Slade Sherman

Connected Clothes Hanger with Facebook Likes

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:50:48 +0000

Here’s a new concept that combines elements of Crowd Saucing fashion sentiment with real world online connectivity.

This cool connected product by retailer C&A called FashionLike shows the number of ‘likes’ of a garment on a small screen on the hanger. The ‘like’ data comes from the C&A website.

Technorati Tags: Buzz Connected, Connected Products

Change the way you think…

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 04:01:02 +0000

If you are not being responsive to changing technology driven by the mobile phone you are groung to have a challenging future.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAuq6Hqkw48

Technorati Tags: Marketing Tips, Mobile Mesh

Connected Products in 2012

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 23:53:25 +0000

Something I prepared earlier on the innovation in connected products…enjoy!

Connected Products in 2012

View more PowerPoint from Slade Sherman

Introducing Buzz Connected

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:22:37 +0000

For more on some of the work I’m doing with Connected Products take a look at Buzz Connected.

Buzz Connected

Incorporating digital design and connectivity into product design and development.

Technorati Tags: Buzz Connected, Connected Products

Connected Products

admin — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:00:27 +0000

As the number of connected products increases from 4 billion now to 50 billion in 2020 I have been keeping track of innovations in the area. Check out my connected products page on Pinterest.

Uploaded with Skitch!

Technorati Tags: Connected Products

Rewards at Work

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:21:15 +0000

I came across this great infographic in Mashable on the Perks of Work when working for companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter and other Silicon Valley giants.

Click image to view the entire article!

It’s easy to see why employees of these companies rave about the culture and perks. When spread across the company, quality benefits like breakfast, entertainment activities and gym memberships can be significant in retaining your best employees and shifting the conversation away from pay rates.

Technorati Tags: Employee Loyalty, Membership and Loyalty

Epic Mix Leading The Way with Ubiquitous Check-in

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:39:10 +0000

Last year Vail Ski Resorts through ‘Epic Mix‘ trialled a program that used RFID technology in the ski pass to help skiers track and share their ski activity on the mountain. The video below explains how this works:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn0sfJPUH0c

The app is a great example of what I refer to as the ‘ubiquitous check-in’. By placing connected objects on the person or in the environment, the activity of that person can be monitored and then provided back to that person in a meaningful way. With Epic Mix, skiers never stop doing what they are doing but they get access to stats on their ski performance, photos and easy to use apps that help relive the excitement of their ski trip. Now compare the value of Epic Mix with a better known Check-in app, Foursquare:

Every person on the mountain with Epic Mix is automatically checked-in 100% of the time. The Foursquare picture is less complete with comparatively few users and infrequent check-in activity.
Epic Mix badges and awards are based on what you have done, rather than where you say you have been.
The value of ski performance stats, pictures and being able to share your story is much greater with Epic Mix.

Many have asked how leading check-in applications like Foursquare and Gowalla can evolve and become more relevant? Epic Mix, using smart UX, data, social graph integration and game design around a Ubiquitous Check-in, provides a good answer to this question.

Technorati Tags: Check In, Connected Products, Ubiquitous Check-in

Buy Now With Interactive Ads on The iPad

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:26:18 +0000

In my previous post on tablets, I made reference to interactivity on tablet computers and ‘interactive ads‘ is one area where the magazine or newspaper experience is being transformed.

With printed magazines you see an ad for that cool new product and you are interested. You finish reading the magazine and then… you may forget about the product; if you remember, you need to work out who sells it; you need to get in your car or hop onto the web to buy the product, arrange delivery etc etc.

Wired Mag on the iPad includes a product review section each month and readers have the opportunity to buy. You see the product, you like it, you tap ‘buy now’ and you are then directed to the store to make your purchase. No needing to remember, no running around, easy in app purchasing!

Below is a screenshot with a page featuring connected TV’s.

Tapping on the third TV opens up a ‘lightbox’ with product info and a ‘buy now’ option.

Clicking on ‘buy now’ takes you to a store (in this case Amazon) and you can purchase the product with one click shopping.

This interactive experience of purchasing is the future. If your ad is interesting and readers need to know more or want to buy…why shouldn’t they?

Technorati Tags: eCommerce, iPad, Online Strategies

Tablet Activity – Online Publishing Worth Paying For

admin — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:24:30 +0000

I came across an interesting study by Pew Research on the adoption of tablet usage and daily activity. Of 1159 tablet users surveyed, the report claims that 11% of Americans have purchased tablet devices since the launch of the iPad in March 2010. So what are they doing?

Some other interesting findings for tablet owners:

77% use their tablet every day.
14% have paid for news services on their tablet devices.
Over half tablet owners share the device in their family.
Only 23% reported preferring reading books vs. reading on the tablet.
Apple dominates with over 81% surveyed owning an iPad.

Is news worth paying for on a tablet device?

Yes and no. If publishers just churn out the same garbage that can be read on a web browser then there is no added value and attempts at charging a fee will fall flat resulting in poor customer lifetime value.

But if done well, the magazine reading experience far outperforms the experience of reading a magazine the traditional way. I love, and pay for, the experience Wired and Popular Science provide based on their use of integrated animation (see this month’s cover of Popular Science as an example), videos (for ad content or features), more intuitive layouts (that do not have the restrictions of traditional print) and interactivity (tap for more content). Publishers who think about the user experience in their niche and develop new ways to interact around the tablet device will be the winners as more and more people engage with tablet devices.

Technorati Tags: iPad, Mobile Apps, Mobile Mesh, Tablets

Internet Trends 2011 – MobileWeb

admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:14:47 +0000

One of the dramatic internet trends in 2011 is the growth of Mobile Web. As of Q2, 2011, the number of 3G mobile subscribers globally is 936MM with 35% Y/Y growth. This still represents just 17% of mobile phones out there!

Smart phones are now outselling regular mobile phones in the US and Europe. In coming years the number of smart phones will continue to increase as a % of the total handsets sold and by 2015 over 50% of web usage will be via the mobile.

Already, applications like Pandora, Twitter and Facebook have a high percentage of their traffic coming from mobile web and apps (as the chart below indicates) and Google search on mobiles has increased four fold in the last 12 months.

There are things every business large and small can do to prepare for the mobile web:

Make sure your business or service is searchable from your smartphone. Try a Google search!
Check if your website is mobile web friendly.
Optimise your paid search advertising for mobile. The mobile experience is different!
Think about a mobile app for your business.
Mobile is personal, think social!

Technorati Tags: Mobile Mesh, Web2.0 Weapons