The Golden Gut Exists

Sam Harrelson on June 13, 2013

Why Don Draper Shouldn’t Be Your Ad Guy – Forbes: “As appealing as Don Draper’s (and your in-house guru’s) perfect instincts are, they are indeed fiction. Even experts often fail to correctly predict which ad will perform better than other ads. Chris Goward, founder & CEO of WiderFunnel and author of You Should Test That notes, ‘In every presentation I give to marketers, I ask them to vote on which test variation won. Remember, these are the cream of the crop of digital marketers. In most cases, their gut intuition is wrong.”

I would disagree with this.

As would Steve Jobs… sometimes you get what you pay for and you get a passionate person who knows that if you asked enough people what they wanted in a car, you would have gotten “faster horses” as a response.

There’s room for testing but don’t forget the innovators and the crazy ones.

We love data and testing. But we love guts, intuition, the liberal arts and humanity even more.

“The people who think they are crazy enough to change the world are the ones that do.”

Google Dominates, Facebook Rises and Apple Snores

Sam Harrelson on June 13, 2013

Impressive stats from Google as reported in a new eMarketer study…

Google Takes Home Half of Worldwide Mobile Internet Ad Revenues – eMarketer: “Google earned more than half of the $8.8 billion advertisers worldwide spent on mobile internet ads last year, helping propel the company to take in nearly one-third of all digital ad dollars spent globally, according to eMarketer’s first-ever figures on worldwide digital and mobile advertising revenues at major internet companies.”

Equally impressive is Facebook’s growth from a non-existent program in 2011 to having a small-but-significant chunk of mobile ad revenue in 2013 and beyond.

We’ll see if that holds as more competitors such as Twitter and Pandora (I did a double take there as well, but click through to see all the stats) continue to climb.

It’s no wonder why Apple wants to get into the mobile ad game.

Google Maps App and Mobile Discovery

Sam Harrelson on December 13, 2012

Smart piece that highlights some of the reasons we love the new Google Maps app on iOS and why it spells out the future of the (mobile) web…

Why Google Just Made iPhone King: Ads | Wired Business | Wired.com: “Google’s willingness to ship iOS apps could look smarter as time goes on. The company trounces Apple when it comes to all things cloud, not just maps and e-mail; its social network, search engine, and highly optimized data centers could give its iOS apps an even bigger edge in the coming years.”

Discovery means you’ll be able to “map” what your friends are liking, sharing and discovering themselves in an effortless and responsible manner. As we continue to kick the tires on the social web, we’re excited to see where this next discovery phase takes us.

Square and Disruption

Sam Harrelson on December 9, 2012

Square Gift Cards from Square on Vimeo.

We make no secret of our love for Square and the ability to democratize transactions to the point of making our on-the-go clients very very happy. We even gave them out as stocking stuffers to clients.

We couldn’t be more excited about Square’s new gift card functionality that will surely make a few of the great folks we work with happy as well (especially during the holiday season):

Square Introduces Gift Cards: The Slow Death Of Physical Credit Cards And Cash Continues | TechCrunch: “Today, payment service Square has introduced a new way to send gift cards, through its Square Wallet app. You can now go through all of the businesses that use Square to process payments, pick the right one for your friend or family member, and then purchase them a gift card of in amount of your choosing.”

It can only be a matter of time before Square gets acquired by Apple (I think). It’s an obvious partnership and makes sense given how disruptive Square is becoming to local payment industries.

Revenge of the Podcast on iOS6?

Sam Harrelson on June 26, 2012

I, for one, love the sound of this…

Starting In iOS 6, Apple Might Introduce Paid Podcast Subscriptions | Cult of Mac: “With iOS 6 this may all change. The new Podcasts app that Apple has released today contains a strange ‘Redeem’ button, similar to that found in the iTunes and App Stores, present only on devices running iOS 6. Currently, this makes no sense. All iTunes podcasts are free, and don’t require any sort of payment method. The presence of this button in iOS 6 could, however, point to a paid subscription model for podcasts starting with the release of the operating system in fall.”

I’ve downloaded the app on my test iPhone running the iOS6 beta and I’m very happy to say the least. Fantastic app and if these rumors are true, it could mean very big things for the world of performance marketing podcasts.

Vernier’s Physics App Blows My Mind

Sam Harrelson on February 7, 2011

Vernier Video Physics for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store: “Vernier Video Physics for iOS brings physics video analysis to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Take a video of an object in motion, mark its position frame by frame, and set up the scale using a known distance. Video Physics then draws trajectory, position, and velocity graphs for the object. Share video, graphs and data to facebook, your Photo Library and to your computer running Vernier’s Logger Pro software.”

I can’t tell you what this means to me as a teacher.

Wow.

We’re living in the future, folks.

Thoughts on Implementing iPads in a School

Sam Harrelson on January 30, 2011

Below are my/our notes from Friday’s visit to Saint Andrew’s School iDiscover21c 1 to 1 iPad implementation:

iPad Implementation Thoughts

The visit was coordinated by Apple, so it was also a great chance to pick their brains on both the technical aspects of iPad deployment in schools as well as broader philosophical questions about what the iPad means for education (though, of course, they wouldn’t speculate on iPad 2).

One of the most interesting observations I made while seeing 5th-12th grade classes of different disciplines work with their iPads was that the 8th graders in particular seemed much more competent at typing and manipulating objects on the iPad (without bluetooth keyboards). The 5th graders were still hunting-and-pecking on the iPad keyboards and the 10-12th graders seemed to prefer “thumb typing” with the iPads in portrait (vertical) orientation. I think that has everything to do with the technology those 13-14 year olds in 8th grade have grown with in their lifetime and they aren’t in the same transitional group as older kids. That’s also why I love teaching 8th grade.

As much of an Apple “fanboy” as I am and as much as I truly hope we do move ahead with something of an iPad implementation for our Middle School or even just a grade level (8th!), I’m far from sure about which path we’ll take. However, this whole process is making me a better teacher and parent as I weigh concepts like digital literacies. For that, I’m glad.

Headed to Apple Seminar at 1 to 1 iPad School

Sam Harrelson on January 25, 2011

Four of us from Spartanburg Day School are headed to Savannah on Thursday/Friday to see how St. Andrew’s School is running their 1 to 1 iPad program…

Apple – Education Seminars & Events – Digital Learning Environments in Action!: “St. Andrew’s School is one of the only K through 12 independent schools that is currently implementing a 1 to 1 iPad program for all students, preK through 12, as part of their new digital learning environment. During your visit, you will see how iDiscover 21c has engaged students and allowed them to take more responsibility for their own learning. You will meet with faculty, students, and administrators who will discuss the planning stages, infrastructure changes, rollout, and the overall impact on student learning.”

I’m sure I’ll be sharing more reflections before and after the event as we process our next steps in (hopeful) iPad implementation (at least for Middle School or 8th graders).

Exciting times.

Initial AppleTV Thoughts

Sam Harrelson on January 23, 2011

On much less than a whim and much more of a two year deliberation, I decided to take the $99 plunge and buy an AppleTV tonight.

After an initial 10 mins, I can say that it’s a game changer for how I consume and consider media.

Many people like to say that the iPad is a “consumption” device and is meant primarily to entertain rather than create. I think that is completely false and operates on assumptions about the creative process that aren’t valid in 2011.

The AppleTV, however, is a consumption device that does integrate well with the family of Macs, iPhones, iPads and Mac Mini’s that make up the neural network of computing in this house. It is a fantastic aggregation device for consuming the media that exists on those devices.

So yes… great purchase.

More reflections soon.