Stompernet “Going Natural” Social Marketing Video “Save Link As” Link

Are you one of the 100,000 web-savvy people who watch the excellent website optimization videos created by Stompernet, the web optimization training membership site?

Have you found, like I have, that the http filename link for downloading the videos for future viewing is not apparent even in the source code of any Stompernet page?

Well, good news. Here’s the link for downloading and saving their latest video, “Social Marketing - There are NO Secrets”… :

http://going_natural_2.s3.amazonaws.com/GN2.0_Video_5.flv

To download the video straight to your hard disk, right click on the above link and select “Save As” or “Save Link As”. You know the drill.

To watch the video, you’ll need an FLV Player, which you can download for free from Download.com (it’s a mere 3.18MB ).

Brad and Andy, I’m posting this link only for viewers’ convenience. I have great respect for your web expertise, and if for some reason this post offends you, just message me and I’ll remove it.

Technorati Tags: stompernet, social marketing, going natural

Beware the Facebook Mobile Icon!

Shiver me timbers!…

Facebook slips adware-malware into your mobile when you choose to download the Facebook application onto your Blackberry via the T-Mobile mobile service in the US.

Of course Facebook and T-Mobile swear that they will not use any personal information gathered from the user’s Facebook contacts address book on the Blackberry .

The strange thing is, even before you ask to download the application, a Facebook icon appears on your screen (this is also called a “widget“). This means that T-Mobile is sending it to you unrequested, which means T-Mobile and Facebook have a very cozy deal going on.

And this happens shortly after Facebook started tracking a user’s movements all over the web and broadcasting these movements as a data feed to all Facebook friends subscribed to the user’s feeds. The Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had to apologize and withdraw the tracker.

Mark, who is in his twenties, needs to take a more mature view of internet marketing, otherwise he’s going to get burned…

Source: MercuryNews.com

Technorati Tags: zuckerberg, facebook, widgets, mobile, applications, privacy, blackberry, t-mobile,

The 700 MHz Contenders Are…

The FCC announced the list of bidders to the imminent 700 MHz spectrum auction yesterday.

Only 96 Of the 266 applications submitted were accepted, and another 170 were deemed incomplete (but these will be given a chance to submit updated applications). You can download both lists, along with the announcement at the FCC’s Website.

Let the battle begin!

Some of the contestants:

• FTC Management Group, Inc.
• Glenwood Telephone Membership, Corporation
• Golden Belt Telephone Association, Inc.
• Google Airwaves Inc.
• MAC Wireless, LLC
• Northeast Nebraska Telephone Company

Source: MobileCrunch


Technorati Tags: 700 MHz, spectrum, google, the magnum group, fcc

Intuit on Your Mobile

Intuit, the small business finance software producers, will offer Quicken for iPhone users at $3 a month on January 8 2008.

Quicken helps users track where and how their money is deployed.This new offering is tailored to  younger mobile users.

Says Intuit senior vice president Rick Jensen, “Our first mission is to make sure we are solving the needs of people who are not currently using a personal finance solution.”

The program will be accessible through desktop Web browsers and most mobile browsers, securing the data with the same technologies that banks use.

Mobile Quicken will also allow users to download electronic bills, banking details and credit card statements. Credit card charges will be pushed to users as they occur; waiting till the end of the month to look at one’s card bill is no longer necessary.

Could be another step forward in the ongoing mobile web revolution…

Source: Mobilecrunch

Technorati Tags: intuit, mobile, mobile web, the magnum group, online banking, banking

Sex, Lies and T-Mobile

In continuation of our earlier post on the subject: Twitter says that the T-Mobile blockade was not in actuality put in place by T-Mobile, but was a tech issue between Ericsson, who serve Twitter’s SMS,and T-Mobile.

Then why did T-Mobile write to subscribers explicitly stating that it was blocking Twitter??

My suspicion is that T-Mobile did indeed block Twitter, saw the public outcry, then concocted the tech issue with corporate buddy Ericsson (hence the “sex”)…

What T-Mobile should have done is to have accepted that they blocked Twitter, have said they made a mistake and that in the interests of always providing an excellent subscriber experience, have removed the Tweet filter. The result would have been brownie points for them instead of looking like weasels!

Technorati Tags: twitter, t-mobile, ericsson, the magnum group

Sprint to MySpace for Free (Almost)

If you’re a Sprint-Nextel subscriber, soon you’ll be able to access MySpace without any extra charges (provided you have a data plan).

If you go to Sprint’s portal you’ll find a link to MySpace on it… saves you the trouble of typing the MySpace URL into your mobile’s browser (we all know what a pain that is!).

Amit Kapur, MySpace’s VP of business development, says,"We’re also in the process of redesigning the mobile site to provide an updated look and feel and enhanced functionality."

Source: InformationWeek

Beware of Attacks on Your iPhone in 2008!

Do you practice safe downloading? I mean into your iPhone… because according to Arbor Networks, a noted security research firm, hacking your iPhone is easy as pie, and will be the equivalent of bowling for the hacker community (providing them much amusement on Friday nights).

The viruses will slip into your iPhone through TIFF images (the iPhone has a vulnerability in the way it handles these). Arbor Networks implies that being the first to hack the iPhone and completely control it might be an unspoken challenge in the hacker community!

There are also fears that a virus could be invented that spreads through the whole of the AT&T cellular network as well as wi-fi networks… which makes me wonder: is fear itself a virus??

Source: MobileCrunch

Technorati Tags: iPhone, hackers, tiff, lucky balaraman, magnum group

Your Mobile Carrier Might Be Filtering Your Text Messages

Did you know that some carriers actually do that? For instance, Verizon Wireless, perhaps temporarily under the delusion that they were God, blocked text messages from pro-abortion group Naral ProChoice bound for its subscribers.

Eight consumer and public interest groups have filed a petition with the FCC seeking to block carriers from such high-handed behavior.

Why is it that Verizon and so many other people want to prevent others from expressing their opinions? Do they have a problem with free speech?

And who knows how many carriers are quietly censoring your SMS messages as you read this?

Technorati Tags: verizon, censorship, fcc, lucky balaraman, the magnum group

How Would You Like an $85,000 Cellphone Bill?

Let me guess… you wouldn’t like it at all? Look at how I guessed that one.

Piotr Staniaszek didn’t like it either. Only trouble is, he actually got one!

The poor dude, who worked in desolate oilfields as a well tester,  had a C$10 unlimited browser plan for his mobile phone. This meant he could access the wireless internet directly from his cellphone as much as he wanted to.

But what he did was to connect his computer to his cellphone, use the phone as a modem, and download numerous movies and other relatively huge files to keep himself entertained all those lonely nights!

Needless to say, the night he received his bill was extremely lively.

It must be appreciated that the good folks at Bell Mobility, his carrier, chopped down the bill to C$3,400.

But Piotr and his Dad are contesting even that! Will post again if there is further news from MobileCrunch…

Technorati Tags: bell mobility, bell canada, piotr staniaszek, lucky balaraman, the magnum group

More Proof That Japan Leads the Mobile Web

OK, so I’ve said time and again that Japan is light-years ahead of most other countries in mobile web usage. Here’s the latest proof: according to Technorati, 37% of all the 1.5 million blog posts  (that works out to 555 thousand posts) they see daily are in Japanese (English clocks in second at 35%) and according to The Washington Post, it is estimated that the Japanese do 40% of this from their cellphones!!

I ask you, how much blogging from mobile phones have you seen where you live and work? Not much, everyone’s doin’ it from desk or laptops.

Mobile phones in Japan. It’s a cultural thing.

Technorati Tags: japan, japanese, bloggers, blogging, blogs, lucky balaraman, the magnum group