johnny marr + microsoft.

mary meeker's internet trends 2016.

2016 Internet Trends Report from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

bing ads presents the art of advertiser science.

powerful new microsoft campaign.

microsoft and virgin atlantic bring santa onboard.

Microsoft Advertising and Virgin Atlantic recently teamed up with Santa to bring spread holiday cheer 30,000 feet up in the air. Great idea and even better execution. Here is the full story.

3d robotics iris+ drone. want.

red bull: the content marketing machine

Mashable recently did a fantastic feature on Red Bull. You may have heard of them. Little blue and silver can? The kids mix it with vodka? Right. You know what else they make that you can consume besides an energy drink? Content. Lots of content. In fact, they have an entire division (more like a company) dedicated to this content. The Red Bull Media House churns out bite sized morsels of content goodness. They produce print, television, online, mobile, music, games and feature film content.

Their dedicated website for content is called the Red Bull Content Pool and it is aimed at producers, editors and journalists looking to quench their content thirst. What they have done a masterful job of is putting their product second, a distant second. The real focus is the content which in turn builds brand loyalty which eventually equates to sales.

The Mashable piece also highlighted a solid report by the Altimeter Group. They have done a great job of categorizing what stage companies are in with regard to content marketing using an exercise analogy (stand, stretch, walk, jog and run). Check it out, it is well worth your time.

jony ive introducing ios 7.

Here is the Apple promo video introducing iOS 7 to the world. It is narrated by Jony Ive, its creator.

mary meeker's 2013 internet trends.

Always a treat...

The latest edition of the annual Internet Trends report finds continued robust online growth. There are now 2.4 billion Internet users around the world, and the total continues to grow apace. Mobile usage is expanding rapidly, while the mobile advertising opportunity remains largely untapped. The report reviews the shifting online landscape, which has become more social and content rich, with expanded use of photos, video and audio. Looking ahead, the report finds early signs of growth for wearable computing devices, like glasses, connected wrist bands and watches – and the emergence of connected cars, drones and other new platforms.

what's the future of business? (by brian solis).

seth godin: how to get your ideas to spread

An oldie but goodie. Worth making a remark about.

review: harry's (the men's shaving service)

Want a great shave, a stylish razor and inexpensive blades that are shipped to your doorstep all while helping others? Well then I have the answer for you.

Harry’s is a new venture from the folks that brought you Warby and Parker. You know, the stylish glasses that cost around $100 a pair? Well, they saw an opportunity and moved into men’s grooming. With the popularity of Dollar Shave Club, this comes as no surprise. The market lacked a more upscale sibling to the bargain basement approach of that club. Harry’s brings style, elegance and a sense of humor to act of shaving your grizzly mug.

Let’s start with their website. Simple and elegant, just like their razors. And what a logo. Kudos to the design team. The site is easy to navigate, very informative and sells the product well without feeling "salesy". I wonder what their conversion rate is because I know I had no intention of buying razors on the internets and when I ended up on their page I was sold. Great images, solid copy and a sweet price point. I opted for the full meal deal, the Harry’s shave set with the orange Truman razor.

I eagerly awaited the package. I tracked it and made sure I had some good stubble going when it arrived so that I could immediately put the German engineered razor blade to the test.

Then it arrived. Cue angelic choir.

As you can see from the photo, the packaging is fantastic. The kit comes with shave cream, two spare razors, the razor handle with a razor attached and some great shave tips in the form of a shave guide. Oh, and the shave cream has a lottery number on the back. Not sure what that is all about yet...

I chose the Truman with the orange handle which feels very solid in your hand.

I read the shave guide, lathered up and put it to the test. Probably the best shave ever. No joke. Shaving can go so wrong but when it goes right it is a real pleasure. And these razors are fantastic. Must be that German engineering. Thanks Harry's, I now look forward to shaving.

pebble watch review.

Yep, it's finally here. It's been almost a year since the Kickstarter for Pebble was funded and the race to produce the much anticipated e-paper watch was on. Along the way there were a lot of updates, photos of the manufacturing in progress, excuses reasons for the continuing delays and changing release dates.

Earlier this year at CES the Pebble finally had a soft launch and made quite a splash. Word on the street is that all the major players, including Apple, are now in the smartwatch game. This is no surprise considering how excited people got about the Pebble. Raising $10 million on Kickstarter will do that.

Upon first glance the packaging for the Pebble is very similar to that of the Kindle. All that it contains is the watch and the charging cable, which is one of a kind so don't lose it as they don't make replacements yet. There are no real instructions in the box so you have to go to the website using a computer or smartphone in order to learn more.

Then allow your smartphone to find the Pebble via Bluetooth and connect. Download and open the Pebble app on your smartphone to be sure you have the latest software and presto, your ready to go. The watch updates via over the air via Bluetooth which makes the updating process very smooth.

The watch itself is lightweight and simple, elegant in fact. Folks have complained about the strap being cheap, but I for one think it is very satisfactory. There are four buttons total. One on the left and three on the right. They control the menu, scrolling up and down and a back option.

The functionality is very simple and straightforward. I can see who is calling me, see my texts and receive email notifications. The watch also vibrates when a notification is coming through. The Pebble has an accelerometer which allows you to shake the watch and the e-paper display lights up for viewing in low light which is very handy. I really like how they have focused on a few functions and nailed them. It was definitely worth the wait.

UPDATE: Pebble firmware update 1.9 delivers a non-watchface app - the classic game of snake

google glass. the future is here.

vine will be a huge success.

That is my prediction. As far as I am concerned Vine is going to be a runaway hit. The mobile video medium is already on fire and this app allows users to create the perfect short burst visual goodness. The keys to it's success are the length (about 6 seconds) and the ability to stop and start your recordings as fast as your finger can touch the screen. That's it. Its brilliance lies in its simplicity. Vines are fun, addictive and really encourage creativity.

Brands stand to gain as well as it seems only logical that eventually there will be promoted videos in people's Vine feed just as there are promoted Tweets on Twitter. In addition, brands can create accounts as they have on Twitter and Instagram and have folks follow their feeds. So there will be plenty of opportunities for brands to link up their paid, owned and earned strategies.

Although it is still in it's infancy and not even close to the size of Instagram the potential is there. It saw a huge spike in uploads this past weekend due to several events including the Grammys, NEMO (snowstorm) and NYC Fashion Week. Over 113,897 videos were posted according to SimplyMeasured.

pebble arrives. sort of.

So today we were greeted with news that the Pebble watch is finally here. And by finally here we mean shipping on January 23rd. And by shipping January 23rd we mean arriving 6-8 weeks later. It has been a long wait so waiting a little longer won't hurt. It is understandable that such an undertaking can incur countless delays but today's announcement seemed sort of comical. Regardless, I for one can't wait to get my hands on it and use it for running and cycling. Will you get one?

UPDATE: Here is a great hands-on review from CES by The Verge

the future of seo (by rand fishkin).

infographic: the internet of things

genius idea: instant direct mail

conditionone, a 180-degree video player for ipad, iphone.

TechCrunch covered the launch of a very cool new video player for the iPad and iPhone by ConditionOne that gives the viewer a 180 degree look inside the video allowing one to pan and tilt the device to change the perspective and see what is going on all around them in this virtual world. Created by wartime photographer Danfung Dennis and backed by Mark Cuban, this application is already attracting the attention of big brands such as Mercedes, Discovery Communications, XL Recordings, The Guardian, and Popular Science. Check it out: