It is so exciting to know that there are still wondrous and amazing places on this Earth still yet to be discovered.
]]>It is so exciting to know that there are still wondrous and amazing places on this Earth still yet to be discovered.
]]>Seriously amazing.
I would embed the video directly, but gizmodo will have none of that. So just click through and watch for yourself.
]]>The fact that apps aimed at kids face challenges above and beyond what most app developers must deal with is lost on most people, including the author of the article who cites three reasons why building a viral kids app is so hard:
The process by which one collects feedback from kids, and how one comes up with a sound content strategy optimized for children are important factors to consider when building an app for kids, but they have absolutely nothing to do with virality.
Virality has to do with how these products reach new customers by allowing it's users to bring new people into the fold. And how is that largely done today? Two ways: word of mouth and/or through an asynchronous electronic invite process.
Collectively, the technology industry has built and re-built the proverbial wheel of the social graph so many times, that we take it for granted. We have even reduced the discipline of building viral growth engines and invitation frameworks down to a rigorous and monotonous series of A/B tests that create meaningful returns by eeking out marginal improvements in percentage points here and there throughout the growth funnel. These systems however have all been built on assumptions that fall apart when your users are less than twelve years old:
Online invitation flows have, since the day they were invented, relied exclusively on one simple fact: that the sender and recipient both have an addressable online identity. It works like this: sender looks up a person in their address book, or on a social network, then sends them an invitation to join, and then at some point in the future the recipient opens and optionally responds to the invite.
Young children however rarely have an email address, and without it this flow breaks down before it has even started because the only other way for two children to connect is via their parents. Now the flow looks like this:
The challenge of course in this process is the number of stars that have to align in order for it work, the least of which being that Harper has to retain his interest in the invitation and game long enough for it to run it's course.
The era of a fixed computing device in the home is coming to an end, whether that fixed device is a shared desktop PC tucked away on a desk somewhere, or even the gaming console attached to a TV in the den. What is increasingly capturing the attention of kids are mobile games - games that they have access to not only when they are at home, but also at a restaurant when their parents want to eat in peace, or in a grocery store when a parent just needs to get through the store without their children grabbing at everything they see asking, "can I have this?"
But even though a mobile gaming device is almost always within 10-20 feet of a young child at all hours of the day no matter where they happen to be, access to the device is still mediated by the parent. Further still, children are not conditioned to check email or even look for notification badges on their apps once a parent gives their consent to use the device. Children seek out the immediate gratification of throwing a pig, or jumping on one cloud after another, before they consider reading and responding to messages of any kind.
In other words, an app's ability to reach a child is stymied by the knowledge children have that their access to the device is an extremely limited and precious resource. Consider for a moment how your behavior would change if you could only use your mobile device for 30 minutes a day, and all in one sitting. In that world, every second counts and distractions are a huge liability to your getting what you want from the limited time you have.
Finally, even in a world where all children have an email address and all children are carrying around their own tablet or smartphone, app developers still have to worry about adhering to government regulations regarding the privacy of children... or risk hefty fines. The FTC says that companies cannot collect a child's first and last name, not to mention their email address without parental consent. And how does one obtain parental consent according to the new COPPA regulations that go into affect this summer (2013)? The parent must either:
All of this so that an app can even collect the personal information necessary from or about a child so that an invitation process can take place to begin with. And to top it all off, consent has to be given by every parent in the invitation funnel. Simply put, this is asking more from parents than they are ever accustomed to give, all so that their kid can play a game they probably have never heard of before.
Any one of these hurdles is significant in and of itself, but put them all together and the very notion of a functioning and sustainable viral loop that connects young children to their peers seems a downright fantasy.
For a small percentage of entrepreneurs however, this challenge will be seen as an opportunity, and the company that cracks the code on viral growth among children will no doubt be very successful regardless of the merits of the game or app they are trying to propagate.
In the meantime, companies might fare better if they focused on more traditional word of mouth marketing campaigns, building a brand synonymous with trust and quality, and an experience parents value.
]]>Facebook's attempt is not nearly as strong, but it has seriously good bones -- and might even be great if it would ditch the voiceover and just let the product speak for itself:
But what I appreciate about Apple is how they are constantly raising the bar for everyone else. Apple's latest commercial is no exception in that it captures so wonderfully and stakes a claim to the modern human experience of a mobile life:
Plus, every time I watch it, I find myself wiping a tear from the corner of my eye.
]]>Or maybe I am just a huge sucker, because when I watch their commercials and ad campaigns, I can't help but get swept away:
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Considering for a moment though how gruesome this is, is still amazes me how calm and quiet the driver is. I don't know about you, but if I saw this I would be cursing up a hell-storm.
Also, note to self: get a dashboard cam.
(via kottke)
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Plus, each luminarium is different. This structure is currently on display at CSU Long Beach. Double wow:
The completed structure occupies half a football field and rises to the height of a 3-storey house. EXXOPOLIS took 6 months to build with 55 people contributing to the making. It used 3,000m2 of plastic in its construction in 9,000 individual pieces joined with 6 kilometres of seams.
A more comprehensive set of photos of the space can be found at one of my favorite blogs: notcot.
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Aaaaand, they look as awesome as they sound.
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After several weeks of patiently waiting, and by "patiently waiting" I mean I opened up Mailbox at least 2 or 3 times a day to inspect my place in line, I finally got the green light and gained access.
All that waiting though served only to raise my expectations around "a whole new inbox." So when I finally first tried Inbox, I was disappointed. But not because it failed to meet my expectations, but because it didn't exceed them.
You see, email doesn't need a new or slicker way to categorize and filter incoming messages. That is a relatively solved problem, or at least everyone who uses email has ultimately adopted a systemology for processing email that works for them -- even if their personal system is imperfect and ultimately leaves them perpetually with 1453 unread messages.
What I want is a smarter email client. Not a prettier one. I want an email client that:
As well as handling all of the other email I get on a daily basis that generally falls to the bottom of my priority list, but takes up my time or attention nonetheless.
I keep waiting for a new email client to surprise me, but they don't. Email doesn't have a UI problem, nor does it have a methodology problem per-se. Email clients have failed in that they haven't done anything innovative with the most important part of email: the data. While the rest of the web has embraced things like microformats, feeds, browser extensions like Greasemonkey, and a plethora of other tools that do interesting things with data, all we seem to be able to do with email is hot link phone numbers and URLs.
I think we can do better than that.
]]> keywords ]]>Ah-mazing.
]]>Now we must turn to the horrors of nature. I am afraid this is inevitable. Nature is not something to be coddled and accepted and held to your bosom like a wounded snake. Tell me, what was there before you were born? What do you remember? That is nature. Nature is a void. An emptiness. A vacuum. And speaking of vacuum, I am not sure you're using the retractable nozzle correctly or applying the 'full weft' setting when attending to the lush carpets of the den. I found some dander there.
]]>(via kottke, of course)
That video, led me to this video, which I will add to the conversation as an example of more "conventional" (if that is properly applied here) dub step dance moves. The way this guys moves in and out of a slow motion dance, with no camera tricks, is awesome.
]]>But now, with my 13 year old boy in front of me, I had to admit that I was afraid. Afraid of failing. Of walking up there with my fly down. Of being discovered as a fraud. But, in that moment, with that 13 year old in front of me, I became more afraid of something else. Of failing him. Of passing my fear along to the person who needed me to be someone better.
By all means people, get his book: Design is a Job.
To say that I am looking forward to this would be the understatement of the year.
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