Google My Line

Living on a desert island and having super-fast internet – well that would be the dream! And with Google My Line, I will stay connected to the rest of the world. A beautiful idea using modern and old tech to make the internet more accessible.

Google Deck On What US Kids Think Is Coolio

Found this piece of research produced by Google looking at what US kids think what are cool brands, I love the layout for starters but also what I like about this they don't just give you a top ten cool brands but they breakdown the demographic, sample and more importantly what defies 'cool' very cool and informative, no real surprises in the top 10 as beforehand I asked my daughter who said YouTube and screamed I loooove YT and Pewdiepie who has has 54 million subscribers. One surprise that I did notice was 'least cool' was RedBull and Apple, high in awareness, but not cool? Maybe now 'try hard' Overall this deck is Lit as my kids say.

Real Time Mobile Data - Mind Blowing

Here's a great little site that shows in real time mobile app and mobile web usage - every second, 24/7. Great to share with anyone client or agency side who still doubts the importance of leading with mobile. View Live Here

Introducing Uber Movement

Uber is launching a new service that could help cities master their traffic. It’s called Uber Movement, and it uses information on the billions of rides Uber has completed. It’s free, open to anybody who wants to use it—today that’s limited to select planning agencies and researchers—and lets users track car travel times between any two points in a city at any time of day. It actually seems pretty helpful.

Looking at this animation this looks very slick and informative, I remember working on Google Business and they had something similar - as a package to gov and industries it was pricey, Uber will be offering it for free! Maybe an olive branch to local councils as we know Uber's relationship with councils like New York is strained. I'm sure this could make amends.

Know your true value - especially in business

1998: YAHOO refused to acquire Google for 1M 2002: YAHOO realized its mistake and offered 3B Google requested 5B YAHOO refused. 2008: Microsoft offered 50B to acquire YAHOO YAHOO rejected the offer 2016: YAHOO has been acquired for 5B Current value of Google is around 545B Still amazes me even in business how some top executives under cook or over cook the value of their company, usually with take overs threes plenty of tyre kicking at the start to sound each other out, but I do know of one company who offered 3.1 billion for a competitor, the audit was done over a weekend! That's crazy. Once they looked under the hood did they find it's true value. Back to my point; don't make it personal but look at the figures and weigh up the potential, and make sure the people doing the sums is the right person, if an individual then ask for unbiased feedback or advice from colleagues or people you trust when it comes to business. I remember the old saying nothing personal this is business, I feel Yahoo execs took it personally.

Google Mobile in parts

Still beta phase but here is what Google have been up to regarding developing what they call Project Ara, custom build almost like a lego kit the mobile you want

Google - an amazing story

This has been around for a while but if you haven't seen it - it is a cracker - just watch the film unfold, great story, great spot. Hat tip Google.

Scratching the hand that feeds you

As you may know or not know I have recently joined an agency called Sputnik they have offices in Melbourne and Sydney, and I will be based in Sydney I've only been here a week but I wanted to share something the guy sitting opposite me emailed me, say hello to Barry Saunders (A UX gun) it was a memo that was written in '58 by Leo Burnett.

Yes it was written in '58 but still holds true today, and in the digital age to me even more so. The reason the connection with joining Sputnik Sydney and this memo from Leo Burnett is; before I joined Sputnik Sydney, I have a Westpac account, my kids eat Weet-Bix and they have done the Weet-bix TRYathon and I use Google apps- and yes they're three of Sputnik Sydney's major clients.

It also reminds me of a time when I worked on Blackmores as their digital CD one of the designers was not a subscriber to the Blackmores database and he was working on their sign up process, the designs looked all very nice but they didn't work, why do I know that? Not because I was their CD but because I was a Blackmores subscriber.

How can you possibly understand your audience if you aren't the audience. FULL MEMO HERE