Is Miss MM (Marissa Mayers) buying for talent or buying for fun?

It may not sound like a serious question but it is one with a serious answer and one that could show us all where the internet (and commerce) with it is going.

As no matter what you say large companies don’t get rid of billions of pounds or dollars without good reason (ok HP could be an exception, and for the record they bought into an area of growth, just perhaps the wrong company or the right company at the wrong time.) 

So it “could be” telling where they put their money. Yahoo under MM is going for location and mobile and a little bit of social too. And doing so relatively quickly and aggressively.

Not surprising as they got a LOT of catching up to do.

Google Commemorates The 37th Anniversary Of Atari's Breakout With Image Search Easter Egg

Reblogged from TechCrunch:

• 

If you're an old-school gaming nerd, then you might remember a little game released by Atari called Breakout. The idea was simple: just hit a ball around and break things. Don't let the ball get past you, or you lose. It was heavily influenced by Pong.

The game's introduction was 37 years ago, in 1976. Whether it was in…

Read more… 139 more words

Where to watch Google I/O 2013 live online

Reblogged from GigaOM:

This Wednesday, thousands of people will flock to San Francisco’s Moscone Center to take part in Google (S GOOG) I/O, the company’s annual developers conference. Tickets to the event sold out in less than an hour -- but there’s some good news for anyone who didn’t make the cut, or couldn’t afford to pay $900 to take part in the spectacle: Google will once again stream the event online.

Read more… 122 more words

With Lucky Sort creators on board, Twitter is officially a data company

Reblogged from GigaOM:

We all kind of knew that Twitter's path to making money was paved with data, and the announcement on Monday that it's buying analytics startup Lucky Sort makes it official. Unless I'm totally misreading the writing on the wall, this move is all about giving advertisers -- and anyone, in theory -- the tools to learn about what people are talking about.

Read more… 412 more words

Obama's CTO Gives Advice On How Learning Works In Kio Stark's New Book, Don't Go Back To School

Reblogged from TechCrunch:

The following is an excerpt from my new book Don’t Go Back to School: a handbook for learning anything.

To someone who has never tried, it’s not obvious how to learn the things you want to learn outside of school. I’m on a mission to show you how. To do that, I became obsessed with how other people learn best, and how they do it without going to school.

Read more… 1,395 more words

5 Common Pitfalls When Setting Up Mobile Game Analytics

5 Common Pitfalls When Setting Up Mobile Game Analytics

A great article written by trevor.mccalmont@w3i.com who as a games analyst for W3i, has had the unique experience of going through a plethora of analytic mobile platforms his  has witnessed nearly every analytics provider’s capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses.So here are his hints and tips for us mobile games analytics pros.

Snapchat’s ephemeral selling: can it really work?

Well over in the america’s Taco Bell believes it can. The fast food chain has an impressive track record of social media innovation and last week they became the first major brand to test Snapchat as a marketing platform.It’s all part of what I called Losomopho many moons ago. (Google it if you don’t believe me…. )

But why care about SnapChat – apart from the fact  I predicted this kind of thing and the growing importance of photos and scanning many moons ago…

Well….

Should we really make Charles Ramsey famous for what he did and does?

Last night as I saw the video views for THAT video interview by Charles Ramsey  (who is a hero) – go through the roof – and The Gregory Brothers – auto-Tune treatment of it posted in a video they uploaded to YouTube yesterday I wondered how much money would the man himself make from this all?

But more than this – when all the excitement goes down – should we have made him famous in the first place.

Charles Ramsey, dead giveaway, deadgiveaway, #deadgiveaway and T-shirts that will make him money

What does it say about the times? That didn’t take long. An auto-tune video of Charles Ramsey, the man who helped Amanda Berry escape to freedom after being held captive for over a decade, is making its way across the Internet.

Many people will tell you this was the logical next step in the meme-ifying of Ramsey—a man who, like Sweet Brown and Antoine Dodson before him, is certain to become a fixture in popular culture (at least for the foreseeable future). That Ramsey has become the title character—more cartoon than hero—in this narrative remains the most troubling aspect of yesterday’s news.

And now he comes with music – and maybe soon even T-shirts  – thanks to
http://deadgiveaway.spreadshirt.co.uk/

Music and merchandise – have always played a part…

From Martin Luther King Jr. to U.S President Barack Obama, music has helped add an emotional dimension to the most powerful words of our time. But in an age of 24-hour news, social media and sharing that can quickly go viral, the words that now become famous tend to be ephemeral and light as air.

And so Ramsey’s three-minute interview had all of the key ingredients needed for a modern-day meme and remix.

It was oddly poignant. It was unvarnished. It sliced through the noise. And it was filled with moments of unintended hilarity, as when he referred to the suspect, his neighbour, and casually noted: “I barbecue with this dude. We eat ribs and whatnot and listen to salsa music.”

Expect those words to appear on T-shirts this summer.

Actually – right now – thanks to Spreadshirt –
http://deadgiveaway.spreadshirt.co.uk/

With parts of the proceeds going straight to the man himself, Charles Ramsey, as soon as we can find him. Oh and if you havent heard the remix tune which has gone viral – you really must do:

http://mashable.com/2013/05/07/charles-ramsey-autotune/

 

Google releases code to open iOS app links in Chrome, not Safari – HURRAH

For ages I have been secretly fuming that my apps keep opening safari automatically.

Looks like clever old Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has worked out away to get round this big bugbear of mine as it is rolling out a new API enabling consumers to access Web content in iOS applications via its Chrome browser instead of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) own default browser Safari.

HURRAH!

“As an iOS app developer, when your users want to access Web content, you currently have two options: Create your own in-app Web browser frame, or send users away from your app to a browser,” explains Google Software Engineer and Callback Captain Michele Aiello. “With Chrome’s OpenInChromeController class with x-callback, users can open a Web page in Chrome and then return to your app with just one tap.”

After a developer has downloaded the OpenInChromeController class and integrated the API into his software, his apps can detect if Chrome is installed on the user’s iOS device, and if so, send links to Chrome with or without x-callback enabled. “Additionally, you can specify whether or not to open a new tab when sending a link to Chrome,” Aiello notes.

Apple bans default browsers other than Safari, but in mid-2012, Google released an updated version of its Google+ social networking application for iOS circumventing the rule, allowing users to choose to open external Web links in Safari or Chrome by clicking a pop-up dialog within the app. Google+ leverages URL schemes, an official Apple tool that supports external communications with iOS apps.

Google first extended Chrome to iOS close to a year ago. Users can sign in to sync their mobile Web experience with Chrome tabs and bookmarks on the desktop, flip through multiple tabs much the same way they would fan a deck of cards and search and navigate from the same box. Subsequent updates have enabled iPhone and iPad users to share webpages from social networks Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Twitter, in addition to email.

Clever stuff Google – but will Apple let you do it for long? As they tend to like to own everything dont they! And will it make a big difference to mobile marketing?