Marketing Your Products Through Wi-Fi Networks - ReadWriteWeb. When you don't have the cash to hand over to Starbucks for Wi-Fi, there are hundreds of other coffee stores that will offer the same for free. For example, Panera Bread cafes include free Wi-Fi and are increasingly becoming my spot for free Wi-Fi access. Unfortunately, there are times when we won't order a thing from places that provide free Wi-Fi or maybe we'll grab the cheapest thing on the menu. There's one coffe shop out there that's looking to guilt trip Wi-Fi freeloaders into buying something on the menu using Wi-Fi networks. Marketing Via a Wi-Fi Network Holland-based CoffeeCompany is starting to market their menu items via their Wi-Fi networks. If you head to any of their coffee shops don't be surprised to see networks with names such as 'OrderAnotherCoffeeAlready' or 'TodaysSpecialExpresso1.60Euro'.
Will it Increase Business? There haven't been any reports of an increase in business, but we think the idea is great! Image courtesy of Adrants. Main Page - Geo Hashing. The Scannable World: Mobile Phones As Barcode Scanners - ReadWri. Part 1: Will Barcodes Bridge The Gap Between Reality And The Net? One of the promises of the mobile web was the possibility of being able to integrate the internet with the real world.
One of the ways to accomplish this task is through the use of barcodes. The idea is that you take a picture of the barcode with your camera phone and you're then delivered to a mobile web site. This could effectively make anything - whether a poster, an ad, or an object - a virtual part of the world wide web. The Real Smartphones Have Arrived Smartphones have been around for years, but even though every business worker had a Blackberry glued to their hip, it wasn't until the iPhone that the true potential of smartphones was realized. Now that we have new, usable, app-friendly, and yes, downright fun, mini computers in our pockets, will we began to interact with the real world in different ways?
Failures and New Attempts Then, at the beginning of this year, Google attempted to revitalize the barcode again. The URL Is Dead, Long Live Search. Last week I was watching TV and saw something that really caught my eye. It was a commercial for Special K, the breakfast cereal from Kellogg, and rather than end with a plug for the product's web site -- SpecialK.com -- it advised people to search Yahoo! For "Special K" instead. I started to wonder two things: 1. is Yahoo! Paying Special K for tack-on advertising? And 2. has searching really become so natural that it is more effective to tell people to search for your site than it is to tell them to visit directly? To the latter question, the answer appears to be a somewhat surprising "yes.
" Of the 10 fastest rising search terms on Google last year, 7 were for searches where adding a ".com" would have brought the user to the correct site. According to Compete last fall, navigational searches make up about 17% of all searches on average, more on Yahoo! After a little digging, I found that Kellogg's Yahoo! Either way, search over URL seems to be a trend we're likely to see more of. How to Make Facebook Useful Again - ReadWriteWeb. Oh the heels of some of Facebook's missteps (ahem, Beacon) and the proliferation of a myriad of useless, silly, and time-wasting apps, some former Facebook users decided to quit the site for good this year.
However, a handful of early adopter angst doesn't have Facebook worried. Why is that? Because Facebook has a whole generation of users who grew up using their site for everything social back when it was just a way to network with their high school or college friends. So what are the everyday Facebook users doing that keeps them engaged in the service? It's not throwing sheep, apparently. For many Facebook users, there are still useful apps to be found and ways to use the service that the rest of us could learn from.
On Sunday, Fred Wilson wrote on his blog "A VC": "The other day I saw my oldest daughter get an invite to a party on Facebook, she accepted it, and then went to look at her accepted invite page. So what makes Facebook so invaluable to them? Use Blackboard: Ugh. Steam jatkaa ostojaan - Markkinointi&Mainonta.