I posted about location-based tagging over at Marketing 2.0. Pretty soon everyone is going to be plastering 2D bar codes all over the place and instead of trying to remember a url, all you have to do is take a picture of the code with your phone, which will load the website address associated with the code. follow the link to see a code that connects to my LinkedIn profile. Very cool.
Social bookmarking site Delicious has finally re-launched after several false starts. I stopped using my browser bookmark system years ago, everything is in Delicious, viewable, sortable and discoverable by anyone. If you haven’t checked it out, you should, lots of great tags like social media, web 2.0 and whatever else floats your boat. Yum!
This is absolutely amazing. Mike Brown says:
You’re going to hear a lot more in the near future about “item-level intelligence.” This technology puts electronics: transistors, transmitters, etc. into ink that can be printed on everything.
Think about a consumer package good like a can of beans. The manufacturer puts the beans in a can and a printed label is put on the can. The ink on the label has transistors and transmitters in it so the bean manufacturer knows what ‘s in the can, the date of manufacture, and where the can has to go. The company that ships the can knows where the can is. The company that bought the beans knows when it gets to the warehouse and what store it is supposed to go to, and when it arrives. The store knows when it got on the shelf, AND WHEN A CUSTOMER PICKS IT UP TO LOOK AT IT, or buys it.
Thought that would grab you. Ink based paper antennas are positioned at the end of each aisle so the merchandising system can keep track of where the beans are moved (stop it).
Think of it as GPS for products.
Picks jaw up from floor and shakes head, wow.
WebInno summer edition is tomorrow, July 15th, at the Royal Sonesta in Cambridge. If you are into anything remotely related to the Internet, this is a must-attend event. The organizers have been soliciting ideas about how to improve the event, hopefully we’ll see improvements. Unfortunately I’m going to miss it, will be in Nantucket for a few days.
Heres are the presenters and my quick take on each.
Totspot – Adam Katz. kid-centric photo-sharing. My initial reaction is why would you have a separate place for kids? How many url’s does grandma need to know to keep track of her family? This is a great photosharing site acquisition. Who needs yet another destination?
WebNotes – Ryan Damico. Annotating web pages has been around forever. I remember looking at some stuff from MIT circa 2001 and there have been plenty of startups going after the space. Great idea that has never really caught on. Magnolia, Delicious and other social bookmarking sites could all do this and choose not to. I wonder why? Can you imagine what the front page of the New York Times would look like with annotations all over it? Needs a filter/reputation system, stat!
Zeer – Michael Putnam. Like Yelp for individual ingredients and an online shopping list and a “going green” resource all in one. I like the mobile phone version of my shopping list, spares me looking ridiculous ripping up my legal pad shopping list when I forget my pen. Make it an iPhone app and forget the healthy community stuff. Or focus on getting acquired by Peapod or wherever else lazy people get their groceries delivered.
Following those presentations, each of our “side dish” demonstrators will have an opportunity to give a quick 30-second overview of their service to the audience followed by a showcase of their company at tables spread throughout the periphery of the room during the unstructured networking portion of the evening:
211me – Robert DeFranco. Mobile mashup greetings cards, eco-friendly digital v-cards? Are you a business card or greeting card company, profile aggregator, centralized ID or what? Managed digital business cards? I guess someone will pay for it. Too many things to too many people, lacks focus.
WordChamp – Daniel Blumenthal. Online language learning. Cheaper Rosetta? 39,000 teachers from 194 countries, but what are their qualifications?
PaperG – Victor Wong & Roger Lee. Self-serve local advertising network. Lots of local media are using it, will it work outside of Boston?
Creaturepark / Ingeeni Studios – Michal Hlavac & Henry Kaufman. Smarter version of Webkins? No description of service easily available.
YouCastr – Ariel Diaz, Jeff Hebert, Matt Hodgson, & Brad Johnson. Self-serve sports broadcasting network. There are a dozen general community broadcasting competitors with sports channels, will a standalone network survive?
LuckyCal – Sanjay Vakil. I met Sanjay a few months ago. Very smart guy. LuckyCal finds events you might like based on your preferences.
Snipd – Alex Schliker. No information. Why even bother having a website if we have no idea what the service is?
Tikatok – Sharon Kan. Mad-libs for parents to create and publish stories for your kids. Part of me loves the idea but hates the lack of creativity. Is this better for kids than reading a classic children’s book?
As a special treat, Webnotes will be providing a “sneak peak” of their soon-to-be-launched service which is currently in closed private beta, and will be exclusively opening the service to WebInno attendees the day of the event. Snipd will also be sharing a pre-launch inside look at their service.
Everyone who is interested in web and mobile innovation is encouraged to attend the free event. Please RSVP (and find additional details) on the event page (http://webinno18.eventbrite.com/) if you plan to join us so we are able to print name tags and appropriately size the room.
I am definitely going to this event. If you’re around Boston on the 21st and interested in learning more about social media and building social networks, this is right up your alley.
On Monday, July 21, 2008, the Social Media Club Boston will be teaming with the AMA Boston to present a session on social networks. Join these two groups for “How to Build a Killer Social Network: Understanding and Optimizing Social Media.”
The event will start with a keynote presentation by John Moore, senior vice president and director of ideas and innovation at Mullen Media Hub. The presentation, in his words, will focus on “Social Networking 201″ — it assumes you know a little already about, for instance, LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace, but need to understand how to use them to reach customers, partners, employees and other important audiences. Following John’s keynote, Chris Brogan will lead a lively panel discussion exploring this topic in more depth. Panelists will include folks from Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as a few other social media-savvy folks, and they will discuss how to:
Join us at Boston’s newest hotspot, The Exchange Conference Center, located on the waterfront in Boston’s historic Seaport—with delicious summertime appetizers from Legal Sea Foods.
Date: Monday, July 21, 2008
Time: 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Free hors d’oeuvres from Legal Sea Foods. Cash bar.
Price: $35 for AMA Members; $60 for Non-Members; $25 for Students.
Place: Exchange Conference Center, Boston, MA 02141