As iPad Approaches, Amazon Aggressively Pushes Kindle

As the iPad's "late march" shipping date arrives, Amazon is promoting the Kindle as agressively as it can. The below screenshots are large homepage units that on four consecutive visits... each conveying compelling selling points in comparison to the iPad (when thought of only as a reading device): - Free 3G connection (of course, not for web browsing, but book downloads) - Product success: the #1 product on Amazon - Inventory: 420,000 titles - Price: 1,000s of books available for free This doesn't change my opinion that the iPad will do to the Kindle what the iPhone 3GS did to the Flip... and you could argue, based on Amazon's promotional focus, they agree.

3.5 Million Facebook Updates At Peak of Olympic Hockey Game

Great stats from Facebook regarding the Olympic Hockey game yesterday afternoon:

Olympic Spirit: The sending of status messages on Facebook peaked Sunday at 2:29 pm PST and 2:54 pm PST during two significant goals in the Olympic hockey finals: when the U.S. tied and Canada won. More than 3.5 million status updates were sent during the time frame of those key plays, twice the pace of the rest of the day.

Nike Revamps NikeGolf.com - Sans Tiger Woods

This morning, Nike announced the unveiling of their new Nike Golf website via Facebook: Like most Nike online experiences: it is good looking, has slick UI, and is easy to navigate. The surprising part was the clear omission of Tiger Woods... particularly as one of the lone remaining sponsors. Nike's Golf site used to be canvased with Tiger - now you have to work to find any mention of him. To be fair to Nike, they removed much of the Tiger imagery and promotion in recent months... but the announcement of a new NikeGolf.com looks as though the unveiling was more about removing Tiger than renovating the site.

Of course, I am not the only one to notice this. The Facebook announcement led to a mixture of responses from fans - about both the site and Tiger Woods:

Bobby Kane: The post was about the launch of Nike's new Golf site; why for the love of all that is holy does someone have to bring Tiger Woods and his PERSONAL LIFE into it. Nike Golf Facebook moderator, the new site looks great.

Nike Golf: Thank you Bobby Kane!

Dogpatch Labs Video Tour on VentureBeat

Earlier this week, Dogpatch Labs was featured on VentureBeat. Assistant Editor Anthony Ha visited Dogpatch Labs San Francisco, met several of the entrepreneurs / teams, and sat down for an short tour and interview. In the video, I am joined by David Hegarty of Hollrr:

After the article went live, it managed to become a "Popular" article on Digg and reach the homepage:

H&M Launches MyTown Integration & Ads; Facebook Sponsored Campaign

Earlier this week, MyTown released version 2.1 of their wildly popular mobile gaming app (unfortunately there is still no level 41). In addition to some very slick UI enhancements and clever game mechanics (such as scratch lottery tickets that are rewarded every 30-minutes) - they released integrated local ad campaigns. ... and they timed that launch with a Facebook sponsored ad campaign that echoes the same messaging and products as the MyTown focus: "The Blues":

Previously, MyTown ran ads for local franchises like Red Mango: the stores were highlighted in local listings and discounts were provided to those who either owned the property or checked-in. In version 2.1, MyTown released a far more integrated campaign for clothing store H&M. In addition to features used with Red Mango, they fully integrated H&M in the gameplay ... using the same functionality and game-mechanics that make MyTown so popular to lift H&M's brand. Here are a handful of examples.

1. Location awareness. H&M products and integrations only appear when the store is relatively close.

2. Once you check-in, you can get discounts and dynamic ads:

3. When you check-in to H&M (and other locations), you can earn H&M bonuses and virtual goods:

4. Integrated gameplay. Every so often, you unlock functionality that is branded H&M - like this scratch card:

As AT&T Improves, Google Nexus One Arrives on Verizon

I have been eagerly awaiting Google's Nexus One arrival on Verizon - which were initially announced as "Spring 2010". And according to BoyGeniusReport - it has passed through the FCC.

That raises a couple questions - even for someone who glowed so positively about Android and the Nexus One:

1. AT&T is improving. While I complained about AT&T alongside other vocal folks, I do give them credit for addressing the problem and making improvements. PC world tests showed significant improvlement and rated AT&T as the fastest network (read here - seriously). Anecdotally, I have experienced significant improvements in San Francisco, the valley and Los Angeles. The real test will be when I am in New York this week... which was the worst.

2. The HTC Incredible is launching and is apparently also weeks away.... and it is supposedly a formidable competitor to the Nexus One: '3.5″ to 3.7″ WVGA capacitive display (believed to be AMOLED), 5 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, optical trackpad (death to trackballs!), Snapdragon processor and 256MB RAM topped off with Android 2.1 with Sense UI'

I still contend that I will move to Android - not just for Verizon's network, but because I think it is important to be on Droid's platform (learning, experimentation, etc) - just as it has been so valuable and educational to be on the iPhone.

Facebook Widgets Play Video

As seen in the below screenshots, Facebook Widgets now feature and play video in-line (although I am not entirely sure that this is a new release - it is my first exposure to it). These are examples from Zynga's Farmville.com - which features a Farmville Fan Widget. The widget has:

- logo - become a fan button - Farmville's feed - Farmville's fans (22.5m!) Notice that the latest newsfeed post has a video play button. Here are two examples, both of which play the video in-line: Facebook Video and YouTube. You will notice that it is still a little funky as the videos are not sized corrrectly for the widget's widget / height. Nevertheless, it makes the widget far more interactive:

Facebook Video: Example

YouTube Video: Example

January 2010: Facebook Passes Google in Visits; Yahoo in Uniques

According to Compete, January marked the month where Facebook passed Google in visits and Yahoo in Uniques... both are major accomplishments. Even if Compete's data is not directly tracked - this is important directionally. In December, Facebook inched above Google in visits (2.71b vs. 2.69b) - but January marks an actual gap: 2.87b to 2.78b. The other impressive feat is that Facebook's growth rate maintains its (almost-linear) strength. Google's visits continues to grow, but it is clearly slower; their uniques have seen growth over the last couple months, but May - November was relatively flat. Meanwhile, Yahoo visits are flat and uniques are declining. It is also worth noting that Facebook is the top referral site of Google... meaning that many of Google's visits lead directly to Facebook visits (as is the in-and-out model of search). Google is the second largest referral site from Facebook - Yahoo is the largest.

Facebook vs. Google: Visits

Facebook vs. Google vs. Yahoo: Visits

Closeup of Visits: Facebook Passes Google

Facebook vs. Google vs. Yahoo: Uniques

Solving MS Outlook Pain with Google Calendar, Chrome Extensions

I am very frustrated with Microsoft Outlook - particularly the calendar... which, for every scheduling / meeting exchange, requires one to switch between inbox and calendar. As a calendar fills up, this becomes more and more cumbersome - and ineffective. It is a root of daily pain - and for those around me, complaining. So I posed the question to Facebook and Twitter: what are great examples of plugins that make Microsoft Outlook more efficient / effective:

Here is the solution I have gone with (at least thus far). It shows just how frustrated I am - since it is a lot of work - and, to Jon Steinberg's point above, it shows the role Google plays in all of this:

1. I set up a sync for my Outlook Calendar with Gmail. It works both ways and is quite easy to set up (see here).... I wish they did this for contacts too!

2. Using Google Chrome, I installed the Google Calendar Checker w/ Popup. It displays your calendar as a Chrome extension and shows appointments, dates, etc all within a drop down.

This works great if you use dual monitors and have email and browser on separate screens. It's better than Outlook on a single screen (even this small laptop) - but is still not ideal. At least it allows you to navigate the calendar (particularly by date) without having to lose your inbox position.