This is the year for mobile. Apparently that’s been said every January since the infancy of the industry, but here’s 5 themes from this past week’s ThinkMobile conference that hint it’s true this time.

Forget the PC, your mobile device is the most personal thing you own:

It’s with us almost every waking hour of our lives. We don’t leave home without it. It’s with us when we’re at our computer and lays with us when we’re watching TV. It follows us to the bathroom and gives us directions to to the nearest subway. Its alarm wakes us up, that little screen the first thing we see every day. If you’re anything like me, then that’s about 18 hours a day with unfettered access to calls, txts, web browsing, app engagement, mobile shopping, etc. That’s an awful lot of time.

And it all ours. Laptops, TV’s, iPods, camera, we share those. I’d lend my laptop away for a day or two, but never my phone. Because we personalize it more than any other device we own. We add cases, stickers, trackballs, and applications. As Jordan Berman of AT&T said in his ThinkMobile keynote, “mobile is the remote control for your life.” And your life only.

Mobile gets social media out of the house.

In his keynote, Dopplr CEO/co-founder Marko Ahtisaari made it clear mobile and social media were destined to be intertwined. The main social media actions – status updates, photosharing, casual gaming, and friending – are highly mobile oriented. Twitter was the first to really harness the power or mobile, Facebook already has applications built soley for mobile devices, and the rest will follow.

Ahtisaari sees the real power of the merge in location (or place = location+culture) based media. Twitter where you’re going from your mobile device and see what friends are heading there as well. Use your mobile device to see which Facebook friends are currently at the concert you just walked in to. Rate the restaurant you just left via your phone and get recommendations from your social graph or where to go next.

Both mobile and social media are expanding rapidly, jump on board where they converge.

Mobile let’s marketers get to you, anywhere.

Direct mail, we’re over it. Banner ads, losing relevancy. Search marketing, we’re trending towards spending more time on mobile than the computer. Mobile is the most direct, personal and (soon to be) trackable marketing platform, and we’ve just scratched the surface.

People might not check every email, but it’s rare we disregard a text message. Display banners on mobile sites are already showing greater conversion than their online banner ad bretheren. Engagement campaigns tying txt to live events and in-store promos have been all the buzz. So what’s next?

* Google is making it easier for marketers to implement and track mobile ad campaigns across multiple carriers and ad types. Robert Victor, of Google owned Doubleclick mentioned a full scale ad-placement and analytics engine is in the works. Even better, it should sync with Google Analytics and Google AdSense, meaning simplified metrics across mobile and web. Microsoft, AOL, and Yahoo are working on much of the same.

* Stephen Slezak, and Digby are optimizing current eCommerce sites for mobile devices. You’re in transit and an email pops in with a special offer good for 2 hours. You won’t be able to get to a computer, but the link takes you to a Digby designed mobile site that makes purchase a breeze. Digby’s best campaign bailed out guys last V-Day with its 1-800-FLOWERS site.

* Many advertisements now have mobile ‘shortcodes’ for special deals or more information. Companies are creating their own mobile sites (Sophia Stuart said Hearst Magazines Digital Media has 9 mobile sites which get 5MM page views and 350k unique visitors a month). Pre-roll ads can now be tagged to streaming video on phones. Your phone can find you deals in the supermarket. The list goes on.

While other ad channels are having trouble lately, there is no reach issue with mobile, only more and more options.

Mobile means you can be entertained, anywhere.

Soon everything will be able to be stored or streamed on your mobile device, and everyone’s rushing to capitalize. CBS has a $4.99 iPhone app that broadcasts all 64 NCAA toury games real time to the phone. Pandora just built apps smartphone users to stream their personal radio stations from their phone. NBC set up a simulcast of 24 hour Olympics coverage last Winter, allowing smartphone users to catch Michael Phelps from their handheld.

As consumers get used to this, they’ll want more. All companies will have to learn how to entertain their customers on the go.

Mobile is so much more than just a phone.

Mobile is becoming a convergence of almost every other piece of electronics you own. It’s a TV, a camera, a radio, a window to the web. The best thing? The iPhone, Google Android, and others allow anyone to build new features for the devices and add them as applications. Apple has more than 27,000 apps in the iPhone store. Many of them are free, but the ones that aren’t have brought in $800MM in revenue to split between Apple and the App developers.

Soon your phone will be able to do almost anything you want it to and you will be able to determine just what that is.

Mitchell Baker is impressive. Her creds: Chairman – former CEO – of Mozilla Foundation, responsible for the creation of Firefox, Thunderbird, etc. She’s also a trained lawyer,  extremely sharp, and knows how to control a room. An Example; yesterday’s talk at Columbia J-School’s Stabile Student Center. I had to go. Firefox has shaped the way I interact with the web. Plus, I take whatever opps I can to learn from smart people.

Here’s 5 things Mitchell’s talk taught me and how they apply to whatever you’re working on (quotes are paraphrased):

1. “Most people don’t know there’s a difference between a browser, search, and Google.”

Firefox is used by approximately 250MM people in the world. 30% of Mac users make it their default browser over Safari. 20% choose it over Internet Explorer on PCs. Seem small? Most people don’t even know it’s an option. Default browsers Safari and IE come loaded on our computers as pre-installed windows to the web.

Think about it this way instead. Mozilla’s small non-profit has been able to reach and convince 250MM people worldwide to try a variation of something they already have on their computer. This, at a time when most people don’t even know why that matters. It’s happened because the people that use it love it and force their friends to download.

Apply this: Many people might not know enough to understand why your product is better than the competitions. They’re not stupid, they just never needed or wanted that education. But being far better than your competition can make you stand out to those who do know, and there’s a good change they’ll tell (or force) their friends to take action on your behalf.

2. “It’s important to understand the power of distribution.”

It doesn’t matter how good your product is if it never reaches people. Mozilla’s lived off the WOM from it’s evangelists, but distribtion on Mac and PC operating systems is the real prize. Firefox may be included in upcoming Microsoft and Apple operating systems if the EU and US DOJ have their way. Plus, Mitchell made sure to tell us, one company only has data for their company, distrubution channels have data for many. That’s a huge benefit in the digital age, where constant optimization comes from instant data analysis.

Apply this: Keep distribution in mind when your making anything for a mass audience. Always remember that the distributors may have far more data to draw on that you do.

3. “People won’t pay to view websites, but they will trade some personal info and usage data, and that allows us to make our products better. We’re always trying to figure out the right balance there.”

Yes the web tracks what you do. Scary? Sort of. It also makes our lives a lot easier. Stored passwords we don’t have to remember. Easier to navigate websites as designers gather more data about where our eyes move on the page. Suggestions for new products based on what you’ve bought in the past. We can get everything for free. On the web we pay with our attention and information.

Apply this: There’s an abundance of information about your past, present, and future clients on the web. Find out how to find, gather, and organize it to interact with them.

4. “Firefox has 200 employees and more than 10,000 worldwide volunteers.”

10,000 people work on Firefox for free. The whole thing is a massive, worldwide, group project. Mozilla will occasionally fund get together and conferences in different countries to introduce the volunteers to each other, but most of the collaboration happens over the web. They’ve designed unique rules for idea submission and acceptance. The whole thing is based on recognition and respect in this online community.

Apply this: If people love your business, they’ll help out for free. Treat them right, give them a opportunity to be recognized for their work and a forum to meet each other, and they’ll deliver for you.

5. “Mozilla funds itself via search ads”

Most of Mozilla’s money comes from that little box on the top right of Firefox. Google gives them a slice of whatever ad revenue they make from the searches.

(Google Search in Firefox ^^)

Apply This: Support Firefox. Don’t go to Google.com to search, do it from the browser.

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Keep learning from Mitchell on her Lizard Wrangler Blog.

See more Columbia J-School events here.

Yesterday I needed to do some research in a specific year for a client and found the tools much weaker than anticipated. I wanted to browse articles by relevancy and be able to pull out what the biggest stories were. I wanted to know what topics and people saw the most coverage at certain times. I wanted to know as much about the reporting of the season as the season itself. And that’s where I hit a snag.

I bounced the questions to some friends as well, and no one had a great answer for me. So see the example below, how would you do this search?

Example: The NBA in 2004.

Tools:

Google Search: “national basketball association” or “nba” + 2004

Results: My first results page gets me to the 2004 NBA draft, encyclopedia.com, an article on the new Bobcats logo, something about the Celtics, and links to Wikipedia and Google News results.

Verdict: Google search does better with current content. I can’t learn too much about the 2004 NBA season here, I’d need to be more specific with my searches.

Google News: “national basketball association” or “nba” + 2004

Results: The top 2 results discuss the Athens olympics, many links require a subscription, and there is nothing from ESPN. Props for it picking up 284 articles related to the November Pacers/Pistons brawl.

Verdict: Google News performs the basics of an archived search, but doesn’t pick up many resources like ESPN.com. It shows me a timeline of articles broken down by month, but I can’t trust that when I know there are many sources missing.

Wikipedia: 2004-05 NBA Season

Results: A few notable occurances and major stats.

Verdict: The notable occurances could help refine my Google searches, but this still doesn’t give me that much to play with.

ESPN: NBA > Past Years

Results: 4892 Pages of Information! Except it starts at 2008 and I have no clue how many pages it will take to get to 2004.

Verdict: There could be a wealth of info here but I’ll never find it. I don’t have the patience/time to wait for 4000 pages to load before I find anything I need. Someone needs to program a jump ahead button!

NBA.com:

Results: Even with 2004 in the search box there was no archive search. I also had big hopes for Hoopedia but it failed when it gave me this for the 2004 Overview.

Verdict: Nothing here.

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So what can’t i do? Even with Google at my disposal, there is still nothing that pulls in all the info I need with the navigation to rummage through it easily. Anyone got a better method/product they would recommend? Interested to hear what you would do?

rock on.

dp

A little over a month ago my brother (and founder of the toeachtheirown blog) sent me a text – “Have you heard of Red Light Company.” I hadn’t, so I searched. And I found fantasticness.

RLC is a 5 piece from London that sprung up last year. Their songs are not sold on iTunes or Amazon yet, and their MySpace page only streams song snippets. So as of now I only have 4 songs. But since I know you can rock out to them, here they are:

Red Light Company – With Lights Out

Red Light Company – Fine Fascination

Red Light Company – Meccano

Red Light Company – Scheme Eugene

Find more:
* website
* myspace

rock on!

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Is it me or is it getting harder to find what you want. Google’s the best, but still far from perfect. Products and businesses tend to appear before information. You can search and search, and never find what you want. Then someone will forward you along exactly what you were looking for the next day. To get the best results you even need to learn a search language.

Music is essential to my life. I’ve spent many a web hour following this passion. If music is as important to you, don’t waste time searching, here are 5 free sites to bring out your inner rockness.

#1. The Hype Machine: If you’re constantly searching for more music stop by Hypem.com. The sites aggregator pulls in tracks posted on music blogs across the world and spits them out into one searchable streaming player. Search for tracks by your favorite artists or go to the Popular tab and find out what’s wearing out listeners repeat buttons each day. Either way, this is the place to go for new music, rare tracks, and remixes.

Best Recent Find:

Franz Ferdinand – No You Girls

#2. Songmeanings: We love out music, but sometimes we have no clue what some artists are singing/rhyming/spitting/screaming. SM fills in those gaps with an expansive database of songs posted by fans. Most lyrics sites only post the words to album tracks after it’s released. Fans on SM will post songs performed in concert, demos, and unreleased tracks.  And unlike many other lyrical sites, SM encourages discussion on the meaning of each track. You know, so we can decipher the message behind Jay-Z’s “Girls, Girls, Girl.”

Jay-Z – Girls, Girls, Girls

#3. Pollstar: I’m a concert junkie. I keep a running archive of the concerts I make it to. I’m always looking out for my favorite artists to come to town. Whenver I want to find one I go to here. Pollstar breaks searches down by city, artist, or venue and update faster than most artists own websites. See a concert you want to go to? Let me know, I’ll likely be down!

The last band I saw live:

Kevin Devine – Cotton Crush

#4. Ultimate-Guitar: Want to learn how to play guitar but have no interest in learning to read music? me too. That’s why we use tabs, and UG is the best place for them. Almost any tab you want to find is here. All tabs are submitted by users and other users can add their own accuracy ratings. It’s the best free guitar resource on the web.

Song I Like to play:

The Format – She Doesn’t Get It (tab here)

#5. MerchDirect: Get your favorite bands gear here. MerchDirect hosts creates merch and hosts online stores for artists from Taking Back Sunday and Joss Stone, to Lil John. The site was co-founded by Glassjaw guitarist Jeff Beck in 1998 and is great spot to hit when you want some new threads. Here’s one I got.

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Last week I finished reading Business Stripped Bare by (Sir) Richard Branson. In it he talks about the February 2007 derailment of a Virgin Pendolino train in Cumbria, England. Branson was in Zermatt, Switzerland when it occurred and accounts for driving 5 hours to Zurich and hopping a 6:30 AM flight to be at the scene the next day. His theory:

“It is a bosses duty to get to the scene as quickly as humanly possible. If you delay showing your face in public after something like this recriminations, anger, and blame set in… In my view the press are demanding early answers for good and just reasons and it is imperative for business executives to be prepared to face the media at the first opportunity.”

Last week I also flew US Airways back to NYC from Miami. I’m shooting this post out late in the day because most of my afternoon was consumed by coverage of US Airways Flight 1549 wakeboarding into the Hudson. CEO Doug Parker is releasing statements on the US Airways website and on other media outlets. They don’t really amount to much but a response to the need to say something.

Here’s a snapshot of things I said to myself while I was watching:

* “Maybe I shouldn’t try and save an extra $100 when choosing which airline to fly.”
* “Twitter sometimes seems pointless, but it’s breaking news faster than the media.”
* “My roommate is flying Virgin America tonight. Virgin has never had an airplane crash in its history, 2 can’t happen in 1 day right?”
* “What kind of redemption do the passengers get from US Airways?”
* “The passenger that walked away smiling on camera knows he now has a fantastic story to tell girls in bars for the rest of his life.”
* “The economy, now this. Everthing’s crashing these days.”
* “Will ‘bird strike’ now be in our national lexicon?”
* “Maybe I should actually pay attention to the safety instructions next time i fly……”

During the media ruckus an ABC anchor mentioned that today each person on that plane will look at life a new way. I think we all should take a moment to look at everything that has gone on around us and do the same.

Destroyer – It’s Gonna Take An Airplane

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The vid below is of Kevin Kelley (former Exec Editor of Wired, Author, and Blogger) predicting the next movement of the web. It’s fascinating stuff.

Kelley is also current re-releasing his 1998 book New Rules for a New Economy in ‘recession friendly’ format (aka FREE), via his blog. We’re currently 8 posts deep, but you can quickly get yourself up to speed by visiting here.  Then I’d suggest you subscribe to the RSS.

More on Kevin Kelly: kk.org
More TED Talks: www.ted.com

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Have you ever wanted your favorite rockers to write a song about you? Do you want to tell them what it should be about? Get it sent directly to you and only you? Max Bemis has your prescription, all for $150 at the Max Bemis Song Shop. Check out Max explaining how it works on the video below:

I’m waiting to see if any of these songs get leaked on to the web. And if they’re any good.

Here’s what else I want to know:

* Does Say Anything have to give the labels a share of $150?
* Why the $150 price point? Could they get more? Could Billy Joel get $1500?
* Does the song come in a packaged disc with artwork, or as an mp3?
* Will they really write about anything?
* Will more artists follow? Will this become a future staple of the idustry? Would that make it less appealing to fans?

Let me know what you think and we’ll see if we can get an answer (or song) from Max. Until then, check out this track from the upcoming Two Tongues album (out Feb 3rd).

Two Tongues – If I Could Make You Do Things

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In addition to a very solid blog, Tim has a pilot airing Thursday night at 11 PM Eastern on the History Channel. I would strongly encourage you to check it out. I have it DVR’ing for repeat viewing.

Check out the Tim’s post about the show the trailer below:

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rock on.

dp

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Red Light Company – Fine Fascination

“i can relate. it was my very first fine fascination”

The SkillsSummit focuses on innovative initiatives that strengthen Jewish leadership effectiveness, tackling pressing issues in contemporary Jewish society, and building community.

I’m happy to be joining good friends Nathan Rothstein (Executive Director of NolaYurp) and Gill Benedek (founder of Moishe House Nola and one of NO’s 40 under 40) in the Fundraising track.

This will be my first PLP event as a recently accepted Talent particpant in the program, and I look forward to meeting and working with all in attendance this weekend and in the future.

Find out more about the program at: http://www.jewishleaders.net.

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rock on.

dp