The Wonderful New World That Allows You To Become “One” With Your Machinery

It is already perfectly ordinary to interact with a new wave class of devices entirely by using natural gestures. The Microsoft Surface, the iPhone and iPod Touch, the Nintendo Wii, and other gesture-based systems accept input in the form of taps, swipes, and other ways of touching, hand and arm motions, or body movement. These are the first in a growing array of alternative input devices that allow computers, like Hitachi, and PC makers that are on the brink of rolling out game consoles, televisions and computers that use gestures to control the machines. The idea that natural, comfortable motions can be used to control computers is opening the way to a horde of input devices that look and feel entirely different from the keyboard and mouse.

Gesture-based interfaces are changing the way we interact with computers, giving us a more innate way to control devices. They are increasingly built into things we can already use; Logitech and Apple have brought gesture-based mice to market, and Microsoft is developing several models. Smart phones, remote controls, and touch-screen computers that casually accept gesture input. You can make music louder or softer by moving a hand, or skip a track with the flick of a finger. Instead of learning where to point and click and how to type, we are beginning to be able to expect our computers to respond to natural movements that make sense to us.

The most common applications of gesture-based computing are for computer games, file, media browsing, and simulation and training. A number of simple mobile applications use gestures. Mover lets users “flick” photos and files from one phone to another; Shut Up, an app from Nokia, silences the phone when the user turns it upside down; nAlertme, an anti-theft app, sounds an alarm if the phone isn’t shaken in a specific, preset way when it is switched on. PicLens currently offers a small icon cue inset in each Web photo that lets users know they are at a site like Facebook and Google that can be browsed with the software. Some companies are exploring further possibilities; for example, Softkinetic develops platforms that support gesture-based technology, as well as designing custom applications for clients, including interactive marketing and consumer electronics as well as games and entertainment.

Because it changes not only the physical and mechanical aspects of interacting with computers, but also our perception of what it means to work with a computer, gesture-based computing has the potential to transform technology forever. The user and the machine become closer and the sense of power and control increases when the machine responds to movements that feel natural. Unlike a keyboard and mouse, gestural interfaces can often be used by more than one person at a time, making it possible to engage in truly collaborative activities and games. These activities that are used frequently in many casual sporting activities are suited now becoming suited for gestural interfaces on game consoles, televisions and computers.

3 of the Most Incredible Things Public Relations can do for Your Organization

I want to share with you some of the incredible benefits of public relations, below are three of the most incredible. Public relations is the start of a relationship with a customer, and to get that ball rolling, you have to know why having that relationship is important. Customers trust someone they know, and using PR, you can gain that trust.Here are a few things PR can do for your company:

"Build your brand." I believe a good mix of public relations, not advertising, builds a brand. A brand cannot be built on advertising alone since PR is more credible and trustworthy than advertising. Advertising hopes to relay information, but a press release, social media, marketing, newspaper article, or trade show appearance can help to share information and have a meaningful conversation and connection with a customer.

"Create trust for your company and its products." This adds to the first bullet point: "Because public relations is viewed as more credible than advertising, it's a great tool for helping customers understand that they can trust your product." While trust is not gained overnight, PR can greatly increase your chances of generating that trust from customers.

"Shift the perception of your product.""PR is also a useful tool for changing the way customers view your product." Your product, depending on its stage in the life cycle, may already have a perception customers associate it with. These perceptions are sort of like stereotypes about a product that are very hard to change or shift. To change this perception, a company would need to use some major PR tactics. They would need to utilize the media and customers to help that perception change.

Thank you for reading. I hope to have shown you that with the right mix, Public Relations can be an invaluable asset to any organization.

Social Media comes of age in 2010

New technologies changed the way businesses communicate with customers, friends and families throughout the last decade. For public relations and marketing professionals, the emergence of social media created new opportunities to build relationships never dreamed possible.

Facebook, Twitter, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, LinkedIn…Where are these social media platforms taking us? Will there come a day when information is somehow beamed directly into the cortex of our desired audience? While that seems unlikely, so did the concept of a social networking site like Facebook ten years ago.

Today, one can update customers through a company’s social media account through a cell phone or notebook. Restaurants and businesses have free wireless Internet services to plug into. The news doesn’t wait for the evening broadcast or morning newspaper; rather, news reaches us instantaneously on our mobile devices through the latest post or tweet. Even traditional news sources allow for public comments after each story on their Web sites.

Remember the days of dial-up Internet service or sending faxes to communicate 10 years ago? The times are certainly changing.

A Universal Marketing Truth

As a colleague of Kathleen Shanahan’s at BOCA Communications, I decided it was high time that she stopped having all the fun on our blog. That said, I’m writing my first – and hopefully not last - BOCA post.

My inspiration came from a book I’m reading as well as an interaction Barack Obama had yesterday with Henrietta Hughes. The book, “The New Rules of Marketing & PR,” in spite of its name, also brings to mind one of the age-old “rules” of marketing: the need to demonstrate understanding of your customer’s “pain” AND offer solutions rather than merely promoting your product. Interestingly, as I read this passage, I was reminded of something I saw on TV only an hour earlier.

As anyone knows who has been following the news, Barack Obama has been on the road in an effort to “sell” his stimulus package directly to the American public. During a Q&A in Ft. Myers Florida, a woman by the name of Henrietta Hughes – who recently became homeless - gave Obama a heart-felt plea to provide assistance to people like her and the country at large. Obama – quite naturally – showed what appeared to be sincere empathy and even gave the woman a kiss on the cheek. At that moment, it became clear to me that Obama – as one who has something to sell – truly understands this fundamental rule of marketing: with intense competition (the Republican members of Congress), Obama knows that he has to address how his product (the stimulus package) will solve the very real needs of his customers (the American public.)

Ironically, during the campaign, one of the few knocks on Obama’s political skills was a supposed inability to show that he understood his customers’ pain. Like all good marketers, Obama has demonstrated he’s learned this lesson well.