Like many great things, Ma.gnolia didn’t start out to be big, but rather started out to be good—and it was. And, as is often the case with things that are good, Ma.gnolia become big by virtue of that goodness. Ironically, even though the membership of the service reached hundreds of thousands of account holders and tens of thousands of regular users, the infrastructure supporting the site was still incredibly small. It was run almost solely by Larry and the hardware and bandwidth he could support by himself. Unfortunately, there were some technical limitations to the honorable yet fragile DIY set-up running behind the scenes that ultimately led to the site’s premature demise. I was really bummed to watch the VOD-cast explaining the catastrophic nature of the data loss back in February and have thought about the site often, since that time.

I was able to catch up with Larry a while back and talk with him, not about what went wrong with Ma.gnolia 1.0 but rather what is in store for Ma.gnolia 2.0, if anything, and also pick his brain about the future of social bookmarking. If you were a fan of Ma.gnolia in the past, you will be happy to know that it is scheduled to relaunch September 22, by invite only.

JD:
What is your take on the future of social bookmarking?

LH:
Well, I think there are two ways it can and is going. One way is the sharing of links. You know, sharing a link with someone may help you record a memory of something but it’s not really an archiving activity, and I think the biggest link sharing site out there is probably Facebook with people posting items to their wall and sending recommendations to each other. And then I think there are the sites that are more about saving and recording things and keeping them around for future reference. I think that’s definitely Delicious and the slew of other traditional social bookmarking or tagging sites out there. I think Ma.gnolia was sort of in between, in a way, in that it didn’t know which it wanted to be because it had a lot of the social functions built in, with sending bookmarks to people and sharing them with groups and thanking people for bookmarks. There was some of that stuff built in that sort of straddled the line between those two things [social functions and archiving]. I think, as “The Web” progresses, and as things become more component-ized people will start assembling the services and applications they want to use around “Identities”, whether they’re OpenIDs, Google IDs or Facebook IDs. We’ll start seeing “sharing and storing” services evolve along those directions. I don’t know that there’s really a huge “future of social bookmarking”—I think it’s that sharing and saving links is just one of those things that people do and I don’t think it’s going to be like Search where there’s a huge industry built up around it.

JD:
OK, so social bookmarking is more of an evolutionary meme or practical tool but not some revolutionary business model? Is that what you mean? Like in the case of link sharing on Facebook—it seems casual yet still purposeful.

LH:
Yeah. I think the idea of social bookmarking as this distinct thing apart from the services that we have gathered around us, is going to disappear. The direction I’m going with Ma.gnolia, with reviving the service…it’s going to be private and focused on the community of users who are drawn to the social aspects it offers as opposed to trying to be a big service all on it’s own in a market that would be seen as big as the Search market.

JD:
That leads to another question I had for you. Are there any ways you want to point out that the new version of Ma.gnolia will be different from the old version?

LH:
Initially when I launch Ma.gnolia soon—imminently, it will be the same Ma.gnolia with a few tweaks, like making registration by invitation, fixing a few items…but it will be the same code and rather than pursue the rewrite from the ground up, as initially planned, I’m just going to be refining the code base and aiming to get existing code to a point where it can be open-sourced  and look at iterating that more toward a distributed, component-type model.

JD:
So, one thing people can expect is not to see a complete re-write… the general concept of it worked well enough before, so you may keep a lot of that infrastructure? Is that what you are saying?

LH:
Yeah, exactly.

JD:
OK. And after you re-launch it, you want to open it up to the community for development and improvements?

LH:
Yeah, but I need to polish the code base to the point where it can be opened up to the community.

JD:
Great. Can I get an invite? (laughing) I’m shameless.

LH:
Yeah, definitely (laughing).You know, I’ll shoot you a note when it’s ready to go. I have 21 days until the end of summer. [our conversation took place on Aug 31]

JD:
And that’s the zero hour?

LH:
My goal (laughing) was to have it up by the end of summer.

JD:
You know, one thing I wanted to point out was that Ma.gnolia was different for me in a couple of ways, namely that it embraced OpenID early on (I seem to recall that it’s the first site I remember using OpenID—it actually got me to sign up for myOpenID) and also it really embraced aesthetics. I come from a design background and I always appreciated that aspect of it.  Did I read correctly that Jeffery Zeldman helped design the front end?

LH:
Happy Cog did our original design and interface design. And you know, there’s no reason that the tools you use should be ugly and unpleasant to look at so that was one of the way I felt that [Ma.gnolia] showed consideration to the user.

JD:
OpenID integration and design aesthetic were two ways Ma.gnolia was different for me, as a user. How was it different for you, being behind the scenes?

LH:
I think we really saw our users as people, in social context. When we built out Ma.gnolia, everything from OpenID to the way groups ran to the “Give Thanks” feature…it was [always on our minds] “how does Ma.gnolia exist in the greater context of our members’ lives”. OpenID was an important part of it because we wanted it to seamlessly integrate with an identity system that they were in control of, that they felt ownership of…that YOU all felt ownership of. We were not there to gather up identity, we were there to help you use your existing resources. Also, with “Give Thanks” we wanted to encourage positive social interactions among our members rather than forcing the social stuff in a marketing-heavy type way. You could instead discover other members by finding out who appreciated what you were doing.

JD:
Kind of like a reverse lookup by appreciation or something?

LH:
Yeah. So instead of being like “Here, follow my stuff. I’m important. You should listen to me”. Instead it’s more like “Oh, I think YOU’RE important and I really like what you’ve been doing. I really like the stuff you’ve found”.

JD:
I ditched Google Notebook for Ma.gnolia. After Ma.gnolia though, I never really found a replacement (I re-flirted with Delicious and Digg and even Evernote). I have since moved on to Pinboard (at Michael Arrington’s recommendation). What do you use to bookmark and share links these days? What would you recommend, in the meantime?

LH:
I actually just use my browser.

JD:
(laughing) OK. That’s cool.

LH:
I’m also using a “not-ready-for-prime-time” instance of Magnolia. I’m alpha testing it myself.

JD:
I want to ask you about the greater issue of “Sharing” in general. Sites like Sharemo in Japan, for example, are bringing the concept of sharing out of the “data” world and into the real world with the sharing of used physical items—books, clothes, etc. The concept is not new—people have been trading things forever—there are just new ways to organize and deliver the concept. The sharing of goods, data, whatever is efficient and necessary in all kinds of ecologies, online and offline. Here’s the question…what else is going on with this kind of sharing of goods and data? Is there beauty in tracking what is shared and following that huge pattern? I get the idea from what you have said that maybe it’s greater than even that… that there is no mystery in the sheer numbers but rather in the the emotional connections that take place around shared items. Does that make sense? How would you respond to that question?

LH:
[With regard to data sharing] I don’t think, at this point, it’s possible to gain any kind of bigger pattern out of that kind of sharing and it’s something we never really attempted with Ma.gnolia. I think it’s a misguided fantasy because whenever you start measuring [in that way]…you have no real quality of measurement…you have no idea really what you are measuring other than that these links are being sent around. You don’t even know if they are actually being shared. You don’t know if the receiver cares about them, you don’t know if the sender cares about them, you don’t know if the sender and the receiver are the same person just behind different accounts. On that scale, I think its impossible to draw any conclusions about what’s happening beyond the fact that your system resources are being used  to send these URLs around. I think that sharing only really makes sense to the people who are the senders and recipients of those links when they are being shared. I think the sites that try to harness that sort of flow in information, like Digg, have a real hard time doing it and they have to put in all sorts of guards and protections and try to figure out gaming patterns and I don’t think, even then, you can draw any sort of meaningful conclusions from what happens there. In the end it’s just another game to watch.

JD:
So you can’t get qualitative out of quantitative?

LH:
Yeah, exactly. I think what you get is information about how people play that particular link sharing game. You don’t get any particular info about the links that are being shared, themselves.

JD:
Do you have any plans for doing any kind of mobile integration? People are coming into contact with and sharing information despite their location.

LH:
We had a mobile version of the site that a lot of our members were pretty happy with. It was just an alternate view in the browser. I think that, considering you view links from a browser at this point, it satisfied a lot of people. Of course, it would be fun to have an iPhone app that could search and get through your stuff in a more native friendly interface, but that’s not a top priority. It’s on the list but I don’t know how important it actually is.

JD:
Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about Ma.gnolia or otherwise? Any new ventures that may cross-over with it?

LH:
No. You know, I’ve just been recovering, taking care of other things in life and figuring out a strategy for the best way to bring Ma.gnolia back. And I’ve weighed some of the pitfalls of our past setup. It was a very heartening experience in the sense that the community was, overall, very present and understanding of what happened and most people pretty much said “there isn’t a replacement for Ma.gnolia and we want to see the service come back”. And that’s sort of what I keep hearing and it definitely…I mean, I put three years of my life into it [Ma.gnolia] and seeing that it really did matter to people was a wonderful thing. I’m really looking forward to having Ma.gnolia up and running again and having a good community of people using it.

Avid

The new Pinnacle Studio meets the needs of a wide range of consumers, from novices to video enthusiasts and semi-professionals. The family of products includes Pinnacle Studio HD, Pinnacle Studio Ultimate and Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Collection, which offer a complete HDV & AVCHD workflow and allows consumers to export movies to Flash, QuickTime, PS3, Nintendo Wii, Xbox, Apple iPod and more. Pinnacle Studio Ultimate and Pinnacle Ultimate Collection also offer Blu-ray authoring with motion menus.

Other new features include:

• A stop-motion capture for animated and fast-motion effects.

• New content and enhancements for Pinnacle Montage.

• Dynamic Motion Titler tool that includes a number of new templates.

• A new stabilizer effect – leveraging the same technology used in Avid’s professional editing products to fix shaky camera shots.

Also, those who purchase Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Collection will receive the most complete solution, including a green sheet for Chroma key effects and six highly acclaimed professional plug-ins from Red Giant:

• Shine ultra-fast light ray effects

• ToonIt turns video into cartoon style animation

• Knoll Light factory creates lens flares, sunsets & more

• Magic Bullet Looks generates advanced video styles

• 3D stroke creates glowing lines, swirling shapes, and 3D camera effects

• Particular smoke, explosion, and abstract effects

Did I get that right? You get a green screen? COOL!

The price of Pinnacle Studio HD, Pinnacle Studio Ultimate and Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Collection remains the same as previous version: US$49.99, $99.99 and $129.99, respectively. However there will be upgrade price breaks of $30 for Studio Ultimate and $40 for Studio Ultimate Collection made available to existing customers.

Pinnacle Studio is compatible with Windows Vista SP2 (Both 32-bit & 64-bit), Windows XP SP3 & Windows 7.

Also coming soon are three new Pro-Tools bundles that aim to give experienced consumers and first-time hobbyists alike, affordable access to the classic digital editing toolset for audio–ProTools. The bundles which are named Pro Tools Vocal Studio, Pro Tools Recording Studio and Pro Tools KeyStudio™, have both software and hardware components. The distinct software portions are known as Pro Tools M-Powered™ Essential software, which is a specific version of ProTools that works natively with M-Audio hardware (which incidentally Avid owns). The M-Audio hardware within these packages sounds compelling too: a studio quality USB mic, FastTrack USB interface and an M-Audio  KeyStudio USB keyboard, respectively.

Here are some more detailed descriptions from Avid:

Pro Tools Vocal Studio turns the computer into a complete vocal recording studio. This bundle includes the Producer USB microphone, a studio-quality mic that lets people capture vocals, as well as record acoustically played instruments. The Producer USB mic lets people record with stunning clarity, whether they’re singing a future hit song or narrating a family biography. And with Pro Tools M-Powered Essential, it’s easy to remix vocals to produce professional-quality soundtracks and podcasts with ease.

Pro Tools Recording Studio enables people to craft professional-sounding songs and remixes — no experience needed. With the included Fast Track® USB audio interface plugged right into the computer, music enthusiasts can capture pristine digital sound for any recording project, whether from a guitar or a standard microphone. With Pro Tools M-Powered Essential software, consumers can dub, mix, remix, edit, blend, restore, hone and more to create audio projects that will sound like they came from a pro — even if someone’s never recorded a note before.

Pro Tools KeyStudio features the M-Audio KeyStudio USB keyboard, a simple, yet high-quality 49-note velocity-sensitive keyboard that also functions as a MIDI interface. With Pro Tools KeyStudio, users can record a single keyboard track or create a complete orchestral recording using the KeyStudio to input any of the 60+ virtual instruments that come loaded with Pro Tools M-Powered Essential.

Each Pro Tools Essential bundle is, as of this writing,  available at an MSRP of $129 and works on mac or windows.

All of this is good news for the people out there looking for reasonably priced entry products of this nature. It makes sense for both the Pinnacle and ProTools offerings to be released together as they are meant to work together to help people craft “slicker-than-you-thought-I-could-do” home movies and more. I wonder how seamlessly they interact?

It’s also a good strategy on Avid’s part to offer these less expensive products to compete with FinalCutPro, Premiere, GarageBand and the many other pro-sumer type software packages out there these days. I seem to always remember Avid as an expensive, “for-professionals-only” platform back in the day when I was doing all my FCP work in agency-life, but clearly their acquisition path and continued development of some consumer-friendly apps shows that they are trying to cover more than one side of the quickly evolving world of digital media.

Toobla

Say it five times fast. Tooblatooblatooblatooblatoobla. There, that was easy wasn’t it. No? It wasn’t easy, you say? Well, repeating the memorable name is the hardest part about using this nifty new visual bookmarking/content sharing web site whose public beta comes to you September 14, straight outta my home town in the heart of “Sili-Corn Valley”—Columbus, OH.

Toobla.com, initially at least, has two main functions: collecting linked content and sharing it with others, visually. In my brief beta test of the site it accomplishes these tasks very well. I know what you are thinking…whoop-dee-doo, there are a million ways to share content these days, right? Probably too many? (YALST—yet another link sharing tool). There most definitely are, but Toobla has a bit of a different paradigm for organizing collected content and it’s worth mentioning it twice—it collects content visually.

Note: Toobla was in the DemoPit of TC50 in 2008

Although somewhat similar to visual book-marker Evernote and visual browser Cooliris, Toobla is simpler conceptually in that there is very little set up required at an account level in order to get started. It is intuitive—you look at the site and just know what to do. I think this is because it uses a familiar “folder” motif for saving thumbnails of web content (whole pages, individual movie clips, links, images). Once collected, you can then share whole folders of content with others, via shortened URL, or by embedding the folder into any website as a widget. The quick, casual nature of this collection method is facilitated through the site’s convenient “bookmarklet”  that is a cinch for working quickly and I think that must be Toobla’s main advantage—it really makes it easy to “bookmark first, evaluate later”. That works well for a person like me (who keeps everything of recent importance on the computer desktop).

You can share all sorts of things including little Flash games, widgets, and multimedia. Think of it as an embeddable locker of sorts.

But don’t take my word for it; give it a try! Toobla has made pre-launch accounts available for 1000 lucky CrunchGear/TechCrunch readers. Get signed up by clicking here.

But there is more planned for the public beta launch like implementing Facebook Connect technology and tight integration with Facebook’s activity feed. The service is already integrated with twitter. But there are still even  more plans that we will come back to in the near future as I think these guys are really onto something! Stay tuned.

Toobla consists of founder Jake Saxbe, CEO and former Digg VP Brian Link, lead developer Matt Yoho, developer Mike Busch and intern developer Tony Schneider.

By the way, here is a folder of content I have shared as a widget. You can see how a Toobla folder can be a quick snapshot, representing  whatever online content you are thinking about at a specific time. In my case it was The Pixies among other things. I noticed a few issues with the widget pop up window (*update – namely that it is not really working right now), but its important to note, this is still in beta. You can see the promise of the technology.

-Jay

Squash The Street

Initially when I played STS I was a little underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong, the execution was solid, but it seemed kind of repetitive to me. Then something happened that changed my mind and ultimately led to me giving it a thumbs up. We’ll come back to that. First let’s look at the game synopsis, directly from Last Legion’s website:

Financial Crisis?  Let your rage rain down on the crooks and swindlers who caused it.

Watch the shady bankers, creepy fraudsters and corrupt CEOs flee their gilded offices, sprinting for the nearest escape vehicle. Squash and flick the snarky scoundrels up and down the streets and sidewalks in the festering heart of the city where all the thievery and greed began. Recoup your losses with the monetary awards you receive from successfully squashing the white-collared criminals who stole your retirement savings. Fund your unending vengeful rampage with precious metal bonuses hoarded from certain embezzlers who just couldn’t grab enough. Be a responsible steward: avoid bankruptcy or your bubble will burst.

As the game progresses, there are more and more scoundrels on the scape at the same time and it becomes more difficult to accurately keep up with the tapping triturations. Although periodically a snowflake shaped icon will appear on the screen that when tapped will momentarily freeze the action, rendering the hapless, helpless snarks motionless—like fish in a barrel. You can then, of course, easily eliminate them in one fell swoop.

After each level, your hits and misses are evaluated for you composite score in cash. Oh, and if you lose it all, you get to enter your initials into the hall of fame. That’s kind of funny. I assume this is commentary on the “golden parachute” culture pervasive on the Wall Street of yesteryear.

My Thoughts
Squash The Street is a mildly entertaining if not somewhat one-dimensional game that can be best described as “Whack-A-Mole” on the iPhone, but with moving human targets and better graphics.

Let’s start right there with the graphics. When I said the the game was one-dimensional, I was referring to it’s strategy and not to its visuals. The graphics, which depict a city street viewed from above, are actually very nice. Careful attention was paid to the bird’s eye view of this scape, right down to the cracks surrounding the manhole covers on the street. The parallaxing street lights also sell the environment—a nice touch. It’s fun to look at and that is important.

But back to the one-dimensionality and how the game changed for me. Initially, I thought Squash The Street had a funny, albeit angry, subtext going on about the current financial crisis. To be honest, the “squashing Wall Street insiders” motif quickly got old for me. It wasn’t quite overt enough for me to be able to tell if this game was designed by someone that lost a bunch of “long green” on Wall Street and was bitter about it or if it was really just a bunch of immature developers having a laugh (which I could respect much more). It was distracting for me but in the end I decided it’s at least another angle for another game right? I have to admit though, that I wasn’t blown away.

Then, after nearly completing a way-too-serious review (I have re-written much of it) and after giving the game a score of  “meh”, I realized that the volume had been off on my iPhone the entire time I was playing STS. I turned it on and OH WHAT A DIFFERENCE THE AUDIO MAKES!

Squash The Street has GREAT sound design. I didn’t realize just how important that can be, but it is very important! The driving and quirky soundtrack is fun. Also, each time you crush one of the fraudsters, they bellow some random and equally arrogant utterance with the dry, northeastern WASPYness of Thurston Howell III. This drastically adds a dimension of newness and hilarity to each level. I instantly wanted to play the game more and realized that, indeed the developers of this game must have at least some inclination toward puerile humor. That cleared up the ambiguity of the subtext and made me an instant fan!

The Good
As I said earlier, the graphics are excellent and the physics of smashing and flicking the financial nemeses are accurate and compelling. The audio is awesome with a capital A.

The Bad
From a usability standpoint, I found it a little irritating that while in the act of trying to smash the runners by tapping on them, my hand actually obscures the screen a bit and makes it hard to see when some of the little analysts are spawned. Also, I never got far enough in game levels to see if the street scape ever changes (I probably made it through about 7-8 levels). It would be more interesting to me if the backgrounds changed out periodically. Additionally, the game lacks some advanced features like saving your level so you can pick up where you left off the next time you play.

The Extras
Hey, they finished this “tapping” engine framework for the game, they might as well expand on it right? And they did. Squash The Street has 4 extra “mini games” that are essentially re-purposed functionality from the main game, packaged into less robust schemes. Some I like better than others, like Clean Sweep for example, where you use your finger to sweep up all the blood from the street. In any event, it’s a nice extra for your $.99, which is the cost of the game at the app store.

The Bottom Line
Squash The Street is a fine way to waste some time while doing your virtual part to help rid the world of the petulant, fallen, autocratic elite. It’s a humorous game for not so humorous times and that is a good thing. While it’s not the kind of game I  will play often, it looks good, sounds good and performs solidly and for that I can recommend it.

Griffin Technology released a new iPhone app today called iFM Radio Browser that works like a search engine for radio stations. The essence of the app is that you can search for local radio stations (with the help of the iPhone’s built in GPS capability) and view what is currently spinning on any of the stations it finds in your area.

This is a new paradigm in station-flipping for sure.

It’s important to note that the app itself is NOT an FM receiver, but rather a browser to access a layer of extended information that supports your listening experience.

From Griffin

iFM Radio Browser, in the spirit of a cross-platform web browser, can work alongside any FM radio, whether in the car or in the home, and brings an interactive radio experience to iPhone and iPod touch. The application connects to real-time data, provided by Mediaguide Inc., to display a list of local FM radio stations within the US, as well as the artists currently playing on them, going beyond both RDS and satellite radio programming guides. Tapping a station in the list allows users to view song title, album art, artist biography, and upcoming concert events. iFM Radio Browser even allows the user to instantly purchase favorite music from the iTunes Music store or create a Wish List for future reference. A simple and attractive user interface allows easy navigation of the app, without compromising access to its numerous features.

The app will however seamlessly integrate with Griffin’s hardware radio product called the “Navigate“, which is essentially a small radio receiver, if that’s what you are into.

This kind of application is something we will undoubtedly see more of as mobile devices and services act as conduits to all the ephemeral data surrounding us.

More info at:

http://www.ifmapp.com/

In your own words, what exactly is a JAGTAG?

It was born out of our agency (which I thought you might appreciate). Basically in early 2006 we first got exposed to 2D barcodes. We were trying to figure out how we could help a newspaper company attach their physical paper to their online content and that’s the first time we ever discovered that ‘wow, there’s this cool new medium coming to the United States in which the brand can use their own assets and turn their own packaging and product and advertising and point of sale into their own medium instead of having to give their money to other media companies.’ We were really big in utility marketing and consumer requested stuff instead of ‘push’ and we saw those things together and thought ‘man, this category of being able to make every advertisers asset an on-demand media channel is going to be the biggest thing to happen, for brands, since the internet.’ We got pretty hopped up about it and as we looked more at the market, we just felt like, in the United States specifically, that an application based system that had to be downloaded prior to use was not going to be a good short-term solution for brands.

We were worried that [having to download a QR code reading application] would create negative brand engagement and there wouldn’t be any reach. So we thought, ‘hmmm what if we could eliminate that barrier.’ We started realizing that MMS was coming soon and if we created the world’s first MMS enabled 2D bar code solution and could make every camera phone work instantly without the need for a download then we’ve solved one of the biggest issues around consumer trial and reach for the brand [with regard to 2D barcodes]. The initial inspiration for the product was (a.) the magnitude of the category and then (b.) the opportunity to create a better solution for the advertiser than an application based system that was not pre-manufactured into the device.

So that’s an overview. We felt like there was this amazing category out there and the issue was that it was trying to be served by technologists that didn’t really design their system around a brand’s or consumer’s needs.

One of your main differentiators is that there is no client side app. That makes it easier for users correct?

Yes, but it’s not just ease—it’s ease and reach. The latest numbers we have are that 60% of people under 35 habitually take and send [mobile] pictures here in the United States. So you could argue that 60% of the market already does the behavior that we require. I think that outside of iPhones (we can’t find a number) but we have surmised that about 1% of the market will download and app [to a mobile device]. With iPhones included, that might be about 6% of the market will download an app. So if 6% of the market will download an app and 60% takes and sends pictures then arguably we have 10 times the reach of an application based 2D barcode system.

There is no application required—that’s one benefit—but because there is no app how does that affect JAGTAG with regard to location-based initiatives.

One of the primary ways we can bring value to the ecosystem is by understanding what’s going on in the immediate environment of the person that’s making the request, so location based understanding is at the forefront of our long-term strategy. It’s a requirement for us. In the short term, interestingly enough, we can get a lot of that out of the tag itself, because we can put different tags in different places. So we can do some geo-understanding based on the tags. The other biggest benefit that we have is that we are also a wonderful measurability tool. We enable brands to measure the relative value of their media because we put a different tag on every piece of source media based on how the brand wants us to and we can tell them ‘hey, this is what’s happening with packaging that came out of CVS versus packaging that came out of Wal-Mart—this is what’s happening with your ad in TIME Inc. versus your ad in Newsweek—this is what’s happening if you’re a manufacturer at your point of sale from one store to another.’ One of our greatest immediate values is we give brands the ability to measure media that they’ve never been able to measure before. They’ve never been able to measure print, they’ve never been able to measure out-door, they’ve never been able to measure event marketing. We don’t give them exact impression data, but we give them relative data, because if I run the same ad in TIME and Newsweek and I get three times as many requests out of TIME than I do Newsweek, then I can pretty much assume that TIME is a better medium for [the brand] and [the brand’s] consumers than Newsweek is. We have 900 million tags by the way.

Out there right now?

That’s how many different combinations there are in our current code-reading schema.

If sheer ease of use could help get you guys get ahead and dominate the U.S. market for 2D bar codes in the short term, what is your plan for sustaining that system in the long term against a swiftly growing list of technologies vying for that same space in object hyper linking and beyond.

Normally, the people with the money control an ecosystem—either the people with the money or the people who have the customers—so our long term strategy is to satisfy the brands immediately and to continue to evolve to satisfy the brands needs in the future. So we are building a category and the category will move and we plan on moving as the category moves.

What do you mean by “the category”?

The category of being able to give the consumer the opportunity to access a brand, anywhere and in any way they want directly off of physical objects. I am hesitating to answer your question because I’m trying to figure out how much of our long term strategy do I want to share with the market. We will have long term value within the value chain of  content delivery based on object-based code-triggered, consumer requested communications.

I will tell you one thing, and I’m not touting our product—I’m touting the category. When brands get a taste in their mouth for not having to give their money to media companies but [rather] are able to turn their own properties into media channels…that’s a really big thing for them. You think about Wal-Mart and Six Flags… they are brands that reach an awful lot of people, and the fact that they can now turn every asset that they have into a media channel for themselves or for other people—I think this whole category is going to shift the whole way people look at media, because suddenly every brick wall at Burger King is now [like] a TV screen and now Burger King can have more impressions than traditional media does.

As mentioned, there are a lot of competing technologies out there. Things like “contactless” RFID enabled phones, virtual geo-locational tagging, and computer vision services. Those technologies are evolving as we speak. Do you see JAGTAG taking a step into any of those kinds of technologies?

We see ourselves being very fluid within any object-based, code-triggered, consumer-requested-via-mobile technology. So, RFID, SMS, image recognition, traditional 2D barcodes…we have a strategy for adding value within any of those immediate and long term technologies.

Do you operate as a custom shop too? For example, if a brand came to you and said “this is not in your offering but we want to do x, y or z”? Would you take on a custom job in that way?

We will, but right now were doing that more within our immediate core-capability of our tag.

Are JAGTAGs color sensitive like Microsoft tags?
No, everything gets converted to a grayscale.

Coming from a graphic design background, I noticed that there is an aesthetic quality to JAGTAGs that is different from other QR codes. Did you all Design it?

We designed and developed it in house. Interestingly our early business models were based on QR codes because it is open source. But cameras aren’t good enough to be able to take a picture of it. In many instances, when we do testing, it appears that we are actually reading better than an application based systems. We also can be much smaller; we can go down as small as a half-inch by a half-inch. You mentioned the design, and it is an aesthetic design, but it’s really the only code that doesn’t have adjoining objects. In most of the other codes, their black and white fields touch each other, and that created problems when you take a picture of it. The dots [in a JAGTAG] are designed to increase code reading because when they get compressed and sent over an MMS they don’t touch. That code is the only code we know of that was designed to actually have a picture taken of it and sent via MMS. All the other codes are designed to be read by an application.

I wanted to ask you about scalability. You said there are 900 million possible JAGTAG combinations right now. Data Matrix codes, however, are essentially, infinitely scalable—you can just keep stacking them next to each other to make a larger code to get more data. So when you do reach 900 million can you make a JAGTAG larger? What will you do then?

They can be recycled, because we could re-issued earlier tags that have expired, but really by the time we would reach 900 million we would have updated the code to have more combinations. We may be an application-based system by then. We do believe that in the future we will be an application based system. But what we really believe is that brands right now—that an application-based system right now does not give brands or consumers what then need.

Tell me about your SellToMe offering. I notice you have a suite of several services. I looked at them all and SellToMe seemed the “sexiest” and I mean sexy in terms of enabling impulse mobile commerce. I wondered if you could explain a little bit about how it would work—if I understood it correctly, a person would see a tag and could buy whatever that is, right there on the spot.

We’re working thru that with partners right now. The first stages will be that basically we can deliver an operator based sale and an Internet based sale—those will be the two primary areas that we move into. It’s probably not as exciting as you might imagine in the immediate future.

Can we go back to Metrics for a minute? I know brands are typically extremely concerned about metrics. One way you described the metrics offering of JAGTAG is that they are, in one sense, “old school” in that the tags are actually in physical locations and can be tracked as such. The sheer location of the tag can be meaningful alone. Is there more that differentiates your metrics offering than just that?

Yes, but they are more long term. We have some proprietary systems. In the short term we have source media tracking.

Will JAGTAG technology work in other countries?

Right now we’re focused on the U.S. and it feels like we have the greatest immediate opportunity here, but anywhere where a carrier enables two-way MMS we can instantly integrate. So any country where that is currently established, we can get up and running in no time. But our current focus is providing value to brands and consumers in the United States.

Can you explain to me, specifically, how rich media experiences are returned via JAGTAG. Someone takes a picture of a tag, sends it via MMS to the server, it is processed and then what? Does it return an actual video or does it return a link to a video that the user watches in a browser? Can you explain?

We are currently commercially approved with the carriers we run on [Verizon and AT&T], for returning WAP links, MMS and SMS. The majority of our business will be returning MMS and when we return an MMS we are actually returning video, multiple pictures and audio directly into the phone. So while we can support a mobile web solution,  we believe that 20% of the world accesses the mobile web and 80% do not and we believe that an MMS return, in most instances, is easier to use and much lower cost to the consumer than a mobile web based return. Our reach goes thru the roof when we return MMS. With an MMS input we get device information. Basically, that is the big difference. So because we have device information, we understand the media player of the phone and the screen size and we optimize that return based on that phone’s specific requirements. That’s really our big home run, right. So when you make a request off your phone, we know exactly what your device is. And when you have an SMS input, you don’t have that understanding. The way some other people do that is they send out a WAP link and try to understand the device off the WAP link.

Then would you say that smart phones are your market, because these could be heavy data media files correct? And that would presuppose that the person downloading does have an unlimited data plan in order to really download this kind of stuff all the time. Unlimited data plans seem to be more closely associated with smart phones.

You know, we would say that our market is smart phones and dumb phones [regular feature phones, like a Motorola RAZR]. An MMS return works wonderfully on a smart phone or a dumb phone. So it’s that extra reach that we’re bringing to the market. Let’s say you wanted to show a video highlight to everyone that clicked in Sports Illustrated. Well, if you rely on the mobile web only, you’ve reached 20% of their audience and if you rely on MMS you’ve reached 100% of their audience.

So what you are saying is that if a person has a “dumb phone” and they don’t have an appropriate player to play back a video then you would send what back to them?

We would know that and would send them a message to the effect of ‘sorry your phone cannot play video, but here is something else from the brand instead.’

Ok, so you sniff out the phone type and there is a payoff, for the consumer, one way or the other, depending on their phone.

Right. We don’t even really sniff it out. The carrier gives it to us.

Can you capture other data about the user other than their phone number?

We receive the phone number, the image and device information.

You don’t collect profile-type info from the user? Or do you?

We don’t transfer individual consumer data to the brand unless the user has requested it be sent.

Is every JAGTAG that is photographed and sent in to the server considered an “opt in” then?

Yes, every request is an “opt in” as long as the source material is clear about that.

I read on Mashable not too long ago where Dana Oshiro had listed 5 possible uses for QR codes. Things like, green ticketing, etc. Obviously you have your product offering and that says something about where you think tagging is going, but can you give me a little insight into what you all think is the future of this technology, outside of where it is today?

Well really it’s still not established today [laughs]. You know, the current IS the future.

That’s a good point.

Really the future is our current product offering.

Right. That is, outside of Japan, where this kind of thing has been going on for years. I guess we just look at whatever was going on in Japan 2 years ago, to find out what will be hip here in 3 more years.

I hear everyone talking about personalized tags—that every consumer has their own tag. Eventually you attach user-generated content to a tag and that person can share their personal best when they go to see someone else. For example in a conversation, one person asks another ‘hey are you a very good skateboarder? Well here, take a picture of the code on my board and watch my videos to find out?’ I think that is certainly a future.

I also believe that whoever is closest to the consumer will be able to use tags to create new media channels for themselves that they can charge other people money to use. Kind of like the current way retail circulars work or the way that sports teams use billboards inside a concourse to charge their sponsors to reach their consumers.  [Like those older models], one of the things I think is going to happen is that once geographic locations or venues or retail stores become ‘mediums’, I think that the owners of these physical footprints will be able to establish all kinds of revenue streams via their ‘bricks and mortar.’ I think one of the big huge shifts will be that places like Starbucks will become a medium for all kinds of stuff beyond their own properties and products. If you think about it today—if you take media as a consumer impression—Wal-Mart, Target, McDonalds, Burger King—everyday they reach many more people, I would surmise, than the New York Times does. So when you get in to a ‘physical world connection’ those are the future media properties. It’s crazy. If you look around your room right now, everything in your room is a media channel. The table is a media channel. The wall is a media channel. So whoever owns the physical source materials now owns the media channel. It’s a crazy idea to think that every object in the world becomes the media channel either for that object to market to somebody or for that object to generate revenue from someone else who wants to market thru that object.

I agree. It’s a fascinating concept. It even gets deeper when you think about it geolocationally… that step beyond when people are vying to purchase coordinates in 3 dimensional space to place their ad in so that when users walk into that space with their GPS enabled phone, they are automatically served an ad. I mean, it doesn’t have to be an ad… we are surrounded by a world of information and the point where the physical world meests this nebulous informational world is really interesting.

Right. For example, what am I doing right now? I see something in the real world and then I have to go online and then I have to find it [in order to get information about it]. But with this technology, anything I see in life I can instantly find out more about. Anything you want to know about the object you are interacting with, you can find out. That’s literally how it can be.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about JAGTAG that we haven’t covered?

I would just want to reiterate our main advantage to anyone considering using a 2D barcode today, which is that our technology literally has 10 times the reach of any other 2D barcode. We are the only 2D barcode that doesn’t require the consumer to download an application, prior to use. Also if anyone is considering returning multimedia to a mobile phone, we are the only real way to do it to a mass mobile audience. You can’t do it with Text2Get (because it doesn’t understand the device ID) and as long as you’re dependent on mobile web, you only reach 20% of the market.

Another thing I’d like brands out there to know is that they can now send gorgeous video, they can now send gorgeous looking multiple images of their products, they can now send that to almost as many people as they can send text to. I’d also like brands to know that if they are considering a traditional image recognition solution, that they can accomplish the same thing with us but they can also measure the media.

And you all have worked with many brands already, correct?

Yes, we have run programs with Sony PlayStation, Red Bull, Nike, Cleveland Cavaliers, Qdoba. One last thing I’d really like to explain about JAGTAG is that one of our core competencies (because we come out of the advertising community) is that we understand how to use the technology to accomplish marketing goals, objectives and programs, unlike some companies entrenched only in the technology side who may have more of an attitude like ‘here’s the technology—YOU figure it out.’ We’re not like that. We’re a really good partner in terms of figuring out and guaranteeing that the program along with the technology succeeds. We are agency people here to help other agency people do great things for their brands.

My initial thoughts upon receiving the Griffin Technology AirCurve to review were, “Great, a speaker that requires no power. That’s cool.” I thought about it some more and began to feel differently though. I came to a new conclusion that for all the coolness and “green-ness” of its lack of power consumption, that it may not be as realistic or as practical as it seems for repeated use. I mean, we know that the battery life on the iPhone is not that great right? So anywhere I would be away from a power source long enough to require the benefits of an “un-powered” speaker would be too long for the iPhone battery to sustain as your sole sound system provider for very long in the first place—like if you were camping for 3 days or something. And if you are at home or at the office, where electricity is abundant, why not just plug in some regular powered speakers and get more volume and bass response?

Whoa now. Lets back up a bit shall we. First of all, what exactly IS the AirCurve?

The AirCurve is an acoustic speaker for the iPhone 2G and 3G that is made by Griffin Technology. It actually amplifies the iPhone’s tiny speaker’s output by about 10 decibels. By itself, the AirCurve’s minimalist design is elegant enough and when propped up on top, the iPhone has a nice visual appeal too. Generally, it seemed like something I would think of as pretty neat. But I kept thinking to myself “is this something I would really use?”

As I stated, I was skeptical, but vowed to use it enough to get a real sense of its capability. Just so you know, it is a naturally amplified acoustic speaker and that means exactly what it sounds like it means. It can only do with what it is given, and the output of that little iPhone speaker is not much to work with, from a fidelity standpoint. I have to say, that the volume it achieves is impressive, but to be frank, it does lack much of the bass response that regular powered speakers provide. But the more I used it, the more I found there was something nice and familiar about listening to music pumping thru the AirCurve—something nostalgic. It reminded me, with familiar brightness, of listening to a transistor radio as a kid, while washing the family car. It reminded of rocking out to Bruce Springsteen at picnics around that same time. There is something about the nice, low-tech echo it emits that grows on me and reminds me that human beings are still analog creatures no matter how digitized we become, as consumers. There is something nice about propping the iPhone up on this little cochlear port and hearing songs in lo-fi easy elegance—outside, inside or in the background. In short, after using it a bit, I found I really liked it for what it is.

Whoa. That’s deep, eh? Ok, maybe I’ve gone too far with the overly quippish anecdotalism. My point is that if you are searching for a high fidelity speaker solution for your iPhone 2G/3G then the AirCurve is not for you. However, if you are looking for a smart, easy and portable way to listen to music, in the background, then this device perfect. At $20 it won’t set you back that much and would be great for use in the backyard, in the kitchen or at a desk.

And if you buy it and are such a stuffy audiophile that you can’t appreciate its simple styling and quality, it would make a sweet fish dorm for your aquarium or an equally svelte container for spare change.

Bottom Line:
The AirCurve is recommended! Griffin does it again with smart, clever and creative tech solutions for mobile audio.

Editor’s Note: Yes, I know we already reviewed the AirCurve. Apparently we never sent Intern Jason the memo and now we have two viewpoints.

From blogs.adobe.com

Adobe AIR Marketplace is a central resource that allows developers to make their applications available to millions of potential users and makes it easy for consumers to find them.

The new AIR marketplace was launched a few days ago and features a brand new look and several new features. Do check it out!

I am the kind of guy who can appreciate damage. It is the way of things. Entropy is part of the natural order of events—an unstoppable phenomenon.  For some, it is hard to accept this after forking over $400 for a fancy Smartphone. I mean, you don’t want the thing getting all scratched up right?  You don’t want it subjected to the elements, right? You want it to look good!

For me, this is not really an issue. Maybe I’m just a slob, but when my iPhone gets yet another scratch on its side or back, it doesn’t really bother me. It’s kind of charming really. It signifies to me that “this thing is getting some use” and that “this is a tool, and I am getting my money’s worth”. I know I am this way and because of it, I have never really wanted to get a protective case for the device. That is until now.

Griffin Technology has a new protective case for the iPhone called the Clarifi and I am smitten. Why? Because the case itself offers at least one extra feature that makes it stand apart from others I have seen and that feature is unique enough to make me want a case whether I care about scratches or not.

Lets skip right to that coolest part first; the macro lens. In a feat that will drive every Cold War spy paraphernalia buff to yell “STASI”, Griffin has placed a tiny, sliding macro lens into the case so it fits directly over the iPhone’s lens.  It does a great job of focusing in on objects as close as two to three inches. The special lens is not just a gimmick though. As Dave over at Griffin pointed out to me, this macro lens is perfect for reading 2D bar codes at close distance, and recommended the Snapper2D iPhone app. Indeed, he was correct. After a little experimentation on my own, I would go as far as to say, the macro lens is “essential” for reading QR and Data Matrix bar codes on the iPhone. It worked well for me with Snapper2D and also with an app called Barcodes and one called BeeTagg.  It is also great for snapping pictures of business cards or other up close items. It would be nice if there were a way to lock the lens either open or closed, as it tends to slide around on it’s own.  You just have to make sure it’s not over the iPhone lens when you are taking a regular picture. This is not a deal breaker for me though, just something that might make it a little better.

Next, I want to note that once locked in place around the iPhone, the Clarifi has a solid feel. It doesn’t feel toy-like but rather very much like a second skin. Some nice, thoughtful industrial design went into its planning and construction. I did notice that it was a little hard for me to access the volume buttons on the side with one hand, but other than that, it fits the phone like a glove.

Thirdly, it is nice looking. Hey, just because I can tolerate of a bunch of dings on my mobile tools, doesn’t mean I cannot appreciate a beautiful or artful object. I can and I do, and this case caught my eye right away. Its two-tone black shiny/matte color scheme, complete with curves and modest branding, is slick. Also, the matte portion is “grippy” but it still doesn’t snag on fabric when you are trying to put it in your pocket, (like some of the cases by incase).

The package sent to me also came with a transparent protector for the iPhone’s glass touch screen, however I had problems installing it. I could not seem to figure out, based on the instructions, if the screen protector was supposed to go on before or after the case itself. It seemed to big to fit the screen when the case was on, but when I tried adhering the screen protector first and sliding the case on over top of it, I ended up fatally damaging the screen protector.  So I am not sure about that.

Also, note that this case probably offers more surface protection than real shock absorption. It’s not like some of the ruggedized cases I have seen out there that seem like they would bounce if dropped. I am sure, however, that the Clarifi offers at least some shock absorption, by virtue of being another layer. That being said, the case is sleek and slim, unlike ruggedized styles. Personally, I prefer a little less shock absorption to looking like I have a dart case in my pocket on the way to meetings or cocktail parties, but that’s just me…maybe you are cool with dart cases.

In conclusion, the Griffin Technology Clarifi iPhone case is easily worth $35 and is a testament to the kind of thoughtful and elegant technology products Griffin has been making for years. It is practical and innovative and would be a nice accessory for anyone’s iPhone.

Bottom line: Recommended!

Here are the descriptions straight from Skyworks:

QB PASS ATTACK features three sound tracks, state of the art iPhone 3D graphics, and two addictive game modes, Classic and Progressive! In Classic Mode, score as many points as you can within 60 seconds by throwing the football through the scoring holes. Hit the close receiver and score 7 points. Hit the receiver further downfield and score 30 points! In Progressive Mode, score as many touchdowns as you can in four “60-second” quarters. Each pass will be counted as a down and an onscreen display will mark your progress down the field with each throw. If you come up short on fourth and inches, it’s back to your own 20 yard line, but if you can hit the far receiver when the scoring hole is lit, it’s an instant touchdown!

In X’s & O’s Football, fight your way offensively downfield to score as many touchdowns as you can in four “60-second” quarters. Playing as the coach, quarterback, and receiver you’ll have to be at the top of your game to earn every first down. Come up short on fourth down, and you’ll be hitting the showers.

As coach, first select the play from the playbook and set your receivers to run a variety of passing routes such as the curl, deep out, and post. Then as quarterback, set your players in position, hike the ball and choose your receiver. Time your pass carefully to get the ball right into your receiver’s hands, and then control the receiver to run downfield for a touchdown! Once the receiver has the ball, you can tilt your iPhone/iPod touch to control his movement to the goal line! Use the accelerometer to adjust the running direction by tilting up and down, and adjust the speed by tilting right and left

My thoughts?

QB PASS ATTACK was a great “no brainer” game. No strategy, no planning, no experience necessary. Just try to “flick” footballs through one of two holes in a backdrop, as fast as you can. While the skill required is definitely more Greg Brady than Tom Brady, the iPhone touch screen interface makes it really fun and realistic (gravity, tilt-control trajectory). It is reminiscent of many a carnival/bar game you may have played. I found it addictive.

X’s & O’s FOOTBALL is a little different. It’s five-on-five, head to head football against “the computer”. You pick routes, make passes—it’s way better than Coleco Electronic Quarterback. This game is more intense and takes a little longer to get the hang of, but is equally fun and passes the time before you know it.

Both have nice sound design, thoughtful graphic detail and at $1.99 each, are great to have in your iPhone for a moment’s respite… wherever that may be.

The Bottom Line: Recommended.

It looks like a calculator, a phone, a volume pedal and a digital clock glued to a piece of cardboard, yet it is a gestalt artifact and somehow seems more important than that. Just what exactly was it a “system” for, though?  I’ll tell you. Obviously, it was a “system” for getting corporate boo-tay back in the 80s. A status marker to symbolize that you made so much dough-re-mi, you could afford to have a $900 phone, that would look good on or off the Death-Star. Clearly it established “Player-ship”, back in the day. End of story.

These days, it’s even cooler than it was during the era of Savings & Loan meltdowns and Joel has done it proud by even putting the little glass of Scotch, exactly where it should be in any corporate situation—smack dab in the middle of things!

They go on to say that:

“iPhone owners accounted for 14 percent of mobile game downloaders in November, with 32.4 percent of all iPhone users reporting they downloaded a game in the month, compared with a market average of 3.8 percent.”

That’s a lot of numbers and percentages, but what do they mean? Well, basically they mean that the trend for downloading mobile games is increasing and that the iPhone users downloaded more games than the average mobile user during the sample month.

It makes sense, considering that the iPhone (and its cousin the iPod Touch) benefit from a new paradigm in motion control for mobile gaming but also, and as importantly, from a new, built-in, revenue and distribution model otherwise known as the App Store. Hey, when it’s easy for developers to monetize, they build. And when it’s easy for consumers to spend, they consume. Everybody wins. Clearly, it’s working out.

Just look to the 2009 Independent Games Festival Mobile Finalists for one view of the state of things: 12 of 17 finalists were games built for iPhone/iPod Touch. It is definitely a compelling platform.

So, while gaming is surely propelling the number of downloads from Apple’s App Store, general trends for consumption of mobile content are increasing anyway, especially within the context of social networks. If you take a look at the chart below, referencing another study by comScore called the Mobile Benchmark Study, you will notice that the numbers are up in almost all mobile categories, but especially in “social networking access” as well as the already mentioned “application download” category, indicating there is a real desire for this kind of content and communicative tools. The App Store may actually be meeting two needs here: not only do they have the fulfillment mechanism in place to deliver, but they also have some of the most desirable apps too—social apps like Facebook for iPhone.

Speaking of Facebook for iPhone, allfacebook.com states that:

“Last week while at Davos, Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that the company currently has over 25 million people accessing the site via their mobile devices on a monthly basis. As of today, the company has over 4 million daily active users just between their top 3 mobile applications. According to our Facebook application statistics, Facebook for iPhone has approximately 1.64 million daily active users, Facebook for Blackberry has approximately 1.56 million daily active users, and the general mobile application has just under 1 million daily active users.”

As one of those 1.64 million, I can attest that I access the site more frequently from a mobile app than I do from the web—practically all day long, in sessions lasting as little as a few seconds. Why? First of all, it’s super-convenient.  Secondly, it’s way harder and weirder to take a laptop into the bathroom at work. Thirdly, what else am I going to do during the endless sea of meetings punctuating my days? I just open Facebook on my iPhone and pretend like I am checking an important email. Just kidding… kinda.

With numbers like that, Facebook for iPhone is a great example of how far the Apple system can go. But this is not to say that the App Store concept is “the only way” or is solely responsible for a revolution of mobile content. It’s playing its part and possibly leading right now.

But when you stand back and imagine the larger pattern here—thinking of iTunes four years ago and the height it has taken, it’s easier to speculate on the promise of the App Store and the momentum it is gaining through increased use.

Cold Steel, makers of fine instruments of death and dismemberment, are offering up a new line of, um… pens. The Pocket Shark (no relation to the Pocket Rocket) is a must have item for, you know, seriously injuring someone and then signing autographs afterward. Or on a slow day, you could just use it to sign checks or documents at the day gig.

Rest assured though, as you plow through piles of paperwork with an annoying co-worker, that you could, in fact, harm them with this little doodad if necessary.

Cold Steel notes that:

Superficially, it shares many features common to most markers, but appearances can be deceptive. For starters, it’s made from the glass-reinforced plastic, Grivory, the same tough material we use in our NIGHTSHADE SERIES, and features walls that are 4 times thicker than similar markers. This means it’s built for impact and, in a self-defense emergency it can become an efficient Yawara stick for driving off an attacker.

The Pocket Shark should definitely outlast all of your other pens and, refillable or not, is a serious pen for serious people (maybe a little too serious).

Available at coldsteel.com