Google’s Android (mobile phone software) will get a lot of hype and developers will flock to it – generating true competition for Apple and the iPhone.

Apple gets a lot of flack because of the stringent rules and illogical way apps get approved. It’s set up that way so Apple can ensure a good experience for iPhone (and Touch) users. The only problem: Apple’s staff is drowning in the flood of new app requests and updates from developers. There are over 100,000 apps in the App Store.

Google correctly recognizes the future of the Net is a mobile one. They built Android and are now going to sell their own mobile phone. Instead of an approval process for the apps, people can build and issue their own apps – even outside the official Android marketplace.

Freeing up the market and development process will create hundreds of thousands of apps – and like many in the iTunes App Store they will be terrible. But many will not be terrible. They are freeing the market and great apps will be developed. The phrase, “There’s an app for that” will apply to phones outside the iPhone. 2010 will be the rise of Android.

Social Media integration will become a part of all application development.

We’ve witnessed the rise of social media with an incredible amount of media coverage. You may not have noticed it, but all kinds of web sites now use Facebook or Twitter logins to allow people to share their experiences of the site.

Social Media software plug-ins exist for many common programs: Outlook and web browsers being chief amongst them. You can see this in the excellent plug-in from Xobni – which allows you to see someone’s LinkedIn or Facebook profile when you click on an e-mail from him/her. This trend will continue and the original software manufacturers, like Microsoft, will begin including them in their development process.

Facebook’s Ad Management System Improves

OK – not much of a prediction here – Facebook does a good job, but it could be a lot better!

They should offer shared access to ads, better reporting from the demo and profile data, and alerts if an ad stops running.

Wireless Data Devices Prep for Gigabit Speeds

Without being too techy, the 802.11n standard for wireless was ratified recently. This means that device manufacturers will roll out more devices on this standard and begin to work towards improving the speed.

Gigabit speeds are next. Apple and other computer makers are putting gigabit network “cards” in their computers already. We would really benefit from wireless devices on gigabit speeds.

The benefits to us?

• Streaming HD movies from any location in the house (or across the Net if your home/office bandwidth is that high!). 
• Video conferencing from the home – in resolutions that are great.
• Better online gaming
• Sharing files across a network requires much less time

Turn by Turn Navigation on Mobile Phones Renders GPS Companies Like Garmin and Tom Tom into Software Companies or Bankrupt

When Google released turn by turn directions on their Android phone, the GPS device makers must have cringed. In a year, there will be no reason to buy a dedicated GPS device.

The GPS device makers have caught on. As of today, January 2, 2010, Tom Tom has the 11th highest grossing (earning) app in the iTunes App Store. Expect more of this in the future or for them to yield to Google Maps…

Web Sites and Site Management Benefit from HTML 5

HTML enters its fifth generation and allows us to begin managing media better, enables offline storage, and continues blurring the line between desktop software and web sites.

Firefox and Chrome already support it. As developers build more features in HTML 5, sites will become easier to manage and use. One of the features I’m looking forward to the most: drag and drop.

Case law will be created from lawsuits related to social media

I’m no attorney, but I do try to stay breast of the law surrounding the business I’m in. When we start working with a client, we’re inevitably asked about refining the organization’s computer and internet usage policy to address social media.

There’s a problem with social media, the law, and human nature. Sites like Facebook allow one to publish very personal information and have it connected to the organization employing the person. When John Doe goes out and drinks too many beers, takes pictures, and then posts them online he links that behavior to his employer. How far can the employer take the mandate to “represent the company properly at all times”? 2010 will be the year we find out.

Three little boys in my house turn one year older

Yes, this is guaranteed to happen….

The slides and video (in a playlist) are below.

We know that its rare when someone does not have internet access. However, there are those times when you are in a plane (already changing in some planes), in a cave, or in the middle of the ocean. We build FanStream on the iPhone first because it has the coolest interface and a lot of “wow” factor. Each time you open the application, it looks for the latest content from our servers. If you do not have a net connection, it’ll still work fine — just without the up to the minute updates. If you do, you’ll have the very latest news, updated schedules (for when the TV station changes the time), and roster.

Here’s another cool feature for the iPhone users…we’ve integrated location-based services to find out where all the FanStream viewers are when they are using the application. Want to test it out? Take your iPhone, open FanStream (link to FanStream in the App Store), and choose any team’s news. Click on a News article and read the summary. Then, to read the full article click “View WebSite”. When you do this, the iPhone Safari web broswer will ask you if its OK to use your current location. Tell it Yes. This sends data back to us of the date, time, and location. We’re able to plot your location on a map and you’ll be able to see where other FanStream viewers are in real time.

Right now, you cannot tell who is exactly where since its not integrated with a user management system. Stay tuned…

Want to help make the app better? We’re looking for the following:

• Photos to be used for specific team backgrounds – these need to be taken by you or able to be used in our app (no licensed photos!)
• Game commentators – each game in our system needs a pre-game and post-game comment from fans. We want opinions from fans on both sides of the game.
• Your ideas: what would you like to see in the app? We’re sports fan and want FanStream to be your game companion.

If you have ideas, thoughts, etc, e-mail me or post it in our forums over at the site.

In a few more weeks, we’ll have FanStream for the BlackBerry and other phones.

If you want to be updated when we have more news, join our the FanStream Fan Page on Facebook. All Fans receive a scoring update for major games and all UK games (of course!) each Saturday.

The slides and video (parts one & two) are available below.

Hope you enjoy them!

Bill

Social Media, HR and You (Part 1) from WebMedley on Vimeo.

Social Media, HR, and You (Part 2) from WebMedley on Vimeo.

The next one (date, time, place: TBA) will be about Lead Generation and how you can increase your lead gen efforts using the web – from useful web sites to ideas that will bring visitors to your site (sometimes called linkbait).

You’ll leave with examples of great online campaigns, how to use systems to manage leads, ideas for your organization, and a link to an additional training video on this site. The video walks you through some common CRM and lead management systems and provides a checklist for updating contact info when someone changes their address, position, e-mail, and more. It’ll show how these systems link with common e-mail systems so your time involved managing all this data is minimized.

If you have any special requests for this presentation, send them in!

After the next session, we’ll hold other events. These are the target months (time and location TBA)

May: Building Your E-mail Newsletter

June: Building your Social Media Profiles and How to Manage Them

August: Building and Managing Your Online Advertising

Sept: Web Site Makeover

Oct: Using Online Videos to Promote Your Company

Nov: E-Commerce for your site: how to choose a system, configure it, and manage online sales

These are hands on “how to” events and I’ll lead the attendees through the set-up of tools online. You’ll will leave knowing you have started the process and a checklist of what to do next. The sessions could be up to two hours long. Other folks will be involved and the sessions are discussions and not lectures. So come ready to participate!

If you have other ideas for topics, let me know.

This guy is trying too hard..that’s a “B” for Bentley, new wheels, tires, tinted….

and a closer look

Yep, it’s not a Bentley…its a Chrysler/Dodge chop top. Probably has some self image issues…

Next one…I don’t even know what the image on the right means…it was on the 2010 Lexus in the showroom

and a strange Google Ad:

I don’t know that I want to see those.

And finally, a pic from yesterday at WebMedley…can you tell spring is almost here?

from : http://phodroid.com/09/03/8dy2ya

Last week, Scott Clark, Nick Huhn, Jason Falls, and I gave a 101 event for 60+ people. The event was sponsored by the Lexington Advertising Club.

I had the pleasure of moderating the three experts. They put together a great presentation and a wonderful document that’s like a Getting Started guide. Scott recorded the whole presentation and has posted it online for everyone to see.

The presentation and video are below. The Digital Dialogues Handout is here.

I get a lot of “how do I” and “What do you think of” questions from business and organizational leaders. This panel will help address many of these topics.

A few months ago, the Ad Club had another session on search engine marketing, online ads, and social media tips. Everyone thought is was great, but some people asked for a more basic explanation of all this new media.

David Caldwell, President of the Ad Club and VP Creative Services at Preston-Osborne, described the need for a series of techy events for his members.

We put together a program that hits all of the common Net topics and is designed for people who need to know what to do for their organization.

• What is Web 2.0 and how does it apply to my business?
• Search engine strategies: why they matter and how the engines can bring you new clients
• Online advertising: getting started
• Do I need a blog?
• Can I easily learn more about my clients, my company, and my competitors using these tools?
• How do I manage all this?

Scott Clark, Nick Huhn, and Jason Falls comprise our expert panel.

Take a look at the Digital Dialogue Invitation for the event (its a PDF). Bring a friend and bring questions! It’s open to everyone and will be a very relaxed environment.

http://lexingtonadclub.com/ — look for the Digital Dialogue session

New ”.me” domains are available today. For example, you could register yourbrand.me just like yourbrand.com. The fee is about $20/yr.

You may never use it, but it will prevent others from doing so.

I use GoDaddy to register my domains. GoDaddy is one of the few “.me” official registrars. If you decide to use them, please use this link since they pay a referral fee and I would appreciate it – the $0.50 goes into a pot for pizza parties!

And there are some good domains available for all you speculators out there.

If you have any other questions about protecting your brand online, social media marketing, search engines, etc, let me know. My team of consultants rocks!

You can subscribe to my site via e-mail for more news like this: http://billdotson.com/subscribe/

Here’s what worked:

1. Got permission from the Red Cross to use e-mail and this blog. I’m not sure if I needed it, but permission never hurts.
2. Wrote a blog post (web page) about the campaign. I made sure to choose an image since it really helps conversions (donations) when people see images of familiar icons. The copy included various ways to donate.
3. Changed my e-mail signature to read: "Help me help the Red Cross…" The signature was only two lines and explained I would match everything the person donated. There was a link to the blog page.
4. I e-mailed people in or from the Bluegrass. The campaign was for our chapter so it seemed like the natural group of people to contact. Approximately 200 people were e-mailed. Around 30 donated and I got two people who donated after the campaign was over. I’m not sure if this is a good ratio or not, but it served the purpose.

In addition to the funds raised, I learned who donated funds and who communicated they did not because of other charitable contributions. The last communication was very valuable to me since it acknowledged people do care.

I am a bit surprised about the total number of people who did not respond to my e-mail request. My request was personalized and its not as if I make these requests all the time (it was my first one). No matter…I will respond to them in the future because its only polite to do so.

Thanks again if you donated!

(written while on a train to the city housing the Red Cross international HQ: Geneva.)