Cutline Speaks

SF Mobile Presents - Mobile Internet: Ideas at the Forefront

2009-11-13T23:11:01-05:00

This week, I had the pleasure of joining the SF Mobile crew for an engaging conversation with entrepreneurs, investors and other industry folk around new ideas, businesses and apps hitting the mobile internet. The event was hosted by The Kauffman Fellows Program, Verizon Wireless, Silicon Valley Bank, and SF Mobile.

The event was kicked off by Hugh Fletcher, Verizon's Director of Network APIs, who talked about Verizon's development center and APIs for mobile applications (awesome side note: Verizon also had a small raffle giving away a Droid on the spot!). We then heard from several early stage companies. Each speaker presented on their company -- providing a different angle on what's to come in the mobile space from analytics to new apps.

Flurry - Simon Khalaf, CEO, discussed how real time data can help developers learn how consumers use their mobile applications, as well as how applications are performing across different handsets.
Velti - Carl Ludewig, VP engineering, talked about a few ways developers and companies can leverage mobile marketing and advertising to reach consumers.
Metaio - Lisa Murphy, head of sales & marketing, concluded the event with a conversation around augmented reality and their new app Junaio - see video below. It was an impressive demo and the opportunities that augmented reality on mobile devices can bring for consumers, businesses and advertisers have also been the topic of discussion in the industry lately.

The event covered some compelling topics and overall was a great success. I'm personally looking forward to seeing what will come in the AR space for mobile.

Take a Walk in The Clouds

2009-11-06T18:10:00-05:00

At Cutline, we live in the clouds and think other companies should too! If you’re not sure what cloud computing is then check out this fun video.

Dead Battery? There’s a Mat for That

2009-11-05T21:19:00-05:00

Having a roommate that works at Best Buy definitely has an upside; I get the scoop on all the new gadgets they get in on a weekly basis, and when she came home the other day ranting about a new mat that can charge multiple devices just by setting them on the surface, I immediately had to look it up. The Powermat is a new product that allows you to charge all of your gadgets (iPhones, MP3 players, cameras, Nintendo DS, etc.) simultaneously without any wires involved; just set them on the mat and they begin to charge.

Additional adapters are required for each device, which can be purchase for around $25-30 each. Things like special iPhone protective cases, battery covers for Blackberry devices, and docs for your iPods and cameras allow the devices to charge wirelessly. There is also a portable Powermat, which leads me to believe that it could make traveling with multiple devices a lot simpler, and it could eliminate the possibility of bringing your phone charger, but forgetting your camera charger (always a bummer on vacation).

Overall, I think this product could be pretty convenient, and maybe even solve my problem of wanting to charge my dying phone, revive my dead iPod, and play with my Nintendo DS all at the same time with no more wall space. Just one plug and I can charge all three!

New List of Sport Tools to Carry You through the Season

2009-10-30T19:04:00-05:00

Every weekend there's a mad dash to the local sports bar (or to the new best friend's house, you know the one with the flat screen TV), to fill the day with the best of all sports -- football, basketball, hockey, you name it! If you're like me, you track the latest scores and news of competing teams through the people you're surrounded by. Little did I know that there are a slew of Apps out there to keep you up-to-speed on the latest and greatest in sports.

The folks at ReadWriteWeb have put together a great list of Apps for sports fanatics everywhere. My personal favorite is the Yardbarker. For those of you who rise at the crack of dawn to hold a table at your local watering hole while you gear up the 10 TVs for a day of games, you can also check these Apps on your phone and improve your trash talking before your friends arrive.

Let the games begin!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-30T17:19:01-05:00

And on the eve of Halloween, we wanted to wish you all a fun (and safe!) weekend! Now go get your scare on... but check out this video of the two Megans and Patty. It's sure to delight!

Night of the What?

2009-10-29T19:15:00-05:00

We had so much fun making our video yesterday that we thought we'd do it again. This time Paul and I put on our best duds and did a little jig. We hope you have as much fun watching it as we did creating it!

Mash What?

2009-10-28T17:30:01-05:00

At Cutline we often talk about mash-ups and the like. Around Thanksgiving we talk about mashed potatoes even. But today we want to talk about a different kind of mash... the Monster Mash, starring Meghan, Michael, Liz, Rachael and Morgan. Enjoy!

My Own Personal Hotspot

2009-10-27T18:31:00-05:00

Last week I was having lunch with a client who showed me a new little piece of electronic heaven that was just a wee bit bigger than a credit card (technically, the claim is that it's the size of about eight stacked credit cards and around two ounces). Being the gadget lover I am, I was immediately drawn to the little black shiny device. And it took all of 90 seconds for my client to sell me on it. In fact, I canceled my evening plans so I could go to the store, buy one of my own, and retreat to my living room (which on that particular evening became a bit of a gadget nirvana; stay tuned for Tech Toybox reviews of some of my new toys).

Have I piqued your interest? The Verizon MiFi, a portable wireless Wi-Fi hotspot, has changed my life. Sure, there are other options for getting on-the-spot connectivity so you can do that thing you do on the web. But, for me anyway, the whole idea of having a wireless card was never very appealing. The MiFi is different. Perhaps only in an aesthetic sort of way since it stays out of your way, but it's an important difference to me. In just two short days, it proved its worth.

Day One: I showed up 15 minutes early to a meeting with a client who just moved into new digs. I didn't have the password to get on their network and my client was running late. No problem! MiFi to the rescue. (And now you're thinking that I could have achieved the same effect with a wireless card, right? Well, think no more...).

Day Two: I met up with a group of folks at a cafe to talk about a meeting we had that morning with a bunch of bloggers. Sure, the cafe had wireless but it was just as easy for me to pop out my MiFi and give everyone at the table the password. There were four laptops and an iPhone running on my MiFi and it was still blazingly fast.

And from that point on I was sold. I've now taken conference calls from my car and can quickly pull up email and docs (when I'm parked, of course!) and I now always carry around a netbook wherever I go so I can easily pop online if I have some free time on my hands. And, yes, I have a smartphone (in fact, I have two), but when it comes to surfing the web and seeing things on a bigger screen there's just something about that old Texas saying...bigger is better.

You can read all about the MiFi here and perhaps you, too, will soon be your own personal hotspot!

That Newfangled Technology

2009-10-26T16:00:00-05:00

My friend who is in a Web design and marketing masters program here in Seattle explained to me over the weekend that people can be split up into two groups: Web immigrants (people born and raised before the Internet became a part of our daily lives) and Web natives (everyone else). For those of us who are natives, most techie things like email, cell phones, and even social networking are second nature. Most of us born into this world consider technology to be a good thing and believe it makes our life, for the most part, better.

But for a whole generation of people that's not always the case. Everyone has a mom or dad or older sibling or grandparent who views technology as not only unhelpful but totally frustrating. It's always funny to hear a friend tell a story about IMing with their mom or teaching their grandparent about email. My grandmother used to shout into my cell phone voicemail "Rachael! I know you're home! Pick up!" as if it were an answering machine. And don't even get me started on explaining Twitter to my dad.

I never stopped to consider how patronizing we natives could be to older immigrants, but I'll be the first to admit I do a fair share of snickering when these funny mom and grandparent tech stories are told.

Well, guess who's coming to the rescue?! Carol Brady! That's right -- the actress who played the famous Brady mom, Florence Henderson, has started a new "tech-support service for aging adults." It's a great idea and Florence is a great spokesperson to help older generations so that they too can be tech savvy with a little help. The next time you get frustrated walking your grandparents through logging on to the Internet, just sign them up for FloH Club. They'll get nice experts on the phone to teach them how to use computers and phones. This can only be a good thing for native-immigrant relations.

Chipotle + Burritos + Facebook Fan Page = Perfect.

2009-10-09T22:45:00-05:00

I'd like to start this blog post by admitting how much I love burritos. Have you ever stopped to think about what a perfect food invention burritos are? They're everything yummy about Mexican food rolled up into a giant tortilla. Brilliant. That's why I'm not surprised a company that specializes in burritos has a huge fan following that is outspoken on Facebook.

This insightful analysis of how the Chipotle Facebook fan page launch is going is a handy reminder of when and how to use social media to your benefit. People freaking love Chipotle and their amazing burritos and were already starting Facebook fan pages to share the love with their friends. There were enough unofficial Chipotle fan pages that it was the natural next step to pull them together and make it official. Boom. Built in fans right there. Then the company did something really smart. They designated a person (a guy name Colin) to answer every single post by the fans. Colin lets folks know they've been heard (like when they request a Chipotle in their own neighborhood) in normal-person speak instead of corporate speak. It's really well done and exactly the way this kind of thing should be executed.