Daniel A. Newman

New Site -- Coming Soon

Daniel Newman — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:09:09 +0000

As my focus has shifted from Marketing to User Experience Design over the last year, so too have my needs for a personal website. Ergo, I'm currently working on putting together my new home on the web, NewmanUX.com. When that site is done, this site will cease to exist.
In the meantime, though, why not follow me on Twitter to get the latest and greatest?

Just a Quick Little Note of Apology

Daniel Newman — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:11:19 +0000

Firstly, I apologize for the protracted downtime of my site... For all it's strengths - power, extensibility, etc. - Drupal is inherently weakened by it's reliance on its reliance on plug-ins (modules) to provide many major features. Something had gone wonky with one of my plug-ins, causing the entire site to crash. I've gotten it resolved now, but I'll probably be looking to migrate to a different platform in the near future.

Secondly, I apologize for the lack of updates. I took a full-time position with Wolfram Research during the month of March as a User Experience Designer, and it's been a whirlwind two months. When things settle down a bit, I do intend to pick back up with my personal blogging, but in the meantime, please enjoy my tweets.

2010 Will NOT Be "The Year of Location"

Daniel Newman — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:49:29 +0000

Many, many pundits have predicted that this will be the year that location-based apps (and, implicitly, location-based marketing) will hit the mainstream. It's understandable to see why they would think that - people are sharing more and more information on Facebook & Twitter, GPS-enabled smartphones are becoming nearly ubiquitous, and popular location-based games Foursquare and Gowalla are rapidly growing.

Still, I don't believe that location-sharing will become truly mainstream within the next 11 months. Indeed, I think that most experts and pundits are underestimating the privacy and security concerns that will come to the forefront as location-aware services get more popular.

Could RealD-Capable Contact Lenses Be "The Future"?

Daniel Newman — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:15:13 +0000

In my last post, I discussed some ways that the theater industry can redefine itself in order to stay competitive with peoples' home theaters. One of the most lucrative current strategies has been the rapid introduction of 3D screens, which command a higher price point ($2-3 surcharge per ticket) and make moviegoing more of an "event" - i.e. "You've gotta see Avatar in 3D; it just won't be the same on DVD".

The future of 3D, however, is not limited to the movie theater. Home theaters will begin to be 3D-capable within the next few years, but that's only the beginning. Eventually, I have no doubt that we will get to a Minority Report-like point, where every display in the "real world" is in 3D - though hopefully, not so creepily.

Redefining a "Premium" Movie Theater Experience

Daniel Newman — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:44:10 +0000

Not too long ago, 3D was hailed as the savior of movie theaters which were losing ground to the "wait 'till it's on DVD" crowd. In 2005 through 2007 (preceding the wide scale roll-out of 3D cinema), attendance was either down or flat. Something had to be done to recapture those people who were watching less movies in the cinema, and more in their home theaters.

For the last few years, it seems that the industry's push towards 3D has been justified. Attendance and revenue are up as 3D films become "must see" events. Avatar, James Cameron's space epic, credits a full 75% of its domestic revenue to 3D screenings.

However, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, one of biggest trends is the announcement of 3D televisions for the home market, coupled with the introduction of the first 3D television networks from ESPN and Discovery. Obviously, 3D won't be the exclusive province of movie theaters for too much longer.

"Yelp-Bombing" - A New Trend in User Feedback

Daniel Newman — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:05:26 +0000

User participation and feedback are important tenents of the Web 2.0 movement. Today, businesses live and die by the feedback and reviews that users post online. A series of bad reviews on Rotten Tomatoes can turn a sure-fire hit movie into a bomb, and bad TripAdvisor ratings can make the difference between booking a stay at a relaxing resort and a tacky tourist trap.

In the past week, two widely-publicized events call new attention to the importance of restaurant reviews on Yelp. In one situation, a Pennsylvania couple was arrested for refusing to pay a mandatory gratuity after receiving awful service at Lehigh Pub. In another, a New York restaurant owner was "outed" by Gawker for berating his staff about their failure to collect customer e-mail addresses at Paradou.

Hulu's Missed Ad Opportunities

Daniel Newman — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:16:11 +0000

A few weeks back, the online TV mega-site Hulu.com caused some controversy when one of its new board members suggested that it would move towards a paid subscription model in 2010. Of course, Hulu's fanbase didn't think very highly of this concept, and many were quite vocal in denouncing any paid options.

Let me start by saying that I'm a pretty big fan of Hulu. Since I moved into my current apartment almost a year-and-a-half ago, I've been "roughing it", sans cable. And though I watch a fair number of broadcast shows, I'm almost never available to watch them when they originally air. Hulu is my primary connection to the TV shows I like.

That being said, it's clear that Hulu is leaving a fair amount of money on the table with its current business model. During an average hour-long show, there will be about seven 30- to 60-second commercials - about 4 minutes of commercials in total. Compare that to TV, which averages 16-18 minutes of commercials per hour.

Can Greeting Cards Save the Post Office?

Daniel Newman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:50:38 +0000

Although the Postal Service has regularly turned a profit in the past, the ongoing recession coupled with the meteoric rise of e-mail usage means that there is less mail being sent than ever before. In a play to stem the flow of red ink, the U.S. Postal Service has announced that it will test market the sale of Hallmark greeting cards in 1,500 local post offices around the country.

Selling products to generate additional income is not a new concept for the Postal Service - they've been retailing shipping supplies and collectible stamps for years - but this represents the most aggressive retail expansion yet. And, if the test goes well, we should expect to see a further expansion of retail services in the years to come.

Recap: Peter Shankman at the Chicago P.R. & Marketing Network

Daniel Newman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:04:51 +0000

Yesterday, the Chicago PR & Marketing Network (a LinkedIn networking group) hosted a keynote presentation by Peter Shankman (@skydiver on Twitter), avid networker and social media extraordinaire. Peter is best known as the founder of Help a Reporter Out (HARO), a service which helps broker matches between journalists who need sources and sources that want to receive press coverage. Born out of his love of networking, HARO now reaches over 100,000 people and boasts an annual revenue of over $1 million.

Obviously, I'm not the only person interested in learning from one of the new media masters - by the time Peter took the podium, almost 200 people had crowded into the auditorium at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Welcome!

Daniel Newman — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:16:54 +0000

Welcome to my new personal website! I'm excited to be able to share my musings on marketing/branding/business, as well as topics of "general interest" (by which I mean, "of interest to me" - and hopefully, to you as well!). Additionally, I'll be adding more information about my professional and personal background as the site develops.

Please bear with me as I get the site established. I'm teaching myself Drupal on the fly, so I expect that there will be a bit of a learning curve to getting things truly working and looking as I'd like them to. However, for now, I'm pretty impressed with the flexibility of the Drupal platform, and I'll share my continuing adventures in Drupal design and management via upcoming blog posts.

For now, welcome! Please feel free to comment on this post or use the contact form to send me your thoughts on content/design/whatever.