Curated Stories June 28, 2010

1.7 million iPhone 4s sold in three days. It’s a massive number any way you slice it. But it’s perhaps even more impressive when you consider the initial pre-order system failures, the device shortages (whi…

This Innovation Series is supported by Lexus.Looking at the mobile computing landscape over the last five years, it is amazing to see how far we have come and how integral mobile devices have become to people a…

Apple has posted its first commercial for the iPhone 4, which focuses on the FaceTime video calling feature. It’s a cut-down version of the FaceTime video Apple played during its Worldwide Developers Conference…

Good advice – Why its important to have patience with #SEO – http://bit.ly/cyaS6L (via @SEOmoz)

Unlocking the potential of social networks – #socialmedia – http://bit.ly/dvhzO7 (via @McKQuarterly)

The Referral Engine Free Online SeminarThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing
I’ve received numerous requests to conduct a free online seminar surrounding the principals and tactics contained on the pages of…

Social media is a hot topic and there is a high element of hype. Marketing companies and brands are working out how to implement all the different platforms and experimenting with different strategies and tacti…

There are a lot of things $1 million can purchase a brand. But an ad premiering with Apple’s new iAd platform may not be among them.
Apple has reportedly sold $60 million worth of mobile advertising inventory…

Great idea; too bad the Camera Connection Kit still shows 4-6 weeks for delivery from Apple’s online store.

Stephen Hawkings first major new work in nearly a decade is due out in September.

Ask anyone on the street what they know of Google and chances are you will get either that it is a great search engine or in some cases it is The Internet. Once you start getting into more tech circles you’l…

Prieur du Plessis submits: With the prospect of China surpassing the U.S. in manufacturing next year, Fred Smith, FedEx chairman/CEO, provides some insight on how to keep America in the top position.Complete…

If you need a throwaway email address — perhaps you’d like to sign up for an online service or community without providing your real email address because you’re concerned about spam — look no further t…

Just last week, Google introduced better Microsoft Word previews for the desktop version of Gmail. Today, Google also launched a similar feature for the mobile version of Google Docs, the company’s online offic…

“Strange [Foursquare] use-case of the day: People creating accounts for their dogs, then having their dogs battle it out for mayorships in Central Park”Join the conversation about this story »

After waiting in line for six hours to get an iPhone 4 last Thursday, we spent most of the weekend playing with it.
In short: It’s great!
It’s easily the best mobile phone we’ve ever owned, and a significant st…

Although it’s become a relatively common practice to check out a prospective new hire’s social media presence before offering them a job, acting upon certain pieces of information you find online could land you…

Gary Katz of Mac M.D. Inc. put together this great video showing the history of Apple computers through pictures of his own machines.
Clearly, Gary owns a lot of computers. If it’s been a while since you looked…

A good friend of mine and fellow CEO, Glen Lubbert, recently asked me the question about how to get his whole organization thriving, growing, and more innovative. We were hiking St. Joseph’s hill on what turn…

Darren sez, “This guy, some kind of coupon Jedi from what I can gather, ate reasonably healthfully for a month on one dollar a day. In fact, he only spent $27.08, and claims to have procured $597.96 in food (fr…

The Real Results series is supported by Gist, an online service that helps you build stronger relationships. By connecting your inbox to the web, you get business-critical information about key people and compa…

I have already shared my opinion on the variety of various Robots.txt checkers and verifiers: be aware of them but use those with caution. They are full of errors and misinterpretations.
However I happened to c…

Though there is a lot of debate about the value of blog commenting as a form of link building, it is still a very popular linking strategy. This guide covers some basic things you will probably encounter while…

I sometimes find myself amazed at just how some people approach public relations. Public relations or PR is all about one thing: enhancing a company’s reputation.
We’ve seen some PR debacles played out re…

I often talk about big brand SEO strategies and how I feel that they are taken for granted. Part of the reason is that we don’t take SEO seriously and part of the reason is the typical myopia and partial…

The battle between Facebook and Google just got even hotter with the news that the social network has hired Matthew Papakipos, the man who started and lead both the Google Chrome OS project and the Chrome WebGL…

Google Chrome continues to gain browser marketshare, edging past Apple’s Safari in the U.S. and, apparently, also taking some users from Mozilla’s Firefox.The latest browser statistics from StatCounter alig…

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
A Look at Who’s Getting What on Apple’s IAds — Though Complexity, Delays Mean Most Wont Hit July 1 Rollout, Marketers Appear Excited by the Prospects — NEW YORK (AdAge.c…

Posted by Dennis SellersOklahoma State University will pilot an Apple iPad initiative during the Fall 2010 semester with select courses in the School of Media and Strategic Communications and the Spears School…

I read so many great articles when I was on vacation last week. The article, “Drupal vs. Joomla” I thought was especially helpful. It appeared in the June issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. Now you’re pr…

iPhone and iPod Touch users who have run into backup or download issues trying to directly upgrade to iOS 4 may be more successful doing a restore and update instead.

Myanmar/ Burma by Eustaquio Santimano
After reading a lot of stuff about this issue I still have a question: what should one know? Many people use terms like narrative, story, storytelling, engagement, elicitin…

Neil has posted a video of Don Norman (most famous for his book The Design of Everyday Things) speaking at the Business of Software conference last year in San Francisco.

“Imagine you’re on the first slide…

iPhone displays an Inbox is full message when attempting to check voicemail. This message indicates that your ATT voicemail box is full, so you need to delete messages that are stored on the ATT voicemail serve…

Perhaps you have some spare time on your hands, or perhaps you just want to do good for others from the comfort of your desk chair. Either way, a great way to fulfill these needs is to participate in crowdsourc…

Unlike Robert Byrd, Ayn Rand will never die. If you’ve missed any of our previous episodes, you can catch parts one and two and three before subjecting yourself to this, Part IV.

A fitting followup to my recent QA with David Willows is another conversation with Willows — by blogger Lorrie Jackson. This one focuses on the recently released book Willows co-edited, Effective Marketing, C…

One of the things I have the privilege to do outside of work is serve on the board of a Christian church in Brookline called Highrock. The church was founded less than 2 years ago, and it’s been a pleasure w…

The venture capital firm of Andreessen Horowitz is on the verge of investing in red-hot startup Foursquare, the Wall Street Journal is reporting.
The Journal cited one person “familiar with the matter” in…

For many years I’ve wanted to be able to link any physical object (e.g from the marketplace) to anything digital about that object (e.g. all the information in the marketspace). I call this linking of physical…

Mashable’s Spark of Genius series highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, see details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark…

Oh, ATT.
I’ve already made my feelings on their MicroCell abundantly clear. Considering the quality of the carrier’s network in cities like San Francisco (which is to say, awful), it’s a good idea. But gi…

I’m not an Android user, yet (working on that), but if this piece is even halfway true, Google needs to respond, quickly, with a plan to fix the Android app store.
I’ve heard over and over that Android’s user e…

Running a small business is no small task and though it is associated with great freedom, any business owner will tell you that there is also a burden to carry—a burden that has to do with taking care of your…

A US Senate committee has approved a wide-ranging cybersecurity bill that…

Central, Hong Kong – FaCILISI today is pleased to announce the introduction of iPad Pages Templates, an iPad compatible version of their best-selling iWork Pages Templates, made for Apple’s iWork Pages appl…

A comprehensive and effectively written social media release can do phenomenal wonders for any online business. They bring exposure, traffic, and heightened awareness, as well as encourage calls to action and e…

Looking to make online transactions safer, it drafts a strategy to use trusted and secure identities in cyberspace, and asks for ideas and feedback from the public.

Google, according to a much-retweeted message posted by Digg co-founder Kevin Rose over the weekend — which he attributed to a “very credible source” — is working on a Facebook competitor to be called…

ATTs service in New York City has long been decried as some of the worst in the nation — weve heard people claim 30 percent of iPhone calls drop on average — but hopefully thing…

The prevailing Twitter wisdom is that we should avoid tweeting about ourselves too much, and post information in which others are interested. But about those “others,” those 100-plus — or 1,000-plus — p…

Apprupt, an affiliate network for mobile apps, has today launched its self-service platform for “appvertisers” (a slightly silly name).

It enables app developers to sign up to apprupt on a cost-per-install bas…

Apple has a promotional list up in the app store featuring the iPhone games it deems the best that haven’t sold as well as they should have: “The Best Games You’ve Never Played”.
If you’re looking for quality i…

Recently, I posted a list of 12 Things Good Bosses Believe. Now I’m following up by delving into each one of them. This post is about the fourth belief: “One of the most important, and most difficult, parts of…

Increasingly, consumers are searching for reviews before they commit their dollars to buying products, booking services or donating to a charity. They want to read a positive review or comment, expressed in yo…

So, you’re one of the 1.7 million people who went out and got that brand new iPhone right off the line, but you still don’t have any friends to try out Apple’s much lauded video chat with? Never mind the compan…

Nokia has taken Apple to task for comments made by Steve Jobs about how users experiencing reception problems on their new iPhone 4 devices should “avoid holding it that way” (“that way” meaning a grip…

Want to jump to the top of Facebook’s search results for any term? I’ve figured out how to accomplish this in under 60 seconds since currently there are few people competing for placement within Facebook�…

On the iPhone 4, the Hold button found on previous versions’ calling screen has been removed to make room for a new button for initiating FaceTime video calls.

Apple has reportedly suggested that using the Mut…

Google
May 2010: 63.7%
April 2010: 64.4%
Change: -0.7
January 2010: 65.4%
Change: -1.7
Yahoo
May 2010: 18.3%
April 2010: 17.7%
Change: +0.6
January 2010: 17.0%
Change: +1.3
Bing
May 2010: 12.1%
April 2010: 11…

I am on a quest to understand Social CRM. Not so I can be an early pundit shouting “to dos” at companies or pointing out their mistakes; but so I can really understand the value proposition it can bring t…

Instead of checking into pub after bar after pub, show your friends you’re not just a boozehound on Foursquare, but quite the literary creature on GetGlue’s fr…

Apple said today it sold 1.7 million iPhone 4s in the first three days, far outpacing last year’s record of 1 million iPhone 3GS handsets sold over the same time frame. In light of increasing competition fro…

Just because something is faster and easier to do doesn’t mean that it’s better. Automation isn’t always the answer. Sometimes you need to learn how to do things the hard way before you…

Do you enjoy the “looks at me build something cool in pure CSS”-meme? It is kinda fun. On the one hand is shows what amazing things people can build, and on the other…. it reminds us that we need some tools…

I recently altered my Creative Commons copyright as it pertains to Social Media Explorer. I switched from an open, share and share alike copyright to a non-commercial, share and share alike copy…

What did one Grateful Dead fan say to the other when the drugs wore off?
“Man, this music sucks!”
Jokes aside, no one can argue the cultural influence of the Dead and the legions of loyal Deadheads who con…

The best feature of Apple’s iOS4 update that is overshadowed by background applications, folders, etc? Apple now enables calendar event creation contextually and within email exchanges. When a date and time a…

Look at newspapers’ share of digital advertising, the crowds checking out other kinds of news sites, or the prices that advertisers will pay for the competition. The conditions in digital media, essential to ju…

We’ve noted recently the new focus on how online streaming is causing problems for sports leagues, who have gone running to politicians and the courts to demand they “do something.” Over in The Guardian, Seth…

Are you the person to whom all the questions will fall when your friends and relatives upgrade to iOS 4? Turn them over to Apple, which has upgraded its manual…

Services like Foursquare, Gowalla and others make it easy to post your physical location to the Web – but what makes people want to do that at all?

Fifteen-month-old Foursquare is adding 100,000 new users ev…

Facebook publishes a feed story everytime you add a new friend, however in the past it was a simple text update. It would say something to the extent of, “Nick O’Neill is now friends with John Peterson.”…

Sleep happens to be one of the most important things that we do each day. How we sleep affects our memory, learning ability, mood and health. Too much or too little sleep can have negative effects that will l…

Apple’s iPad has already seen some unusual uses in it short life, such as a dolphin communication device and a skateboard. It’s even had some unusual users, like cats and dogs.We’ve so enjoyed these alter…

Pinehurst, North Carolina – Announcing that The Assessment and Development Group International (ADGI), the developer of Organizational Management System, has released Coach, a new app for iPhone and iPod touc…

I’m working on developing ideas that originated when writing Engage. It didn’t make the deadline, but wanted to share them here with you for your review and also to seek your feedback…
Everything begins…

A few weeks ago, I was interviewed on CNN by Josh Levs on one small facet of BP Oil’s disaster — online communications.Immediately following the interview, I wanted to do a follow-up post. And I was overwhe…

The global economic meltdown that occurred in 2008, and the ripple
effects that can still be felt today, had a profound impact on internet
business models. The notion that services free to the consumer would
do…

There are many ways to listen online, and there are as many ways to respond. Tom Asacker writes: we define ourselves both according to what we identify with
and what we reject, and given the abundance of ma…

Do People Know Your Story?This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Mister Rogers frequently told his audiences, “It’s hard not to like someone once your know their story.” I latched onto that phrase the fi…

We are living in a very different world than we were a few years ago. We are now inundated with so much content and advertising, across so many media streams, that we’ve started to become res…

“Google’s mismanagement of the Android Market” via nanocr.eu: I was shocked when my buddy came over to my apt. with his Droid and showed me an app that allowed him to download MP3s for free. His exact words…

I was in a Barnes Noble recently and noticed a shelf area called Trends in Business. Contained on it was one book after the other touting the virtues of Facebook, Twitter, blogging and other forms of social m…

The problem with being a consultant is that people are always asking you questions.
Not just clients either; once you add the word “consultant” to your shingle, everyone from your mom to your UPS driver wil…

My view of links is pretty simple: they are a great big pain in the butt. When I post something, they are an “after the fact” matter. I mean by this that I write something, then go back over it and figure o…

Hibiki Kono, 13, who is a big fan of Spider-Man, made his incredible climbing machine using the suction from two Tesco Value vacuum cleaners.

We’ve been hearing wind of a new mobile broadband service coming next month from Best Buy for a few days now, and it looks like the company went ahead and spilled the beans in its own Sunday flyer. The service…

Use Autoruns to seek what’s starting on your PC.

The pre-ordering madness was a good indication that iPhone 4 sales were going to be through the roof, but this may have even surpassed those expectations: Appl…

This week’s recap has some more stuff on some of the recent Knight News Challenge winners, a job listing from EveryBlock, and more. Enjoy the links!

Hyperlocal websites are invaluable to Local Authorities, w…

When sales reps for Great Black Speakers used to call prospects, they would follow up their conversations with a couple of hours of work, creating a proposal targeted to that client, with suggestions for a few…

The Pragmatic Capitalist submits: That’s what Paul Krugman says is on the horizon. In a sobering article in Sunday’s NY Times Mr. Krugman says policy errors are leading us right off the cliff: We are now,…

Just as the movie business, television and theater business have their yearly awards to pick the best of the best so does the outdoor advertising business with its yearly Cannes Lions International Advertising…

Tomorrow’s Web seems to be shaping up for a battle between two major players – Facebook and Google, with Apple and Microsoft holding down their own tangential fiefdoms, and smaller services, like Twitter and Li…

I spent a fair portion of today at the O’Reilly Foo Camp, as eclectic an assortment of smart folks as you’re likely to find anywhere. I wrote perhaps the first ever piece on Foo back in late 2003, and I’ve been…

Elevation Partners has quietly amassed another huge chunk of Facebook shares on the secondary market, according to a recent letter to its limited partners. Elevation spent $120 million for five million more Fac…

“I didn’t think it would happen to me. Yes, I had read some of the warnings, seen some of the signs, just thought they were directed at someone else. Not at me.
It came at a point when…

Opera has released its latest State of the Mobile Web report, and once again it has registered reasonable growth, with Opera Mini users increasing by 4.2% compared to April 2010. Since that month, page views h…

Editor’s note: In the following guest post, PR consultant Vijay Chattha of VSC/AppLaunchPR gives some unsolicited marketing advice to Research in Motion.
Another profitable quarter and another hit to RIM’s…

In a lot of ways, it’s all in how we present our solution.
This whole social media thing has its ups and downs. It takes a lot of time. It’s mercurial. There are many ways to “do it wrong.” And for bus…

Amazon has announced support for embedded video and audio clips in its Kindle apps for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.The first books to take advantage of this new technology are Rick Steves’s London and Togethe…

Brian Trelstad and his team at Acumen have had great success using a metric they call BACO (the best alternative charitable option). They can compare the results of the development and investment work they do t…

Twitter recently launched a tool called Blackbird Pie that enables anyone to easily embed single tweets on their blogs and websites. But it doesn’t offer a solution for tracking or sharing conversations betw…

Episode #208 of Six Pixels of Separation – The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to. This is also episode #6.20 of Across The Sound With Joseph Jaffe.

Joseph Jaffe is widely regarded…

In college, a friend and I compared vacations we’d taken over the years. She had a well-stamped passport and most of my trips were within driving distance.** When I asked about vacation pictures, she told me s…

Little is the new big.On today’s Web, buying decisions are influenced less by the grand, sweeping programs that take old marketing and put a fresh coat of social paint on them. On today’s Web, buying decisi…

What’s the best way for advertisers to reach consumers on the web? For
advertisers grappling with ad blindness, there are two possible
options. The first: develop more efficient ways to interact with
consumers…

I get a lot of questions from readers of this blog. So I’ve decided to start an occasional feature called “Ask Dean.”
First up, a question from Joseph about guarantees. Specifically, how do you guarantee…

Sure, Microsoft may have given away its lead and legacy in mobile and probably jumped into too many hyper-competitive sectors, but they still have the widest r…

The iPhone 4 is Apple’s “biggest leap since the original iPhone,” at least according to Steven P. Jobs speaking at the WWDC 2010 keynote. Indeed, in the three years since Apple first int…

Google is apparently working on a new social service known as Google Me – at least that is what Digg founder Kevin Rose claims. It seems that this will go up head-to-head against Facebook, after their last att…

Looks like owners of the HTC Hero and Samsung Moment from Sprint will be stuck with Android 2.1 forever, as Sprint recently issued an announcement confirming such devastating news. Of course, those who picked…

Amazon doesn’t really care if the Kindle hardware dies. They’d rather it didn’t, of course, but Kindle is much more than a couple of e-ink ebook readers. Kindle is much more important (and more profitable) as a…