Recently brought to my attention (thanks Michael!) a cool free mobile application Nokia Sports Tracker which integrates your smartphone and your GPS with exercise-related data-logging, stats and exports to Google Earth .
It record your tracks, graphs speed vs time and speed vs distance, captures photos taken during recording are automatically positioned on the track, blog […]
– Use your mobile phone barcode scanner to read the above blog post.
– To make your own QR code, click here: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
var addthis_pub = ‘publicisnz’;
Random Culture bothers to explain QR Codes and I, for one, am thankful.
QR codes are being used extensively in mobile marketing campaigns overseas, and are starting to make a breakthrough in the US. Quite simply, a QR code is a “matrix” bar code that was developed in Japan. The QR stands for “quick response”, and is being used in marketing for mobile users to take a picture of the code or read the code with the cameras on their phones and trigger an action on their mobile phone. It could be a content download, a message or link to a mobile site.
Revol Perks, an opt-in mobile ad service from the regional cell provider, is returning some very nice click through rates.
According to the program’s technology provider, Mobile Posse, click throughs rank from 16.5% to nearly 22%, depending on category. Airline Travel as a category ranks highest, with 21.91%.
Mobile Posse provides content that is “personal, target-able, measurable, ubiquitous and mobile.” The McLean, Virginia-based company also believes mobile advertising is “the Holy Grail” for mobile carriers.
I can’t say if that’s true or not, but I can say I feel slightly inadequate for not having launched a mobile marketing program at this point in my career.
AKQA is getting some nice press. Fast Company recently named them 48th most innovative firm in the world. Now, Adweek is putting the Digital Agency of the Year crown on their head.
Let’s look a bit closer at some of what AKQA is doing right.
While AKQA undeniably excels at Web projects, it also has been especially effective in bringing together clients with emerging digital channels. The agency’s global orientation has given it expertise in mobile and interactive TV, platforms especially popular in markets outside the U.S.
Mobile has become an AKQA specialty. It was among the first interactive agencies to set up a dedicated mobile practice in 2006, bringing in Dan Rosen, a 10-year veteran of mobile marketing in the U.K. Since then, its mobile team has grown to 20 and wireless campaigns have been created for Coke, Visa and others.
To wit, Diageo’s Smirnoff made its first stab at mobile with a WAP site built by AKQA. Rather than simply re-creating the Web experience on the phone, AKQA opted for an on-the-go cocktails and nightlife guide. In the U.K., the mobile site reaped about one-third the traffic of the Web site, reports Michelle Klein, Smirnoff’s global digital marketing director, who calls AKQA “at the bleeding edge. They know what’s happening in the technology space and they bring those ideas to us. They have their fingers on the pulse. They came with a big idea and then blew the idea out.”
In other words, while mere ad mortals struggle to understand the social web, trailblazers are already deep into the next big thing.
Yahoo said Tuesday that it was introducing a new tool called oneConnect that fits snippets of the Web’s most popular services — from Yahoo and rivals such as Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and Facebook — onto cellphone screens.
According to LA Times, oneConnect unifies a user’s personal contacts in a single place — a mobile phone — and demonstrates the progress that Yahoo has made in entering the fast-emerging mobile Internet market while it struggles to overcome repeated setbacks against Google in Web search and advertising.
TRAINED PROFESSIONALS ARE AVAILABLE TO HELP YOU PRACTICE YOUR SEXY TXTING SKILLS.
McKinney’s new Valentine’s Day campaign for Virgin Mobile encourages one to talk dirty to real live human beings posing as sexy secretaries, housewives, cowboys, firemen, etc. They’re positioning it as a “sexy alternative to the real thing.” And as a precursor to one’s own naughty but nice messages that might go out on 2/14.
If you recall opening an attachment with the name Sex or Beauty in it, then the latter case is confirmed.
Earlier this month, security expert Fortinet said it detected a new virus called Beselo which targets Nokia Series 60 phones. The virus arrives as a multimedia attachment via MMS with the title beauty.jpg or sex.mp3.
Once opened, the virus installs itself on the phone and then automatically propagates itself by searching through the phone address book and sending up MMS messages with a copy of itself.
There are over one billion PCs in the world but two to three times as many mobile phones. And with faster mobile broadband speeds driving mobile Internet, it is inevitable that hackers will ultimately target their malicious software (malware) at the mobile phone as well.
For now, the numbers are still insignificant compared to PCs. According to the latest IT security threat report from Sophos, there are approximately 200 malicious software (malware) threats for mobile phones, compared to over 300,000 for Windows-based PCs.
‘The risk of being infected on a mobile phone is tiny in comparison,’ said Sophos.
Nevertheless, the mobile malware threat has grown steadily since the first mobile virus was discovered in 2004.
The first mobile virus was created by a company called Ojam which embedded a virus in its mobile game Mosquito which would send SMS messages back to the company to combat piracy.
In a Sophos web poll in November 2006, 81 per cent of business IT administrators expressed concern that malware and spyware targeting mobile devices will become a significant threat.
Ultimately the user is the most vulnerable. Just as hackers send ‘phishing’ mails to get PC users to reveal personal data on websites, they could do the same on mobile platforms.
With Google and Yahoo pulling out all stops to deliver good mobile Web browsing, it is only a matter of time before we get Symantec and McAfee mobile versions on our phones too!
AustralianIT reports:
ANZ is set to become the first bank in Australia to launch a mobile phone banking service and its competitors are expected to follow suit soon.
ANZ is understood to be trialling the service among a small group of customers and plans to roll out commercially in the next couple of weeks. The bank […]
According to a press release published on Yahoo Finance, The New York Times is happy to send you a text with links to its latest articles.
By sending a text message with the appropriate keyword to 698698 (NYTNYT), users can receive the latest three articles from a given section of the paper. Articles can be displayed on any type of cell phone or PDA. The services are free to use, although standard carrier charges may apply.
For example, when you text, “business” to the given short code, three story previews appear on your phone. Each preview has a link to the full story as displayed on mobile.nytimes.com.
The sectional keywords for texting: Latest, World, National, Metro, Science, Technology, Political, Health, Sports, Style, Dining, Week, Arts, Magazine and Emailed.
You can also receive the latest work from these op-ed columnists: Brooks, Cohen, Collins, Dowd, Friedman, Herbert, Kristof, Kristol, Krugman and Rich.
Maurice Lévy invited Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, to Paris so the two could discuss Publicis joining forces with the search juggernaut.
According to International Herald Tribune, Schmidt said, “We all carry around the notion that advertising is a television ad or a print. But in fact, there are millions of ads distributed in very sophisticated ways. Maurice’s message is, ‘Eric, you’re missing the opportunity in mobile. You have to get an integrated mobile strategy so we can give a mobile offer to our advertisers.’ ”
Levy told Ad Age, the goal is to create a “triple-win” — not just a win-win — situation. “Our clients win, the platform Google wins and the ad industry/Publicis wins. We’re bringing Google our knowledge of advertising communications, consumers and client needs. They’re bringing us knowledge of technology and the world of the web.”
I’ve seen a few campaigns that use the web and mobile interaction but none as engaging as this example. LMFM have created a site for an upcoming book 3 Para that marries film, a mobile application and a voice recognition system, so you dictate what action the soldiers take. Since I’m not in the UK […]
I’ve been paying a bit of attention to Disney news of late (since I’m heading to Florida in April) and stumbled onto some interesting reports emerging about a trial Disney are conducting using Nintendo DS handhelds to provide guests with interactive theme park guides.
The way I understand it, the guides provide guests with what […]
If you updated your iPhone in the last 24 hours to the iPhone Software Version 1.1.3, you’ve likely already experienced the home screen customizations with WebClips.
Just browse to AdPulp.com with Safari. click the Plus sign at the bottom of the screen and choose “Add to Home Screen.” You’ll get the freshly squeezed AdPulp.com icon instead of the shrunken version of the homepage that is added by default.
With one touch of the WebClip, you’ll be instantly transfered to the AdPulp.com home page.
If you are saying to yourself, “What is the 1.1.3 software of which he speaks?” Head on over the iPhone Section on Apple.com for all the update information. If you want to jump right in, fire up iTunes, connect your iPhone and Upgrade.
Note: I’d recommend a fresh Sync/Backup before running the updater, just in case. For Mac users, connect and hit Sync. For Window users, I believe you have a Tab in the iTunes interface specif to Backup.
The New York Times has an interesting look at the use of text messaging in the college athletics recruiting environment.
Desperate to connect with the best players, college coaches have adopted text messaging with zeal, and some athletes have had enough. Beginning in August 2007, the N.C.A.A. banned Division I colleges from using text messaging to recruit athletes, citing complaints from students that the practice was driving up cellphone bills and intruding on personal time.
Now, in an unusual move, representatives from the N.C.A.A.’s Division I members are expected to revisit the issue Saturday at their annual convention after 34 of the 329 colleges asked for an override vote. To reverse the ban, at least five-eighths of the delegates in attendance would have to approve it.
The issue has turned into an unlikely battle of the generations. In one corner are college coaches and athletic directors making a passionate pitch for the right to use a 21st-century technology. “I’m sorry, it’s 2008,†said Christine Plonsky, the women’s athletic director at Texas. “Face up.â€
In the other corner are college and high school students asking for a little more respect.
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