No one needs the embarrassment of a notification popping up at the wrong time — or on the wrong device. Wired explains how to find out where you’re signed into iMessage, set up two-factor, and turn off messaging where needed. Bloomberg’s new Lens app provides a handy overlay of contextual information about people and companies. You …
Friday 5 — 11.11.2016
Gmail just got way faster (and prettier) on your iPhone with their new app release. Download for features like the critical undo send, a better swiping experience, and spell-corrected search. A great push notification is three things: timely, personal, and actionable. Apps are competing for our attention, and push notifications are a means to a touchpoint …
Friday 5 — 5.6.2016
Visual content is everywhere, and measurement and optimization are starting to catch up. Netflix already knows which pictures you’ll click on and why, and blogged some lessons learned — including the value of regional nuance, and of recognizable, polarizing characters. As a travel geek, I loved this compilation of 16 apps that will help you travel the world. Some …
Friday 5 — 3.18.2016
Instagram tells us that we see only 30% of our feeds, and that their imminent algorithmic intervention will make that 30% the best it can be. Rendering posts out of temporal order clearly passes muster with Pope Francis, who is making his Instagram debut tomorrow, March 19th. You may have heard that a Google AI program, AlphaGo, …
Friday 5 — 1.15.2016
Mobile apps versus native web is a false dichotomy, per Luke Wroblewski. Brands need both: the former offers rich experiences, while the latter provides greater reach (including in-app browser views). We have a longstanding, love-hate relationship with email, where gratifying immediacy for the sender often means notification hell for the recipient. The Atlantic explains how we got here, why email …
Friday 5 — 12.4.2015
Nike shoes, Star Wars droids, and hoverboards were among the popular products shopped for on Black Friday. If you were shopping from the comfort of your couch, you were in good company: Smartphone sales nearly doubled year over year, from 9.1% to 15.2 %. Read the full report PDF, and ignore Wired’s snark that Cyber …
Friday 5 — 11.27.2015
It’s been an odd, three-day work week on the interwebs. We had the #SlackDown maelstrom with an impressive social media save, fake Don DeLillo joined Twitter to announce a fake death, and then a real Jeff Bezos joined Twitter to announce a real disposable rocket launch. Go figure. In more substantive news: WordPress has disrupted itself, according to founder Matt Mullenweg. …
Friday 5 — 11.20.2015
Google just made a big improvement to finding in-app content on mobile. On Android devices, Google will now launch the app if you have it installed, or stream the content to you if you don’t. This is an important step forward in a world where 50% of all online time — not just mobile time — is spent in-app. …