Long Live the Recommendation Engine

One of my favorite facets of the social web is the notion of a recommendation engine. This is essentially a vehicle for discovery of new content or ideas (art, music, fashion, food, etc. . .) driven by the recommendations of others usually somewhere in your social sphere. These engines take many forms, and they have been around for a long time. For example, I subscribe to a Google Group that is all about discovering new music. The forum is a large group of people with similar tastes in music and culture who use the list to share thoughts, ideas, and opinions on music they experience. From this group alone I've discovered countless new artists that I may not have otherwise discovered. From an engagement standpoint, companies like NetFlix & Amazon have the recommendation engine down pat, and have really turned this into a mechanism to drive sales. To find a few leading edge examples of recommendation engines, you don't have to look much further than some of the more popular social platforms of the day. Pinterest, FoodSpotting, and Instagram, can all be considered forms of recommendation engines. I enjoy all of these platforms and the ideas, content, and inspiration that they are designed to share. Where do you seek inspiration and new ideas?

Share

Our Latest Launch - The Best Life - thebestlife.com

It's with tremendous pride that I write this blog post. After 7+ tireless months of strategy, design, and development, SRG, in partnership with The Best Life, launched the new and improved TheBestLife.com. The Best Life is Bob Greene's lifestyle, health, and wellness improvement plan. Taking a fresh approach to weight loss, The Best Life throws out all the old dieting conventions. You are encouraged to not even look at a scale for the first month of the plan!

The Best Life came to us earlier this year seeking an overhaul of their online wellness experience. While the site had been upgraded over the past 5 years, it was ready for a 21st century refresh. We identified components of community, content, and functionality that would really bring the experience to life. We activated community managers, implemented game mechanics, overhauled design and usability, and generally set the experience on an evolutionary course for the future. Overall we created an experience that truly speaks to the needs of the intended audience. Don't take my word for it. Check it out.

Share

A Single Prediction for 2012

Last week we had the pleasure of meeting with the president of a large financial transaction services firm. He was an incredibly bright guy, with amazing insights on the payment/transaction industry. He came to us with a need for our innovation services. As part of the conversation he gave us some background on where they stand with innovation today. This led to some insights on NFC, and all of the players that are working together to make this happen. As often happens with a shift in technology (like a shift to mobile payments), it takes a few industry leader to get behind things to catalyze the effort. It's widely known that Google is putting a lot of effort behind the mobile payment movement. The one card yet to fall is Apple, and the iPhone. It was somewhat surprising that the iPhone 4S did not include NFC or mobile payment capabilities (SquareUp seized this shortcoming). It will be downright shocking if the iPhone 5 does not include this capability. So all of this is a long way of say this: My one tech prediction for 2012 is that we will see the iPhone 5 released sometime in the second half of the year. Some form of NFC mobile payments will be included, and this will spurn widespread adoption of mobile payments, just in time for the 2012 holiday shopping season. Let's hope the Mayan Harmonic Convergence doesn't happen first.

Share

YouMail - VoiceMail Transcription - Expensive But Worth It

I have lots of digital era pet peeves. Phone books are one of them. I came home from work yesterday to find this giant yellow dead tree sitting at my door step. Horrible. Who uses those things anymore? Another is junk mail, for a lot of the same reasons. Please, make it stop. One more, and the focus of this post, is listening to voicemails. I've been horrible for years. Caller ID was the death of voicemails for me. I see who called, and call them right back, rarely (OK never) listening to their message. I tried leaving a VM recording asking people to text me instead of leaving a voicemail, but that only pissed off my doctor and auto mechanic. There have been a few transcription services for the iPhone that never quite made it. I recently did some more investigating on VM transcription services, and came across YouMail. You install the app, and to configure it, you basically allow it to hijack the voicemail from your carrier, and redirect callers to the YouMail servers. Overall the app is pretty easy to use, and gives you lots of VM management features not available on the iPhone (folder, archives, forwarding, etc. . .). I tried the transcription service for the 1 week trial, and loved it. My biggest gripes are the cost and pricing tiers (which go hand in hand!). The saver package provides 20 transcriptions a month and only transcribes the first 20 seconds of the message for $5/month or $55/year. The unlimited package transcribes unlimited VMs of unlimited length for a whopping $40/month or $450/year. That's as much as some cell minute packages. I went for the plus package that transcribes the first 60 seconds of 100 messages a month. Still pricey, but I bit the bullet, and with a discount code, it cost me $180 for the year. Pricey, but worth it if you hate listening to voicemail.

Share

Our Latest Launch - Almond Board of California Health Professional Toolkit

This week we launched a simple and sweet mobile app for The Almond Board of California. The Health Professional Toolkit was built to provide and easy way for nutritionists to provide basic diet and tracking information to their patients. Using jQuery Mobile we created an adaptive web design that looks good and scales well regardless of your browser and screen size. Once you load the app, size the screen in any direction, and the app looks great. Don't take my word for it. Check it out!

Share

SquareUp: Runaway Success or Soon to be Has Been?

In a fit of late night careerdom I became enamored with a really cool personal payment tool called SquareUp. It's a card reader that's about 1"x1" that you plug into your mobile device. Using the free SquareUp app, you can now accept credit card payments for a low, low, 2.75% service fee per transaction. The best part? The car reader is FREE! I may never take a personal credit card payment ever, but just knowing that I can is pretty damn cool. If you owe me money, watch out! I now take Visa, MasterCard, and Amex.

At first I was completely blown away by SquareUp. I ordered one immediately, of course. I've since reconsidered. Once NFC becomes mainstream, SquareUp better be well poised to be the PayPal of mobile personal payments or they'll easily be passed over by integrated hardware services. Maybe not. Either way, pay up suckers!

Share

Our Latest Launch - Tervis Smart Cup

Recently we launched a unique and engaging campaign for Tervis Tumblers, everybody's favorite double walled insulated cup. The campaign brought to life both the Tervis lifestyle and the functional benefits of the Tervis Tumbler. Using the 3D panoramic platform KRpano, we built a series of immersive environments that really encouraged the consumer to engage and explore. Don't take my word for it, check it out!

Share

Our Latest Launch - Children's Hospital Colorado Heart Institute

Today we launched the first in a series of updates to the Children's Hospital Colorado Service Lines web site. This marked the launch of the new site for the Heart Institute. Sporting an overhaul of navigation, architecture, and look and feel, this is a huge step forward for CHC. Don't take my word for it! Check it out!

Share

Google Image Search Virus Leads to AV Showdown

The last few months we have seen a huge spike in viruses coming from Google Image Search. Our current solution just was not cutting it, so I took a day to test out some of the better known anti-virus programs. Here are the results:

- Microsoft Security Essentials: doesn’t block any virus sites, lets installer install and infects computers. Doesn’t catch virus if it’s in a USB. System down – Boo.

- Kaspersky: blocks about 20% of the viruses sites, allows installer to run and infect computer. Doesn’t catch virus if it’s in a USB either. System down – Boo.

- ESET NOD32: blocks all sites and infected downloads. Scans USB sticks for virus, but takes a little bit. If it has a virus on the stick, it will delete it. I can force the virus install if I really try, but it actively removes parts of the virus that send data, etc. during install. No real system downtime, but still need to manually remove a file so it doesn’t give an error at start-up – Very good, but a little room for improvement.

- Symantec Endpoint Protection: not only blocks sites with infected viruses, but actually bans the IP from their computer as well for one day (can be adjusted). Blocks infected downloads and bans IP from that as well. It doesn’t remove infected files from USB sticks, but at the same time it won’t allow the install at all like NOD32 did. No effect on the system at all – Very good and less room for improvement than NOD32!

Of course the above was just testing against the Google Image Search virus that is running rampant. If we take into account all aspects (computer resources used, track record for stopping viruses, as little user interaction as possible) there was one clear winner: ESET NOD32.

Share

Our Latest Launch - Calmacryingbaby.org

Today we launched an important informational site for Children's Hospital Colorado. Calmacryingbaby.org addresses the issue of  Shaken Baby Syndrome, serving as a prevention resource for parents and caregivers giving them the tools they need to stay cool and calm a crying baby without resorting to shaking. Shaken Baby Syndrome is a real problem, and this site aims to solve it. Click here to learn more.

Share

Favorite iPad App

One of the most common questions I get is "Matt, what are your favorite iPad apps?" This is a very difficult question to answer for a few reasons. The primary reason is the personal nature of the iPad. It's really meant to be a one man device. Unlike most modern day operating systems, the iOS was really not built for multi-user support. There is no way to setup multiple users that can access the device via unique logins which access unique profiles. The other reason is the personal nature of the apps I use. I tend to favor nerdier apps, apps that allow me to do my job, source code managers, remote desktop apps, file management apps, which most of the people who ask me would find no use for. That said, I think I can point to a single app that any iPad user will fund useful. AppStart for iPad is kind of like a guided tour of not only the iPad, but the world of tablet computing. It includes a ton of app recommendations for all sorts of purposes. It also explains how to do everything from printing to shopping to file management. All of the content is packaged in a very clean, user friendly, tablet-centric, touch interface. It even recommends The AppAdvice App if you seek more iPad app knowledge. Check it out!

Share

Our Latest Launch - WaterPik Showers

I'm excited to announce our latest digital product launch - WaterPik Showers. This is the second to last piece in a year long overhaul of Waterpik.com. Following the navigation and architecture developed through previous portions of the project, the WaterPik showers site is right at home in it's new setting. There is nothing like an invigorating shower in the morning, and this new launch really brings that notion to life. Check it out!

Share

Future of Gaming Arrives - OSN Shows Madden 12

The future of gaming is finally here! The Onion Sports Network gives us a glimpse into what EA has been developing for Madden 12.


  Onion SportsDome

One of my life dreams was to be in the NFL. Looks like I finally can live that dream, without getting the nice paycheck...

Share

The Problems with Application Development for Facebook

Over the last year we have really dug our heels into the world of Facebook application development. Like so much of the internet, it it very much a wild west in Facebook land. As everyone knows, Facebook often changes layouts, formats, designs, and functions without much warning. In the early days of Facebook one of my favorite functions was your personal friend timeline. When you added a friend you also indicated the time and context in which you befriended that person (in real life). Based on that data a timeline of your life was generated that showed your life's timeline and the people you met along the way. I loved this feature, and one day a few years ago, it was gone. Bummer. Facebook's most recent change is to a new layout for fan pages. We have an application running that we are scrambling to test and modify, and that's just the problem. Facebook really does not have a real development environment. Sure, they have a sandbox mode for developers, but we need more than that. Typically we have 3 environments in our workflow, dev, staging, and production. The absence of a staging environment can be a real challenge, especially when reviewing an iteration with a client while the application is still in development. Boo. Top all that off with poor and out of date documentation, and you have a mostly unfavorable development workflow. My last gripe is with platform stability. While Facebook does not suffer from the prevalence of the fail whale like Twitter (will they every get it right), their are often bugs and quirks with the platform that are beyond a developers controls. When an issue arises I absolutely hate telling someone "it's a Facebook problem, we are waiting for them to fix it." In the middle of a lengthy campaign last week the Facebook Page Insights went haywire, and the data became inaccurate. There was nothing we could do. Mark Zuckerberg, if you are listening, HELP!

Share

Waston ties for first round of Jeopardy

Watson, the IBM super-computer designed to "understand the complexities of human language," had its debut on Jeopardy tonight facing off against the show's most successful players: Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. Thankfully, James Cameron's judgment day will have to wait a few more years, as Watson proved itself quite fallible; and although its answers were at times uncannily fast and accurate; it didn't seem quite devious enough to be planning a nuclear holocaust. Three more rounds will happen the next few nights. Now if only Darrell Hammond would show up as Sean Connery, this could turn into an epic event.

Share

Mashable Follow

Share

Zuckerberg, Eisenberg, and Samberg on SNL

Share

Facebook Follows Suit with the Public Internet

It was bound to happen. Now I'm curious to see how far it goes or how well it is controlled. Facebook has fallen prey to the same litany of scams, frauds, and viruses as the public internet. For a long time the walled garden model suited Facebook well. A private island of in the middle of the internet just for you and your 600,000,000 closest friends. In this article from Gawker, they outline the top 3 ways people are getting cheated on Facebook. Read more.

Share

The Corporate Social Strategist

As we develop our own social media discipline, we have given a lot of thought to roles and responsibilities, and where the sweet spot lies in the social media landscape for our organization. There are a lot of variables and moving parts, not to mention the constantly evolving technology landscape that drives social media evolution. As we look at roles, the postion of social strategist or community manager has intrigued us. Historically (as in the past 3 years or so) a cottage industry has arisen around businesses that can manage a brand's social presence. While this is all fine and good, it is certainly not an endpoint. What we are seeing now is a trend towards community management and brand voice in the social space moving to the client side of things, for a laundry list of reasons. Along with this the client side role of social strategy is being more clearly defined, albeit with a very concrete set of challenges. This report by a group of folks at Altimeter interviews over 140 social strategists to get their take on this ever-changing landscape. Check it out!

Share

Aloha, Silverlight!

I had read some speculation about Silverlight's demise a few months back, but now it is seeming more concrete. According to Bob Muglia at Microsoft, "[Microsoft's] strategy has shifted" citing that "HTML is the only true cross platform solution for everything." While Microsoft does plan to continue to develop the Silverlight platform, it's focus as a priority is slowing. While I'm not crazy about Flash, I do like it. I'm also eager to see how HTML5 manifests in the marketplace, especially as there is broader adoption by both developers and browsers. I'm really glad Silverlight is not another burgeoning platform. Read more!

Share