Open up your mind and say, ahh...

In 2005, whether you were using a dumb phone with T9 Word or a BlackBerry with a physical keyboard, you were probably texting without looking at your phone, at least occasionally. It was just part of the times, like Brick Breaker, or Nelly. Then, in 2007, the iPhone showed up with its bold, buttonless design and erased all of that functionality. Texting suddenly became a two-thumb, eyes-on affair–a Dark Age of text entry we’re still suffering through today. Fleksy wants to change that. And what sets it apart from all the other alternative keyboard apps is that, from the moment you try it, you get the sense that it just might be able to.

Ioannis Verdelis and Kostas Eleftheriou, the two Greek computer scientists behind Fleksy, didn’t just set out to make a better touch-screen keyboard. They set out to make one as good as the keyboards we were using in 2005–or at least to make one that lets us type as well as we were on those infinitely more primitive devices. Their software is currently available in beta for Android and as an iOS app, and while it’s still rough in places, that core, no-look functionality is already there to a remarkable extent. I loaded up Fleksy on my iPhone, directed my gaze elsewhere, and thumbed in my best approximation of the word “difficult.” Without having to learn anything new, and without letting the app figure out what kind of thumb-typist I am, and without even pausing at first to make sure my fingers were lined up in any particular way beforehand, Fleksy got it right on the first try.

The founders claim Fleksy can recognize words even if you miss every single letter in them. Or if you’re not even typing on the keyboard section of the screen at all. The reason it’s able to do so, Verdelis explains, is that in addition to using conventional autocorrect cues like context and word frequency, Fleksy was built from scratch to accommodate the sorts of errors we make on our mobile devices. Errors, unsurprisingly, that are totally different from the ones we make on our laptops–and ones that demand a totally different approach to autocorrection.

“Most other touch-screen keyboard technologies, including those built-in and most third-party ones, use technology that derives from research done for Microsoft Word and hardware keyboards,” Verdelis says. Essentially, those keyboards look at the buttons, or letters, you tap, and then attempt to suss out your intended words from there. But on a smartphone, that’s a problematic approach for one huge reason: Those touch-screen buttons don’t really exist, and we’re not very good at using them.

On our laptops, the tiny bumps on the “F” and “J” keys keep our fingers oriented. With time, you learn to find them every time you put your index fingers down on the keyboard, and your other digits just fall in place naturally. Touch-screen keyboards don’t offer this type of tactile feedback, so our thumbs can never be sure where they are–at least not without our eyes double checking. As a result, we’re not missing letters every so often on our smartphones; we’re missing them as a matter of course. Occasionally, we drift off and miss entire words at a time.

But still, that doesn’t mean we’re typing poorly. We’re just not typing in quite the right place. “A user will be typing,” Verdelis explains, “and the overall pattern of the word might be the same, but he’s missed all the buttons because his finger has been 10 pixels up … So rather than look at buttons, which don’t exist, we look at where you touched the screen and the pattern of the words you’re trying to type.” That’s Fleksy’s secret sauce. Instead of looking at the on-screen buttons you happen to be tapping, it looks at the patterns between those taps and from them deduces what you meant to type. It erases the very possibility of not typing in the right place.

The solution is a smart one, and it’s clearly effective. But for the last several months, Fleksy has had the added benefit of being in the hands of a large, concerted group of test users: the visually impaired. The developers introduced an early version of the app to the blind community last summer at a conference for the National Federation for the Blind, and they quickly amassed a user base numbering in the thousands that has generated a great deal of insight, feedback, and, of course, raw typing data.

For the rest of us, though, the current version of Fleksy will only be so useful. The Android beta is the newer of the two versions, so it still needs considerable polish, and the iPhone version, shackled by Apple’s unwillingness to let users swap in alternative keyboards on a system-wide level, is constrained to a standalone app. And while the word-to-word accuracy is astonishing right from the start, that iOS version version relies on a somewhat complicated series of swipes for spaces and punctuation–upping the learning curve for true adoption considerably.

Verdelis hopes that someday Apple might reverse that policy, but he and Eleftheriou think there’s plenty of room for their technology to flourish regardless. In fact, their real vision is for Fleksy to become not just a replacement available to users but a replacement for suboptimal stock keyboards at large. Verdelis says he and his partner have seen “incredible interest” from hardware manufacturers about building the app into next-gen smartphones, and they’re currently in talks with a handful of potential partners. Hopefully that pans out. We could certainly use a more enlightened way to text.

Android users can grab the beta here; the iOS app is available in the App Store here. More on the app can be found on the Flesky site.

Illustration: Shutterstock

Josh Tolan is the CEO of Spark Hire, a video-powered hiring network that connects job seekers and employers through video resumes and online interviews. Connect with him and Spark Hire on Facebook and Twitter.

You’ve researched the company and practiced your interview answers. What else is there to worry about? Unfortunately, many candidates flub their interview attire and make themselves undesirable hires in the process. Here are some of the worst fashion horror stories and what you can learn before you suit up for your next job interview:

You’re Not an Employee Yet

Companies come in all different shapes and sizes — and all different levels of formality. One of the biggest mistakes job seekers make is to show up for the interview dressed like an employee instead of a candidate.

“Since we’re a casual work environment with no dress code, we occasionally get the candidate that matches our attire and it comes off as overly presumptuous, overconfident or just plain sloppy,” said August Nielsen, HR Manager of Veterans United Home Loans.

Instead, you should dress for a job at least one rung on the career ladder above the one for which you’re applying. This will be highly impressive to your interviewer and show just how seriously you’re taking this opportunity. Plus, it will convey the message to your potential employer that you’re interested in moving up and bettering yourself.

“I also interviewed a guy that wore old tennis shoes with a suit. What was that all about?” Nielsen wondered. “They weren’t even new tennis shoes.”

Remember, the interview is not the right moment to try out a quirky new style. You’re not Mark Zuckerberg, and hoodies or old tennis shoes won’t make an impressive interview statement.

You Forgot Your Pants

A recent survey showed six out of ten companies use video interviews in the hiring process. So, chances are, you’ll have one — and you can’t afford to think the video interview is somehow less formal than a face-to-face meeting — it’s not.

Just because the interviewer is looking directly at your top half doesn’t mean you can ignore what you wear below the waist.

“We had a candidate who was very impressive from the waist up,” said Sandi Webster, Principal for Consultants 2 Go. “However, he had to run to his printer for a sheet we had sent and he was wearing pajama bottoms.”

It’s important to dress exactly as you would for any in-person meeting. While video interviewing provides the luxury of interviewing from home, you should still present yourself as if you’re going to the office. Not only does it help you avoid the pajama debacle, but also it helps give you a psychological edge. If you’re dressed for the part, you’ll be more likely to act the part, as well.

You’re Repping Other Companies

Because your clothes tell a story about your candidacy, if you don’t pay attention to the small details, employers will think you’ll miss the big picture on the job as well.

“If you’re interviewing at LL Bean, don’t wear J. Crew. If you’re interviewing at CNA Insurance, please don’t carry a portfolio emblazoned with the Prudential logo,” said Lida Citroen, branding specialist and founder of LIDA360. “These small missteps make the interviewer question your attention to detail and commitment to going the extra mile for the job.”

Instead, keep things neutral. It’s good practice to stay away from loud prints or company logos altogether, which might be a distraction anyway. So, swap your branded briefcase for a plain case to avoid any issues.

You Didn’t Check the Thermometer

Job interviews make many candidates extremely nervous. If you live in a hot climate or your interview is during a hot summer day, this can be a recipe for a sweaty disaster.

Resume writer and career counselor Gaye Weintraub remembers a job candidate who showed up for the job interview with professional attire that was too tight, and he had giant sweat stains under his arms.

“While he dressed appropriately for his interview, it was difficult to get past the sweat stains and his unbelievably red face. I felt sorry for him, which is not the type of reaction any job seeker wants from an interviewer,” Weintraub said.

It’s important not to forget you are only human, and the combination of nerves and raising temperatures can be lethal. Instead, Weintraub advises candidates to bring an extra shirt along if the temperatures rise and the candidate is prone to sweating. This way, job seekers can change in a nearby bathroom before the interview and appear fresh and ready for the actual meeting.

“I tell my clients that it takes an interviewer only a few seconds to form an opinion of them. It is imperative that when they walk into the room, they are well-groomed, well-dressed, smell nice and have a smile,” Weintraub said.

You Treated the Interview Like a Tailgate

You want to dress for your interview, not for your next social engagement. Catherine Bell, former fashion designer and President of PRIME Impressions tells the story of how a man showed up for a mass interview for Sears wearing shorts and a sleeveless tank top. To top it all off, he was also holding an open can of beer in his hand.

“He obviously had another agenda outside of landing a job that day,” Bell said.

Carving out time in your hectic life for an interview can be tough, especially if you already have a job keeping you busy. It’s important, however, to focus all your attention on the interview at hand, instead of what else you have going on for the rest of the day. Turn off your mobile devices so nothing will beep, vibrate or chirp during your interview. And if you’re planning on tailgating after your interview, leave the drinks in the cooler.

If you can avoid some of these fashion pitfalls, you’ll be able to impress hiring managers with your appearance, so what you wear doesn’t detract from what you say.

What are some of the worst job-interview fashion mistakes you’ve seen? Share in the comments.

Facebook launched Developers Live Wednesday, a new way for developers to stay on top of everything Facebook.

An extension of Facebook’s existing developer’s site, Facebook says the new live portion of the site will be a “central place to learn about the latest tools and to get access to product manager and engineers who created them.”

The curated video channel will include live as well as recorded broadcasts, often with an interactive element for developers to get questions answered by Facebook staff. Videos on growing your mobile app and Graph Search have already been added to the site’s video library.

The first live event, What Developers Need to Know in 2013, will be held Feb. 19 at 10:30 a.m. PST/1:30 p.m. EST. Hosted by Doug Purdy, Facebook’s director of platform product, mobile, web, and gaming developers will hear first hand what the social network believes they should be thinking about this year. He will also answer developer’s questions.

Developers can RSVP for the event on Facebook.

Photo by Mashable, Emily Price

Your customers are not only becoming increasingly social, their digital lifestyle is fueled by mobile devices. Whether it’s a smart phone or a tablet, they are masters of the small screen experience and accomplished in the art of communicating with both their thumbs and their voice. The most riveting facet of the mobile revolution is not only what we’re witnessing, it’s what we’re missing in these important times of transformation.

These connected customers or Generation C as I refer to them are critical to your organization beyond their role of consumer. They are increasingly taking over the inside of your company as your everyday workforce. So in many ways, we are the very people we’re trying to reach. And, to do so takes standardization, transformation, and empowerment. This is the dawn of the mobile enterprise and as a result, digital strategists must think beyond the idea of a social business. Now’s the time to lay the foundation for an adaptive enterprise where mobile becomes one of the pivotal screens for employee and customer engagement, communication and collaboration. Without leadership and standardization however, employees will use their mobile devices as part of their work, but do so without regard or knowledge of best practices on what to do and what not to do and how it aligns with corporate policies and security.

Chris Silva, my colleague at Altimeter Group, just released a new report, “Power to the People: Identify and Empower Your Mobile Workforce A Three-Phase Strategy to Serve Mobile Workgroups.” It was written with the intention of helping businesses better understand the state of the mobilized workforce and how to increase productivity while empowering the connected employee.

As Silva noted in his post announcing the report, “My collaborator and editor Jeremiah Owyang and I began with a hypothesis that, as the age of mobile = email has come to a close, are mobile employees being served with the proper applications to make them be more productive? Our guess was that they weren’t, and largely, rollouts are just getting started but there are already some lessons to be learned. The most important is that different roles have different needs from mobility, and determining who is using mobile today, and what their needs are from mobile is the first step to a defensible mobility plan.”

As always, a successful mobile rollout examines employee and customer expectations, business goals, and long-term trends to develop a strategy that looks beyond Blackberries, iPhones and iPads and Droids. One of Silva’s observations hits the new mobile opportunity squarely between the eyes, “Within one large law firm that we spoke with, in the course of one year, the company went from 100% BlackBerry devices for mobile users to just 5% — the other 95% were all iPhones. As mobile application ecosystems continue to flourish, supporting mobile users is no longer about email.”

In his report, Silva lays out a three step process to choose the right tools and ultimately develop the construct of a mobile and adaptive enterprise…

1. Conduct a mobility audit

2. Examine Roles

3. Partner Choice

His research encourages those leading technology strategies to start with understanding the constituencies inside the organization. As executives, technical workers, and contractors have varying needs for mobile productivity, they do share the need to stay connected and productive wherever whenever.

Silva’s research identified three common internal roles around mobile engagement…

1. Information Worker: Need = consume

2. Field/Sales Worker: Need = collaborate

3. Executive/Technical Worker: Need = compute

Consume: Users inside of organizations are looking to access corporate information on the go. These information consumers are seeking information that is accessible and digestible on their device of choice.

Collaborate: Workers may be creating information in the field, such as notes, drawings, recordings, and photos, and need a path to access and store information on corporate data stores. Current tools in place, such as Microsoft SharePoint, rank poorly among these users and IT departments due to a lack of support for popular mobile platforms.

Compute: Heavy travelers and temporary workers (like contractors) are looking to tablet devices to be the only piece of tech they carry day-to-day. An emerging class of solutions aims to give these users access to the enterprise applications, the corporate desktop, or both from the tablet or even smartphone the user is toting.

Participating organizations were then asked to rank their mobile challenges. Collaboration associated with remote/field professionals ranked at the top of the list with 61% followed by those who need access to complex computing tasks at 27%.

To help businesses grasp the state of mobile chaos within the organization, Silva leaves decision makers with three actionable steps to assess, learn, and design an informed and scalable mobile enterprise…

1. Conduct an audit for level-set: Before embarking on user identification and role analysis, the initial and most critical step is to perform a level-set. The question to answer is what are the devices and who is using them?

2. Understand user needs by conducting detailed stakeholder interviews and human factors analysis: The analysis completed in step 1 will highlight favorite tools, but as Silva cautions, they may not be the ideal choices for the long term.

3. Choose the right solution by creating a weighted partner model: Inputs form the previous two steps will help identify the platforms that demand support, as well as the groups most in need of mobility.

With all of the talk about social media and the need to create an infrastructure to support a social enterprise, we cannot overlook the importance of mobilizing the workforce. Doing so enables employees to more effectively collaborate with team members within to improve collaboration with customers externally.

In the battle for your mobile wallet one company has been noticeably silent: Apple.

Google has its own mobile payment service: Google Wallet, and Microsoft even announced in June that it would be adding a digital wallet service with NFC capabilities to Windows Phone 8 that would store credit card and mobile payment information.

So, where is the world’s favorite fruit company?

In its announcement of iOS6 mobile payments were left off the agenda. The company unveiled Passbook, a service for keeping track of tickets and coupons, but not credit cards.

According to the Wall Street Journal, some Apple engineers fought for mobile payment functionality. However, the decision –- a very intentional one -– to leave mobile payments out of iOS 6 was made anyway.

The reason?

“Apple is always a comfortable number two,” said Piper Jaffray Analyst Gene Munster to the Wall Street Journal. “They let their competitors do their market research for them.”

Mobile payments are expected to hit $600 billion worldwide by 2016; however, most mainstream consumers are still not adopting them. NFC, the technology that allows you to tap your phone on a surface in order to pay, also isn’t expected to be available in most merchants for another few years.

According to the WSJ, Apple doesn’t want to be the one facilitating mobile credit cards payments when the service isn’t ready, for fear that customers will blame Apple for merchant’s failures during the process. Under that logic, we may not see Apple deploy NFC or mobile payments in the iPhone for some time, and especially not in the upcoming iPhone 5.

What do you think about NFC? Would you like the ability to make payments by taping your iPhone at a point of sale or is the technology still a little too new for your comfort? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Via Mashable: http://www.mashable.com

Scott Forshay is a luxury and premium brand marketing consultant and mobile strategist who’s been featured in PSFK, Luxury Daily, Fashion’s Collective, Business of Fashion and The Wall Street Journal. He is the creator and editor of mobi.luxe. Follow him @mobiluxe.

The essence of any coveted brand is the story it conveys. The elements of heritage, craftsmanship, and creative innovation combine with a vision of an aspirational lifestyle that inspires the desire to associate with that brand.

Historically, this vision was realized on a print canvas, but the rise of digital has created new opportunities. Through video and other forms of brand content, luxury brands have become media companies and content marketers selling a vision of an exclusive lifestyle attainable only by a select few. This new media has not, however, been effectively translated for the mobile audience.

The mobile device requires brand marketers to rethink engagement strategies and devise innovative campaigns that leverage the medium for effective mobile-content marketing. The challenge lies in enticing mobile users. Here are four ways to do that.

1. Produce Content in Episodes

Resist the temptation to unveil the entire story in a single instance. By breaking down the narrative into episodes, the audience has a reason to keep coming back. This approach essentially creates a desire to continue following the story as it unfolds.

2. Communicate in an Intriguing Way

Regardless of the communication mechanism employed, be it a mobile ad, SMS, or in-app push notifications, messaging should be intriguing and subtle. Be cryptic about what awaits the audience if they choose to participate. Creating mystery through veiled communication fuels desire to see what is on the other side.

3. Allow Customers to Participate

Take the consumer on a journey with the narrative. Provide sophisticated clues to challenge the audience by using the outside world as your canvas. Clues could exist on billboards, on buildings, or in taxis. By adding a sophisticated element of game mechanics you allow the audience to become players in the campaign.

4. Reward with Exclusivity

The luxury consumer seeks priority access to, and deeper levels of intimacy with, the brands they most covet. The lure of exclusivity is the most effective mechanism for pulling on the heartstrings of this highly-sought consumer and forming greater connections. Rewarding a select group of participants creates desire for brand association through exclusivity.

Image: Cadillac

LOS ANGELES, California – The brand once known as the “Standard of the World” has fully embraced the Standard of Geeks for it’s latest play for the hearts, minds and cash of the upwardly mobile. This is the all-new 2013 Cadillac XTS, and while it certainly isn’t your great-great (great) grandfather’s Cadillac, it’s designed to appeal to everyone from octogenarians to their baby-boomer spawn, and maybe – just maybe – even you…

While the XTS’ spate of processors and controllers isn’t running the open-source offspring of Linus Torvalds, the game-changing infotainment intender known as the Cadillac User Experience (CUE) is.

Buried deep within the dash is a three-core, ARM 11 processor, powering two displays: one eight-inch capacitive touch screen – the first non-resistive display to come to a production car – and a second, 12.3-inch fully-configurable instrument cluster mounted behind the steering wheel. Two of those cores adapt on the fly to handle voice commands powered by the same Nuance technology used by many automakers, along with Apple’s personal assistant, Siri. But with CUE, everything is processed on-board.

Because of that trick bit of natural voice recognition technology, and specifically its ability to listen for commands in-line, inputing addresses and performing point-of-interest searches is easily the best we’ve ever experienced in a modern vehicle.

Image: Cadillac

Rather than breaking out each portion of an address into dedicated fields, you simply have to speak an address (say, “123 Main Street, Cupertino, California”) and CUE is smart enough to recognize the entire address in one shot. More impressive is the system’s ability to take local searches – everything from “I need coffee” to navigating to a restaurant – process the voice command within a few seconds and deliver a result.

CUE is one of the most attractive infotainment systems to date

This came in particular handy while trying to make our way to the test-drive lunch stop. Instead of having to look up the address, input it into the navigation system and wait for the routing to begin, we simply said the name of the restaurant and seconds later it was dialed into the nav. And even though we stumbled on our words, pausing momentarily and stuttering in the process, it still recognized where we were trying to go. That’s a first and it’s something we can’t wait to see proliferate throughout other production vehicles.

This same functionality extends to the app and audio integration, allowing the driver to say “Play Rolling Stones Radio” in Pandora or “I want to listen to 88.5″ without ever having to touch the screen, twist a knob or punch a button.

Which is good, since there are few knobs or buttons to speak of.

Images: Cadillac

Aside from the redundant controls on the steering wheel (and there are several), the entire center panel is made up entirely of capacitive, chrome-clad touch controls. The lower panel – which mechanically tilts upward to reveal a hidden compartment for stowing a phone, along with two USB ports for plugging in your mobile, MP3 player or thumb drive – houses controls for volume, climate, seat heating and cooling, plus “home” and “power” controls. Unfortunately, the very nature of capacitive switchgear means there’s a subtle lag between pressing a “button”, registering the input, delivering a haptic pulse, sending said input to the system and then eliciting a change in fan speed or volume level. It’s the same gripe we have with the MyFord Touch system – further proof that good ol’ knobs are still the best way to go, despite their lack of gee-wizardry.

And this same lack of responsiveness can occasionally be felt when navigating the eight-inch central display.

While the overall polish of the system is more than enough to impress, there’s still a perceivable lack of smoothness and immediacy

While the overall polish of the system is more than enough to impress, there’s still a perceivable lack of smoothness and immediacy when switching through menus, navigating pages and swiping between screens. The situation is exacerbated by the occasional misinterpreted press on the screen, a product of small touch points that don’t always register where you expect them.

Equally jarring is CUE’s ability to detect when your hand moves within eight inches of the screen, which then pulls up a series of configurable virtual buttons for everything from radio presets to frequently navigated addresses. When you pull away, the controls fade into the background.

It’s impressive to watch the system recognize your hand’s proximity to the screen and then display a series of controls that would make the display look otherwise cluttered, but having some of these items statically placed seems like a more intelligent user interface choice for frequently selected options. That’s one of the many reasons Cadillac is providing an iPad with every 2013 model to help consumers navigate the new system.

Image: Cadillac

General smoothness aside, CUE is one of the most attractive infotainment systems to date, mixing 3D graphics with color icons and a beautifully rendered mapping display. And while the app selection is limited for now, with only Pandora, Stitcher and a pre-installed OnStar app available at launch, Cadillac tells Wired that an app store is on the way. Java and HTML5 are make up the core frameworks, so once developers are granted access to the SDK, Cadillac expects as many as 30 apps to be available within the next year.

But while we had our issues with CUE (growing pains, we’re sure), the configurable display that takes the place of traditional gauges behind the steering wheel never failed to impress.

Image: Cadillac

Four different designs are available, beginning with a simple, three gauge cluster with engine revs on the left, speed in the center and fuel, coolant and phone/navigation/audio on the right. It’s the most traditional display and what most drivers will feel immediately comfortable with.

The second display nixes all the round gauges for a digital speedo at the top, navigation instructions below and other assorted information flanking the sides, while an even more simple display – obviously aimed at some of Cadillac’s aging drivers – only shows speed, fuel level and a few other must-haves.

Finally, there’s a more enthusiast-friendly option, with an oversized tachometer and speedo, partnered with a 3D rendering of the vehicle along with tire pressures, engine temp, navigation and audio controls, all displayed clearly and vividly for the driver. We stuck with the latter during the majority of our drive.

All this tech is pretty useless if the vehicle surrounding it isn’t up to snuff. And here Cadillac has a winner, even though the XTS won’t send chills down the spines of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Image: Cadillac

The exterior is an odd blend of bold and bland, while the interior is a beautifully appointed mix of leather, wood and contrast stitching (the purple thread in the Platinum models has to be seen to be appreciated). There’s ample room for four people (five in a pinch), with leg and shoulder room abound, and a thoughtful, conservative approach to luxury that’s been utterly lacking from most American automakers. The XTS’ feels a bit more Japanese than German in execution, but injects a bit of emotion into an otherwise bland segment of upmarket rides.

The overall length is on par with Audi’s range-topping, standard wheelbase A8, but the interior dimensions and general size is more closely competitive with the slightly smaller A6, along with the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

A 3.6-liter V6 engine putting out 304 horsepower and 264 pound-feet of torque is either sent to the front wheels or all four depending on the trim, and no V8 option is planned, despite most of the XTS’ closest competitors offering some form of big or boosted drivetrains. A six-speed automatic is standard across the range, which nets acceptable fuel economy, despite coming in a few cogs short of other luxury players.

Image: Cadillac

We spent time in both a Platinum all-wheel-drive model and a front-driven “base” version, and found both to be pleasing steers that eschew the wafting heritage of past Caddys thanks to a rigid chassis and the standard fitment of Magnetic Ride Control, the same suspension technology that keeps the Corvette ZR1 and Ferrari 599 stuck to the road. The front-wheel-drive model felt more floaty due to the lack of additional grip and weight in the rear, while the all-wheel-drive version was far more planted and – dare we say it – mildly sporty. The steering and brakes were equally at home while navigating the congested confines of Los Angeles – they might not be as composed as the impressive suspension, but are easily up to the task at hand.

But what exactly is that task?

For Cadillac, the XTS is an attempt to reassert itself as the Standard of the World, and that starts with a competent chassis, a plush interior and a revolutionary in-car entertainment system. But with Cadillac still lacking a proper flagship to go up against the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes S-Class, it’s still a ways away from regaining its former title, even though we’ve been assured numerous times that model is on the way. Cadillac’s head exec confided in us that the XTS is “a bridge” for some of the brand’s existing customers to move out of their aging DTS and STS land yachts, but we’ll call the XTS was it is: a tech-rich stopgap that points the brand forward. And with pricing ranging between the mid-$40,000 range up to near $60k, the XTS is a solid alternative to the segment stalwarts, opting for comfort and convenience over sport and speed.

Mobile apps that promote photo and video sharing are eating up more of consumers’ time and representing a threat to YouTube‘s dominance, according to a new study.

Flurry Analytics tracked 180,000 apps from October 2011 to March 2012 and found an 89% jump in minutes spent on photo and video apps. Next on the list was music, productivity, social networking and entertainment. Consumers spent 87 minutes a month using such apps — including Viddy and Socialcam — in October and 231 minutes in March, according to Flurry. From July to March, meanwhile, time spent rose 166%. (The research did not include stats from Instagram, and Flurry doesn’t break out figures for photo-sharing vs. video-sharing apps.)

Researchers then compared those figures to YouTube’s. What did they find? YouTube still has a big lead, although the video apps are making inroads. Consumers spent 425 minutes, on average, on YouTube in March, which is far ahead of the time spent on mobile photo and video-sharing apps. However, YouTube’s time spent average fell from 472 minutes the month before.

A blog post from Flurry expands on this phenomenon:

“While mobile app video consumption grew more than online consumption, the gap in usage at the end of 2011 was still meaningful. During 2012, however, is where things get interesting. As online video consumption dropped by 10%, mobile video app consumption increased by another 52%.

While it cannot be concluded that mobile video apps are cannibalizing YouTube, the shift in time spent between these two platforms appears to be a signal of disruption. Think of it this way: With every mobile video you share of friends, family, vacations, parties and weddings, you are likely loading another bullet in the chamber for Web 3.0. For YouTube, it appears they need to run, outrun your gun.”

For Flurry, this is just the latest sign of the web’s transition from the social media-dominated era of Web 2.0 to the mobile-first period of Web 3.0. The research company found last June that for the first time consumers were spending more time on mobile apps than on the web. That data supported a hypothesis from Wired in August 2010 declared that “The Web is Dead,” pointing to a shift in consumer usage of the web to apps.

A Google rep says YouTube doesn’t see much of a threat from mobile devices: “Developers bringing more video applications to the Web is good thing for consumers.” The rep pointed out that YouTube has more than 3,000 partners using its open API to upload hundreds of thousands of videos every day. Mobile playbacks on YouTube have tripled in the last year to more than 500 million views a day and every minute over three hours of video is uploaded to YouTube from mobile devices. Says the rep: “We continue to invest in this area and developers can expect more improvements in the months ahead.”

Are you a collector? If so, of what? I’m not, but I know the culture. I grew up reading comic books and buying music and haunting bookstores. in all cases, there’s always a sub-tribe of collectors, the kind who scour bins, sometimes seeking the rare and expensive, but other times, seeking the rare and cast off. These are the bin-pickers, the type who must stop at yard sales.

I had all these thoughts, random thoughts, and they could all be blog posts, or they could be nothing. Some of them take time to absorb. Not all of these apply to you. Pick through these as a kind of bin full of tapes and bits you could use to mix into your own stories and songs.

Future Scratches: The Discount Bin

You, the talent, must find the business that supports your storytelling. The studio no longer knows. Replace “studio” with “publisher,” if you’re an author.

No platform? No problem. It’s just harder that way. Start somewhere. Get known for something. Nurture that community and grow it slowly.

If you’re not serious about content creation as a tool of your business-making, you’re not serious about using the web as a business tool.

It doesn’t matter if you’re not serious. The web can just be fun. Relax, if that’s what you want.

You can be the creator, the distributor, the servicer, or maybe the commentator. You can even be all. But knowing which brings you business is the whole value game.

Start. Start. Start somewhere. Worrying or thinking or doubting are all soap without a bubble wand.

On my phone, I can create music, read a magazine, have conversations, write stories, sell things, accept payment, and more. If you’re not configuring your business to face the mobile everything-maker, then you’re skipping the most obvious big sector of potential digital growth for your company.

Picking any one thing and working on that is better than thinking about working on something.

If you’re not making it easy to buy, people will oblige you and not buy.

Stop waiting for your big chance. Those come when you make them happen. They come when you dare to say what you really think.

You can read about sex all day. It’s still not as fun as having it. Same thing with most business experience.

The world is tapas. If you’re waiting for the perfect amount of time, you’re going to miss the big meal.

If you fancy yourself a business owner, start thinking like a business. And by that, I mean, “how do I grow relationships with my best potential partners?”

The most successful people I know lead with, “Tell me more about you! I’m dying to know.” They rarely talk about themselves. That’s why they’re successful.

You are very wonderful and worth it. Here’s a cookie. Now, do the hard work that it takes to eat off the bigger plate.

If you think your product or service or YOU are boring, it is (you are). That’s your vote first, and you’ll help influence us.

None of this matters. What matters is you taking action.

Lastly

If you’ve had even one or two little twinges of “a-ha,” then I’ve done my job. Thanks for picking through the bin.

Lastly, I want to ask you to sign up to my free newsletter that comes out weekly. I promise to challenge you even more in there. We get up to some really interesting things there weekly, and it’s a very personal back and forth experience. If you’re seeing the word “newsletter” and thinking “information about social media” or “news about chris,” then you’re missing the greatest trick the devil ever pulled.

And thank you.

Guest post by James Stewart, Director at Geneva Film Co

The debate surrounding 3D’s viability across all platforms continues to rage. Nay-sayers maintain that 3D is merely a “flash in the pan”… a “fad”… soon to fade into technological obscurity. Yet visionary artists and innovators continue to drive 3D technology deeper into the very fabric of our screen-based culture. For brands, agencies, and content creators, is it worth it? In a word: YES.

THE 3D REVOLUTION

James Cameron’s Avatar set the stage for 3D’s emergence in 2009 by showcasing, to a global audience, the true potential of this immersive technology. From that time, a 3D revolution has been slowly changing the media landscape, project by project, day by day, year after year. Once considered a hollow gimmick, 3D has matured into a full-blown phenomenon. In fact, of the 10 movies that have ever crossed the $1 Billion mark, 6 are 3D films with Avatar topping the list. And there is little sign of this trend slowing down. 2012 will see blockbusters like The Hobbit, Men In Black, The Amazing Spiderman, and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus hitting theatres in three dimensions. The format continues to gain greater acceptance by audiences and critics alike. The epic 3D adventure Hugo by cinematic master Martin Scorsese is a prime example, topping this year’s Oscar nominations with 11, winning 5.

One Wall Street analyst decried 3D to be “over” in 2010 when only 38% of the $1Billion grossing Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides box office could be attributed to 3D (down from the standard 55% – 80%). If 38% of your customers were demanding a 3D feature would you consider it dead, especially if that feature was selling at a 15% premium? Hugo’s opening box-office was 75% from 3D screenings. The latest box office hit is another 3D re-release: James Cameron’s Titanic. The 3D reboot debuted in China and earned the second-highest opening day ever in the country, selling approximately $11.6 million worth of tickets. It’s a hit across the UK and U.S. as well.

3D COMES HOME

The 3D revolution is no longer being waged on the sliver-screen alone. The real in-roads are being blazed by the growing list of 3D-capable devices that allow consumers to experience the brands they love in 3D, anytime and virtually anywhere. This is no accident. The success of any technological innovation can always be traced back to the moment it found its way affordably into the hands of the consumer– from the personal computer, to High Definition TV, and now 3D. At the center of this surge is the 3D TV market, which showed promising growth in the 4th quarter of 2011, and is tracking for even larger gains through 2012. According to Research and Markets, the global 3D TV market size is expected to exceed $100 Billion by the end of 2014. Which begs the question: in what industry would a product worth $100 Billion in sales be considered “a passing fad”?

3D GOES MOBILE

2011 saw the launch of several “glasses-free” 3D mobile devices, including the LG Optimus 3D Max, the HTC EVO 3D (both of which offer the ability to record and take photos in 3D using dual cameras) and more recently, the Gadmei 8” 3D Tablet. These relatively inexpensive devices offer consumers the full 3D experience in the palm of their hand. This evolution of 3D technology has opened the door for a wide variety of 3D creative needs, from mobile games, to applications, to advertising geared toward the mobile 3D market. The stage is set for brands and their agencies to leap off the screen and into the hearts and minds of the customers in ways never thought possible before. My company, Geneva Film Co., has produced 3D spots for Lexus, Sprint and others, bringing global brands into this next dimension. These projects– produced mainly for cinema– will next find their way to 3D TV and mobile platforms. As the popular YouTube 3D channel has shown, mobile user-generated 3D content can be an immersive experience with huge “viral” potential. In fact, YouTube not only allows stereoscopic 3D footage to be uploaded online, but also offers users a chance to convert their 2D HD footage to 3D with a click of a button online. It’s almost too easy.

3D CONTENT = RETENTION

Another exciting avenue currently being explored is 3D content in the classroom. Several schools across Europe have already started utilizing 3D projection. Astudy conducted on behalf of Texas Instruments showed a 17% increase in test results for those students who viewed 3D content as part of their normal curriculum. It also found attention-levels soared, with 92% of the class paying attention, versus 46% in the traditional 2D learning environment.

This type of 3D retention and engagement is not limited to the classroom. A similar study also conducted by Texas Instruments showed that viewers presented with 3D advertising content were as much as 20% more likely to retain that information than those who saw a 2D counterpart. These promising statistics bode well for Brands who develop 3D content as part of their marketing activities, as well as for agencies and content creators who offer this type of 3D impact to their clients.

3D’s GOT GAME

On the front lines of the 3D revolution are the Gamers: fearless consumers who are always ready to embrace new technology to elevate their gaming experience to a more immersive level. The Nintendo 3DS has sold over 15 million units worldwide and continues to gain traction in the US market thanks to a price cut that saw sales numbers soar. 3D-ready game consoles like Sony’s PS3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 now feature franchise titles like Grand Turismo and Call of Duty in immersive 3D splendor. This in turn propels 3D TV sales as gamers scramble to update their home systems to be 3D ready. By its very nature, gaming and 3D technologies are a match made in heaven, tapping into the very essence of what makes 3D so exciting: it just feels real.

3D CONTENT IS KING

Ultimately, content is still king. Like the HD revolution that preceded it, 3D now has the platforms to support widespread use in every aspect of daily life. However, without content to bring these devices to life, consumers will have little reason to buy. As a presenter at both TED, and Cannes Lions, my experience has been that the enthusiasm for 3D has been palpable. Despite initial trepidation by production companies and agencies, overall 3D content continues to expand. 24/7 3D channels like ESPN3D, 3net and Sky Channel are paving the way. 2012 will see the London Olympics broadcast in 3D, with the opening and closing ceremonies, men’s 100m dash, gymnastics, swimming, basketball promising 3D action. Hollywood is also offering more Blu-Ray 3D movies than ever. As more and more content enters the market, giving a greater number of consumers a reason to introduce the growing list of 3D devices into their daily routine, 3D will quickly become a primary format for content across all media platforms. For the brands and agencies bold enough to lead the way, the sky is the limit. Is it worth it? Let’s just say we won’t have the Star Trek holodeck without 3D.

Via Brian Solis: http://www.briansolis.com