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Facebook ‘experiment’ lets select users pay to have messages routed directly to a stranger’s inbox
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/20/facebook-experiment-pay-messages-routing-email/
Get ready to have your preconceived notions of email destroyed. In a Facebook blog post today, the company has gone to great lengths to bury the lede — which, essentially, says that it’s experimenting with the idea of letting non-connected users pay in order to have a message routed to one’s inbox instead of that ill-fated “Other” folder. According to the company, it’s being dubbed a “small experiment” to “test the usefulness of economic signals to determine relevance.” As an excuse, Facebook has evidently consulted with “several commentators and researchers,” which “have noted that imposing a financial cost on the sender may be the most effective way to discourage unwanted messages and facilitate delivery of messages that are relevant and useful.”
Bitterness aside, there is some value in being able to directly ping a stranger you heard speak at an event, or you want to really show your interest in a job opportunity, but it still destroys the level playing field that we’ve all come to know and respect as it relates to digital communication. This message routing feature is only for personal messages between individuals in the United States, and if there’s a silver lining to be found, we’re told that the number of messages a person can have routed from their Other folder to their Inbox will be limited to a maximum of one per week. It’s unclear how the service will evolve once the testing ends, but perhaps it depends on how much blowback occurs compared to the whole Instagate thi! ng.< /p>
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Source: Facebook
YouTube launches Capture iOS app for smartphone shooting straight to the web (video)
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/17/youtube-capture-ios-app/
You might want to file this under the “why didn’t we have this in 2010″ category, but Google just announced a new app that’ll let you fire off that smartphone camcorder and boot your videos straight to the YouTubes Curiously, the appropriately named YouTube Capture app is only available for iPhone and iPod touch at the moment — an Android version is set to launch “in the future” — and it should be hitting the App Store sometime today. You can shoot video directly from within the new tool, then add a caption, select to send links to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, and hit Share to upload it directly to YouTube. You can also select from private, unlisted or public sharing options, depending on your intended audience. That’s about it — a very straightforward addition to Google’s app portfolio. You can see it in action just past the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Google
Source: YouTube, Goo gle Blog
Why Android Phones, And Not The iPhone, Will Capture The Business Market
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-financial-times-on-google-android-2012-12
There was time, not so long ago, when the innovative RIM device dominated the business market, but in today’s mobile-drive world, the Blackberry is being pushed out by more advanced smartphones.
The Financial Times recently switched their emailing system to Gmail, and managing director Rob Grimshaw gave up his Blackberry for an Android device that let him seamlessly transition his workflow.
During our IGNITION 2012 conference, Grimshaw explained why switching to a Google-powered phone has convinced him that Google is well positioned to take over the business market that Blackberry once held.
“Google are placing themselves very well within the business market because the combination of the email services and the Android devices is really very powerful and it’s perhaps something that Apple doesn’t have to the same extent.”
He goes on to explain how this impacts the mobile market for publishers:
Produce by Business Insider Video
SEE ALSO: Former AOL CEO Tells Us What Working With Rupert Murdoch Is Really Like
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Zara Has Fundamentally Changed Fashion And There’s No Going Back
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-zara-is-changing-fashion-forever-2012-11
Fast-fashion retailer Zara is on a mission to take over the world, and in the process it has changed the whole fabric of the industry.
Zara’s strategy involves stocking very little and updating collections often. Instead of other brands that only update once a season, Zara restocks with new designs twice a week, reported Suzy Hansen at the New York Times.
That strategy works two ways, according to Hansen. First, it encourages customers to come back to the store often. It also means that if the shopper wants to buy something, he or she feels that they have to in order to guarantee it won’t sell out.
As a result of its massive success, Zara is making luxury retailers pretty nervous. Zara tries to build their stores as close as possible to the luxury boutiques like Stella McCartney and Chanel. Meanwhile, those retailers are trying to stay far away from the fast-fashion company.
“They broke up a century-old biannual cycle of fashion,” an analyst told Hansen. “Now, pretty much half of the high-end fashion companies” — Prada and Louis Vuitton, for example — “make four to six collections instead of two each year. That’s absolutely because of Zara.”
Another important way that Zara has impacted the fashion is by negating the idea that expensive clothes are more desirable. Kate Middleton has often been photographed in the brand, and getting something chic for a steal is something to brag about.
Zara also fits in with another trend: today’s demanding consumer.
Now that shoppers can get what they want from virtually any channel for a variety of prices, they’re becoming much more discerning about what they want.
That means that a company that sells high fashion for low prices and offers constant new merchandise is set to do well in today’s marketplace, and other retailers should be rushing to emulate Zara’s model.
DON’T MISS: 19 Years In The Evolution Of The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show >
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Dr. Augustine Fou is Digital Consigliere to marketing executives, advising them on digital strategy and Unified Marketing(tm). Dr Fou has over 17 years of in-the-trenches, hands-on experience, which enables him to provide objective, in-depth assessments of their current marketing programs and recommendations for improving business impact and ROI using digital insights. 
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Google acquires coupon-focused Incentive Targeting for undisclosed sum
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/28/google-acquires-coupon-focused-incentive-targeting-for-undisclos/
Google is no stranger to the business of discounts and special offers, but it looks like it’s decided to reach outside the company to further bolster its offerings. The company confirmed today that it has acquired the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based marketing firm Incentive Targeting for an undisclosed sum. While not offering too much in the way of specifics, Google said in a statement that “we look forward to working with Incentive Targeting in our ongoing efforts to help consumers save time and money and enable retailers deliver relevant discounts to the right customers.” For its part, Incentive Targeting has said that it “set out to do for retail couponing what Google had done for online advertising: make it simple, relevant, measurable, and effective,” and to that end it has developed a variety of tools for retailers and manufacturers alike, all designed to deliver coupons and discounts in a more targeting manner. You can find the company’s full statement on its website.
Filed under: Misc, Internet
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Via: TechCrunch
Source: Incentive Targeting
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