The screen is arguably the clearest screen I’ve seen since the iPhone retina display.

It’s not thicker than the iPhone.

8MP rear facing camera sounds impressive, but the photo quality is not.

As you can see, it’s a little larger than the iPhone- but not huge.

Even though it’s plastic, this is the nicest designed Android phone i’ve seen.

This phone seems to be a great option for anyone who just wants a simple, tough and durable phone. And it’s only $99 with a two-year commitment and monthly minimum data plan. Parents with kids could really find this phone appealing

Watch my video blog to see me dunk it in water!

Is this a tablet?

Or is this a phone?

Would you buy this? (if you can’t see the video below, click here)

A couple months ago, I came across a great website service called http://ifttt.com (“if this, then that”). The idea is simple- when something happens (this) then the system will do something else (that).

There are many social networks/platforms that are integrated with the site:

The interface is super simple. And it’s organized by what they call “tasks”. These are essentially commands and instructions you create that will be automated once you set them up.

For my account, here’s what I have setup and running (feel free to steal them! and use them!)

1.) Any picture on Facebook that I’m tagged in, upload it to my Flickr account. This way I get a copy of the photo in my photo storage account I have for Flickr.

2.) For my clients (Timberland), I have setup alerts to send me a text messages when they post a status update or photo. This way, I’m able to passively get pushed alerts of every status update in a simple text message. This way I’m always up-to-date-down-to-the-minute with what is proactively being pushed out by my clients.

3.) When you Tweet a photo using TwitPic, I always have found it frustrating that you don’t get to “keep” the photo. I setup a task so every TwitPic is sent and uploaded to my Flickr account.

4.) I’ve been in many situations when I’ve asked myself- “I wish I could search my sent Tweets” <– when I’m trying to find a link or content I posted. However there is no way to search your own Tweets using Twitter.com. And if you search using your own name on Twitter.com, the results typically only for the last 2-3 weeks. However, with ifttt.com you can setup a free account on Evernote (which is searchable) and then send all your Tweets to Evernote! How slick is that! BONUS TIP: if you have clients, this is a great way to store and index Tweets for later reference.

5.) Ever wish you could see on a visual calendar all your check-ins from Foursquare? Or search previous check-ins? I have a task setup so my check-ins sync to my Google Calendar! And since Google Calendar is searchable I can go back and search my check-ins to find out the exact day and times I’ve checked in locations. BONUS TIP: If you use Outlook, you can download a Google Calendar sync program to Outlook and waa-la you’ll have a triple integration (foursquare to Google Calendar to Outlook).

6.) Similar to my archive of Tweets from #4, I’ve always wished there was a way to search through your Facebook status updates. Setting up a sync for links you’ve posted is essentially your own custom version of Delicious for Facebook!

7.) Currently I have this one de-activated, but it’s nice to know it’s possible. You are able to easily customize an auto-Tweet or auto-DM message for Twitter to your new followers. A clean, simple, easy way to set one up if you want one.

8.) Sometimes you forget to check the weather. Or you forget to look at your phone at the conditions. This task is simple and fun- you get a text message if it’s snowing.

9.) Many people use Facebook to upload their photos. However, there is not an easy way to download and backup the photos. This task is any easy way to ensure it gets sent to your flickr account for storage and downloads.

Are you using ifttt.com already? What tasks do you have setup? Share them in the comments!

–

‎**my apologies- i mistakenly read the Speed Test App numbers when I filmed this as “megabytes” and it’s actually megabits**

Read any digital marketing or social media blog or publication in the past year- chances are you’ll come across articles featuring or highlighting the social influence scoring system Klout. They’re positioned as a influence measurement platform that makes it easy to identify whom is influential online (this is measured by analyzing: RT, mentions, Facebook comments/likes, Google +1′s etc.).

Typically, to see Klout scores for any given person- you have to go to Klout.com/[INSERT-NAME-HERE] (or tools like CoTweet have plugins built in to see scores). However, I came across this nifty plugin that was developed at Klout’s own internal hackathon. This allows you to see the scores on Twitter.com right next to each Tweet like this:

Yeah- pretty slick isn’t it?! I think so.

You can download and grab the plugins here:

• Chrome Klout Extension
• Firefox Klout Add-on Extension

–

Here are the 5 devices I highlighted in the interview:

1.) Dell XPS 13 – “Ultrabook”

2.) HTC Titan 2 – Smartphone

3.) Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga – Laptop

4.) simple TV

5.) i’m watch

It’s also interesting to note the biggest technology companies on the planet do not show up to CES: Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Google and soon Microsoft. They have followed suit with Apple- hold your own private event, control and contain the announcement(s) on your terms and turf <– yet they are at CES because all of these companies are “in” the devices.

I think CES has become less relevant- because technology innovation has shifted more to the software side (the cloud + software as a service). Over the recent years, many of the biggest announcements at CES were just for Apps and services. And that shift has illustrated that it’s less about the hardware. This is because the death of the spec has set in. No longer does only the “biggest, fastest, and lightest” win consumers over. Consumers want devices that perform the best, have a digital ecosystem around it (apps and content), and is priced right. The average person simply asks of their electronic devices, “I want it to be easy and I just want it to work”.

Make no mistake- the show is still important to many retailers and device manufactures. Companies still need to sell their products to retailers and take orders (many people forget, a ton of business takes place at CES).

I don’t think CES should go away. And I don’t think it will shut down. However, it’s already transitioned to being less of “the exclusive” and first place to debut electronics- and more of what it ultimately is, just a trade show.

–

Copy and paste this 1-line of code:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> ^TS</p>&mdash; Twitter API (@twitterapi) <a href="PUT-THE-TWEET-URL-HERE"></a></blockquote>

*Please note, you need to copy this on the HTML editor not the Visual tab

The result should look like this:

^TS

— Twitter API (@twitterapi)

Pretty slick huh? Tell your blogger friends- or better yet, click the RT button above

–

• “1.2 billion apps were downloaded in the last week of December”
• “Looking forward to 2012, Flurry expects breaking the one billion download barrier per week”
• “Google confirmed that more than 3.7 million Android devices were activated over the Christmas weekend.”
• “6.8 million new iOS and Android devices activated on Christmas Day alone, 353% increase.”
• On Christmas Day alone, people downloaded an estimated 10 million apps per hour.

And I shared this study recently…

— Twitter API (@twitterapi)

What does this all mean?

First and foremost- this doesn’t mean if you’re a brand or business you need to go design and create an App. Stop. Do not assume it’s as easy to think if you invest money in building an app- “they will come (or even use it)”. There are over 500,000+ Apps in iOS, and 400,000+ in Android Market ← it’s a very crowded space

It’s also important to understand there is a distinct difference between the need to develop an App and building a mobile optimized website (and significant cost difference for upkeep). A careful needs assessment should be done to evaluate if an App is really necessary.

I suggest to first ask yourself what you’re trying to achieve first. Are you creating a resource, utility, function or broadly helpful tool? Or are you just repurposing the content from your company website? Asking a user to download an App is not only a hurdle from an awareness perspective (they have to know it exists) but from a user experience standpoint- unless the utility or content you provide is high, the user may not even do it.

Think about if you- yourself would download your own App? Or why you would visit your own business or brand website? What functional/practical expectations do you would need to exist?

From a mobile design perspective, always keep in mind the context of their users visit is from their phone ← it’s very different than full desktop browsing. and knowing someone has a phone in their hand is helpful- it should narrow the focus on features and navigation options (you know more context than you do with a website: they have a mobile phone in their hand- and you can use hardware features to detect location and customize content and the experience). the golden rule: mobile forces you to focus on only the most important data and actions (top tasks needed to be accomplished).

–

2011 was the Digital Music Cloud Revolution

2011 marked the year that digital music made it’s giant leap to the cloud. Services like Spotify, iTunes Match, Google Music, Amazon Cloud, and MOG provide 2 types of digital options for users:

1- digital “locker” music storage
2- unlimited music streaming

And the reality is this is more than just “the next big thing”. The revolution is happening now. Over 2.5 million+ people are paying for premium streaming music on Spotify today (and that’s just 1 of the services…)

YouTube is the new MTV

More people are turning off MTV and turn to YouTube for their music. Nielsen conducted a study that found that more people watch music on YouTube than download it. Turns out, audio streaming is actually more popular than legal digital downloads.

…but our kids won’t get it

We need to understand that Digital Natives will not understand the same concept of what it’s like to own a physical copy of music. They won’t understand what we mean when tell them how hard it is (was) to try to pick and tear open the clear wrapping on a new CD. Moreso, they won’t care either because they won’t see the value in a physical disc or even a .MP3 file.

It begs the question: why do we need to own copies of our music? Only us old-timers carry the nostalgic baggage of needing wanting to own a physical copy of our music. But the question is why? Is there any real need to have a physical copy? Both the cloud and streaming services offer temporary “offline download storage and sync” so you can still listen to your favorite music or playlists even when you don’t have 3G or WiFi. Digital Darwinism has changed music for both consumers and the industry- it’s a disruption and evolution.

Chances are you’re already carrying your phone or are at a computer with you when you want to listen to music. So why do we need to carry CDs or even an iPod with you?

The definition of “owning” our music- has changed.

–

My thoughts? So no iPhone 5. But it’s now on Sprint! And the iPhone 4S + iOS5 + iCloud is awesome. Photogs and @instagram lovers, the new camera on the #iPhone 4S is incredible. It’s faster (1.1 sec), 8-megapixels, f/2.4 aperture, sharper. It’s amazing the expectations Apple has set for themselves when they release a phone. No iPhone 5, but this is the best cell phone ever made. So why no #iPhone 5? I think the hardware isn’t there yet. And they need to figure out mobile payment. When they do, then we’ll get iPhone 5. I think Apple will keep a close eye on the wins / failures of Google Wallet, then steal best of breed and put it in the #iPhone 5. BTW, I’m shocked @Sprint PR/CC has nothing on Sprint.com or http://newsroom.sprint.com RE: iPhone. On Twitter they’re sending people to Apple.com. Shocking they’re missing such an opportunity here.

Here’s the official Apple commercial for the new iPhone 4S:

if you want to buy it, you can grab it in the App store for your Mac.

As you can see, my girlfriend is way better at using Twitter than I am!

So far I’m impressed. Especially with how thin and light the iPad 2. It’s 33% thinner, and 15% lighter than iPad 1 (thinner than the iPhone 4). But it’s the speed of the dual-core A5 processor that is the biggest difference. When loading web pages, images and apps, it’s noticeable.

The up-shot? If you have iPad 1, there aren’t significant enough updates to warrant the upgrade cost. But, if you don’t have a tablet, and want one …the iPad 2 is easily the industry front-runner.

I tweeted other 140-character thoughts about the iPad 2:

And I also took some picture of the un-boxing:

BTW, in the video blog, Matt from KCTV5 jumped out of nowhere, I had no clue he would do that! Overall, the quality of the video from the Xoom isn’t bad. Don’t you think? Especially for YouTube.

…I should share, it does feel weird holding a tablet and filming video. It’s like you’re holding a steering wheel up in the air

If you want to watch the interview, it’s online here: