First an announcement for anyone who is interested. I am in the process of polishing off the second draft of my new Twitter related ebook. (Title has yet to be determined)

I know, i know… there are a ton of them out there, but instead of regurgitating the same old crap as everyone else, I wanted to take a little different approach and hit on some of the more unconventional topics in relation to Twitter, social networking, marketing and sales.

I think people will really like it, and my hope is that it will be a valuable resource on the subject. Might shock some people, might piss a few people off too, we’ll see… sounds good huh?

Anyway, before it’s all wrapped up and spell checked to death and I spend way too much time obsessing on the cover design and promo material, etc I wanted to take a little time and ask your opinion:

What Would You like To See in A Marketing Related Twitter Book?

• Are there any topics that just haven’t been covered in other products?
• Are there any burning questions you want answered?
• Anything new and exciting that you think should addressed that hasn’t yet?
• Any skills, solutions, systems, processes, methods you would like to see addressed or defined in more detail?
• Do we need another Twitter book?

My goal with this is to not only write the kind of book on the topic I personally would like to see, but others as well. so your input is really valuable to me. So please feel free to comment or shoot me an email at:

seanearleyrocks@googlemail.com

I would love to hear your thoughts and get your input.

Just testing out the official Wordpress app for Android.

It Works… Kind of a nice feature for microblogging, but to be honest, writing a large blog post on my little android keypad is not so fun, so I probably wont be using it much. It does have a save feature though so that is super nice.

I don’t normally post other people’s stuff on my blog, but I just had to share this really awesome video by Keiichi Matsuda featuring a scary look into the future of Augmented Reality, what he calls augmented (hyper) reality, only it’s gone completely out of hand.

If we’re not careful, this could easily happen some day. It almost gives me a seizure… ( I like the Farrah Fawcett poster on the wall though. Really nice touch)

It really makes you question what our personal limitations will be and what they will either reject or accept when technology gets to this point.

Because of the business I am in, a lot of people have been asking me about what I think about the new, long awaited Apple iPad that was just announced this week.

Well, I have to say that I am both very excited about the potential and possibilities this thing has as well as just a little disappointed, all at the same time.

Before I get into that though, first, I would like to get something off my chest and say this:
Just what is the deal with so many people publicly slamming Apple about this thing??? Why the animosity?

Just as soon as it came out, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the blogs were exploding with negative comments, even from Apple users.

Are people really that spoiled? More like completely naive, if you ask me…

I’ll admit, it didn’t completely blow my doors off with any new and unexpected, groundbreaking technology, (note the word “unexpected”) and for that I was a little disappointed after all the hype and build up and all. I’ll even admit I expressed my disappointment and laughed at some of the negative humor. (I do have a sick sense of humor…)

But you know what? I am even more disappointed because what people are failing to acknowledge is, this is still an amazing piece of technology and it will change things in a big way. It also has a lot of potential to make a lot of people, a lot of money.

So, you can say whatever you want about them but I guarantee you, Apple is not stupid, and they do have a plan. The iPad has a purpose, people still just don’t get it.

It’s funny because I seem to remember about 95% of the people I talked to before the iPhone was released who had no clue about the potential and they were just as naive and resistant to the thought of an Apple phone. (You know who you are…)

Even after it came out, people still didn’t get it. I think it took another year before anyone had a clue, but it wasn’t until they actually could hold it and use it and let the media and public opinion sway them into it.

Well, I saw the potential in the iPhone, and I see the same kind of potential with the iPad. It might not hit with a bang like the iPhone did, but i’m pretty sure it will sneak in.

People are like sheep after all. You put something new and strange and confusing in front of their face and say, look isn’t this cool, and most people will just scrunch up their noses and say, uh… I don’t know… it’s kind of weird… hmm… ebooks… I don’t know…

Then, unfortunately untill they “get it”, they’ll all just sit around like a bunch of monkeys and laugh and screech and bang it with a rock until someone with enough social clout like hmmm… Paris Hilton (?) puts one in front of the camera all bedazzled, covered in jewels and says its “OK” to get one… only then, will people get one, use it and then actually “get it”.

(sigh…)

Until then though, PLEASE do everyone who actually has a clue a favor, and SHUT UP, stop complaining like a bunch of spoiled children who didn’t get enough sprinkles on their ice cream cone and pay attention and be patient.

You might learn something!

(Note the word “Learn” for future reference)

- See you soon.

I almost forgot about this one! Back when I was just learning Flash like, 10 years ago, I thought it would be cool to make a vintage drum machine looking loop player to show off some samples. I never finished it, so it doesn’t do much, but maybe now that I found it again on an old backup disk, I can spend a little time on it and actually make it do something.

Oh yay! Another project…

I just wanted to take a second and wish everyone a happy new year. Besides the fact the 2010 is a visually pleasing number, I just have a good feeling about it.

On another note, despite all the cold weather, the resulting cabin fever is providing me with a fresh wave of musical inspiration, probably more so than in the last 5 years, so since my main new years resolution was to make more music, this is a good thing. Here’s a video of the new year fireworks in front of my building.

Cheers!

Yesterday, I came to the conclusion that we are all doomed and the financial world is going to hell, not in a hand basket, but in a snow shovel.

Let me explain…

Last night I had the joyous experience of trudging downtown through 6 inches of dirty, slushy, sloppy snow to finish up my last minute holiday shopping.

Hoping for some relief from the muddy slop when I finally reached a dignified, more trafficked shopping area, i was shocked to find out that there would be no relief.

In the midst of all the Gucci, Prada, iPhones and Starbucks, apparently NONE of the shop keepers managed to shovel any snow outside of their businesses.

Not one!

The result was a once beautiful town square being replaced instead with a sloppy mud pit, filled with hoards of insane holiday shoppers splashing and stampeding through the shops and malls, all the while dragging the slop with them.

The floors and carpets of every store were basically destroyed and replaced with a dirty, dangerous, slip and slide of ruined products, cranky shoppers and twisted ankles. No joy in Mudville…

To make matters even worse, once I navigated the madness and found an item I wanted to purchase, I had to wait at the store counter for about 20 minutes for help, because instead of helping customers and making SALES (resulting in PROFIT), on average, 2 employees were tasked full time with running mops and wet vacs, trying to maintain the muddy carnage.

What the HELL??

Not one shop keeper had the sense to take 5 minutes to run a shovel and sprinkle some salt outside their business entrance.

Not one lazy bastard had enough brains to even flip a couple bucks at some needy kid to sling some snow and clear a safe, clean path for their customers, freeing up valuable expensive sales staff hired to SELL.

Not one MORON manager made an attempt to make their storefront a welcoming, inviting place to shop, whereby standing out from all the rest of the pig styes with a statement of “Welcome! We care! We want you to shop here!”

Then, the cherry on top of my shopping slush cake of a day was when I passed by 2 different stores, who in fact actually SOLD SNOW SHOVELS, and get this…

One was closed!

The other… DID NOT SHOVEL THE SNOW in front of their door!!!

Now everything was perfectly clear…

There is an old business saying that goes like this:

“During a gold rush, a wise man is not he who digs but he who sells the shovels.”

I used to think that to be true but now I think that’s wrong.

It should say:

“During a gold rush, a shovel salesman is useless unless he can do his damn job right”

In the middle of an economic crisis, nothing says DOOM more than a Snow Shovel Store with snow covering the front door.

Next year when it snows, if you’re looking to find me, i’ll be that guy in the middle of downtown with a pile of shiny new snow shovels all marked up 500%. See you there.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

What the heck are QR Codes? A QR Code (or Quick Response code) is a matrix style graphical code similar to a bar code, invented by the Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994, as seen in the example. They can be read using a scanner and most recently by cameras on mobile phones with special software apps.

Originally designed to track parts in warehouses, they have since become very popular in Japan in much broader contexts, where they are used for huge mobile advertising campaigns.

Since QR codes can embed all types of data, they are now being used to contain URLs, messages, personal contact data and most recently as hyperlinks to identify objects in the physical world.

QR Codes have been big in Japan due to the fact that the mobile devices there are already equipped to read them. They use them everywhere, on billboards, vending machines, websites, advertising, even popular fashion, but up until now, the west has been slow to adapt due to mobile technology restraints.

All of that is all about to change though. Newer smart phones such as the iPhone Android and Windows Mobile now offer Code scanning apps, many of them for free, and that is causing some people to believe that 2010 could potentially be the year that the QR code finally hit mainstream in the west.

The New York Times broke a story this week about how Google in the coming weeks will be launching a new ad campaign featuring QR codes on stickers to be placed in the windows of locations found in their new Google Favorite Places. Scanning the codes opens up the location on Google maps.

This is just one recent example of how QR codes are slowly working into western mobile advertising, and I could go on and on about the potential future uses, such as Augmented Reality as seen for example in December’s Esquire Magazine Augmented Reality Issue.

For now I just thought I would make you aware of them and encourage you to keep an eye out, as I think a lot of cool things are soon to come.

I will definitely be writing more about QR codes in the near future.

What do you think?

Is QR Code usage just about to explode or is it really just a passing fad that will never take off in the west? I would love to hear your feedback.

More Articles on QR Codes:

• Get your own QR Code Here
• QR Codes: the next step in geek couture
• 5 Unique Uses for QR Codes
• Google mobile search about to get a lot more compelling with QR codes
• Augmented Reality Meets QR Codes

I am doing a little experiment and looking for some input specifically from online marketers regarding what your Follow Strategy and Behavior is on Twitter.

• Are you a conservative follower or are you a follow whore?
• Do you follow back everyone who follows you?
• Do you only follow a few people whom you are interested in?
• What is your criteria for following?
• What is your criteria for following back?
• Do you use following software? If so, what?
• Do you use follow autoresponder software? If so, what?
• Do you use multiple Twitter accounts for specific purposes?
• Are you targeting your Follow behavior or do you just go for mass?

Please share your input via the comments, as I am really interested in your opinions.

My wife bought me an Amazon Kindle (Amazon affiliate link) ebook reader for my 40th Birthday and I spent the last week getting used to it, so I decided to share a few thoughts.

Reasons

My main reason for wanting a Kindle is due to the fact that I live in Germany and being a huge non fiction reader, and since the English sections in the book stores here are small and mostly just filled with the latest best seller, crap fiction, I am pretty much always starved for decent non fiction (in English) beyond the internet.

Since the Kindle global wireless version offers immediate, free mobile access to the entire English based Amazon Store (anywhere in the world) pretty much anything I want in kindle format (books, magazines, newspapers) are usually one click and 30seconds away (depending on my wireless connection quality)

Another reason I wanted a Kindle is because (as anyone involved in internet marketing would attest to) you end up reading a ton of ebooks and pdf’s.  If you ever tried to spend the evening reading one on your glowing laptop screen, after about 20 pages, your eyes are burnt.  My wife and I also like to read in bed and the thought of nestling up next to my glowing hot laptop for a good read before slipping off to sleep is not so comfortable.

Since the Kindle is thin, lightweight and has that fancy digital ink screen, reading is much easier on the eyes and hands.

Pros

• The Kindle 2 is a much nicer looking design. The Kindle 1 was pretty hideous.
• The screen is nice, clear and easy to read.  I would still prefer some way to increase the contrast of the screen because, although the text is very sharp, in low light the grey background still makes it a little dark, and even maybe a little gloomy to read.
• The screen saver is cool because it is on even when the device is powered off.  When I pulled it out of the box the first time, i thought it was actually a sticker on the screen and tried to peel it off, but then realized it was the screen itself.  Kind of cool.
• Battery life is great.  With wireless turned off, i’m running a week so far with one charge and the battery indicator has only moved one notch down.
• The Whispernet works great and is pretty fast.  Much faster than my mobile wireless connection and browsing and downloading is nice and speedy.
• No monthly service plan is excellent and global access was the selling point for me since I live in Europe.
• The ability to preview chapters before you buy is nice.  I enjoy being able to flip through a book at the bookstore and this provides sort of a similar experience.
• The overall construction is solid and seems fairly well built in comparison to some other ebook readers I have seen.
• Text to speech is a nice addition, although the ability to purchase custom voices would be a cool feature much like some Navigation systems offer. (Like Yoda or sexy mistress… anyway…)

Cons

• I want a touch screen. Clicking buttons for next, back and menu is “ok” but we live in a touch screen world now and a touch page flip option would much more intuitive. It would also allow for a larger reading area with more screen real estate and non screen real-estate would be free for holding space wherever the user wants to without obstruction.
• Button orientation is still not perfect for me. I don’t like the design of the 5 way switch.  Pushing down on it to make a menu selection results in accidental selections.  I don’t like Menu and Back being so close to the 5 way switch.  Luckily I have skinny fingers but I can imagine that someone with larger fingers might have a much harder time using it. It also feels cheap and like i’m going to break it.
• Overall placement of the buttons (while better than the Kindle 1) still makes it hard to hold the device without touching a button. I tend to hold books from the bottom sides with my palm, or with my thumb on the bottom, and either way, a button or keyboard gets in the way. I think it would be better if all side buttons on the left and right were much higher on the device to allow for adequate palm holding area.
• My eyesight is pretty bad so even with glasses I have the font size set so that only one or 2 paragraphs fit on a screen.  i’ll probably wear out the next page button in a month or two. Good thing there is another one on the other side…
• Reading an imported PDF kind of sucks because you cant resize it without converting it, via either paying to mail it to yourself or with a 3rd party app (I use Stanza on Mac but a better recommendation would be welcome). Converting it usually screws up the page formatting and smashes all of the chapters together. Not cool considering I read a TON of pdf’s and well, it’s kind of an industry standard… Just deal with it Amazon… pdf isnt going away any time soon. Just let them work the way they’re supposed to.
• Having to pay to read free blogs is lame and i definitely will not do it.
• Device color options would be nice.  My experience with white colored devices is that they get dirty and stained too easily. A black Kindle would be welcome.
• Nice to have a built in browser to access Google and Gmail but burying the browser access under the “Experimental” label along with the audio in the menu is kind of lame. Either feature a browser or don’t. The experimental option just insinuates that it might go away some day, and that’s not cool.
• Same goes with audio and mp3’s. Just put it in the menu and dont bury it.  Or maybe some audio nav controls?

Thoughts

Robert Scoble brought up a good point.  There is no social network options available and the ability to comment and share information about books with friends and networks would be an excellent addition and maybe even good for marketing. Amazon and Goodreads should get married and have kids.

My gut feeling is this:  Amazon needs a touch screen now.  Like yesterday…

The Kindle is a great device but their UI could still use some work.  If Apple comes out with their rumored tablet and they manage to work out some way to make the screen behave similar to the digital ink to match the Kindle screen, i think the Kindle is going to have a big problem.

Only time will tell I guess. For now though, I am using the hell out of this thing, despite it’s quirks, and buying lots of books.

My opinion on the Kindle seems to be pretty on par with a lot of reviewers. There are a couple good reviews available from Robert Scoble and another site called K Design Works.

Update: I fund a great Kindle review here at: Ignore the Code

To learn more and check out the Kindle 2 for yourself Click Here (Amazon affiliate link)

Are you a Kindle user? If so, feel free to share your thoughts.