William Gail Blog

How mobile phones are saving local restaurants

2010-08-25T21:01:19Z

At risk of losing their businesses in these tough economic times, some local restaurant owners have turned to mobile phones to find new life. In fact some struggling owners have turned, what looked like certain ruin, into thriving businesses with these simple yet ubiquitous devices.

Rosati's Pizza

Scott Fender, owner of a small business named , had been sending consumers in the area his menu and offers for over 5 years via a shared mailing campaign. However, as competition grew fiercer among restaurants in his market and as standard marketing methods grew more and more ineffective, he needed a new marketing channel to grow his business.

It was then that Mr. Fender started to solicit locals to get free coupons to his restaurant by signing up for his mobile phone list. According to ABC news, Rosati's Pizza received hundreds of new customers after their first promotion.

Another local chain of donut shops sought to increase revenue by offering latte's to customers. They also turned to mobile marketing and after their first campaign they reported a 21% increase in store traffic. However that wasn't the most beneficial part of the campaign, the company boasted. They also reported that 17% of participants forwarded, or showed, the message to a friend. In research conducted after the campaign, 35% considered themselves more likely to buy lattes and coffee from them in the future.

What has most of these businesses shocked and delighted is the immediate growth that seems to follow these types of campaigns. For example, the Couch Tomato Café offered a valuable coupon, good for only seven days, to get new customers to subscribe to their mobile marketing list. That Friday they estimated that they "had about 70 extra orders compared to an average Friday."

So what exactly are these local businesses doing? I'm sure you've seen advertised on television or heard radio companies asking you to text some word, or keyword, to a 6 digit number, or short code. The act of sending these keywords get you on a list that companies can then use to send you coupons through text messages.

In fact, some local restaurants have leveraged these lists in many other ways and have received spectacular results. One business disclosed that they use their mobile phone list to drum up business on slow nights or when they had tables that went unreserved. Others are holding weekly giveaways to keep customers interested and hopeful of winning prizes. They text out the winner each week and offer coupons to the rest. Some fast food establishments send out a coupon 30 minutes before lunch time. Others are allowing customers to text in their orders.

Perhaps the most creative use we came across is what one local business called "the customer is always right" poll. The owner sends a text to his list with a poll asking his customers what kind of specials or dishes they would like to see that week. He then takes that information and delivers what his customers want. "Polling customers this way is a brilliant maneuver," says a local marketing expert "Not only does it deliver what the customers want but it gives them a sense of ownership and connection to the establishment. That kind of bond you just can't buy."

These mobile marketing tactics certainly haven't been monopolized by small businesses. In fact, large corporations like Mc Donald's, Pepsi, the Super Bowl, ELLE magazine, and many others have been employing these strategies for many years. We suspect that the recent development of low cost tools and services have fueled this expansion from large corporations to small businesses, like Rosati's Pizza.

With the ever increasing popularity of mobile phones, and the recent explosion of smart phones like the iPhone and Droid, I'm sure we've just seen the beginning of this trend.

Sony Releases New Game Controller PlayStation Move

2010-03-11T08:47:37Z

Sony's New Game Controller - PlayStation Move

To catch up with the market's leading game console Nintendo Wii, Sony has recently released its own contender PlayStation Move.

Several game consoles were showcased during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Among them, were the latest Nintendo's Wand and Microsoft's Natal game controllers.

After making the announcements, the spectators and press people were given the opportunity to try out PlayStation Move which slightly resembles Nintendo Wii's wand, just a colored ball on top.

PlayStation Move is a magic wand-like game controller that uses motion detection controllers and an eye camera to follow body movements.

At the said Developer's conference, Sony presented more games that the audience will be able to play using the PlayStation Move. The games included Move Party, Little Big Planet, and Sports Champions.

Being an entertainment giant, Sony has about 20 games in development and approximately 40 external partners publishers supporting the new device.

PlayStation Move will be out in the market in autumn and will optimally cost no greater than $100 (£47).

Click here to read more about PlayStation Move, Sony New Game Controller

Epson r2880 – Best Printer Review

2010-02-24T00:03:40Z

As a result of advancement of technology, Inkjet printers and other models of printers are widely commercialized in the market. In a computer, the one capable of producing hard copies from the computer is a task of a printer. From a wide selection or variety of printers from different brands or companies, the most recommended model of printer is the Epson r2880.

Epson r2880 has its trademark ability of precise color, in terms of pictures; it also has its Epson ultra chrome K3 trademark. The Epson r2880’s fine art canvass and roll or wide paper printing with its radiance technology that will give the picture smooth gradations is the particular competitive characteristic of this kind of printer.

The improved highlight and shadow effects or details of Epson r2880 is then newest feature it has among the other Epson printer products. Nevertheless the great thing about Epson r2880 is its ability to deliver a large quantity layout of photos, or those being used in the gallery displays.

Unlike other Epson series printers, the Epson r2880 is much more expensive than of the other Inkjet printers, however the quality of the pictures are all worth it, though you really need to spend much.

Click here to read more about Epson r2880, Latest Epson Printers

Lenovo LePhone-The Promising Best Handset

2010-02-23T08:00:45Z

Popular electronics company Lenovo announced, the Lenovo LePhone. A mobile phone initially intended to meet the needs of the fast growing Chinese market.

It is definitely attractive, with its 800 x 400 pixel resolution and its customized, Linux-based operating system, that it is currently the best handset in its category. The Lenovo LePhone is set to go head to head with iPhone. When it comes to the features, it has rear and front cameras, a removable battery and a 3.5 mm head phone jack located at the bottom of the handset.

Lenovo LePhone comes with a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. It has a surprisingly huge AMOLED touch screen display that measures 3.7 inches and has WVGA resolution. It also has Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and has inherent support for WCDMA or Wideband Code Division Multiple Access 3G.

As you can see on the image above, the Snap-on accessory QWERTY keyboard has a centrally-positioned D-pad. There is a proprietary 9 pin socket for peripherals and for charging as well. The stacked buttons on the touch screen are very user friendly. At the bottom of the touch screen display is another touch panel instead of the usual physical controls.

Try the new lephone from lenovo for you to experience to power of this latest handset!

Click here to read more about Lenovo LePhone, New Lenovo Phone

Talking Desktop- An Interactive Computer Speech Technology

2010-02-15T12:50:48Z

This is Mary, a talking and listening desktop avatar which you can interact.

I was fascinated with science fiction; especially those dealt with the future and portrayed how life on earth would probably be several decades down the road. The idea of robot-servants and of aerial vehicles that were the main means of transportation and that sent us on our way to work.

These days, talking desktop computers are so commonplace that they hardly elicit any reaction at all from consumers. They talk simply because they have software that converts text into speech through speakers or a headset.

The software system is called TTS or “text to speech.” The system has a front end and a back end. The front end is where the software received the input in the form of text and the back end takes these linguistic symbols and converts them into speech waveform that is heard from computer headset or speakers.

Two basic function of software front end, first is the function is the identification of numbers and abbreviations in the raw and assigns word equivalents.

Second, it assigns sound (known as phonetic descriptions) to the different words of the text, and then divides the text into phrases and sentences. To experience an interactive computer speech technology.

Click here to read more about Talking Desktop Computers, Talking Desktop Avatars

Portaro SD-P12DT: New Generation Portable DVD Player

2010-02-12T17:18:04Z

Toshiba's latest portable DVD Player dubbed as Portaro SD-P12DT

The Toshiba Portaro SD-P12DT portable DVD player is weigh in 2.8kg only, which is about the same weight of a business laptop and it measure at 342 x 73 x 326 mm, and has introduced the latest portable DVD Player of 2010.

Toshiba Portaro SD-P12DT has provided a built-in stand at the rear side. P12DT has been equipped with a nice little 12-inch LED backlight screen what could support up to 1366 x 768 pixels resolution that has become the new standard. has provided a built-in stand at the rear side, so you can easily rest it up above your desk.

When you look at the right side, you will found one slot loading disc drive, one SD slot and button for ejecting disc. Inside the Toshiba Portaro SD-P12DT portable DVD player, ther is a built-in digital tuner and internal lithium battery that provide about 4 hours of operation time.

From the frontal view, you will see a range of playback buttons. Including navigation buttons to navigate through the built-in menu. Enough for watching though 1-2 movies.Toshiba Portaro SD-P12DT Portable DVD player will be available starting this 1st Feb 2010.

Click here to read more about Toshiba Portaro SD-P12DT Portable DVD player, Toshiba Latest Gadget

Magellan RoadMate 1700, Supersized!

2010-02-12T15:47:46Z

7-inch Multi-touch screen GPS Navigator, the Magellan RoadMate 1700

They call it Magellan RoadMate 1700, comes with generous 7-inch display and whopping 6-million points of interest, full map of North America, AAA Tour Book, a great text to speech feature and a multiple-point routing capability. it should be consider as a super-sized one. Now it is going to release a 7-inch GPS navigator.

While there have been a few devices released in the five inch range and a few others in the six and seven inch range, Instead of investing on high priced units, you will be able to enjoy much better with units like these - almost all the features present in Magellan RoadMate 1700 is duplicated in RoadMate 1445T.

Once the service is activated, the Magellan RoadMate 1700 is programmed to display the nearest hotels and various other points of interest. Activate the TourBook feature and the required information will be presented without any hassle.

It is fun to operate the touch screen included with the device. Zipping through the innovative, yet easy to understand interface is a blessing even for the novice of the users. So that you are never left in a lurch. The Magellan RoadMate 1700 is extremely convenient.

Click here to read more about Magellan RoadMate 1700, Multi-touch GPS Navigator

Next Generation SD Card: Panasonic 64GB and 48GB SDXC Memory Cards

2010-02-08T03:38:57Z

Setting a new world record in SD memory cards

SDXC is the next generation SD memory card that offers up to 2TB of capacity. Panasonic’s largest-sized GOLD new Class 10 SDXC cards offer maximum data transfer speed of up to 22MB/s.

Panasonic has jumped over their competitions by introducing a new SDXC memory cards with capacity of 48GB and 64GB. A slim slot of memory card can contain 64GB, I guess further in the future, SDXC memory will surpass SSD size to offer higher read/write speeds, larger capacities and be less prone to failure than the Secure Digital Cards.

It has an operating temperature range from 0°C to 70°C (32°F to 158°F). Panasonic said it will be released in February 2010. The two models 64GB (RP-SDW64GE1K) and 48GB (RP-SDW48GE1K) SDXC memory cards. The largest GOLD cards with Class 10 speed specification.

So if you are thinking of buying a largest-sized memory card for yourself. Buy Panasonic 64 GB and 48 GB -memory cards this is the World’s fastest record so far and we will be able to get this world’s fastest SDXC card in the next spring 2010.

Click here to read more about Panasonic SDXC Memory Cards, New SD Memory Card

Apple Rumors: Another Tablet In The Works!

2010-02-04T02:09:39Z

Apple rumors have been spreading again that Apple has something unique currently under modeling. And that something is called Apple Touch Tablet.

Apple's touch technology is expanding into a larger spectrum of devices - particularly tablets - and some sources even claim they've seen the tablet thing, but no hard evidence is available, at least for now! It would be great if indeed we see the Apple Tablet come with two cameras. A front facing webcam for video conferencing/chat and a rearward camera capable of nice still shots as well as video.

The rearward facing camera of the Apple Tablet would be great for snapshots, like you use your iPhone's camera for, but also for augmented reality apps that are just starting to come to fruition on the iPhone However, we'll confirm this when the tablet first comes out of the gate. We'll just have to wait for the announcement at this point to see what really happens with the Apple Tablet. Click here to read more about Apple Rumors Again for Another Tablet, Apple Touch Tablet Rumors

Spy Gadget: Video Wrist Watch with 8GB Memory

2010-02-03T10:24:33Z

A high class all-metal video wrist watch comes with a built in micro spy camera of 8GB memory with all the best features for that James Bond feel.

Chinavasion developed this video wrist watch with an audio and video recording which can record for approx. 24 hrs as it has a flash memory of 8GB. It has an accurate gear driven time of seconds, minutes and hours.

This spy gadget is very helpful for professional investigators or citizen journalists and it can be easily transferred the recorded video right away into your computer with out any difficulty. And no one else can make out that there is a mini micro spy camera behind it.

This is hidden artfully behind the number 2, with an AVI format ready of 352x288 resolution clips at 15FPS. It is a watch which would be worth to be liked in a glance, so place your order today itself.

Click here to read more about Spy Gadget, Video Wrist Watch 8GB