I realized that I love other people’s recommendations – what iPhone apps they are using, where they are eating, what they are driving and what books they are reading.  Yet, I don’t share all of those things well with others.  So in a hat tip to those who’ve shared with me, here are my top 9 favorite iPhone apps.  I will make the disclaimer that Foursquare, Facebook and LinkedIn apps get used weekly.  But I consider them utilty players and really not all that sexy so I’m going to void their use for my top 9.

TOP 9

	Dragon Dictation	This app takes my speech and turns it into emails and tweets with crazy accuracy.
	Twitter for iPhone	I used SimplyTweet for months, but Twitter (aka Tweetie) knocks it out of the park
	eBay	Push notifications so I know I can swoop in a grab an auction?! Yes please!
	Notifo	Google SMS and @notifications at the speed of light speak my name
	Logos Bible	The most comprehensive bible study tool, now in my pocket
	State Farm Pocket Agent	Always have my insurance card with me now + how to report an accident!
	Meebo	Persistant chat via push. Love it.
	Zillow	Housing search and research made easy
	Pandora	My radio

Ok, I’ll throw one to the bonus round, Sleep Cycle is the closest thing to a WakeMate I’ll get since they just returned by deposit.

Happy to be in the running for East Tennessee’s Best Tweeter with a couple others from the team at Moxley Carmichael, including Scott Bird and Cynthia Moxley.  (Cynthia’s also nominated for best blogger for The Blue Streak!)  Thanks for the nomination and your votes.

Please vote! Ends tonight Aug. 20!

Vote for Best Tweeter

Vote for Best Blogger

While doing research on my last post about Samasource I was taken an article by Leah on HuffPo.  What I found interesting was that they’ve built their own Google Chrome Extension for their publication (scroll to the bottom for what it actually looks like).  Super smart idea and one that I’ve become familar with in the mobile world e.g. “Download our app for faster news and cooler whirlygigs”  but this one took me by suprise.

Smart for a few reasons, primarily because HuffPo makes money off advertisements.  The more impressions and visits your site receives, the more you can sell.  The more you can sell, the more you can make.  For all I know they are planning to run extension only ads at a CPM double their current rate.  All in all it’s a good idea.

Here’s why extensions are smart:

• Google Chrome users trend geek. They’ll find this novel and install it. (+1 impressions for HuffPo)
• HuffPo is a news site, if I can get pushed teaser updates I’ll visit more often.
• The web is moving towards simple.  The extension is well designed to make it easy for me to get to what I want.

Surprisingly Slate, USA Today, Engadget and TechCrunch aren’t following a similar strategy.  Most of them have user created extensions but nothing promoted and nothing official.

Perhaps we’ll see a new industry emerge, extension advertising.

Samasource might be my favorite new non-profit.  Why?  Because they bring together the scrapiness of a startup with the social effects of a non-profit.  Like charity:water they operate under the model that their “return” is about bringing an American commodity to the global poor.  So what is Samasource?  It’s pure and (not) so simple social entrepreneurship, using technology for social good with the powerful tagline of “Give Work.”

It was founded by Leila Chirayath Janah who is currently the CEO (and about my age) and she shares her vision in the video below at TEDxSV.  There is also a great write up here if you’d prefer to read than watch.

Leila Chirayath Janah: Ending Poverty in the Digital Age from TEDx Silicon Valley on Vimeo.

You can use them for the tasks below:

• Basic data services – business listings verification, data scraping, image and text tagging, content moderation, and data entry
• Advanced data services – subjective tasks including image- and text-based judgments
• Language services – audio and video transcription, video captioning, and translation
• Call center services – outbound services

So Give Work if you can.  I know I will.

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• Expedia launches new charity program (bizjournals.com)
• How Samasource Helps The World, And A Secret Tattoo Unveiled (Video) (techcrunch.com)

Recently I was eating a great breakfast cooked by my friend Alex and we were discussing startups and entrepreneurship in East Tennessee and we started discussing “original” startups vs buying existing businessnes or franchises and the bias in the start up community that exists against the later.

Granted Alex and I both have experience in the consumer Internet startup space, but I do find it curious that there an unspoken bias against those that do not have the genisus but just the execution.  Curious since execution is prized over creation since “ideas are a dime a dozen” yet we look down our noses at those who buy their ideas vs pulling them out of thin air.  Even though pulling them out of thin air is an important skill.

So where they fit in the ecosystem?

How do we learn from these entrepreneurs who aren’t always obsessed with technology, yet often produce results?
Where do we engage with them?

What do you think?

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Best word to describe it: rejuvenating.

Smoky Mountain National Park view from Foothills Parkway

Image via CrunchBase

“When I first heard about Foursquare, I emailed [co-founder] Dennis Crowley. He said, “Are you ever in New York?” I said, “Actually, yeah! I plan on being in New York tomorrow.” [Laughs.] I booked my flight that night, met with him and, a month later, I was working for Foursquare. ” says Tristan Walker responsible for Business Development at Foursquare in his interview with VIBE.

I like this story, because it shows the attitude that Tristan attacked his career with.  He swung for the fences and did work to make it happen.  How many “could have….” have been missed because of not pushing forward?  Plenty.

Just a reminder to make it happen.  Or as Garyvee would say HUSTLE and CRUSH IT.

I recently learned that American Express aka AmEx is launching a new card called the Zync card aimed at 20-30 year olds. This piqued my interest so I figured this would be a good time to explore why would I use American Express, who uses it and the major benefits. For comparison I’m currently using a CapitalOne rewards card.

For starters, all I knew of American Express was the infamous “Black Card” which American Express refers to as the Centurion Card. If you’re already familiar with AmEx skip this overview. Essentially American Express cards are charge cards (read no balance) vs a credit card (interest bearing balance). Additionally, American Express is a card you pay annually to use  ($$ depends on card) and they have a favorable point rewards system. The various people I asked about why they use American Express mentioned the rewards for spending as well as perceived clout with reservation based services (hotel, car rental, etc).  

The Zync card is a bit different than the traditional American Express account because it has a lower annual fee, $25 and you can add additional buckets of services you want for $20/each. There are multiple, but an example of one is called Go for travel with additional rewards and features. For a good review of the additional services see this blog post.  For a review of the card, check out this post from Money Under 30.

As I explored this different card my mind drifted to marketing and I asked myself the question “if I was responsible for gaining adoption in the 20-30 age group what would I do?” I’d focus on one thing and one thing only, how using an AmEx now could get me to a Black Card. Why? Because I’m in the target market and about the only thing I’m aware of about American Express is the Black Card, so hook me with what I know and then tie me to what you’re working on. From my basic surveys 9/10 people I talk to don’t know why they’d ever pay for the features of an AmEx that you can get for free with a CapitalOne card (and get cash back). While the features may not go punch for punch, it’s close enough that most people are happy with where they are.  Thus, the logic the value averaged out over time e.g. $0.20/day wouldn’t convenience me. But if you drew on my emotion and the aspirational target of the Black Card, what’s $25+/year compared to the flash of a black card at dinner and the perceived clout that goes with it? At that point, $25+/year is nothing even though the ability to get the card is years down the road. (If interested in how to get a Black Card, Mahalo has a breakdown)

So past drawing on the road to a Black Card, I would do a few things:

1. I’d start a street team of Zync card advocates. This would be a crew that would start the groundswell of awareness and education.
2. Recruit bloggers to do some digital evangelism.
3. Be the first company of their kind to partner with Facbook, Twitter, etc in a meaningful way. Not just advertising, but account integration.

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• Your Take: Does a Gold Card Really Mean Anything? (bargaineering.com)

The other day I went to the website of a restaurant I wanted to make reservations at to get the phone number – while there I noticed they had a OpenTable icon indicating they used that for reservations.  I called and made my reservation, but that to scratch an itch I downloaded the OpenTable iPhone app to explore the app and the service.

I launched the app and I saw the screen below….and I’ll admit it hit me like a ton of bricks – it’s called OpenTable because it’s about finding an open table.  It’s primary purpose isn’t a “new” way of making online reservations, it’s that in a busy city full of bustling restaurants, I can easily find what restaurants have openings in a few easy steps.  Beautiful.

It’s worth noting that Urbanspoon just launched it’s restaurant management solution Rez, iPad app today called RezBook which TechCrunch gave an overview and while I can’t comment on the quality of the management – I’m not sure the OpenTable model can be beat for a customer, particularly in cities where it has high adoption.

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I’m leaving Ruby Tuesday. About a year ago I wrote this post talking about my decision to join Ruby Tuesday in the role to help lead the social team and WOW it went fast. My time at Ruby was great and I’m thankful for the opportunity to have collaborated and made a few waves with their awesome team, who I’m now glad to call friends. Not to mention working with a top digital agency, AgencyNet and their great crew.

So I’m sad to go, but I’m excited about the new opportunities at my new firm, Moxley Carmichael. I’ll be leading the digital initiatives as the Director of Digital Media which will include the social media spaces we’ve all become familiar with such as blogging, Facebook, and Twitter – but also covers the possibilities in the emerging spaces of mobile, location based services (Foursquare etc) and other technologies.   I’m a firm believer that the market for digital answers to communication problems will continue to grow and I’m excited to begin work with both current clients and new ones down the road.

So while I’ve poured some out for my friends at Ruby Tuesday – my glass is still half full.