by julieblaustein on February 8, 2010
By Julie Blaustein
Wednesday, February 3rd I attended the kickoff of Motally’s moChats. Motally plans to hold a moChat the 1st. Wednesday of every month at their cozy headquarters in SOMA. MoChats are casual talks designed to share insights about successful mobile development and optimizing mobile sites and apps through analytics. Analytics is what Motally provides, not only for mobile devices on the iPhone, Android and Blackberry platforms but also for the Apple iPad.
Pizza and drinks, including adult beverages, were served while sitting around a projector and chatting about Motally. Many features were discussed including the 2-way communications, user statistics such as unique users, page views, top referrers, top devices etc. Also discussed was their search tracking feature. When someone does an internal search on a mobile website, the website publisher can track what happens after the search to determine whether an action took place. For example, say an individual searches for pizza on a mobile website and then later makes a phone call to place an order. This is the type of data that is captured by Motally’s analytics and is particularly useful for sites that have strong search functionality. In fact, Yelp, the local search and review site is one of its customers. Other clients include Fandango, IAC , Portable Zoo, and Verve Wireless.
Connect with Motally on Twitter at and keep up with them and all the excitement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 15-18th or if you are in Barcelona, Motally will be at RIM’s App Planet in Hall 7, booth 7B26. You can also join them at the next Motally moChat on Wednesday, March 3rd.
The Motally Team at the AppShowcase/Buzzworthy Event.
by Brian Remmel on January 29, 2010
Born in 2006, Weekend Sherpa has been quietly providing amazing recommendations for free and cheap outdoor activities throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Each Thursday, Weekend Sherpa sends out their newsletter, recommending a handfull of things to do around the area.
The free service uses an expert team to suggest hidden hiking trails, bike rides, festivals and events, weekend getaways and more.
I’ve always loved getting outdoors and exploring. There wasn’t really a good source of finding quick and reliable information on where to get outdoors for the weekend. So Weekend Sherpa was born: Give people good ideas, tried and true information, and (hopefully) inspiration for getting outdoors on their weekend.
-Brad Day, Founder and Managing Editor of Weekend Sherpa
In addition to the newsletter, Weekend Sherpa has all of their past recommendations archived on WeekendSherpa.com. The archives are navigated by a simple search function, or you to browse activities by kind of activity (Hike, Bike, Water, Relax Overnight, Winter or Other) or region (SF, East Bay, North Bay, Peninsula & South Bay, or Points Beyond).
While the concept of an email newsletter seems a little archaic, the real value of the site is in the amazing content from legitimate outdoors experts. The editorial team is made up of current and former editors and writers for publications like National Geographic Explorer, The San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner, San Francisco Magazine and Lonely Planet.
In a perfect world, here are some features I’d love to see incorporated into the site:
- Personalized recommendations – The service should make suggestions based on my feedback – a la Netflix.
- Social features – Let me share which activities I’ve done with my friends, and post excursions of my own – like diddit.
- Invite my friends – Let me indicate which activities I’m planning to do, and let my friends RSVP – partner with Plancast?
- A mobile application, for easy browsing on the go.
Be sure to sign up for their newsletter, and I’ll see you out on the trails!
Know of other great services like Weekend Sherpa? Leave a comment below, or give me a shout-out on Twitter.
by Allison Bethurem on January 22, 2010
The days of starving artists taking their masterpieces to street corners to sell or be seen are far from over. Many people still choose that as a medium to get their name and talent out there. But why stand out in the ice cold or the sweltering heat, when you can use social media to do all the work for you?
Natasha Westcoat did just that. Through the use of social media and auction sites like eBay, her color-soaked and magical-like art became best sellers, forcing her to abandon her university studies and become a full-time artist. With a helping hand from Twitter, FaceBook, eBay, Etsy and more, Natasha has sold over 1000 original works of art since 2004 to private and corporate collections worldwide!
As an avid art lover myself, one look at her creations and I can see where her influence stems from. The rich gold and almost mixed media look of swaying trees and shapes are reminiscent of the dream-like and timeless paintings from Gustav Klimt. The flowing and repetitious brush strokes paired with bold and blatant colors are pure VanGogh. Combining the magic and distinctness of those two artists in one, results in Natasha’s candy coated art that gave social media users everywhere a sweet tooth.
After seeing the impact social media had on her work, Natasha became an avid blogger and also participates in events teaching those in creative arts how to use and utilize the web as a means of sharing their wondrous creations. Natasha is also the co-founder of Create Life, which is an amazing outlet dedicated to bringing together creatives and techies to collaborate and learn about social media.
The art and tech communities, both a big part of my life, are co-existing to allow both sides to show and tell their talent and craft, which is resulting in nothing but pure success for both sides and it’s an amazing thing to see!
by Kristen Nicole on January 21, 2010
YouTube is getting into music videos now, with a new Discovery Project being launched in TestTube, YouTube’s experimental features lab. From the Discovery Project you can search for music, and create your own playlist accordingly. You can mix and match results, and then view them in a custom playlist.
There are a number of services that already offered similar options, many of which were based solely on YouTube content. There has always been a wealth of music available on YouTube, though some of it is far from the official, quality content you would want for inclusion in a custom playlist. Of course, playlists can be shared with friends and saved for later plays.
YouTube’s ongoing efforts for premium content on the site has resulted in some official music videos that are part of YouTube’s Music Discovery Project, according to TechCrunch. Partnerships with distributors can only make such an offering from YouTube better and more feature-ridden for end users, which could possibly detract from the ongoing success of those services that already create music playlists from YouTube content.
Ultimately, YouTube could find itself knee-deep in a music search and recommendation service. The potential for Google-owned YouTube to move in this direction would likely be a niche effort, but a useful one nevertheless. I only say this because a number of content-aggregating services are finding ways to offer combined access to as many of your media platforms as possible, from a single point of access.
This means that the provision of getting content to users in the most efficient way possible could very well be the use of combined media on a single site. In this regard, YouTube could also become one of those access points for multimedia, making it easier for consumers to keep up with their shared content.
While we’re not likely to see a whole lot of activity for the Discovery Project in the immediate future, Google is also ramping up its efforts towards promoting music services and search results through its primary pages. The acquisition of LaLa has brought playable search results to many queries, and the Discovery Project could aid Google in its efforts to create a more contextual search experience that gives us what we’re looking for instead of a resourceful web page.
