Welcome to 22.2

As you can see by now, we’ve cleaned up the place a bit. We added window dressing, created a few new rooms, did a little spitting and shining here and there. We also got rid of some things that I think all agencies should, like flash and a clunky content management system (CMS). These improvements will help us talk in more spaces – namely smartphones and tablets – and they’ll make it easier to get things online by using WordPress instead of Drupal. We kept the blog-like atmosphere and the share-abilty elements, but we evolved it a bit. So until we need to change it again, enjoy!

SXSK(evin)

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending SXSW Interactive. In a nutshell, SXSWi is where all the geeks converge and talk about everything and anything digital. Surprisingly, me, my iPhone and my Mac laptop fit in well there. Who would’ve thought?

Anyway, this was my first year to go, so there was definitely a learning curve. There were so many speakers and topics to cover, it was quite overwhelming. But all in all, I had a blast and even learned a thing or two. 

So here it goes, the thing or two I learned. Most of the stuff you might already have heard before, but it serves as a good reminder of how we should approach marketing, especially in the digital space. I’ve also conveniently left out all the things I learned from 5pm on (man, can geeks party). 

Augmented Reality Morphs from Cool to Tool

So far, Augmented Reality has grown mostly through gee whiz momentum with influencers. The Word Lens iPhone app shows the tipping point may have arrived. It blends AR, translation software and character recognition to help you navigate your next trip through Costa Rica or any Spanish-speaking country.

As early adopters seek new sources of wow the Word Lens iPhone app shows the true potential for broad adoption. Augmented reality will keep morphing from cool to useful tool.

Check out the Techi demo.

FUTURBLOG: Mobile Web Apps

Hello, this post is actually from the year 2012.  Some computer trickery was required to display it on this site in your current time.  I’m retro-posting this to give you a taste of how mobile development happens in the future…

Currently, if you’re building an iPhone or iPad app, you’re way too late.  If you’re planning an Android app, you’re close, but missed the bandwagon a bit.  If you’re building an Android app, awesome!  Hurry up and finish it, though.  The future is in mobile web applications built in HTML5, CSS3 and any of the numerous back-end languages and databases available to developers.

Don’t get me wrong, app stores aren’t going to fall out of the picture any time soon, but the chance of your brand’s application penetrating that market is becoming less and less.  Instead, start with a mobile web app, then create iPhone or Android apps if there is time and money left over.

Multiple Devices, Multiple Technologies
Not only will your app work on every smartphone that comes with a browser (all of them), but all of your developers can use all of the web development languages they already know!  No having to learn device-specific development languages or having to hire a developer specifically for the device.   

No More App Approval
The days, weeks and possibly months of waiting on getting your app approved (or possibly rejected) by Apple or Google are over!  Now, you can just publish to your own server and distribute the app and updates to your users instantaneously.  

Sharing your App

Wow, I remember the old days of trying to share an application with others.  Your friend had to search the app store, enter their password, and then wait for it to download.  By the time your friend had the cool app you shared with them, you were already bored with it.

Nowadays sharing web apps is as easy as sending someone a URL, and then they can choose whether to bookmark it on their home screen or not.  When they open up the URL that houses your app, the download happens seamlessly in the background instead of waiting on a progress bar.

There are all sorts of fun ways to share the URLs now, also… like bumping phones and flicking icons back and forth between devices.  Or a QR code that both links to the app and adds it to your home screen with one camera snapshot.

Examples
Here’s some links to some people that are the first to be doing it right.  All of these sites are robust Internet applications that work with touch phones and are platform-independent.  Be sure to load these links in a browser on your phone… (Are you really reading this on a desktop or laptop?  That’s so 2010).

GMail: http://mail.google.com
Facebook: http://touch.facebook.com
Toyota: http://touch.toyota.com
YouTube: http://m.youtube.com

Feel free to email me with any questions, and I’ll get back to you in a couple of years.

Your phone. Your brand.

What does your cell phone say about you? 

I love this comic by C-Section Comics showing how smartphone users see themselves and users of other brands.  It’s good for a quick giggle and it says a lot about the overlap between how brands position themselves and how their users valdiate or oppose that image.

Please return your seat to the full upright position and turn off all electronic devices…

As I sit on this five-hour flight from Los Angeles to Tampa it occurred to me how much things have changed in the past couple years. I’m literally blogging from 40,000 feet. Now there is no where we cannot be connected to the grid. You can even blog from the bathroom and I’m pretty sure some do. Stand by… OK now I’m blogging from the bathroom, on a plane, at 40,000 ft. My point is how quickly it’s changed and how quickly we’ve come to expect, nay, DEPEND on it. I used to look forward to this flight so I could catch up on some reading or a movie. Now I’m chatting with other producers or reviewing reels. We are increasingly dependent on our connectedness. Sometimes though we have to disconnect so we can experience what’s happening in the moment. My wife gets so furious when I check my email at the dinner table. She’s right of course. Just because we can be connected doesn’t mean we have to be. Now I have to get back to my seat- the FASTEN SEATBELT sign just illuminated. 

Calvetica replaced my iPhone calendar app

I have been using Calvetica for a few days and really like what I see. It features a clean minimal user interface with the full features of the default iPhone calendar app.

You can add an event in just 2 clicks! And moving events around is just as easy. There are a lot of hidden swipe and click areas so be sure to check out the quick tutorial on their website (Calvetical.com).

Overall I am very impressed with its clever interface and it definitely has replaced the default calendar on my iPhone.

There is a free version called “Calvetica Narrow” if you are curious to try it out before purchasing the full version for $2.99.