Nike Uses Facebook to Showcase Golfers' US Open Outfits

In advance of the US Open at Pebble Beach this Thursday - Sunday, Nike has taken to Facebook to reveal their sponsored golfer's daily outfits. Each golfer has a page within their "Athlete Apparel: 2010 US OPEN" photo album. it features outfits with specific information and product IDs (hat, shirt and pants) for each day of the open. Facebook fans are then able to comment, like and share. It is an interesting campaign by Nike - who rarely previews their player's gear so specifically and in such a social setting. It also strikes me a test to gauge fan interest on Facebook - if users indeed interact around the players and their outfits, Nike could build a Facebook application to enable in-app purchasing, exploration, etc of each product / outfit. Fans could share specific products and ensembles - and even outfit their favorite players and share with their networks.

Even if a test, it seems that users are actively engaging (despite relatively moderate volume). Tiger Woods' outfit, for example, has ~100 comments and 'likes' that are a mix of product feedback and interest:

Tiger Woods' US Open Outfits: Day by Day

All Nike Golfers US Open Outfits

Facebook Promoting Sneak Peeks, Advertising for Beta Testers

Facebook recently started taking applications for beta testers of their new questions products (TechCrunch coverage here). The application itself is interesting in that it is far more thorough than the standard name & email process. Facebook outlines the vision of the product and then asks for three sample questions and answers... and promises a response within 24 hours. They include guidelines and a sample question / answer: Also notable is that promotional 'ads' for applicants are now appearing in the right column of the Facebook homepage.

The ad encourages users to apply to become beta testers... and while the landing page is specifically geared towards the Q&A product, the ad creative doesn't mention it. Rather, the ad speaks of beta testing future "Facebook products". Considering the value of the ad's real estate (typically reserved for high impact activities: ads, birthdays, invites, requests, etc), you can expect that other products are in the works and beta testing plays a key role.

Frontierville.com: A Strange Redirect to Facebook App

Earlier this week Zynga launched their newest game Frontierville - it already has 1.3m monthly actives and 450k fans. While Frontierville's gameplay inherits many of the best practices of its siblings, its domain behavior doesn't. Zynga has made an effort to instill their own branding across the properties and place games at their own domain - like Farmville.com (screenshot at bottom). Frontierville.com however behaves differently. Rather than its own domain and embedded gameplay, it uses a frame to display the Facebook application page while maintaining the frontierville.com domain. The page itself is grayed out - but still active (showing your Facebook data and playing the Frontierville music). The page isn't actionable... but when clicked (anywhere) you are directed to the actual game and application page: http://apps.facebook.com/frontierville/

Here is Farmville.com:

Apple iPad: 3rd Fastest Selling Device (Behind Nintendo Wii & DS)

If there is a voice for mobile growth, Mary Meeker is it. And she has 50+ slides of charts and data to prove her bullishness.

Below is the latest version of her Internet Trends deck (updated June 7 for the CM Summit in NY). I have included screenshots of three particularly interesting slides which are relevant to previous posts on this blog. The entire deck is embedded below via Scribd: Other than Nintendo's Wii and DS, the iPad is the fastest growing device - taking just 28 days to sell 1,000,000 units. That is more than 2x as fast as the iPhone and 1/2 as fast as either Nintendo device (which is impressive):

Android's growth is impressive... and ramping significantly. The wild card will be the new iPhone 4 (how many units will it move?) and whether rumors of a non-AT&T iPhone come true by year's end:

Normalized to the iPhone, iPad usage is more alike desktop PCs than smart phone usage. This is conceptually straightforward - but clear proof that these tablet devices are effective ways to surf the web and accomplish other 'desktop' activities:

MS Internet Trends 060710

Is NYC The Next Silicon Valley? CNN Looks to Dogpatch Labs

As Internet Week New York kicks off next week, CNN visited Dogpatch Labs New York to understand how New York's growing tech scene compares to Silicon Valley's. For the piece ("The next Silicon Valley? It may be New York"), CNN spoke to several of the Dogpatch Labs residents and Polaris partner Peter Flint about New York entrepreneurship, networking and culture. While opinions varied (see the video below), it is clear that:

1. The New York tech scene is growing rapidly, and 2. It has its own unique culture and community

As Peter Flint says in the below video, "I don't know if New York will ever become Silicon Valley. In some ways, do you want it to become Silicon Valley? The culture here is very different than the culture there."

With Dogpatch Labs hosting entrepreneurs in New York, Cambridge and San Francisco - we are excited to take part in each of the communities and hopefully add to the unique cultures.

You can watch the video on CNN.com:

Google.com Certainly Looks Different

Google's new homepage looks much different than their old, clean and simple homepage. The difference and opportunities for customization are a bit shocking and: ... dare I say Bing-like? ... or Picasa with a Google search box?

Quick Hits: Dogpatch Labs, Living Proof, JibJab & StickyBits

A few Dogpatch Labs / Polaris related updates - which I typically try to bundle together!

1. Dogpatch Labs New York featured on CNN

CNN's recent piece "The next Silicon Valley? It may be New York" looks at the growing tech scene in New York and features Dogpatch Labs and our focus on "open-source entrepreneurship."

2. Living Proof unveils unique referral program

Living Proof, who just won three CEW Beauty Awards, launched a referral program that: 1. rewards recipients 20% of their purchase 2. and gives successful referrers a $48 gift card

3. StickBits 1.5 Launches

StickyBits has released a new version of their application and it features "official bits", threading, voting and more. iPhone users can download the newest app here and Android users can go here.

4. JibJab Launches World Cup themed videos

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!