Affective August 31st, Twitter changed the authentication mechanism by which applications interact with the service moving from stored authentication to a system known as OAuth.
For those not inclined to read the Wikipedia article on OAuth, in a nutshell, it stands for “Open Authorization”.
To date, Twitter has worked via stored passwords. So, in the case of tools like TweetDeck and Seesmic or online services like 4Square, people’s username/password strings were stored at the application level. This allowed those applications to authenticate with Twitter as that person.
Obviously, this creates limitations with respect to what can be done and creates the opportunity for major security issues if username/password lists are lost, compromised or misused.
OAuth is very different. With OAuth, you actually authenicate directly with the service (Twitter in this case) and then Twitter and the application share a key (essentially like an HTML cookie) for the duration of the “conversation” so that the particular application can behave on your behalf without ever knowing your username/password combination.
This change opens up the “always on” capability of Twitter and more “network-aware” capabilities similar to Digg… which, by the way, utilizes not only Facebook Connect but also the new Twitter interface and the Google OAuth interface as well.
It will be interesting, to say the least, to see what people come up with.
As with many entertainment destinations, a large portion of Totter’s Otterville’s revenue comes from parties and events. More importantly, group outings such as these are a great way to expand Totter’s exposure and bring new folks to the experience known as Otterville.
With that in mind, we created a 6′ x 11′ wall cling for Otterville which promotes the utilization of the family fun center for birthday parties.
While that is awesome and all, we wanted to influence families to consider the venue and to ask questions at the time they were coming through the main gate to Otterville. This is how it looks from the point at which Mommy and Daddy would be checking in little Jane and Johnny….
Attention grabbing and activating! What an awesome piece!
If you would like to know more about our capabilities and how we can deliver more IMPACT to your marketing plan and business, don’t hesitate to contact us!
Drive subscription to the Reser Bicycle Outfitters e-mail newsletter
We created a custom t-shirt (front shown here) for RBO to give away throughout the month in store and at Bike Month commuter stations around Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky… then we decided to kick it up a notch. We wanted an easy to distribute and carry form factor that also reinforced Reser Bicycle Outfitters as THE full service bicycle shop in the area.
Handing people another free t-shirt (despite the fact that it is a really cool free t-shirt) seemed so also-ran and cumbersome… so, we came up with this awesome compression execution with a bicycle-wheel insert. This form allowed for easier distribution, carrying and reinforced the bike shop’s equity.
All-in-all, it was an awesome project that served its purpose… on any given day you can see them around town AND the newsletter subscriptions grew by 50% via this initiative.
Do you have something to say? Let us help you find a creative and high-IMPACT way to do it… Just reach out to us and we’ll get started on creating some magic for your business!
Reser Bicycle Outfitters frequently sponsors & attends events for promotion and signage at the events is usually poor so RBO asked us to create a banner for them. The particular banner they requested was an awesome, under-table 6′ x 2′ one that could be used to attract high-end riders… and if you’re going to attract folks who enjoy careening down hills, it’s gotta be cool…
This banner was one of a series used at different events targeted at road bikers, mountain bikers and more recreational, family-orient, bikers. They have proven to be effective at drawing attention and further extending the Reser Bicycle Outfitter business name and brand.
Do you have something to say? Let us help you find a creative and high-IMPACT way to do it… Just reach out to us and we’ll get started on creating some magic for your business!
An organization has a need. It is a BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal) whose product is obvious but whose pathway is fraught with complex pitfalls and executional details. To further confound the issue, the organization lacks the specific expertise to generate the RFQ and solicitation of an RFI necessitates significant human resources and implies existing in-house expertise to evaluate, parse and reassemble the data into an effective RFQ…
So, how do you specifically instruct some one on what you want built when you don’t know how to build it or what you should even be considering in the construction?
The US Government came up with a quite elegant answer. Ask the experts and Web 2.0 it…
For quite a while, the US Government has be leveraging FedBizOps.gov to post government contract opportunities and to procure everything from pretty pictures to F-16 parts. Even with a great tool like this, the RFI process is still difficult and the RFQ process requires expertise that may not exist internally. To solve this problem, they piloted http://betterbuy.fas.gsa.gov. Better Buy is a MediaWiki site where vendors essentially create the RFQ solicitation collaboratively which is then priced by each of the individual participants.
Imagine this post to the Better Buy wiki:
“Create a multi-channel awareness campaign that communicates Federal Government and BP Oil efforts to resolve the current leak and spill-related damage to the Louisiana shore line within a budget of 2 million dollars, monthly.”
While see issues with this methodology, I think it is a beautiful way to get your vendors to create a best-in-breed solution that they all understand and can bid on with minimal confusion or doubt as to the desired executions and program plans…
Hats off to you, GSA! This is a very interesting pilot that I hope proves successful and moves into other areas of the GSA acquisition (like the AIMS Schedule 541 work). I think it will both streamline acquisitions and level the playing field for all vendors involved in the pursuit.
I’ve written a few prior posts about the iPad. One that I particularly liked was about Andrew and Andrew and how they use the iPad as a wicked-cool extension of the DJ’ing system. It goes without stating that the iPad, in true Apple style, is a beautiful thing. The user interface and the platform as a whole will continue to evolve as new applications are developed and users continue refine what it “is” and what it is “good” for.
The consumer is always right and markets will develop that even the most savvy marketer would have never imagined.
All this is said as an intro to the video. It is one where low-tech meets high-tech. Bliss is merely an iPad and a few Velcro strips away…
So, drop us a line and let us know of unique applications on or of iPads and what your thoughts are on how this platform will change personal computing in the years to come.
Our client, Margarita’s in Cold Spring, Kentucky wanted a great way to announce their big shindig on Cinco de Mayo. They had bands, drink specials and tons of food. These banners were part of a larger initiative to drive traffic to the restaurant for that event.
Below is one of two identical 10′ x 3′ banners that were produced. One was posted at the street, along I-27, shown below, and the second was posted along the parking lot (as shown in the 2nd picture).
The second design was a15′x3′ banner that hung under the awning of the restaurant as shown below.
These banners were designed and produced in house and are an example of what we can do to promote businesses very inexpensively. We have previously mentioned our ability to print work like posters, brochures and business cards. This work is an example of our other capabilities with promotional, advertising and marketing pieces like coraplast signs and vinyl banners.
If you’re looking to get the word out about your business, online or off, contact us and we’ll help you make an IMPACT.
CRAZY stuff here!! These guys, put together an incredibly technical solution, leveraging an iPad, a laptop, wireless local networks, TouchOSC, Ableton, a python script from Mono, which allows them to wander around amongst the crowd while they DJ and rock out…
What I dig… Their passion, creativity, personality and their pure pursuit of the cool which is driving the project. Oh, and their mixing together of a handful of my favorite songs in a way that could “never be done with vinyl” was pretty impressive, too…
I can’t wait to see their demo of the “shake box”. This functionality looks like it will add an even more tactile interaction and response to the whole setup.
Get to the 5 minute mark to hear the pretty cool mix they threw together using this crazy configuration… The details are not for the faint of heart; sounds like they leveraged some of the best and brightest to make this magic work.
Oh, the tools made available to you when you’re a celebrity… or you have minimal responsibility and massive amounts of time on your hands. So jealous…
The first is a door hanger which was taken to neighborhoods around the restaurant. With the high-value call out, custom photography and great creative (of course…), Margarita’s saw a great response.
Another piece IMPACT created was a BOGO lunch coupon/postcard. This 6×9 postcard was used to build the lunch crowd. Sent out to people who “dropped their business card in the bowl” and left behind at other local establishments, the BOGO lunch postcard has done a lot to grow Margarita’s business.
If you’re interested in see how we can IMPACT your business, don’t hesitate to contact us. From marketing consulting to design work and from brand development to print production, IMPACT can and will build your business. Without the ability to IMPACT your target market, where are you?
Today, Google announced the acquisition of Plink. Plink is a niche application which allows you to take a picture of a piece of art and then Plink finds out information about it.
Leave it to Google to take it to the next level!
Google released Google Goggles for Android 1.6+. This is an incredibly cool functionality that has been toyed around with on other platforms like the iPhone and by services like AroundMe. However, Google took it to a whole new place that is phone independent just like Android.
Google Goggles can identify items such as landmarks, books, business card contact information, artwork, wine and logos with a simple snapshot (which, I might add, can be discarded right away with a little click; nice feature, Google!).
Looking up information on a location like a store or restaurant? You don’t even need to take a picture. Just point your phone at it and a link to the Google Local Business ad will appear at the bottom, beckoning you to click on it to find out things like contact information, hours of operation, coupons and more!
This is a pretty incredible extension of how search works and, if it works, will drastically alter how we use the little devices we all carry in our pockets.
Very nice, Google! Very nice!
If you would like to know more about this or any of the topics on our blog, feel free to contact us at (859) 468-5313. We’d also be happy to take a look at YOUR local business listings, and your interactive program overall, and let you know how they can be improved to drive your business forward.
