I had one of those terrible and all-too-typical experiences yesterday. I had to call a customer service number. I called, struggling with the voice-activated answering system, cursing vociferously in hopes of triggering some sort of special mechanism to connect me directly to a real person. Finally my turn in the phone queue came and - of course, this is always how the story goes - the customer service rep was able to pull up my account information, verify it, answer my question, mail me the necessary paperwork (seriously, in 2011) and tell me to have a nice day. I waited on hold for about 20 minutes; talking to someone took about four minutes.
As I sat on hold, an automated voice reminded me that there were many things I could do if I went to the organization's website instead. Alas, not in my case. The website had some forms and an FAQ, sure, but much to my chagrin, I had to call the toll-free number.
Contrary to the beliefs of some Internet entrepreneurs, local news and advertising is not dying. If advertising professionals can be believed, targeted local advertising is one of their primary goals, with the market expected to grow to $35 billion by 2014.
Local news aggregator Topix held a "State of Local Online Advertising" survey with some of the top U.S. advertising agencies. The survey shows that 60% of advertisers believe geo-targeted ads deliver stronger return on investment, with 33% of advertisers seeing double-digit gains. In an interview, Topix CEO Chris Tolles said advertisers and publishers do not need to be "hyperlocal" to make money in local markets.
I very rarely review a single mobile app these days - we prefer to do mobile app round-ups here on ReadWriteWeb - but I'm going to make an exception this time for Photogram. This new iPhone application, launched just yesterday, is deserving of a mention, if only for catching my attention among a sea of mobile photo app startups.
From the description, the app seems somewhat basic, maybe even a little boring: share photos via Facebook, Twitter or email. But it does so with a simplicity, elegance and ease that I've often found lacking elsewhere.
Pete Erickson is trying to become the go-to man that brings innovators and industries together. Through his Disruptathon series, he travels North America, putting on one-day events where entrepreneurs compete in front of industry leaders to present disruptive ideas. The prizes are not large, but the opportunity for brand awareness in front of industry leaders can be invaluable.
Disruptathon came to the Washington D.C. area on Thursday evening with eight entrepreneurs in tow to make their pitches at USA Today headquarters in McLean, Va. When it comes to disruption, the news industry was hit hard by lack of innovation and forward digital thinking. As one presenter put it: "the foundation for the news business has shifted." Take a look at the eight startups trying to change the way we consume, produce or interact with the news.
Online and mobile cash-based payment service Dwolla has launched its first API (application programming interface), which the company calls "Grid." This tool allows for the integration of Dwolla's cash-based payments service within other platforms and applications. The operation works somewhat like a Facebook Connect for payments - instead of merchants holding your personal data on their servers, that sensitive information is stored within Dwolla. How much of your data they can access is up to you, the consumer. The benefit here is that with less access to this data, there's less risk of fraud.
In the U.S., Memorial Day has devolved into a notoriety based mostly on picnicking and fabulous savings at big-box stores. However, it started life as a memorial called Decoration Day, first started by freed slaves in South Carolina to honor the Union soldiers who had died in a war that ended with the abolition of slavery. It was meant as a day of reconciliation and peace in the aftermath of the American Civil War.
Especially to those in the military, or from military family, the day retains some of its original flavor. Even as it honors those who have died in military service, it affirms the desirability of peace and stands as a memento mori for those in uniform. To do our small part in celebrating it, we wish to highlight a few of the stories of technology in military service we have written in the last year.
I recently came across University of Wisconsin professor Janet Hyde's research into the gender differences in math performance, which I found fascinating especially since my wife's desire is for our two-year-old twin girls to become software engineers. I decided to contact Hyde and follow up with questions that I thought were relevant to the greater community of startup entrepreneurs and engineers. I appreciated her efforts and insights into a quiet issue that I believe has a huge effect on our nation's innovation engine and economic growth.
Moon: How did you first become interested in exploring the stereotype that girls had less mathematical abilities than boys?
Al Jazeera reporter Dorothy Parvaz disappeared in Syria several weeks ago. Syria, whose citizens have been caught up in the Arab Spring but whose leaders most decidedly have not, has seen the death of over a hundred in the past three months. One of the reporters covering the situation was Parvaz.
Her employers subsequently discovered that the Syrians had arrested her and sent her to Iran. Her friends have responded with an instant and comprehensive social media campaign to free her. This campaign illustrates the quick roll-out that social media affords at this point in its development.
Visa announced today it will launch a next-generation digital wallet service which aims to revolutionize electronic payments, including those made online, on a mobile phone, or offline at the point-of-sale. The platform allows consumers to create a digitized version of their actual wallet, in which they load all their cards, whether Visa or not. Even merchant loyalty cards will be supported.
When making a purchase on the Web, this new system offers a click-to-purchase functionality that does away with the long, tedious form filling currently necessary on the websites belonging to online merchants. Instead, a username and password will be all that's required to complete a purchase. Offline at retailers' locations, the mobile wallet will support the use of promo codes sent via SMS, barcode scanning and NFC technology, the latter which allows a customer to pay with a wave of their phone instead of with a swipe of a plastic card.
It's now over a month since influential Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was detained by China's government. In what New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg called a "bittersweet honor," Ai Weiwei's latest art exhibition opened today in NYC. The 12-piece outdoor public sculpture, entitled Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, is supplemented by a special Tumblr blog, Twitter account, Facebook Page and official website.
Nobody has heard from Ai Weiwei since his detention on April 3rd, also the date of his most recent tweet (Weiwei is a prolific Twitter user). We hope this brave artist is safe and will be released as soon as possible.
