According to RISMEDIA dated, December 20, 2010 By Seth Kaplan —It seems like everywhere we look these days, there’s news about mobile and its evolving technology. So, with mobile technology on the forefront of people’s minds throughout the world, I thought it would be appropriate to look at five ways you can utilize and benefit from mobile in your everyday life.

1. Text to Win: Retailers, brands and advertisers everywhere are now running contests in which all you need to do to enter is send a text message. Gone are the days of fill-out forms and tear pads. Guinness Beer recently ran a contest in which bar-goers could rate their pint via text message and simultaneously enter to win a home pub.

2. Text for Info/Alerts: Instead of waiting to receive coupons in the mail/newspaper or searching for info online, now simply text in and instantly get information back on your phone and/or receive ongoing text alerts. In the real estate industry, mobile solution providers have programs that allow home buyers to text in and instantly receive property information while providing the listing agent with real time alerts.

3. Text to Donate: When tragedy strikes, as it did recently in Haiti, one of the quickest, most efficient ways to help is to donate. Mobile solution providers and carriers have teamed up to allow people to text in and donate to various relief efforts right on their phone. Donations are simply added to the user’s cell phone bill.

4. Event Mobile: Next time you’re traveling for business, check to see if your conference or golf trip has implemented a mobile program that allows you to receive text alerts about meetings, nightlife and prizes. Attendees always have their mobile devices handy making this the perfect way to communicate.

5. Mobile Internet: With mobile Web adoption growing at astronomical rates, businesses are quickly realizing that they must be able to provide clients and prospects the proper experience on the mobile phone. This can mean creating a mobile website that formats specifically for any and all mobile browsers or an application that can be downloaded to the phone and operates on the phone’s particular operating system.

According to a RISMEDIA, dated December 15, 2010—As the sheer volume of personal information continues to grow online, consumers are seeking new ways to manage and control their own information. In a new online survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Intelius, a leading information commerce company, 90% of U.S. adults surveyed said they want more control over the information that is available about them online.

In fact, because professionals, friends and colleagues routinely use websites and search engines to gather personal insight about them, 80% believe their online identity is now as important as their “offline” personal or professional reputation. They recognize that some of the most personal details of their life are accessible online, and those records can have a profound impact on the way others view or judge them.

“We believe 2011 will be the ‘Year of the Online Reputation’ because consumers are realizing how much information about them is online and that this information is impacting how others view them,” said Prakash Kondepudi, senior vice president of the Consumer Services Business Division at Intelius. “The Harris Interactive survey confirms what we are hearing from our customers, which is, controlling and managing their online information is becoming increasingly important to them.”

The survey found a growing tendency among consumers to use the Web as a resource for gaining insight into the people and businesses they associate with:

• 78% said they believe it is very important to look up information about people and/or businesses online before deciding to interact or do business with them;
• 74% claimed they would most likely refuse to interact or do business with a person or company if they found negative information about them online;
• 69% stated that they would be much more likely to interact with someone on a personal level if they found positive information about them online;
• Compared to this time last year, 43% of women said they are now more aware of the information that exists about them online, compared to only 38% of men who say the same; and,
• 63% said they believe they should check their online information every 6 months or more, but 27% admit they have not done this.

Remember when mobile devices were for actually making calls? Even iPhone fanboys will grudgingly admit that making calls is not really the device’s long suit. But even as mobile apps, text-messaging, and social media has taken off, things are coming full circle, and voice is back, with companies ranging from Apple to Google to mobile operators and developers taking notice.

Voice has found its voice, so to speak. Here are four examples.
1. What Steve Jobs bought from the Feds

Search is still the lion’s share of revenue that Google makes from its hundreds of ‘projects.’ In mobile, the company has launched voice-enabled services and search following similar moves by Yahoo with their Vlingo investment and Microsoft and their acquisition of TellMe. Steve Jobs is betting that voice will create the next frontier of innovation in the search market. Apps are now fully-fledged personal assistants. Perhaps one of the most interesting voice-based search applications is Siri, founded in 2007 and acquired by Apple this year for a rumored $200M, reportedly the largest single app M&A to date.

What Siri proved is that voice-based commands will evolve drastically as smartphones evolve. It also takes a new and useful approach to voice recognition apps by connecting a huge list of popular APIs to the commands users make. The underlying technology behind Siri was developed by SRI using federal DARPA grants and took years to perfect. That’s right. The U.S. government was the key innovator in the most economically valuable mobile app to date, considering Steve Jobs forked over $200M to outright acquire the application and technology infrastructure. Apple sees Siri in a bigger light beyond the app and could be a key component to the future of mobile search with a vision that super-apps can replace a search based consumer behavior. Why search the mobile Web when everything you need is in an app?

2. Gaming gets to ‘holler’ while consumer dollars follow

What did voice do for games? It added a microphone. Sound manipulation turned consumer voices into hit songs and creative gaming characters. Smule’s “I am T-Pain” application enabled consumers to auto-tune their voices allowing everyone to sound like contemporary rappers and gained over 2 million paid users. “I am T Pain” allows users to ‘live the life’ and get a taste of the hip-hop experience. Not only was auto-tune technology previously unavailable to the average music fan, but the technology was never so easy to use and share via social media.

Outfit7’s Talking Tom Cat is riding the same social, voice-based wave. The app displays an animated cat that you can interact with in different ways. He’ll repeat what you say in a funny, customized voice, scratch you if you pull his tail or fall over if you push him down. Some may call it pointless, but the millions of downloads prove differently. The idea is simple enough, and the app (and the rest Outfit7’s characters) has stayed at number one of the iPhone entertainment apps since launch, in rare company with major gaming brands like EA, Ubisoft and Glu.

These are two examples of indie developers outpacing the major game publisher industry, and doing it on a consistent basis with voice as the key differentiator.

Why? In both cases, voice is the primary interactivity function. There is no better way to personalize one’s experience then by adding your voice. Even the big guys are taking notice. Disney Pixar’s Toy Story Read Along, has a built ability for parents to narrate the book in their own voices, one of the most popular features of the premium app.

3. Voice Blogging trumps Twitter when it comes to authenticity

Voice blogging is a phenomenon in Asia. Think of it as a voice-based Twitter. Users receive an SMS message they can simply click-to-listen when celebrities, brands, or friends they follow update a voice-blog – recording their status update in their own voice.

The trend’s is already exploding in India, with over 3 million users and 1.9 million paid users in the country. Established in both emerging and advanced media markets in Asia, voice blogging is integrated through the largest carriers in the India and Japan, with plans to expand throughout the rest of Asia this year. In India, it’s attracted the biggest Bollywood celebrities and is even upstaging Twitter when it comes to number of followers for big-name celebrities – and those users are paying to follow them.

For carriers, it’s monetizing social media. For consumers, it’s connecting people with the authenticity of voice. In a world where almost anyone can tweet on behalf of a brand or celebrity, nothing beats actually hearing someone’s voice update, driving deeper levels of loyalty, engagement and emotion.

4. (Not) Lost in Translation

Verizon’s famous commercial highlights the need for connection strength with, “can you hear me now?” The next question global travelers want to answer is, “can you understand me now?”

Being a road warrior myself, there’s no question that earlier incarnations of pocket translators are either not effective or simple too bulky to carry around. Translation apps have been a huge hit, and the best feature is actual voice translations that communicate tone, pitch and pronunciation. iLingual is a combination game and translation service and Jibbigo is gaining traction with the U.S. Armed Forces using it to translate English into Arabic to better communicate with Iraqi citizens and combat troops.  Translation apps have just begun in their cycle of innovation. I believe the best is yet to come with such experiences as they relate to voice including the ability to measure accent authenticity.

In a sea of one million apps, developers are increasingly finding it harder to stand out from the app crowd and get discovered. Voice-based technology has proven itself time and time again as a game-changing feature and a way to create something compelling, interactive, and viral.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/voice-mobile-2010-11#ixzz14WI62Oss

“Businesses of the Year,” based on nominations from the business community and the general public, and selected by the County’s Economic Development Advisory Board were:

Manufacturer of the Year – David Watkins (KEIR Manufacturing)

Entrepreneur of the Year - Mark Peddy (Brighter Day Coffee, UPS Store, Tan 360, Co-Ed Cinema and Quotations Coffee Cafe)

Chairman’s Choice – Roger Petit (Petit’s Paint & Body Shop, Dollar Tree, Citgo Convenience Store)

Retailer of the Year – Dee Dee Perkins (D.D. Bullwinkel’s, Rocky’s Soda Shop and Moosetracks) accepts award from Jason Chappell, Chairman Transylvania County Board of Commissioners.

The winners of the 2010 business plan contest, sponsored by the Transylvania Partnership, were:

First Prize – $10,000: Sylvan Sport (Tom Dempsey)

Second Prize (tie)- $5,000 each: Floressence Flowers (Eatherley Schultz and Katie Parreco) and JumpScan (Phil Davis)

Judging the business plans were representatives of Blue Ridge Community College Small Business Center, Brevard College, Economic Development Advisory Board, Mountain BizWorks, Senior Resource Network and SCORE-Brevard Chapter.

John Hysong has seen plenty of both good and bad times for business over the 25 years that he has owned and operated the Brevard Paint and Decorating Center.

The boom in residential and commercial building in past years produced a steady flow of customers, especially contractors. “We even did well through 2008 because there were a lot of homes still under construction. But 2009 and 2010 have been a real challenge,” John says.

Other factors have impacted the company’s sales, such as competition from “big box” stores such as Lowe’s and Home Depot. However, John feels that he has maintained a competitive edge over them in higher product quality and customer service. He specializes in premium-quality Benjamin Moore paints and Hunter-Douglas window treatment products.

An example of an innovative product is the recent introduction of the Natura brand of environmentally-sensitive (“green”) paints manufactured by Benjamin Moore. John explains, “The key here is that this new line is completely free of VOC – volatile organic compounds – even after color is added. Benjamin Moore is the only major manufacturer that has a VOC- controlled tinting system.”

John also points to changes in business practices resulting from the Internet. “Social networking, such as the use of Facebook and Twitter is a fact of life, and we need to respond to those challenges to remain competitive.”

Located at 283 N. Broad Street, across from Brevard College, the store is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM and from 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM on Saturdays. For more information, call 884-2285, email bpdc@comporium.net or visit www.benjaminmoore.com.

Chamber Business EXPO Tonight! Porter Center at Brevard College  5:00-7:30 PM Play Games~ Network~ visit with your neighbors ~ Register to Win a TV

Visit the booths at EXPO and enter to win a 42″ Flat Screen Plasma TV courtesy of Walmart-Brevard.

Gaia Herbs has helped advancethe understanding of echinacea through research funded by federal Small Business Innovative Research grants; introduced the EarthBottle™, an all-natural, plant-based, biopolymer composite resin technology for packaging dietary supplements and body care products; made charitable donations of organic produce through its Community Supported Agriculture project; supported naturopathic medical education, including the annual Medicines from the Earth Symposium now in its 18th year; and developed its 250-acre commercial, educational and research farm in western North Carolina, and key support for an 800-acre public-private botanical sanctuary and medicinal plant research farm  in Costa Rica. Gaia Herb’s newest offering is an industry-first traceability program, “Meet Your Herbs”™, that allows people to confirm the purity, integrity and potency of the herbs within its products.

I was reading an article from RISMEDIA, March 8, 2010 quoting some staggering statics. ComScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released a study on social networking access via mobile browser. The study found that 30.8% of smartphone users accessed social networking sites via their mobile browser in January 2010, up 8.3 points from 22.5% one year ago. Access to Facebook via mobile browser grew 112% in the past year, while Twitter experienced a 347% jump.

Mobile Browser Access of Facebook and Twitter Posts Triple-Digit Growth
Access of leading social networking sites via mobile browser continues to see significant growth. In January 2010, 25.1 million mobile users accessed Facebook via their mobile browser, up 112% from the previous year. MySpace attracted 11.4 million users, approximately half that of Facebook, in January. Interestingly, Facebook’s mobile browser audience surpassed MySpace in February 2009, three months earlier than the Facebook audience exceeded that of MySpace on the PC-based Internet in May 2009. Twitter, which has experienced tremendous growth in both mobile and PC-based visitation, attracted 4.7 million mobile users in January, up 347% versus year ago. These figures do not include access of the social networking services by the nearly 6 million mobile phone owners who do so exclusively through mobile applications.

See you on Facebook and Twitter!  Happy posting!

Over these last few days I have been following closely the desperate pleas of a fellow Rotarian and friend, Matthew Beck, as he tries to get word about his brother missing in the rubble of Hotel Montana in Haiti. Brendan, an engineer doing consulting work in Haiti, checked into the hotel for a night to catch a flight to another part of the country the next day. His mother is angry that she’s not getting information from the government; U.S. officials say they’re doing what they can under difficult conditions. As I followed postings on Face Book, my heart and emotions wrenched with him and his family as they tried to gleam any information leading to Brendan’s whereabouts.   The highs – the lows – the unknown – the known – was all not without a mixture of emotions. Seeking help from all avenues – running into road blocks – mixed signals – miss information.

I want to share a posting Matthew made Friday the 22nd of January:

“Life is precious. Never did I anticipate the possibility that the last glimpse of my brother would be looking over my shoulder to see him walking toward Pennsylvania Avenue on January 1. It’s something I’ll never forget. Treasure the moments you have with those you love.”

Below you will find a a of video feed from CNN and a news report from WLOS channel 13 in Asheville NC telling about Brendan Beck.

If you are so moved, please contact your elective officials to make sure they bring all the missing Americans home.

FROM WLOS CHANNEL 13: Arden resident Matthew Beckand his father Barry are in Santo Domingo desperately trying to find out the fate of his brother who’s missing in Haiti. Brendan Beck was believed to be inside the Montana Hotel when it collapsed in the January 12th quake. He was last heard from minutes before the earthquake struck. They say they’ve had trouble getting information from the State Department and have had to rely heavily on information from social networking sites. Brendan’s 35th Birthday was last Friday. He was in Haiti working as an engineer.