Readlist: If you’re an e-book user, we hope you’ll love this as much as we do. Group web pages – articles, recipes, anything… into a e-book so you can send it to your Kindle, iPad or iPhone.
Dating Games: Match.com is revamping its site to include a variety of different games – these two player games are designed to help its members figure out if they have chemistry before they go on date.
The New Conference Call: We are in a tizzy over this proposed conference system – letting you see who is on your call, when they speak and even an “earmuff” function so you can have private conversations.
Yes, we thought yesterday was Friday, so we gave you the Memorial Day conversation starters a day early. But, seeing as how it is NOW Friday, here are three more:
For Your Ukulele-Playing Friends: Check Out Zooey Asks Siri, an entire Twitter feed dedicated to the imagined conversations between Zooey Deschanel asks her iPhone. Like: Siri, do they make a mask that looks like Edward James Olmos?
MIT + Ketchup = I don’t know, I hate math: Check out this non-stick coating that MIT developed that makes it possible to pour ketchup out of a bottle like it’s water! This would have changed Matt LeBlanc’s career!
Levitating Bed: If you have some super high-powered magnets sitting around, then why don’t you make yourself a levitating bed. Here is an easy tutorial!
Harvard University (ever heard of it): They’ve got a great tradition of brining in amazingly engaging speakers for their annual Class Day. Check out Andy Samberg’s speech from this year and one of our all-time favorites from Amy Poehler.
Everybody knows that Memorial Day is known for awkward conversations at BBQs and the beach, right? Oh, that’s not a thing for everybody? Just me? (read: Andrew)
Anyway, if you’re looking for things to talk about this weekend, here are a couple of good conversation starters:
BEE U: Did you see that swarm of Bees that attacked somebody’s chair at BU graduation? It was like Wu Tang Clan up in there! A guy in my office made the funniest pun about it being at BU and then calling it BEE U, it was AMAZING!
Highbrow Conversation Starter: You know how I’m interested in units of measurement? Like Kelvins or Ohms? Well some dude is proposing a unit for measuring how much attention somebody receives called A KARDASHIAN.
If You’re Hanging Out with Zuck at a Wedding BBQ: Have you seen that dude that does funny things with his Facebook timeline photos? It’s pretty clever. Also, you look psyched to be getting married!
Masterpiece: What amounts to a piece of acrylic that looks like a tarp covering a painting is making a powerful statement to artists: “Hey Y’all (we imagine it sounds somewhat like Paula Deen) don’t get your panties in a bunch because Van Gogh did such amazing stuff – you still have the opportunity to create a masterpiece y’all. Butter. Jamie. Bobby. Diabeetus.”
A Google Doodle You Play: Google Australia has introduced a playable doodle (I bet you did NOT see that coming from the title) to celebrate Robert Moog’s birfday.
Going Dutch: The Dutch masters are having a resurgence these days – take a look at these takes on classical portraits that recreate some of their greatest hits using packing material.
Yesterday, Facebook announced a new app that allows you to manage your branded Facebook page from the convenience of your iPhone. So what does this mean for brand marketers?
#AlwaysOn: The new app gives community managers the opportunity and ability to always be on top of their pages. You can now post new updates, upload photos, check out your stats, interact with fans, and respond to time sensitive issues quickly and effectively.
#Multitasking: You will be happy to know that if your brand has multiple branded Facebook pages you can now manage and update all of them in one place—with this new app.
#Mobilebandwagon: According to TechCrunch, “There are now 425 mobile monthly active Facebook users” – we are positive quite a few social media brand managers are also using Facebook via mobile so this will ultimately tap into that sector and help to give these community managers a step-up on interacting with fans.
#SocialFauxPas: Just a word to the wise, since this new app will allow community managers the ease of interacting with fans and the ability to respond to time sensitive issues we just caution you to still use a well thought out response plan. Also, be sure to give your fans a proper balance of updates – don’t send out too many updates and take over their newsfeed.
Will you be using/recommending the new Facebook app for your branded Facebook page?
Have you ever been curious about what you were doing on this exact day a year ago? Here at MBooth we are visited every Wednesday for what we like to call What’s Up Wednesday.At these sessions we enjoy lunch and meeting with representatives from new technology platforms to discuss their products. For this previous What’s Up Wednesday we chatted with Toby Hervey from Timehop. If you are curious about what you were doing a year ago today, Timehop can help you by sending you daily emails reminding you what you did a year ago by retracing your activity on foursquare, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Over a delicious lunch of Pax sandwiches we grilled Toby with a few questions.
KM: How was Timehop created?
TH: Timehop began as 4SquareAnd7YearsAgo, a product created at foursquares first ever Hackathon in February 2011. The original intention was to build the “mariokart ghost for the real world,” a service that would replay your past foursquare check-ins over your present in real time. Ultimately, the product was simplified into a daily email.
Although Jonathan and Benny (the brains behind Timehop) were working on another product as part of Techstars NYC, 4SquareAnd7YearsAgo was so well received it became impossible to ignore. A few months later it became their core focus, and they launched PastPosts.com (the Facebook version) followed by And7YearsAgram (the Instagram version) before finally merging all of these under a single brand: Timehop.
KM: What are you most excited about for the future of Timehop?
TH: I’m excited for more people to discover Timehop and fall in love with the product the way our current users have. We believe your life story is being told by the digital content you produce. But so far, this content remains disaggregated across devices and services. We believe there’s tremendous power and utility in re-surfacing these stories and memories.
I’m also energized by the implications of the Timehop experience for marketers. Timehop affords an opportunity for unprecedented and powerful engagement based on highly targeted memories and experiences. All of these recorded experiences weave a compelling narrative of who a user is, what their interests are, what life milestones they’ve experienced or face, and therefore what products and services are relevant to their lifestyles. Timehop eliminates a lot of the guesswork from marketing while also fostering powerful associations with memories that can breed affinity and loyalty.
KM: What are some of your favorite reasons for why you like working for Timehop?
TH: love working at Timehop for three big reasons:
•I am passionate about leveraging the past to enrich the present and future. The product is reflective and introspective and can lead to enlightenment and proactivity. (I also love that my email makes me laugh or gasp almost everyday.)
•We don’t mess around; if we have an idea we get it done. As a team, we’re driven, nimble and ultimately so excited about our product that we can’t stop ourselves.
•I get to work with my super-impressive colleagues from whom I learn something new everyday, whose passion inspires me, and whose love of living and remembering great times underlies everything they do.
To find out what you were doing a year ago today or to just find out more about Timehop you can give them a visit here.
Free Flight for Rangers Fans: If you’re not following hockey, the NY Rangers and the NJ Devils are vying for the Stanley Cup. The only thing that stands in their way is each other. (Do I sound like I know what I’m talking about?) Anyways, Delta is offering Rangers fans a free flight from LaGuardia to Newark so fans can watch the game at the Devils home stadium in Newark. The 20-minute trip-by-train is expected to a three hour process by plane.
Keep The Meter Running: In San Fran there is a law that prohibits anyone from sitting or lying in public for more than three minutes – and to draw attention to a small, local homeless youth shelter loosing funding this year, a student at the Miami Ad school placed a bed in a paid parking space, so legally, the homeless people could lay for however long they wanted.
Terrible Parker: To publicly shame the terrible drivers in Russia, Russian newspaper “The Village” created an app to take pictures of the “DBag park jobs” – software will recognize the plate numbers to find the driver of the car, and then call them out in real-time across banners on popular Russian websites.
Refreshed Heads: To spread TEDx ideas to the “common people,” TED enlisted hairdressers to help. They brought 60 hairdressers to the TEDx conference in Buenos Aires, who then brought key points from the talk back to their customers, trading the typical parlor talk with real content .
Text the Throne: We saw this at the ITP show earlier this week – and think it would be hilarious to have at M Booth. Text a number and, thanks to a projection system, that text will show up on the bathroom wall – of the opposite sex.
Matching Candidates Personalities with Open Jobs: Website Apply App.ly takes a job seeker’s LinkedIn profile and Myers-Briggs Personality test score, combines this information and then searches for suitable positions based on their personality and expertise.
We are gearing up for summer here. In preparation for the upcoming sunny days, we’ve made a playlist on Spotify to get us in the mood. If you have Spotify, you can listen to it here. If not, let us know and we will send you a copy on CD-ROM*.
Oh, and don’t forget to check out this month’s HOT issue of “word.” - mbooth.com/word
Helping You Match: To help shoppers match clothing to their current wardrobe, online luxury shopping engine for women, LuxeFinds, made a mobile shopping app that searches based on color (via @ellen)
Virgin Movie: Virgin Airlines is creating a TV show/short film that is produced entirely during regularly scheduled flights. The set could be your next flight!
Facebook IPO: Thinking about buying a piece of Facebook when the company goes public later this week? A $38 a share there are better things you can be spending your money on, like a Waffle Cone Maker and tuxedo paisley vest and tie set (here’s looking at you, Karl.)
