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Socialmedian tweaks conversation mechanics

Socialmedian is a new Web 2.0 conversation service that does a decent job of repackaging concepts that users of Digg and Twitter will find familiar. I fear it's a bit too similar to other existing services to break into the mainstream, but there are some concepts and experiments on the site that make it work, at least for its devoted early beta users.

The site has been in closed alpha testing until now, but it is scheduled to open up to all tonight.

On Socialmedian, you either join or create topics you're interested in, such as "… Read more

Featured Freeware: FormatFactory

Whether you're looking to change a video format to save space or because you lack a necessary codec, the freeware FormatFactory could be the last converter you'll need. It's not perfect, but it handles 12 types of video formats, six audio types, eight image formats, and DVD/ISO conversions with speed and accuracy.

The interface is simple and utilitarian, although spiked with format-icons and a big banner announcing the program's name for no reason other than to put lipstick on the pig. The left navigation menu has collapsible links to the various formats you can convert … Read more

FormatFactory churns out conversions

Whether you're looking to change a video format to save space or because you lack a necessary codec, the freeware FormatFactory is likely to be the last converter you'll need. It's not perfect, but it handles 12 types of video formats, six audio types, eight image formats, and DVD/ISO conversions with speed and accuracy.

The interface is simple and utilitarian, although spiked with format-icons and a big banner announcing the program's name for no reason other than to put lipstick on the pig. The left nav holds collapsible links to the various formats you can … Read more

Innovation 1-on-1: Jonah Staw, LittleMissMatched

Jonah Staw, co-founder and CEO of LittleMissMatched, heads-up a lifestyle brand that is based on "innovative and creative mixing and mismatching." LittleMissMatched launched in 2004 with a collection of mismatched socks sold in odd numbers to encourage girls of all ages to express themselves. The "nothing matches but anything goes" philosophy knocked people's socks off, and sales jumped from $5 million to $25 million in just three years. Today, the LittleMissMatched product line includes everything from socks, winterwear, and sleepwear to books, bedding, and furniture for mismatched mavens of all ages. LittleMissMatched products range in … Read more

A tech buying success story

It's interesting how we make assumptions about people. Having worked in an environment where everyone "lives and breathes" technology, for a long time, I personally assumed the masses--like those I share public transportation with--would have some general level of understanding about what to do when it comes to technology. That said, I was appalled by my recent realization.

Over the years of commuting, I have made more than a few friends just from carpooling and sharing the daily bus ride. One of those is Michele, who works for a financial firm in downtown San Francisco. We commute … Read more

Big ideas, smaller audiences, and too many (or the wrong) metrics

Insights from the Conversational Marketing Summit

John Battelle's Conversational Marketing Summit, which debuted last fall with much acclaim in a more intimate setting in San Francisco, faced a challenging task with its second edition last week in New York.

For starters, the speaker lineup was impressive, but two of the most important players of the social media Web were noticeably absent: Facebook (which, to be fair, took part last year) and Twitter. Yes, where was Twitter, the epitome of online conversations? Or at least another micro-blogging service?

Additionally, and more crucially, the program had to deal with what business … Read more

What's in a (concocted) name?

I work for frog design, and frequently at conferences and parties, people ask me about the name: What does it mean? Where does it come from? While some suspect it symbolizes the agility of that animal species, the truth is that our German founder, Hartmut Esslinger, coined it as an acronym for "federal republic of germany" -- the lower case spelling of "frog" referencing the egalitarian tradition of Marxist semantics, back then in the 60s when frog was born.

Sam Birger, the founder of Nomenon, a renowned naming firm, whom I met in NY last week, … Read more

CNN prints headline T-shirts

CNN is now printing one-off American Apparel headline T-shirts. The new feature (in beta) allows you to order them from the CNN web site -- with the headline, time-stamp, and CNN logo on it.

Pretty cool. CNN gets it. Their T-shirt campaign exhibits all the key ingredients of contemporary marketing genius.

Instant: Merchandising in real-time, tangibly tied with world news.

Artificially scarce: The headlines are only available to be printed while the headline is in the current news section.

Customizable/hackable: The T-shirts are customizable. You can put your own headline on them simply by changing the text in the … Read more

The social phone (wins)

In anticipation of the new iPhone release, Stuart Henshall has some interesting thoughts on " The Mobile Social World of Presence:"

"I've been thinking recently about my connectivity and mobility and one of the reasons I keep coming back to it is the dissonance I have when looking at the two mobiles I use most often. There's now been many comparisons made between the Nokia N95 and the iPhone. Both best in class so to speak. However, I've struggled to completely understand why the iPhone beats the N95 (for me and I'm also really … Read more