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January 2, 2009
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The new Twitter related service, twply.com, got some buzz yesterday for the overly viral nature of their setup process where people who've yet to actually use the service spam out a Tweet to their followers telling them how great the service is.
The service sends any @replies you receive on Twitter to you via email. Twitter, by default, only offers to do this for direct tweets, to this add-on service does have some value.
However, I imagine that a huge percentage of Twitter users are also RSS reader users. This being the case, why not just get your @replies delivered to Google Reader or the RSS reader of your choice? Why in the world would you want to clog up your inbox with more messages?
To do this, go to search.twitter.com and search for your username. This will give you a list of all tweets where you've been mentioned, including tweets you've sent. If you'd like to filter yourself out, add "-from:edkohler" to the query (that is, if your username is edkohler).
Then grab the feed along the upper right hand part of the page.
Problem solved. Inbox is still clean. No need for twply.com.
It's January 2nd, so the following predictions have 364 days to happen.
1. Google Docs will add Mail Merge functionality. This highly requested feature will allow more people to rely primarily on Google Docs for their office software solution. For example, organizations could build mailing lists using the web forms available within Spreadsheets, then merge to labels with Docs.
2. The Apple TV will finally be discontinued (I'm sticking with this one for another year.)
3. FriendFeed will peak (if it hasn't already) as people realize some content is best consumed in silos.
4. Tumblr will double in traffic & users as people catch on to how easy it is to find and share really interesting stuff among friends.
5. Amazon will release a new Kindle that actually looks and feels cool. Possibly with a multi-touch screen.
6. A groundbreaking Android phone will be released with awesome technology but underwhelming sales when people fail to understand what "Android" is.
7. A least one suicide will happen at a nursing home that fails to install digital converter boxes on their patient's TVs in time.
8. At least one company will suffer from a self-inflicted PR disaster due to something they Twittered on their business account that was meant for their personal account.
9. RSS will become an important advertising technology as it is used to feed current offers into banner ads, making banners slightly more useful in 2009 than 2008.
10. Mint.com will at least double in traffic and users. They may add widgets that allow consumers to publicly share their budget goals to hold themselves accountable among their friends.
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December 31, 2008
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Did anything happen technology-wise in 2008? I made 10 predictions at the start of the year. Let's see how I did:
1. Netflix will deliver more content digitally than via mail in December 2008.
Hmm, I can find stats that verify this. However, Netflix has come out with their own streaming box, enabled streaming on Tivo, multiple other devices, enabled streaming for the Mac, and has made unlimited streaming available on almost all accounts (I get unlimited streaming for under $10/mo). While the paths may or may not have crossed yet, it's clear that they will if they haven't already.
2. Google will enable video-specific advertising for YouTube videos.
Yep.
3. Apple will drop Apple TV for the Mac Mini and a Mini will be available for $499.
Wrong and Wrong. Apple TV lives on and the Mac Mini starts at $599. The mini remains a better choice, in my opinion.
4. A usable wireless keyboard with touch pad will make couch surfing on a TV fun.
Yep. Although it hasn't received as much uptake as I would have imagined.
5. Google Docs will add "export as .ppt" making the Presentations application awesome.
Yep. I use it every week.
6. Yahoo will buy Zoho and build a business suite around that and Zimbra.
Nope. I didn't see the train wreck that was Yahoo in 2008 coming.
7. A team of striking writers with non-Hollywood backing will create an online show that blows away what we've seen to date.
Nope. FunnyOrDie is the closest I've seen, but it's not putting out enough volume of consistently great stuff to make this a yes.
8. The biggest news stories of the 2008 US presidential election will consistently break on blogs, Twitter, and YouTube rather than mainstream media sites.
Hard to measure, although a lot of information regarding Sarah Palin popped up on blogs. There's no question that blogs, Twitter, and YouTube played a big role in the election. Especially through content that was created by people other than the campaigns.
9. The biggest trend in YouTube videos will be how-to dance steps for popular songs. It will start to influence wedding song requests.
The how-to thing is happening, but isn't as big as I would have expected at this point. Tribute dance videos, such as the 1,810 "Put a Ring On It" videos uploaded to date have been a bigger growth industry for YouTube.
10. The Wall Street Journal's online edition will go free well before the November election. Influence will trump revenue short-term.
Surprisingly, this did not happen. But I believe the WSJ was less influential than it otherwise would have been because they didn't go free.
Not my best performance. Depending on how you judge it, I was at around 50% this year.
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December 22, 2008
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I've written before about what real estate agents should do if they're interested in helping their clients sell their homes quickly for the highest price possible. Lots of high quality property photos do the trick. It's not the only trick, but it helps prospective buyers decide whether a house is worth visiting, thus worth buying.
But what if, as a buyer, you want to get the best deal you can get on a property in your town? In that case, taking the exact opposite approach to searching may help you discover some hidden deals.
Think about it: Property listings with no photos get less traffic, thus less showings, thus less competition. Because of this, they end up staying on the market longer and end up selling for less than they otherwise would. All because the listing agent was too lazy to snap some pictures and load them to the web.
It makes me wonder how much energy lazy agents will put into other aspects of the real estate transaction from marketing through negotiating a deal. If they can't find the time to take photos, can they find time to negotiate a competitive closing price on their client's behalf?
So there's the opportunity: Dig through the dregs of home listings to find anonymous homes that will sell for less than they otherwise would. Sure, it's a major pain that you shouldn't have to go through, but the savings may make it worth the extra effort.
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December 20, 2008
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This is a ChargeCarte by SmarteCarte in the Cincinnati airport that lets travelers pay to top of the batteries on their mobile devices and laptops:
This is the power outlet that's no longer available to business travelers because SmarteCarte controls it:
I wrote about this in Feb 2007 when this first came out and suggested that this would lead to less free outlets for travelers:
Over time, It will surely become more difficult to find open outlets in airports with Smarte Carte power outlets installed since that would cut into the vendor's profits. Contractually, the airport will probably have to waste money putting caps on non-Smarte Carte publicly accessible outlets. Ever seen a FREE luggage cart in an airport with Smart Cartes installed?
At that time, a SmartCarte representative contacted me (rather than comment) and said this wouldn't happen.
It did.
I don't blame SmartCarte for this. The Cincinnati airport has chosen to put a business relationship with SmarteCarte ahead of the travelers who pass through their airport every day.
Do the board members of the Cincinnati airport commission charge visitors to their homes for use of power? No? Then why do they treat their airport's guests with such disrespect?
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December 17, 2008
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Yahoo put out a rosy headline about their new data retention policy that limits the time they store data such as search logs, page views, and ad views, titled, "Yahoo! Sets New Industry Privacy Standard with Data Retention Policy."
Great spin, but I don't think that's really why they did what they did. My guess is that they did this because they couldn't figure out a way to create value based on user's extensive search histories. Or their returns diminished to the point of not being valuable.
I can't figure out how it wouldn't be valuable to keep a rolling 1-year of data. Wouldn't it be valuable to be able to look at someone's behavior during the same time a year before, such as the holiday shopping season, to determine what a person may be looking for?
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December 6, 2008
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Try searching on Google Reader's feed discovery search engine to get a feel for what shows up on searches important to your industry.
Here's an example for the term "Minneapolis":
In this example, a local news station, KARE 11, has the top search result for this term. Minneapolis largest local daily, the StarTribune, happens to be much further down the list of blogs Google Reader recommends to people searching for the term "Minneapolis."
So, what factors are at play here?
A few that appear to matter:
1. Title Tag: Use important terms to describe your blog.
2. Blog Description: This seems much less important than titles, but seems to have an effect.
3. Subscriber Volume: This isn't seem to have a strong signal, but it makes sense that they'd give higher weight to blogs others have subscribed to.
4. PageRank: I'm looking for an explanation for why Thomas Friedman's blog from the NY Times ranks as high as it does. The description uses the term Minneapolis, but it seems like it may be the PageRank of the NYTimes.com website that helps Friedman's blog rank so high for a term that's only loosely relevant to the search.
What else do you think is at play?
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