tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26007064761781780822012-02-16T00:38:21.633-08:00Thoughts on how the Internet and other technology make this the most exciting time in which we could ever live.Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2691100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-52482617694792629382011-08-22T06:02:00.000-07:002011-08-22T06:02:21.024-07:00

Content Snackers Become Cord Cutters. Is change finally coming to our best friend - the TV set? Skye - while being bought by Microsoft - keeps acquiring companies.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-51918948078916216412011-08-21T10:09:00.001-07:002011-08-21T10:09:08.712-07:00

Here are some interesting posts from this past week. How Will Discovery Drive Transactions? Is search really being replaced by discovery through social recommendations? If not, then I believe it is certainly being competed with and supplemented big time. Mobile technology 2011 video. Interesting short video highlighting how folks are using mobile tech. Hand mounted sonar replaces cane for

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-38996106224758092912011-08-18T13:19:00.000-07:002011-08-18T13:19:08.611-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/IPhone-App-from-SehMobile.html?soid=1104089983203&aid=kV-a05toRVQ

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-19012219337628023652011-08-05T13:20:00.000-07:002011-08-05T13:20:48.858-07:00

Jumptap had a really fun chart and report out today. See below... Where do you live?

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-42594026832755472242011-07-31T13:11:00.000-07:002011-07-31T13:11:32.648-07:00

the world of smart phone apps is changing faster than anyone can keep up with it. Still, the basics of relationship building apply when deciding what makes a great phone app. Here is my current list of the top three things that make a grat small business phone app" Interaction: To be effective your agency phone app must be interactive. If not, the app experience will fall flat. A great Agency

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-91094157205103981162011-06-20T13:39:00.000-07:002011-06-20T13:39:18.170-07:00

Flurry released a report today showing that people now spend more time using mobile apps than they do browsing the web from their personal computer. Talk about a major change. Your web site is still your foundation, but your phone app just got a lot higher priority.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-64974989865514784872011-06-17T10:04:00.001-07:002011-06-17T10:04:04.466-07:00

Interesting coverage on ReadWriteWeb today about a study done by DemandWare. Read more here. They go on to compare what consumers say they want to a Forrester Study released today estimating growth of sales through mobile. My conclusion is that businesses are failing to provide what consumers want and that is holding back sales. Sounds like a great opportunity for new sales with light

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-49944122936219819242011-06-01T10:14:00.001-07:002011-06-01T10:14:54.700-07:00

Neilsen's new number on the smart phone market share wars... http://sehmobile.blogspot.com/2011/06/samrt-phone-market-share-may-2011.html

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-51429316302703338812011-06-01T06:20:00.000-07:002011-06-01T06:20:21.185-07:00

Robert Scoble has a thought provoking post at The Business Insider today where he talks about what Google will look like in 5 years. But that is not what interested me. He made a list of the trends he sees as happening in force - or not with 3DTV - during this time. Here they are. How are you preparing for them? First, what will the trends be for the next four years? 1. Mobile will get

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-33301322854192038382011-05-31T05:07:00.000-07:002011-05-31T05:07:10.831-07:00

The Kiplinger Letter had results of an interesting study at the end of 2010. To me it highlights the basic reason small business has been so slow to understand not just the importance of the web, but the transcendent effect of mobile technology. Simply put, the folks that own the small businesses do not yet use the technologies most of their prospects use. Here is a snapshot of the results...

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-46170117874289521612011-05-19T11:23:00.000-07:002011-05-19T11:23:50.126-07:00

Angela Bray has an interesting post over on the HubSpot Blog today. Here are my highlights. Take a moment to read the rest at... http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/14311/6-Mobile-Important-Marketing-Questions-Answered.aspx#ixzz1Mp9BZxlw As more and more of us rely solely on smartphones and tablets for information, mobile marketing is the growing jackpot for businesses. Technology

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-59597567865736072252011-04-26T07:27:00.000-07:002011-04-26T07:27:42.040-07:00

A sign of the times from today's The Business Insider. "Godrej & Boyce's Milind Dukle tells the Business Standard: "From the early 2000 onwards, computers started dominating. All the manufacturers of office typewriters stopped production, except us. Till 2009, we used to produce 10,000 to 12,000 machines a year."We stopped production in 2009 and were the last company in the world to

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-65130853387112376602011-03-25T11:06:00.000-07:002011-03-25T11:06:11.418-07:00

Interesting stat from a post on Read Write Web. "Did you know there are 3X as many smartphones being activated every minute around the world than there are babies being born? That's according to Hans Vestberg, CEO of Ericsson." I guess if we don't get started making babies faster those smart phones aren't going to have a place to go soon.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-22291916351990590602011-03-22T07:03:00.000-07:002011-03-22T07:03:00.719-07:00

Post over in TechCrunch today. "According to GetJar, almost 40 percent of respondents said they will switch to Android for their next phone, compared to the 18 percent who said they would like to switch to the iPhone."

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-32550522668106543132011-03-17T10:09:00.000-07:002011-03-17T10:09:00.589-07:00

Another good ReadWriteWeb post about deciding which to use - Mobile Apps or Mobile Web pages. Here is the slide show... Sxsw app vs. web View more presentations from Patrick Mork Our approach with SehMobile is to take advantage of both. We create an App for you to take advantage of those strenghts, but we give you a great online content management dashboard to allow you to open web pages -

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-63031595287840273112011-03-16T09:58:00.000-07:002011-03-16T09:58:00.885-07:00

ReadWriteWeb has a very good post on how to convert a Facebook profile to a Page for your business. This is something that we all hear we should do, but how to do it is never clear - and often changes.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-40223164226741511292011-03-15T09:51:00.000-07:002011-03-15T09:51:00.391-07:00

comScore announced new market share numbers for the three months through Jan 2011. The data showed that 65.8 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during period, which is up 8 percent from the preceding three month period. While Android passed iOS in terms of subscriber share in the previous period, this is the first time the Google-developed OS has unseated RIM from the number one

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-33885474619474293172011-03-14T09:48:00.000-07:002011-03-14T09:48:35.554-07:00

From an article in Tech Crunch - Google VP Marissa Mayer told her audience at the SXSW Conference that 40% of Google Maps usage is mobile. And Christmas and New Years day had mobile usage of Maps surpass the desktop — which is a first for Google products. Google Maps now has 150 million mobile users. To put that in context, Maps for mobile had 100 million users in August of last year.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-89651798223707176652011-02-11T08:08:00.000-08:002011-02-11T08:08:00.084-08:00

Another interesting tidbit from TechCrunch , in the fourth quarter of last year Android passed Apple's iPhone as the #2 smart phone platform in the U.S. RIM - Blackberry - was still #1, but look at the growth numbers. RIM is going in the wrong direction.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-27346809974337041932011-02-10T08:02:00.000-08:002011-02-10T08:02:00.862-08:00

From TechCrunch, ComScore tells us something we could all have guessed - teens use email less and less. More interesting info in the graphic below is that all age groups below 55 years old are showing a decline in email usage. What about you?

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-8074067863192228022011-02-09T07:59:00.000-08:002011-02-09T07:59:27.771-08:00

Another sign of the times. According to IDC, in the 4th quarter of 2010 there were 100.9 million Smart Phones shipped from manufacturers versus 92.1 million PC units. This is the first quarter ever where  Smart Phones have out shipped PC's. But I doubt it will ever be reversed. The truth is the Smart Phone is the Personal Computer for all of us who have a Smart Phone. That number is over 30%

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-83013377001513724682011-02-01T12:33:00.000-08:002011-02-01T12:33:18.831-08:00

Here is a screen capture of one of the agencies using our SehMobile app with a link to EZLynx real time rating pages. Here is the link on a screen.. Here is the EZLynx page it opens in the Vertical view... Here is the EZLynx page it opens in the Landscape view...

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-26377979080166395082011-01-27T08:32:00.000-08:002011-01-27T08:32:53.512-08:00

This morning I talked to an agent who just purchased our SehMobile Phone App for his agency. He told me why he bought it, He learned about the app on Tuesday and mentioned it to his teenage daughter and wife. He says his daughter lives on her smart phone and loves her apps. Apparently his wife and daughter mentioned it to their friends. On Wednesday he told me at least 20 of his customers

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-81864671394158661402011-01-25T12:22:00.000-08:002011-01-25T12:22:44.559-08:00

What a great day! SehMobile is officially launched and underway. For months we have had a team of as many as 7 people working on our new service which lets you create and customize a phone app for your agency. But the work never ends. Now we get to build out new features to grow this service so it is the most valuable tool your agency has for connecting with customers and prospects. One thing

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-323820980757295782011-01-04T13:32:00.000-08:002011-01-04T13:32:45.974-08:00

Ever wonder what the top ranked mobile phone apps for insurance are? Maybe not, because maybe you didn't think mobile apps were used much. According to Mobclix the top ranked paid app in the iPhone App store on Jan 4th, 2011 was Angry Birds. The top ranked free app was Pimple Popper Lite. No wonder you don't think of mobile apps as a place for your business. But look what the reality is. Here

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-70319405935619721052010-12-29T08:13:00.000-08:002010-12-29T08:13:43.828-08:00

Mobile apps have made a spectacular rise in 2010. Mobclix has a post of IDC's predicitions for Mobile Apps in 2011. Here are the highlights: In-App Purchasing, Enabling a New Economy Apps aren't a One Trick Pony It Pays to be Pushy Apps Are Everywhere According to this study 3 out of 5 people use an app before they will go to the web for search. Also, amazing to me, the average smartphone

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-14497944590490116542010-12-13T11:33:00.000-08:002010-12-13T11:35:24.052-08:00

Great video on 2010 as the year of mobile...

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-50186544613827967232010-12-03T10:51:00.000-08:002010-12-03T10:52:18.839-08:00

Interesting look at cell phone use. Three out of ten in U.S. used them in 1999. Nine of ten in U.S. use them today. Click on image to see larger view.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-79353382001170492352010-11-29T12:20:00.000-08:002010-11-29T12:20:26.419-08:00

Sometime in Dec of 2010 we will be releasing our first mobile app. Here is an idea of the benefits we think it will provide you. After the first release we will be adding functions such as claims reporting, request a change, self service Proof of Auto Liability Insurance and self service Certificates of Insurance. These functions are all for you to provide to your customers and prospects. 

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-53727979814528740152010-11-11T08:07:00.000-08:002010-11-11T08:07:00.282-08:00

I am really thrilled to announce a new product line we are in the advanced stages of development on. SehMobile is our soon to be family of Mobile Apps for the general insurance agent and as an additional front end to our Cap Dat ACORD and SehHey online services. The way we communicate with customers has changed dramatically. Your Internet presence is more than your web site. We will do our

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-24768199195581293442010-11-08T11:56:00.000-08:002010-11-08T11:56:35.617-08:00

In Larry Kramer's new book C-Scape , Larry relates how he was once asked "If you put an engine on a horse do you have a car. This is his analogy for taking your existing business model and trying to do exactly the same thing on the Internet. The point is having a web site that doesn't provide the interaction or services that your customers expect will not work. You need to create a strategy

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-53944531485447035432010-10-05T07:19:00.000-07:002010-10-05T07:19:43.255-07:00

ReadWriteWeb has an very interesting post on the speed at which the iPad is being adopted. I have taught two Insurance Agency Internet BootCamp's with the brillant Steve Anderson in the past two weeks, and I was stunned to see multiple iPads used instead of laptops at each event. Here is the killer quote from the report for me... "At this rate, the iPad is poised to become the fourth largest

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-71141289534264960742010-09-16T13:30:00.000-07:002010-09-16T13:32:42.422-07:00

Just got back from the Verizon store. What a thrill - not. But here is what is thrilling. We bought a Droid 2 for our newly formed mobile app team. Here is a picture of our new baby... I hope we will be the first mobile app for ACORD forms. The clock has started ticking.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-66313319845884922002010-09-15T09:08:00.000-07:002010-09-15T09:08:26.966-07:00

An interesting post on Mashable today - 1 in 4 U S Adults Now Use Mobile Apps . So how are we using our cell phones? Here is more detail on how we are using apps... This is all pointing to the move to working with your customers beyond your website but still through the Internet. I think this will be the biggest thing going in tech next year.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-27864185183971182762010-09-14T06:38:00.000-07:002010-09-14T06:38:04.765-07:00

You may recall I got my iPad at 10:00 AM the day it was released. Two weeks ago I bought my first Kindle. I learned to like e-books using the Kindle app on the iPad, then on my iPhone, then my PC, then my MacBook. Here is exactly why I got a IKindle... I wish I could make ads that were this good at making the point.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-45582341015217624532010-08-19T11:22:00.000-07:002010-08-19T11:22:06.698-07:00

Have you ever felt like you needed some help to compete online against the direcet writers? Well, now we have created a tool that your trade associations, carriers and user groups can use to help with exactly that problem. Take a look at this slide show, or further down, watch the same slide show as a narrated YouTube video. Here is the narrated video... Let us hear from you on your

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-12338595306736293782010-07-28T09:13:00.000-07:002010-07-28T09:13:00.118-07:00

This demo is the best explanation of the reason local search is growing in use and power I have yet seen. And a Microsoft service no less.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-40960945185182835792010-06-12T11:32:00.000-07:002010-06-12T11:32:51.198-07:00

OK. this is one I wish I had done as a kid.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-15356361438109043122010-06-09T06:29:00.000-07:002010-06-09T06:29:01.678-07:00

As a proud Father I wanted to mention my daughter's new venture - Push to the Limit . Like many of last years college graduates, there was no job for her. She spent months looking everywhere. She had some physical limitations since she uses a wheelchair. This more or less takes away lots of jobs like waitressing. But instead of giving up she has started her own website to collect and make

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-27836514825643255572010-06-05T10:04:00.000-07:002010-06-05T10:04:09.518-07:00

Now how can anyone not get one?

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-790864478318882702010-05-27T13:35:00.000-07:002010-05-27T13:35:54.777-07:00

The Business Insider has an informative post about the differences in the way iPhones and iPads are being used based on the download of apps. Does this difference surprise you?

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-12098115221142883582010-05-20T13:09:00.000-07:002010-05-20T13:09:24.297-07:00

Google TV - I might be ready to believe - in 2011. But it does look great.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-60061441480607219602010-05-18T08:30:00.000-07:002010-05-18T08:30:48.480-07:00

I nice piece from the Business Insider

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-69035807063000223412010-05-17T07:45:00.000-07:002010-05-17T07:45:05.947-07:00

TechCrunch has a very good and interesting posting on YouTube at 5 years old. Can you believe they are serving over 2 billion videos a day! As the article points out, that is twice as large an audience as prime time on the three major US TV networks. Worth a look at Five Years In, YouTube

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-38450433495293340812010-05-13T13:24:00.000-07:002010-05-13T13:25:13.806-07:00

A very interesting post over at Techcrunch How Facebook and Twitter Are Changing Business Models. Here is the video from the post... Enjoy.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-38109167814340193282010-05-10T13:18:00.000-07:002010-05-10T13:18:42.176-07:00

I have started a 10 part posting on this issue on my Simply Easier ACORD forms blog. You can check part 1 out at "How can an independent insurance compete with direct writers online? http://idek.net/1U2 I Part 1 of 10 part blog posting."

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-24534398285276640942010-04-13T09:40:00.000-07:002010-04-13T09:40:46.877-07:00

A post on Mashable today continues to present the cold hard truth that business is moving away from laptops to mobile devices - in this case smart phones. "79% of respondents use their smartphones to conduct most business calls, versus an office phone or home phone. 34% use a smartphone more than a computer for business. 7% even said they don’t take their laptops with them when they travel for

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-80907792055314821172010-04-12T09:04:00.000-07:002010-04-12T09:05:48.630-07:00

The Business Insider had a good phone interview with Google's ex-CIO, Douglas Merrill, over the weekend. Merrill made a good case for not multi-tasking. As I get older I have more and more problems with single tasking, so I appreciated his thoughts. Take the time to read the short interview here, but in the mean time, the highlights are... Don't Try to Learn Things - I like the Albert Einstein

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-71038786997419417672010-04-07T08:55:00.000-07:002010-04-07T08:55:49.296-07:00

This is how easy and intuitive touch technology is... ReadWriteWEb has a great post on the future - that is 2015. Their conclusion "And you, with your clickety-clackety keyboard and push-button mouse will be the "old fogie" whining about how you just can't adapt to typing on glass."

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-91065326213913228692010-03-30T10:15:00.000-07:002010-03-30T10:16:25.435-07:00

I found this on Kevin Kelly's blog - the Virtual Choir. Kevin says it best - so I simply quote... "Many critics of web technology complain that there is nothing special enabled by social media which you could not do with traditional media. Yes, you could make a choir of 200, but it would probably not sing like this. Take a look at this virtual choir. It brings 185 voices, all recorded

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-70777172352560071602010-03-29T11:04:00.000-07:002010-03-29T11:04:04.979-07:00

Have you ever stood behind your client's chair and leaned over her shoulder to show her something on their computer? It is kind of awkward, isn't it? How about scrunching your chair up to theirs to make it possible for both of you to see your laptop's screen? It can be an uncomfortable intrusion into personal space. Of course you can both sit across from each other with your own PC's in

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-5781153391176952082010-03-22T14:57:00.000-07:002010-03-22T14:57:45.208-07:00

eMarkerter has an interesting post on consumer behavior related to online banking - or other online financial services. The post says nearly 1/2 of all Gen Y folks intend to sign up for a new financial account in this year online. I suppose for insurance agents the good news in the above chart is there is no mention of insurance policies as a financial account. The most

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-68881258769795775982010-03-04T11:09:00.000-08:002010-03-04T11:09:29.468-08:00

The Business Insider had a great interview - see below if the embed ever works - by Henry Blogdet about the future of MicroSoft, Google, Apple, FaceBook - even Twitter. I probably like it because I agree with it so much. Assuming this is right, how should this affect your decisions and actions for your company?

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-54145891011003346622010-02-24T10:30:00.000-08:002010-02-24T10:30:36.348-08:00

Ever seen someone you know but can't remember their name? It's OK, happens to all of us. Nows there's a phone based augmented reality solution for that. Recognizr is an Android app that "is a mobile prototype that allows you to use your phone in order to "see" who a person is and what web services and social networks they're connected to." Interesting post on http://www.readwriteweb.com/ 

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-86876688822775005692010-02-15T09:18:00.000-08:002010-02-15T09:18:32.309-08:00

Interesting item on Mashable about a new product from Mattel. Puppy Tweets dog collar lets your dog's movement create auto generated tweets through blue tooth connection on collar. While this may or may not seem silly, to me this is really about the Internet of Things. What if instead of tweeting it was sending GPS co-ordinates. There are probably already products that do this. What if instead

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-29019355335553000552010-01-21T09:35:00.000-08:002010-01-21T09:35:42.648-08:00

Two months ago my barber finally broke down and got a web site. Really just two pages of information and a link to directions with Google maps. American Tobacco Barbershop Now I love my barber. I've been going to her for over 20 years. She has worked solo most of that time and by appointment only. Last year she rented out her extra chair and starting taking walk-ins. She isn't cheap - no

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-72376966776341477632010-01-19T14:38:00.000-08:002010-01-19T14:38:40.055-08:00

One of my favorite blogs is Confused in Calcutta. Recently he posted an article titled If Rip Van Winkle Had Slept 20 Years and Woken Up Today. What a great post. Take the time to go see it. A few - very few - highlights... Access to the Internet - then USENET, now high speed mobile web Personal computer - the Tandy 5000 for $8500., now $50 netbooks What will it be next?

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-37849256232115838212010-01-10T09:14:00.000-08:002010-04-13T12:38:53.570-07:00

ReadWriteWeb has a very interesting post about what type of messages are actually sent using Twitter. Here is the chart from that posting... It reminds me of a post I read about early telephone usage. Apparently some argued that phone time - even cell phone time - was too valuable to be wasted on just anything. But think about the "content" of telephone traffic. It is truly mostly about what

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-38697858683811806232009-12-23T09:42:00.001-08:002009-12-23T09:42:13.722-08:00

Merry Christmas.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-48637473022945872592009-12-21T06:48:00.000-08:002009-12-21T06:48:16.470-08:00

From Slashdot.com yesterday I learned that Microsoft IE is no longer king of the browser wars. Well - sort of. Here is the chart showing FireFox 3.5 as the current most popular browser. Not the beginning of the end. Certainly not the end for IE. In fact, if you total all the versions listed, IE still leads by a lot. But the trend is clear. Does your site, service or software work on all

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-33451283598254312712009-12-17T13:29:00.000-08:002009-12-17T13:29:34.002-08:00

In Ken Auletta's new book Googled there is a discussion  of Albie Hecht's idea of the six levels of engagement he uses to evaluate an online product or service. The audience must be able to Watch on any device Learn by searching for information about it on the web Play (games) Connect - social networks, IM Collect - money on the web Create - user generated content Hecht says "If we have four

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-39243358965321767582009-12-15T09:39:00.000-08:002009-12-15T09:39:24.270-08:00

Are you playing offense or defense? The play on offense is to run hard and fast. Gain ground. Leave the rest behind. In a changing world, getting there first has a value. The play on defense is to hold onto what you've got and watch others over reach and fail. Win by letting the other guy lose. In today's world is it a fool who looks for logic in the victories of the past? My opinion is it

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-54043716632849684712009-12-14T11:27:00.000-08:002009-12-14T11:27:21.135-08:00

Biana Male has a thought provoking list of things that have become obsolete this decade over on BusinessInsider.com . Think about why and then think about what is going to fall into that same logic in this coming decade. The list includes... Email accounts you have to pay for Getting film developed Movie rental stores Maps Classified ads Long distance charges Fax machines Phone books and

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-24934054247538676252009-12-09T08:29:00.000-08:002009-12-09T08:29:00.205-08:00

Another of Mashable's top 10 viral videos of 2009... I can't help myself apparently.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-27064036410084807132009-12-08T13:29:00.000-08:002009-12-09T06:18:40.466-08:00

From Mashable , one of their top 10 viral videos of 2009. Maybe more to come. I just really enjoy this kind of thing.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-54091313307843031082009-12-03T12:26:00.000-08:002009-12-03T13:38:47.304-08:00

An interesting article in the San Francisco Chronicle about mobile phones replacing land line phones as the only or primary phone in households in the U.S. According to a study by the CDC, 20.2% of all U.S. households have no land line phone - only mobile. An additional 17.4% have a land line but still use their mobile for almost all calls. This chart - from the CDC study shows the population

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-89884310253393537512009-11-30T14:15:00.000-08:002009-11-30T14:15:05.751-08:00

OK - Gawker - I have a weakness for conspiracy theory nuts. Here is the story on the "REAL MESSAGE"  - I love jokes. Be sure to click on the pictures in the post to see the real story.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-27852553014584669472009-11-18T14:54:00.000-08:002009-11-18T15:03:30.305-08:00

Yesterday while driving to Charlotte and back for a meeting I heard the song Stand By Me on the old sattelite radio. I love that song and hadn't heard it or thought about it in a long time. This morning I was thinking - what a great song for brand building for any company offering sercurity and protection - like an insurance company. I mean, it is nice to hear that everyone can save me 15%

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-28446404972083189002009-11-16T12:13:00.000-08:002009-11-16T12:13:25.694-08:00

More interesting data gleaned from ReadWriteWeb Which Twiiter clients have the most marketshare? Which client's users are the most frequent Tweeters?

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-83541015858247380672009-11-16T08:51:00.000-08:002009-11-16T08:51:00.601-08:00

I am a fairly active book reader. Maybe more than I should be - after all my reading directly impacts my TV viewing - I feel as if I am not helping the economy. Anyhoo - Mashable had a nice video book review this week of the Top Five Must Read Social Media Books. I have not read them all. Oh well, more missed TV. Thank goodness for DVR.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-86663398826737086432009-11-15T09:08:00.000-08:002009-11-15T09:08:31.991-08:00

I think about things a lot. To my dismay I often find I can not clarify my thinking well enough to express it clearly. Of course this allows me to think highly of my thinking abilities without having to hold myself to any bothersome form of proof. Very handy in the self image game. Tech Crunch has a post which clarified my thinking on Twiiter and real time better than I have been able to. As

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-68858148913287283032009-11-15T08:35:00.000-08:002009-11-15T08:35:31.298-08:00

Last week I had the interesting experience of running a one day boot camp on how to use the Internet for your local insurance agency. As part of doing that I set up a new blog - http://agencybootcamp.blogspot.com I will be posting material on that blog about the basic and the mechanics of getting started moving your business online. I will be continuing to post things on this blog that follow

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-15516917460212529962009-11-05T08:58:00.000-08:002009-11-05T09:07:10.981-08:00

Ever wonder about the average age of users of the most popular social networks?According to a post on ReadWriteWeb the average age for the leading networks isMySpace 26Twitter 31Facebook 33LinkedIn 39The Pew Internet and American Life Project has this graph showing young users adopting Twitter.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-14311130455255835062009-11-03T08:01:00.000-08:002009-11-03T08:10:30.857-08:00

TechCrunch has an ongoing series of posts educating us about how we are being scammed on social sites such as Facebook and MySpace.The original post titled Scamville - the Social Gaming Ecosystem of Hell is an incredible eye opener. Did you have any idea what is really happening with your data and personal information?Here is a link to a post from two CEO's that said no to these scams and

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-17048464576641110262009-10-28T11:46:00.000-07:002009-10-28T11:51:23.309-07:00

Another gem from ReadWriteWeb - what the web will look like in five years according to Google.Here are the highlights according to ReadWriteWeb article...Five years from now the internet will be dominated by Chinese-language content.Today's teenagers are the model of how the web will work in five years - they jump from app to app to app seamlesslyFive years is a factor of ten in Moore's Law,

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-59279157757188835832009-10-27T12:13:00.000-07:002009-10-27T12:28:12.042-07:00

Most online businesses are built on the value of now.Nowmium defined - the value derived from getting it now.(Woohoo - I think I just coined a phrase)The Incredible Power of Now Given the choice of paying to get something now and getting the same thing later for free, which do you choose?Here’s the Deal There is something you want. It is something specific. It is on your mind. You need it for

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-79202287848865054902009-10-27T10:32:00.000-07:002009-10-27T10:39:52.884-07:00

I have been talking to a lot of groups lately and always seem to get to Facebook advertising.This link...http://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-self-service-ads-are-ridiculously-easy-to-make-2009-10#go-to-facebookcomadvertising-1has a great slideshow walking you through creating a Facebook ad.The primary difference between a Facebook ad and a sponsored ads in search is the source of your

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-18265765890624734402009-10-16T07:56:00.000-07:002009-10-16T07:59:57.724-07:00

Here is an interesting and entertaining use for Google Wave. A scene from Pulp Fiction in the Wave. It contains the exact dialogue - which is somewhat foul depending on in which branch of the Navy you served.WARNING - at least R rated.Some people have very little to do - and I enjoy how they do it.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-10527791970176591462009-10-15T15:02:00.000-07:002009-10-15T15:04:57.676-07:00

A literal video takes the original video, keeps the music, but writes new lyrics to describe what is actually happening in the video.Here is a good one.I love it. New things to do in the digital age.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-90007874640907810882009-10-13T10:53:00.000-07:002009-10-13T11:01:05.233-07:00

Read Write Web post interesting numbers on which web sites have the highest usage rates from mobile devices - cell phones? - during a five day period for one unnamed provider in the US in September 2009.MySpace and Facebook were both in the top ten. See the chart below.The source report can be found at OpenWave .

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-57732000178424802832009-10-07T14:37:00.000-07:002009-10-07T14:42:08.932-07:00

One of the great things about blogging is that I can reference other blogs that are better than mine.JP Rangaswami' Confused in Calcutta is one of many that fall into that category.He has a great posting on losing control of the device - the computer desktop - and what that means to business as the next generation moves in and takes over the workforce.You know I believe the currently recession/

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-43659812538142406162009-10-06T13:42:00.001-07:002009-10-28T05:24:21.160-07:00

Have you or your kids or your school ever participated in a tournament or other competition where only one person or team wins?My kids played tennis. A typical tournament would have between 10 and 20 players in the draw they were in. In a tournament with 16 players in a draw, 15 kids lose. But for some reason my kids kept signing up to do it again.And no, we didn't just raise stupid kids. Stupid

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-73406039373807004242009-10-03T07:44:00.000-07:002009-10-03T07:44:00.335-07:00

Yesterday I mentioned Bob Garfield's book The Chaos Scenario. It is a good, informative, thought provoking and fast read.It is one of a recent spate of books about the trials and tribulations of the mass media industry - you know, newspapers, TV networks, magazines, books - things you could do in the bathroom where Internet connections are still not the norm.If you are not in the media business -

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-87009473951443551712009-10-02T07:33:00.001-07:002009-10-02T13:38:35.639-07:00

I am going to make this post something I have never done. It will be basically cut and paste of an email I received from Bob Garfield and the Chaos Scenario. I think it is too well said to try to re-word. Do check out Bob's book.Bob got it from Greg Stielstra of PyroMarketing"Are You a Stuntman? Most people will skin a knee or break a bone if they slip and fall on a sidewalk, but a stuntman

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-16291487035558774612009-10-01T10:55:00.001-07:002009-10-01T11:11:05.561-07:00

I recently read a wonderful rule of thumb about how to pick winners and losers in business strategies.This rule of thumb was for purposes of investing in companies. The basis of the idea is that technology is fundamentally changing the way businesses and consumers behave.If the strategy is defensive - protecting your current business model - you will definitely lose.If the strategy is to

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-60488383165623718692009-09-17T13:19:00.000-07:002009-09-17T13:25:21.223-07:00

There is an interesting post at ReadWriteWeb today on the change in Internet usage patterns from 2003 through 2009.Communications web sites - online email and instant messaging - are the big losers. Looks like content sites are big winners.Here is a copy of the chart...This never mentioned time spent on applications for software as a service. These are almost always behind firewalls. That would

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-48412114155379046962009-09-16T08:31:00.000-07:002009-09-16T08:50:21.930-07:00

Following up on my notes on Facebook ads, I thought there might be some interest in the comparison of one of my sites sources of traffic. Specifically comparing free search traffic and paid search traffic.For some groundwork:This is a mature web site. It has been around for over five years. So the ratio of returning visitors to new visitors is different than a new site would have.Very good free

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-9429603394147199112009-09-14T12:03:00.000-07:002009-09-14T12:04:54.973-07:00

What to Expect From Advertising in Facebook For the past two months I have been very actively working to put together hard numbers on Facebook advertising for local insurance agents. Facebook Advertising is Similar to Google Adwords Both Facebooks ads and Google Adwords do the following: You bid for the adYou only pay when some one actually clicks on your adGetting the click is only part of

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-34632369450481174742009-08-26T12:13:00.000-07:002009-08-26T12:21:57.003-07:00

Augumented reality can be a hard idea to get across with words. Ah, but a video of it in use is pretty self explanatory.I don't know about you, but I think this is just the tip of the iceberg for geo location services. Remember, every cell just about now has GPS on board. This is a great example of mashups with online maps - like Google maps.Along those lines have you tried to use Google Maps

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-47479465105393458902009-08-26T11:41:00.000-07:002009-08-26T11:50:58.631-07:00

The folks over at Media Post have a very interesting post on current rates of use of the social web.Here is a quick summary of their facts:4 in 5 U.S. online adults use social networks at least once a month1/4th of online U.S. adults are creators of content1/3rd of online Americans still take part in activities like posting reviews and commenting on blogs, fewer now contribute to online

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-30903301068868126672009-08-21T08:47:00.000-07:002009-08-21T09:14:28.696-07:00

Yesterday my Uncle Guy passed away. He was 86 years old and had a very full life.Guy was my ideal of the perfect Uncle. So for myself and others who may aspire to be a good Uncle, I thought I would say why Guy was a perfect Uncle.Guy accepted me for what I was. He never imposed his desires or expectations. Parents can't do this, but Uncles can.Guy was always there to take me on a little more of

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-82967130375251304862009-08-19T12:11:00.000-07:002009-08-19T12:20:44.475-07:00

OK, another video to the same music and a few of the same statistics, but enough new to be worth the time.The text for these statistics is at Socialnomics .

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-12225939612952824032009-08-19T07:39:00.000-07:002009-08-19T07:56:57.191-07:00

I have been talking to a lot of groups about how to get found in free search results - actually how to get to the top of the free search first page.I talk about the long tail of keywords that get traffic to a web site. As a concrete example I am going to show you one of my sites July 2009 charts on keyword sources of visits. What amazes me about this is how much of my traffic comes from keywords

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-11421608083193733302009-08-05T10:23:00.000-07:002009-08-05T14:41:14.533-07:00

I was listening to 850 the Buzz sports talk on my drive to lunch today. The topic was NFL fines for players using Twitter.The host was wondering why the NFL hates Twitter so much. I thought I would venture my guesses.With Twitter, anyone can follow any player. They don't have to be invited to be friends as they would in Facebook or MySpace.This lets thousands - even hundreds of thousands - of

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-42066140223932151462009-08-03T08:59:00.000-07:002009-08-03T09:07:27.794-07:00

Do you remember the Apple ads from 2002? I didn't - but I saw them when reading Fast Company.I have embedded them below. Wouldn't this be a great appraoch to creating some YouTube ads for your business? Maybe a series with different customer types?Ad #1Add #2Ad #3Ad #4

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-75174658271705661902009-07-31T12:40:00.001-07:002009-07-31T12:45:44.068-07:00

This is a great story from Read, Write Web on how Sony, Amazon, iTunes and Google have taken a different approach to posting of copyrighted material in a mash up format.A wedding video which in 2 weeks has over 13 million views using the song "Forever" as the soundtrack for the best wedding dance entrance I have ever seen.Instead of having the video pulled read the link and see how they monetized

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-88501184472929192652009-07-30T11:36:00.000-07:002009-07-30T11:36:00.053-07:00

A recent report from Universal McCann shows new trends in Internet usage.Social networks are the big winners this time. Two thirds of all Internet Users spend time managing their online profiles.96% of active social network users have visited their friends pages.In the U. S. 60% of active Internet users are active managing their online profile - last years number was 43.2%At the same time a new

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-83444439698051657242009-07-30T10:31:00.000-07:002009-07-30T10:39:04.996-07:00

See the genius and power of Shatner - the beat poet. (Especially like the sandals in the Twitter poem)Here is the first poem - Shatner's rendering of the Palin Farewell speech.Here is the Twitter feed as beat poetry...Looks like a great career move for Priceline Bill.

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-76723987357326880752009-07-29T10:33:00.000-07:002009-07-29T10:42:27.442-07:00

Once again I have learned something new from Wayne Sutton. In this post on a site called Posterous .As they say on their site - the dead simple place to post everything.Here is my first post - just something to test the service with. http://williduke.posterous.com/No sign up. I emailed them a short note with the video as an attachment. Within less than a minute I had an email back with a link to

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600706476178178082.post-29762560748067958222009-07-28T17:44:00.000-07:002009-07-28T17:51:41.120-07:00

I just finished reading Louis Gray's post on Crunch Pad. Here is a short video on the prototype...Do you think there is room for a tweener device? Between the full computer - laptop or desktop and phone or game device?My wife likes my netbook. She calls it her iPhone because the screen is big enough for her to read.I suppose the Crunch Pad could be your phone using Skype.I don't see it as a

Duke Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0