meet whatever business challenges are on the horizon. Co-created by reality show producer Reveille Productions (credits include the Biggest Loser) and ad agency JWT, “It's Everybody's Business” is available at http://EverybodysBusiness.msn.com. The Web site also featuring out-takes, behind-the-scenes footage and in-depth information about the issues and products discussed.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business

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

China: Redefining the Innovation Landscape (Knowledge@Wharton)

Posted: 07/18/2009

Innovation is the golden key to gaining competitive advantage. China is redefining the innovation landscape with its large, adaptable population; affinity for improvisation and reverse engineering; and mature industrial clusters poised to lead the supply chain. The country goes beyond low-cost labor to provide colossal development opportunities for large multinational corporations (MNCs) looking to maximize dollars spent in developing markets. "The culture is very, very good at devising quick and often effective solutions to problems," Marshall Meyer, a Wharton management professor said. The country’s ability to improvise effectively will undoubtedly seal a golden fate in the global economy.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Creative & Design, Technology Implementation
Region: Asia Pacific
Audience: Business to Business

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.

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

Previous 1 2 3 Next

What We Are Reading

Browse By: