Sherry Turkle on the Death of the Phone

Currently reading Sherry Turkle's book, mentioned below:

A podcast from HBR IdeaCast: Productivity, Multitasking, and the Death of the Phone

Featured Guest: Sherry Turkle, MIT professor and author of Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.

Empower Research Site and Blog

I was told that Empower Research has updated their blog.  Here it is.  I was recently introduced to some of their work.  Emphasizes social media research,  Media Monitoring and Data Management.  See also their blog Newsense, which covers social media conversations and more.

Google Working on Face Recognition App

Have now worked on a number of image recognition applications.  And have always noticed the big G working around the edges of this space.  Here Engadget describes some of their work in face recognition.

Lessons from Loyalty Marketing on Job Growth

Post from the Burghard group. " ... Eric Canada has studied the impact of existing companies on job growth in communities. His data suggest attraction generally accounts for only 15% of jobs and capital attraction compared to 76% from existing businesses and 9% from entrepreneurial start-ups. In fact, in an interview with Canada he noted, “If I could only implement one economic development strategy, it would be an existing business strategy – and I am a marketer! ... "

Reinventing Analysis With Memory

A quite interesting video series by Saffron Technology,   I have mentioned them in this space a number of times.   A unique application of technology for the enterprise memory.   I had met with them as part of my innovation center work and was impressed.  They continue to progress.   I will look at these tapes  and report back in more detail later.  Brought to my attention by Sammy Haroon.

Apps as the New Wallet

Good piece in GigaOm about the continuing march towards the smartphone largely  replacing the credit card and the wallet.  Covers as  well as some of the issues involved. Plus the implications of new kinds of data that can be collected at point-of-sale.   And at point of consideration.  Inevitable that there will be considerable unintended consequences to watch for.

Mynd: A Thought Cap by Neurofocus

In FastCompany:  Thinking Cap: "Mynd" Is the First Dry, iPhone-Compatible, Portable Brain Scanner

"Neuromarketing goes mobile with this lightweight, dry, and iPhone- or iPad-compatible new device from NeuroFocus. DiY brain researchers rejoice! NeuroFocus, a firm that brings brain research to marketing, today unveiled what it deems “the first dry, wireless headset designed to capture brainwave activity across the full brain.” The device, three years in the making, debuted at the 75th Annual Advertising Research Foundation conference in New York ... "

Hardly the first portable scanner.  I have seen them demonstrated several years ago.  And I am not sure what iPhone compatible really means.  Probably that they have written an App to display the data gathered.   Clearly though Neurofocus, with the support of Nielsen, is the pre-eminent seller of the neuromarketing concept to many large marketers.  Will you see someone wearing one of these in your local store?

Online Degrees: Future Phone View

Anna Miller sends along a link to a good article on the future of phones in her blog.

She writes for Online Degree:   " ... When we first started Online Degree there were a number of websites which provided encyclopedic reference for students who were interested in attending an online university. But for students who were looking for a single one page resource from which they could glean just the essential information they needed to make an educated decision about their online degree, there was no such resource. To fill that void we created Online Degree ... "

Educators, Enterprises and Gaming

An HBR post asks when educators will get serious about gaming?  The same question could also be asked about when business will become serious about gaming constructs.   New generations are emerging with skills and attitudes that match well with gaming approaches to problem solving.  We explored those ideas, but previous generations never saw them as serious solutions to tough, collaborative work methods.  It is time to get serious here. 

GPS Check-ins, True and False

Short piece on the opportunity of using GPS check-ins for disaster relief and location.  Nice idea I had been thinking about. But at the same time showing the ease of falsely doing check-ins most anywhere.  This was my original problem with FourSquare for loyalty applications.  Seems it has only become easier to spoof a location.

RFID Plays Matchmaker

In a previous post I mentioned an RFID name tag being marketing by Wizard Studios that aids in interest match-making at conferences. .  Here is more about that idea and its use.  " ... RFID Plays Matchmaker at Conferences ... Badge2Match's RFID-enabled badges light up whenever two people with complementary interests get close to each other.... "

Cloud Computing in IEEE Computer

This month's IEEE Computer emphasizes Cloud Computing.  A number of useful articles including some freely accessible.   

Axatra

Was just introduced to Axatra, a company that develops cloud-based solutions. See their site for more about their custom development capabilities.

Energy Saving IT in Manufacturing

Short HBR piece on smart energy saving in manufacturing at GM.  In my own experience in manufacturing, similar things had been done for years.  Yet it is good that more of this has been systematized.

Flipping Education

Watch videos at home, then have limited class time for help with a teacher.  A TED  video.  Overall not a bad idea.  The social dynamics of teacher and student will change, but we have already started to see that.

Yet I am concerned about the technology-centric aspects of this: " ... All fifth through twelfth graders in Little Falls, Minnesota will get iPads next year, reports the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. This year, fifth graders were given iPads. Some teachers are flipping instruction ... " .   It is not all about the fancy hardware, it is about the human interaction too.

Smartphones and Shopping

Chief Marketer dissects a recent study of smartphones for retail.   The overall conclusion is they are in heavy use for information gathering.   This study includes all uses of smartphones, whether it is in-store or not,  Useful but not surprising statistical results by age and gender.  The most surprising thing I found was in the following para, which suggests that the use of barcode scanning App is much more common than have have personally observed.  I have my doubts, will look to the original study report:.  If so this changes the interactive  landscape of in-store considerably.

" ... Asked what apps they were most likely to open when using their smartphones to shop, respondents most often cited scanner apps for 2D barcodes or QR codes (44%), followed by discount apps such as Groupon or LivingSocial (38%). And customer review apps such as the one from Consumer Reports (31%). Branded store apps were name by 26% of those polled, and 22% pointed to product comparison apps. Only 13% said they were likely to open geo-location apps such as Foursquare, Gowalla or Shopkick ... "

Admitting Failure

Charlene Li in the HBR, on the art of admitting failure.

Agile Data Integration

What is agile data integration?, and how do you do it? Good overview in BeyeNetwork by Ralph Hughes  that lists alternatives and describes directions.

BBC Dimensions

A simple BBC site that allows you to graphically deal with relative sizes:  " ... Dimensions takes important places, events and things, and overlays them onto a map of where you are. Type in your postcode or a place name to get started ...  ".    Although a UK site, US zipcodes work. 

Library Augmented Reality for Grocery Shelves

Found this Readwriteweb article on book shelf placement to be interesting.  I have worked with libraries on catalog systems.  It is not only libraries where things can become become disarranged. Shelves in grocery often do not conform to the prescripted plan-o-gram.  Is there a reapplication of this mobile library App to the complexity of a grocery shelf?  I can think of further information that could be leveraged at the shelf beyond position of an item.

" ... If you've ever worked in a library, you're familiar with the drudgery of shelf reading. That's the process of verifying that all the books on a shelf are in the right order, based on their call numbers. Books get out of order fairly easily, when they're taken off the shelf and examined, for example, or when they're just stuck in the wrong place.

Miami University's Augmented Reality Research Group (MU ARRG) ...  led by Professor Bo Brinkman, has developed an Android app that could save librarians a lot of time and hassle. Using the Android's camera, the app "reads" a bookshelf, and with an AR overlay, quickly flags those books that are misplaced. It will also point to the correct place on the bookshelf so the book can easily be re-shelved correctly ... "