I’m a sucker for anything that transforms traditional ways of thinking into novel, interactive and beautiful design.
Diacarta — a visual calendaring app — is one such tool. To quote @raymondpirouz‘s description on Twitter, Diacarta is:
An iPhone calendaring app that uses iconography to visually segment the day’s events
In short, Diacarta takes the traditional horizontal timetable of the likes of Outlook and Google Calendar and visualizes it on an analog clock. You create activities by selecting one of nearly 60 icons, then dragging the event to a selected hour during the day.
Single-tapping allows you to view the event details, while double tapping on a scheduled icon allows you to edit the details.
I’m impressed with the unique approach to calendaring. What I like most about the idea of this sort of calendaring is that I’m able to visualize my day as I’ve learned to tell time. It’s much more intuitive than a time-stamped entry on a list in Outlook. Just like the planets move in a circular motion, so does time around a clock. Even digital clocks have a 12-hour (or 24-hour) cycle, although you only see the present moment.
Another benefit for such a visualization is that I can observe and get a different perspective of how I use my time as a fraction of a 12-hour day (currently you can only see 12-hour increments, which makes sense given the way a clock is designed). And because of the visual nature and my need to see that I actually fill my day with meaningful tasks, I find that I’ve scheduled my commute, sleep and even meal times.
Given these benefits, there’s definitely room to grow for this app. Here are some ideas, although I’m sure some of these functions are planned for version 2:
Three big ticket items would really push Diacarta — or any calendaring item for that matter — over the top of the innovation curve:
Diacarta is available from iTunes [link opens iTunes] for $1.99.
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A recent post at BusinessInsider reads “One huge bummer about e-books: No one can see how smart you are“, citing that publishers find the transition to e-books the beginning of the end for them, as well as retail bookstores. The reasons cited in the article appear to be two-fold:
The real bummer here is that book publishers are not seizing the opportunity to transition a reader’s behaviour to “show-off” from their intimate living rooms to “sharing” on the vast Social Web. The two reasons above are simply excuses that will likely fail at buying traditional publishers time.
Book publishers and sellers alike could instead be spending their efforts addressing the demise of the printed book (glass half empty)… or rather, the rise of the e-book (glass half full).
Cover art is dead?
Far from it, in fact. Cover art is now more important than ever. With e-book readers like the Kindle and iPad, publishers have the opportunity take a single image, and create a dynamic cover that gives a potential readers more than a singular visual impression.
Read moreTHEN
Marketing and branding were about pushing your message to consumers. You sold them what they never knew they wanted.
Marketing used to be all about the product or service. What made your product unique from anything else on the market? What was the value-add in your version versus a competitor? Did you have the best price or experience for the money?
Branding was all about the image of that product or service. What perception did you want your customers to have about your company? What did customers feel about consuming what you had to offer?
NOW
Marketing and branding are responses to real-time customer demands and needs. Customers are telling you what they want. You are listening – more than ever – to the consumer, instead of dictating to them what they can or cannot live without.
Marketing is now much more than the product or service. While people still connect with an object such as a particular coffee brand or airline, it’s not enough to sell how tasteful your peppermint latte is or the extra 6-inches of legroom compared to a competitor.
Likewise, branding is now about customer interaction (not to be confused with customer service), corporate social responsibility, online culture and community, and much more.
Making this shift to social media isn’t an easy move. Wait too long to get on the bandwagon, and you’ve lost your first-mover advantage. Act too fast, and you may not have a well thought-out strategy.
So how do you know whether to jump into the next new web trend? How do you evaluate your presence in that landscape? How do you use the new media tool in such a way that no one else is using it? Thinking outside the box and being innovative with the new media tools will help in setting your company, brand and product apart.
Whether it’s a mobile app, interactive website that has nothing to do with your product and everything about your consumers, there’s definitely a niche that you can create for yourself within your industry that will accomplish the original goals of branding and marketing.
Here are a few new media integration examples that are successful at tying together “new marketing” and “new branding” into the digital customer experience:
The Sonicare Facebook application keeps the user engaged over and over again by encouraging good dental hygiene through a “pet” tooth. Take better care of our “canine” and be privy to special gifts and promotions.
When someone takes action with their pet tooth, it can appear on their friends news feeds, and is always visible on the owner’s profile.
In today’s social network landscape where the popularity of social gaming such as Mafia Wars and Farmville are growing exponentially, it’s smart for a brand to jump into the arena with the right interactive app.
Coca-cola claims that Coke Zero has been one of the most successful product launches in its history. In the two years since its release, Coke Zero has sold nearly 450 million cases and is available in more than 100 countries. So why not take this success and broad reach to connect your fans online?
That’s exactly what cokezero.com does. The site says nothing about the product except for a wordmark that includes the tagline “Real Coke Taste. Zero Calories.” Instead, their site is home to the Facial Profiler application, which uses Facebook Connect to troll tagged images of you to help find your look-alike.
The premise? A social experiment: If millions of people like you enjoy Coke Zero, then there surely is another person that looks like you that enjoys Coke Zero.
Your new media presence doesn’t always have to be through a web browser. USAA takes personal finance management to a whole new level with their iPhone app. Unique features include:
Apple exploring Magic Wand controller for next-gen Apple TV. More from Apple Insider.
Read moreMy first impression of the adapted app? Still a little clunky.
I’d seen the original Kindle here and there, and actually got a personal tour of the Kindle 2 this past weekend (courtesy @AdamAinbinder). Whenever I have a new toy in hand, it’s like being a kid in a candy store. The Kindle is no different.
Since I wasn’t completely convinced of the Kindle 2 yet, it was a pleasant surprise to read today that Amazon had released Kindle for the iPhone. Why? Because 1) no need to spend $359, and 2) wi-fi access!
Like any gadget geek, I downloaded the free installation from the App Store immediately (or as quick as the App Store would allow me since other brilliant minds had the same thought.) This is where my excitement stopped, and this blog post began:
Peeve #1 – I went to download a couple sample chapters to test it out, and to my chagrin, I can’t download or purchase books directly from the Kindle App.
Peeve #2 – The app reroutes me to the Kindle Store on Amazon’s Web site and suggests I can do so on the iPhone Safari App. But there is no mobile version of the Kindle Store, meaning there is no easy way to navigate it from the iPhone.
Peeve #3 – The Kindle Store is not integrating my Amazon Wishlist which has both books and periodicals. Instead it’s suggesting, I might be interested in Danielle Steele. (Uh, no thanks!)
Getting past these issues, I do like the fact that in the Kindle Store, I’m able to purchase – or better yet, preview – chapters of a book directly to my iPhone. Which, then lead me to the next issues with the Kindle App (and I stand to be corrected on these points since I’ve only tried sample chapters of a book):
Peeve #4 – I can’t search terms, phrases in Wikipedia like you can on the Kindle 2.
Peeve #5 – I can’t search definitions for words in a built-in dictionary like you can on the Kindle 2.
Obviously the screen is much smaller on an iPhone and the readability of the screen is not akin to the Kindle’s screen. But the idea that I don’t have to carry one more electronic gadget on my travels is nice. (I already can’t leave home without my AmEx, laptop, SLR, Coolpix, and iPhone!)
Put another way, my ideal e-book reader would:
I’m living in an ideal world. But if just the other day I’d wished for a Kindle App for the iPhone and it’s come true… I’m guessing the list above isn’t too far away from reality or fruition.
From a business perspective, I’m glad Amazon has released their e-books to the iPhone. It’s a huge opportunity and marketshare that Amazon can access easily. It also – maybe – provides Apple an incentive to beef-up their next version of the iPhone so that readablity is improved!
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