NYCBigApps & Travel

Pretty cool, 2nd year running NYC has hosted NYC BigApps - a contest for developers to write applications on the new data provided by nyc datamine.

One of the winners this year (recently announced) was NYCPlanIt (and rather poor video here).  The app is very simple (you wont find yourself using it), but nevertheless an interesting approach likely to encourage future development. I think what's important is it's use of totally free and updated data sets... which is a game changer.

Data sets used:

Art facilities

Historical signs

Museums

Historic houses

Events

Zoo

Ice skating

Nature centers

Playgrounds

(Side note, if you have never checked out data.gov its an interested initiative from the fed govt to open up data.)

Online to Store: Online Advertising Drives Offline Sales

Have you tried an Internet-Enabled TV yet?

@Samsungtweets

 It's a totally new experience.

My parents just bought one from Samsung.  Immediately I felt it was much like a smart phone experience, (ie: using an Android or iPhone), yet in the comfort of laying on my couch and interacting with a 55 inch screen. Thus, I think it creates a great user experience - this market is really going to take off.

Samsung has created their own app store (accessible through the TV and web), with all of the major apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, Picasa, YouTube, and Google Maps. There were entertainment apps from Blockbuster and Netflix, and news apps from Accuweather and USA Today.  Their app store on the web is here.

The Facebook app was the worst of the apps, nothing loaded correctly or fast.  I thought the Picasa app was the best by far allowing you to easily see your picture albums on the big screen.

Implications?

It's an entirely new medium which we'll all be interacting with.  I don't think I was ever skeptical about Internet-Enabled TV in the past, I had just never used it before on my own couch.  It adds a whole new element to being a couch potato and I like it.

Yet there were exercise apps too, for when you need to burn some energy.

A pic of the TV:

A Look at New York State's CIO Initiatives

A friend of mine sent me a link to the New York State Senate's CIO page - http://www.nysenate.gov/department/cio. 

To be honest, this was really the first time I've checked out the State's technology and information office.  From what I've seen I must applaud their efforts at transforming government to allow information to be more open, accessible, and interactive. Though as a Albany outsider - it seemed most of the initiatives were too much of a "technology solution" and not enough of a "people solution".  They have new communication platforms, accounts on social networks, etc, but there can be much better user engagement.

On the Senate's page there were two things that stood out and that I didn't know existed:

• Open Legistlature - A NYS site that publishes all bills, meetings, transcripts, etc for the public to view and comment on.  This is amazing for obvious reasons - but the public doesn't know about this - we have to do a better job getting this out there.
• BillBuzz - allows you to receive updates on legislation when the public posts comments on Open Legislature.

There is also a link to a video from "Capital Camp" a NYS summit on technology and information hosted in August 2010.  The video is 3 hours long, a little too long, I skimmed parts of it out of curiosity.

• 1:00:00 (an hour into the video) - finally is an overview of what the State CIO office is doing. It's a good for about 10 minutes.
• Do you know who the New York State CIO is?  She is Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart.  Try watching from 1:10:00 (an hour and 10 minutes into the video).

My criticisms - these efforts I've seen are all great, but it seems like the government is still years behind the curve with their "conversations" with people.  Do they really get how to interact with the public?  Does a 3 hour YouTube video do much good?  Can the build better themed YouTube channels to keep the public continuously engaged? Can they build collaborative sites specific for "Capital Camp" and get people excited to attend?  Are too focused on the "technology platforms" and not focused enough on building "conversations" with people?  This is something I hope will improve over the coming years.

This has all gotten me more interested the state's tech initiatives, and have now found the CIO office's official website. http://www.cio.ny.gov.  There are lots of other initiatives on this page, such as "Empire 2.0" and "Enterprise IT Acquisition." There is also a 4 year CIO report which I'm going to read next, it can be found at http://www.cio.ny.gov/assets/documents/4-year-retrospective-report.pdf.

REPOST: Google Mobile Ads Blog: Media companies: stop thinking about mobile and st...

Google Mobile Ads Blog: Media companies: stop thinking about mobile and st...: "Last week I attended the L.A. Mobile Entertainment Summit which brought together some of the leading media companies such as Weather.com and..."

REPOST: Play of the year

Play of the year: "Over the last 13 weeks, we've seen over 2000 submissions pour in from people around the country, all looking to have their play make it onto ESPN's SportsCenter. We've thoroughly enjoyed the incredible catches, buzzer beaters, game-winning goals, and most of all, the indomitable displays of competitive spirit. That's what sports on YouTube is all about!

Along those lines, we're thrilled to announce the winner of the YouTube | ESPN Your Highlight Presented by AT&T, as determined by community voting, is this video of Jay Fleming of Nashville, TN, shot by his father:



Jay's inspirational video beat some tough competition - these are the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers, respectively:







We'd like to thank everyone who viewed and voted upon videos. And to everyone who submitted a video, we say: well played.

Andrew Bangs, Sports Manager, recently watched 'SLAP Magazine 'One in a Million' 2010 Episode 7'.

"

REPOST: 10 of our favorite AdWords innovations from 2010

10 of our favorite AdWords innovations from 2010: "As 2010 comes to a close, we’ve been reflecting on the ways that AdWords and online advertising as a whole have evolved over the past year. From the launch of new search ad formats on Google.com to Search Funnel reports that illustrate search behavior leading up to a sale, 2010 saw a number of new developments that we hope have made AdWords an even more powerful and effective way to reach your customers.

Here are 10 of our favorite new ad innovations from 2010:

1. AdWords Campaign Experiments: Experiment with bid, keyword, ad group and placement changes, then measure how they impact your campaign performance.
2. Search Funnels: Understand the Google.com search ad click and impression behavior leading up to a conversion.
3. Product Ads: Highlight your most relevant products with pictures and prices directly on the search results page with Product Listing Ads and Product Extensions.
Product Listing Ads
Product Extensions
4. AdWords Call Metrics: Include a Google Voice phone number in ads that appear on Google.com, and measure the number of phone calls generated by your AdWords campaigns.
Call Metrics
5. Click-to-call Phone Extensions: Make it easier for potential customers to reach you by including a clickable phone number in ads that appear on mobile phones with full Internet browsers.
Click-to-call phone extensions
6. Display Campaign Optimizer: Save time and increase conversions on the Google Display Network with this new automatic bidding and targeting tool.
7. Enhanced CPC: A bidding option that automatically adjusts the Max CPC bids that you’ve set based on the likelihood that your ad will convert, leading to more conversions and higher profit.
8. Broad Match Modifier: A keyword match type giving you more potential traffic than phrase match with comparable ROI.
9. AdWords Automated Rules: Save time by scheduling automatic changes to your AdWords account based on criteria that you specify.
10. Remarketing: Show your ads to users who’ve previously visited your website as they browse sites across the Google Display Network.

You’ll always find the latest features at Google Ad Innovations, a place to explore new Google advertising technologies, watch short video demos, and try out select new tools. We have even more in store for 2011 and look forward to sharing these innovations with you soon!
Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew

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