Category: Content

8 things I learned at Howard Lindzon’s Stocktoberfest by StockTwits and Social Leverage

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I just returned from San Diego where I attended Stocktoberfest. I often talk about the convergence of storytelling, marketing and technology as the hottest convergence out there. After this event, Finance and Tech may give it a run for its money!

Here are just a few of the things I gleaned.

  • Howard Lindzon’s friends are also his most respected colleagues.
  • LittleBird solves many challenges companies like The Buddy Group has with influencer planning and sourcing. I can’t wait to explore implementing it in our process.
  • Howard likes popcorn.
  • Estate Assist has the potential to be the customer hook that large financial institutions that deal with annual renewals are looking for.
  • Personalization is key. Smarter stories, platforms and experiences are a win win for customer and business. The fact that financial companies are realizing this reinforces the fact that TV is dying. In the same breath I have to say…ShoeFitr:  sure is amazing.
  • Howard has a great sense of humor, unless you are one of his dear friends.
  • Ross Levinsohn. Drop the mic.
  • Who would have thought that Broadway could take cues from FinTech? I shifted from Broadway marketing to Financial Services in 1998. I left NY discouraged with both Financial Services and Broadway’s lack of progressiveness as it related to tech, marketing and data and moved into Entertainment. Financial Tech has come a long way since I started working on the Bear Stearns broker portal in 1997. After seeing some of the tech at the Stocktoberfest event, I might even venture to say FinTech has become progressive.

Check out http://stocktwits.com and a great recap by Josh Brown

Chromecast vs. Roku Streaming Stick vs. Amazon Fire TV Stick | Digital Trends

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Streaming set-top boxes are huge. The Apple TV, once a “hobby” for Apple, has brought in more than $1 billion in revenue for the company. Meanwhile, Roku has devices connected to well over 5 million TVs. But could the set-top box already be on its way out?

http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/chromecast-vs-roku-streaming-stick-vs-amazon-fire-tv-stick/

Third Substantial Solar Flare in 2 Days | NASA

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Time to break out the old book map.

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 9:59 p.m. EDT on Oct. 21, 2014. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is always observing the sun, captured an image of the event. The same active region previously emitted an X1.1 solar flare on Oct. 19. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/oct-22-2014-second-substantial-flare-in-two-days/#.VEnSyxnn_qA

Magic Leap Secures $542M Led By Google For “Lightweight Wearable” Tech That Merges Physical And Digital Worlds

“If you think about what mobile computing is right now, it’s portable, it’s great, and I call it ‘making your hand happy,’ in that you can hold it and it’s great,” Abovitz said. “Your hand is happy, but your eye is not. What I mean by your eye is not happy, if you step outside your office and look at San Francisco Bay, it’s just this visual feast, and there’s no movie theater, there’s no television display, there’s nothing that will ever match the grandeur of what our own brains can create in terms of visual experience.”

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/21/magic-leap-tech/

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Virtual Fitting Room Startup Metail Raises Further $12M — Shunning UK VC Money Along The Way | TechCrunch

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That long-term vision, says Adeyoola, is for Metail to become the ‘Google of sizing and shape’. That’s because the startup’s 3D visualisation technology, which enables a clothes shopper to upload a photo and dial in a few basic measurements to create a virtual representation of themselves known as a ‘MeModel’, also creates a lot of data. In addition, a user only has to create ap MeModel once as it’s portable across supporting sites.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/17/metail/

YouTube launches Google Preferred to allow advertisers to be paired with the most popular and engaging channels

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“These are powerful signals.  And in tests we’ve run in the US, ads on Google Preferred channels show significantly higher brand awareness and recall.”

At the event, the company revealed that YouTube viewership is growing at 50 per cent YoY and over one billion fans are coming to YouTube every month.

It was also revealed that 45 per cent of all YouTube content consumed in the UK is watched on a mobile phone or tablet.

Robert Kyncl, head of content and business operations at YouTube said that the platform is “investing heavily to turn YouTube stars and channels like Zoella, Vice News and SlowMoGuys into even bigger household names.”

Zoella, YouTube creator, added: “I think people watch YouTube because they can watch whatever content they want – everything from learning how to apply makeup to changing a hoover bag – and the advice is from real people who they can connect with. We’re normal people and we’re just filming our lives.”

http://m.thedrum.com/news/2014/10/15/youtube-launches-google-preferred-allow-advertisers-be-paired-most-popular-and

Epson’s Moverio smartglasses: A Google Glass competitor with a point (review) | VentureBeat | Reviews | by Devindra Hardawar

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Love to see our client get the well deserved press. This is one determined team!

The big difference between Epson’s and Google’s smartglass attempts is in their philosophical approach. Google wants you to wear Glass all the time to perform much of what you can already do with your smartphone. Epson, on the other hand, is positioning its smartglasses as something you’d wear for specific tasks, such as working with architectural plans or piloting an airplane. (Note that Google Glass developers are also finding that smartglasses work well for specific tasks, such as performing surgery.)
http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/07/epsons-moverio-smartglasses-are-a-google-glass-competitor-with-a-point-review/