Page Manager, the new app recently released to help businesses create a stronger presence on Facebook, is now available for iPhones and soon for other devices.  It allows users to manage all of their Facebook pages in a single app wherever they go. There are many strengths and a few weaknesses. Let’s cover them.

Strengths of Facebook Page Manager

• Facebook Page Admins have a chance to separate their personal Facebook account from their business Facebook pages.  Users can leave their personal account on the normal Facebook app, and use Facebook Page Manager for pages built for their businesses.
• Make new posts or add a photo for up to 50 Facebook pages in a single app without needing to sign out and sign back in over and over again.
• Get notifications for activity on your page as it happens, and be able to delete or like the comment or post right away.
• Look at your page insights and page administers for all of your different Facebook pages.
• Greatest benefit: Do all of this on the go through your mobile device!

Weaknesses of Facebook Page Manager

• Cannot create an event, question, or milestone for your pages.
• Insights are limited to Total Likes, People Talking About You Page, and Weekly Total Reach.
• Absence of a newsfeed, which makes it difficult to share other pages or posts.
• Lack of an option to view and reply to messages.

At launch, Facebook Page Manager is missing plenty of features. But it’s already an essential app, and one that will likely get better over time as it gets updated. It’s free to download, so try it out if you’re an admin of multiple pages.

Apple has announced that its content-syncing service iCloud is now live. iCloud is designed like a mobile hard drive on your web browser that automatically syncs data on mobile devices and tablets with data on your home or office computer. The service is especially useful for those preparing presentations and projects while on the go.

The new beta is available to anyone with an Apple ID, and includes Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Find My iPhone, and iWork applications. Apple’s cloud music services are not presently available. While the iCloud is similar to MobileMe in concept, the addition of iWork (the Apple equivalent to Microsoft Office) should prove to be extremely useful.

The interface is fairly homogeneous to MobileMe and retains the simplistic Apple template. iCloud will be competing with Amazon’s much cheaper Cloud Drive which allows 20 GB for $20 and is more musically focused.

iCloud is free for the first 5 GB of storage. Most will opt for the free service considering that they will not be storing music on iCloud. The free beta should prove to be popular among iPhone, iPad, and Apple computer enthusiasts looking to become more organized.

Time will tell, but I think cloud computing is going to be the eventual replacement for flash drives. It’s an exciting concept that whatever you are working on can be easily accessed again for reference on another device. The bad news is, the excuse of “I left my paper on marketing research analysis at home” will no longer be acceptable when my professor tells me to pull it up on my iPhone’s cloud connection.  E-mailing documents to myself is starting to get a little old, too.  As with any beta, though, the best improvements are yet to come for Apple’s iCloud.

The information in this post came from an external article on Mashable.

Here at Demi & Cooper we’ve been using QR codes in our campaigns for quite some time, but there’s still a bit of mystery attached to them. Marketing and advertising firms have jumped at the chance to utilize these codes for their work, but many fail to be successful. Here are six tips for creating a quick response code that will appeal to customers and gain traffic more efficiently.

1. Make it Readable - A QR code should be at least 3/4 inch squared for a print advertisement. Make sure to test the code for readability with your own devices before mass production.
2. Make it Mobile - According to Mashable.com 99.9% of QR codes are scanned by a mobile device. If the landing page is not a mobile site, you are wasting your consumers time as well as your own.
3. Choose Placement Wisely – Make sure that wherever your QR code is going to be seen is located near a mobile hot spot with Wi-Fi or your code will be rendered useless.
4. Give Instructions - It may seem silly, but telling your target audience to scan the code and how will help rule out any technical difficulties. Telling them what they are going to gain from scanning the code will also give added value to the customer.  
5. Make it Unique - If the code is going to take the consumer to a landing page they have seen before or can easily google, don’t bother. The best codes offer something unique to the consumer such as a coupon, time-sensitive or secret information, high definition content, free stuff and more.
6. Utilize Analytics – Be sure to link the landing page of your QR code to a reporting program such as Google Analytics, so you can decipher why a conversion was or was not made after the code has been scanned.

This morning the British tabloid The Sun reported that Apple is developing technology that will allow for an external transmitter to deactivate your iPhone camera at concert venues. Obviously, it could be a terrible marketing move — but not just for Apple.

First, let’s learn about the technology, which isn’t entirely evil. Apple filed a patent on June 2, 2011 to include infrared technology in their cameras. Infrared sensors, like the inexpensive ones included in your TV remote, transmit data via invisible light within line-of-sight. Infrared sensors are inexpensive, tiny and the idea to combine them with cameras is brilliantly simple. There could be thousands of uses for this.

As an example of this technology being used for good, Apple envisions museums could use this to lead tours or provide extra information. When a visitor points a camera at an object or display, a small transmitter hidden next to the object will send a data signal to the iPhone to play videos, display text or other information. It doesn’t take too much effort for me to envision the wonderful things this technology could bring. I could come up with about a dozen robust advertising and marketing uses right now.

Now for the evil part. Apple is also including the ability for an external transmitter to disable the iPhone’s camera. The example they use is theaters and concert venues. Some venues already employ wireless phone signal jammers to prohibit texting and phone calls. Now they could place small transmitters around the stage to render iPhone cameras useless. As well, virtual and invisible “watermarks” could also be applied to objects, printed images — or anything — rendering them un-photographable. Again, it doesn’t take too much effort for me to envision the worrisome things this technology could bring — like police officers and TSA agents buttoning the tiny watch-battery-powered transmitters to their uniforms to prohibit recording (something Rodney King would probably take issue with).

Civil rights issues aside, we’re both here to talk about marketing. You and I know that record labels and movie executives will be the two most enthusiastic supporters of this cell phone camera-disabling technology. But in my opinion, they’re some of the people who should dread it the most.

I recently saw the innovative cellist Zoe Keating in concert at the Evanston SPACE, a small urban venue, north of Chicago. Recording was officially prohibited, but around me sat several individuals holding up their iPhones and Android phones, quietly recording bits of the performance. The Evanston SPACE ignored them, as did Zoe Keating. [Please see the update below from Zoe Keating] Where did those videos and images wind up? YouTube. Facebook. Twitter. Their personal blogs. They will be seen by others and hopefully new people will become introduced to Zoe Keating, and the beautiful and intimate Evanston SPACE. Will those people feel satisfied that they no longer need to see Zoe Keating live, or see another live performance at Evanston SPACE because they saw a shaky video with poor audio? Of course not.

As an advertising and marketing agency, we’re constantly looking for opportunities to promote things. Social media is one of several powerful mediums to share information, and fresh content is always needed. Record labels, movie executives, theaters, concert halls, venues and the artists themselves should be embracing amateur photography and recordings (as long as they’re not distracting to others watching the performance) instead of fighting them and creating enemies out of those that support them the most. They should empower everyone in the audience to be what they already really want to be: motivated and happy advocates and ambassadors who want to share their experience with others — and help promote you for free.

Apple files patents all the time for things that they never make it into production, and there’s no word on whether or not this new technology will ever see the light (or infrared light) of day. Hopefully this camera-disabling feature will remain on paper in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and not in your pocket.

For now, look for ways you can empower your clients and customers to help spread the word about you. It’s the best kind of marketing move you can make.

UPDATE Zoe Keating isn’t just savvy about combining music and technology, she’s also pretty adept at social media. She actively engages with her fans on her Facebook page and Twitter. She wanted to clarify her stand on this and emailed the following note:

“In your story last week about Apple potentially blocking video recording, you mentioned a concert of mine where video was not allowed. The implication is that I didn’t allow the video. I want to set the record straight so that no one is confused: I allow and actively encourage video and photos at my shows. The only thing I ask is that mediatakers be aware of other members of the audience and not impede their experience of the concert (i.e. by holding a camera over your head and blocking other’s view.). At my concerts where video is not allowed, it is because it is venue’s policy that I cannot change.”
Thanks very much, Zoe

The one issue with e-readers and tablet computers that isn’t mentioned much, but matters a lot to me, is their durability. I’m hard on everything I own — and I read quite a bit online and offline. Most things I read aren’t things that I need to keep around forever. I love not having to worry that I’m going to break my latest issue of Wired or that I might drop my copy of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles as I read it while brushing my teeth in the morning.

ABOVE Corning’s imagining of a flexible glass substrate.

Flexible displays for e-readers, tablets and phones may be the answer. Roel Vertegaal, the director of the Queen’s University Human Media Lab in Kingston, Ontario, has invented a prototype for a paper phone. “This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper, meaning that when users are reading they don’t feel like they are holding a sheet of glass or metal,” he explains.

Vertegaal describes his smartphone prototype, called PaperPhone, as a flexible iPhone.  Through it’s graphic interface you can read books, play music or make phone calls. You  interact with the 9.5 cm thin film flexible E Ink display by tapping and bending. For now, the fascinating part of this cell phone is just the display. The battery, antennas and other circuitry for now exist in a device that’s about the size of, well, a cell phone. Vertegaal plans to unveil the phone next week on May 10th at the Association of Computing Machinery’s CHI 2011 (Computer Human Interaction) conference in Vancouver.

It’s often said that those who peak during junior high are in for a sad existence. Luckily for me, I most certainly did not peak in middle school. While all the cool kids were wearing Tommy Hilfiger apparel and trying to smoke cigarettes (and failing), I was living a naive, sweatpants-clad existence.

I was able to accrue a few solid friendships thanks to my ability to play sports, but I was never part of the junior high in crowd, which started and ended with the clothes you wore.

After watching that iPhone ad at the top of the page for the first time, memories of junior high flooded my brain. I was not then, nor am I now a part of the cool kids club, and I won’t be until I open my wallet for the Apple-developed cover charge.

I’m due for a phone upgrade, and I’ve been mulling over my next purchase for a little while. After watching that ad, I just may veer away from Apple.

If you feel compelled to type SOUR GRAPES!!! in all caps, feel free to do so in the comments. And if you’re pitying me because I’ll never know the thrill of paying for coffee with an iPhone, you needn’t worry. I’m sure Android will suit me just fine.

I’ve been hearing a lot about incredible technology advancements recently. From visors and contact lenses that can be connected to the Internet as displays, nano particles that attack cancer cells and more. Now, 3D and augmented reality has taken a gigantic leap forward with head-tracking technology.

The French Grenoble Informatics Laboratory just uploaded a preview video demonstration of their new iPad and iPhone app that uses the front camera to track your head position. Based on the calculations taken by the camera the images on the display can change creating what they call “a glasses-free monocular 3-D display.”

It works on principles similar to Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect, but instead of tracking your entire body the camera senses your head’s movement on a more finite scale. Nintendo is working on a similar feature, though this development is certainly going to steal their thunder. The HoloToy app also produces similar effects, though it uses the accelerometer and not the camera.

The craze over iPhones started with its original carrier AT&T. Then Verizon introduced the mobile sensation. Is T-Mobile next?

You may already be aware of AT&T’s $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile. Pending approval, this acquisition would make AT&T the largest wireless provider in the U.S. AT&T claims that this will allow them to expand their 4G LTE network to 95% of the population. This acquisition not only expands the reach of AT&T but should theoretically improve their sub par reliability and prepare them for the 4G era.

Why is this acquisition such a big deal? If this transaction is approved, AT&T and Verizon will combine for 3 out of every 4 U.S. wireless subscriptions. That creates the potential for a lot of iPhones.

However, a recent statement made by T-Mobile contradicts the notion that their lineup will include the iPhone:

“T-Mobile USA remains an independent company. The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and coming soon our new Sidekick 4G”

While the statement doesn’t directly denounce the addition of an iPhone, it definitely doesn’t announce a release date.

So will the iPhone ever make its way to the T-Mobile lineup? Probably not in the near future. The acquisition has to clear before they can even think about adding the phone (approximately 1 year). Will Sprint ever carry the iPhone? There haven’t been any rumors to indicate either way but it’s also not likely in the near future, especially since they are out of the running for the acquisition of T-Mobile.

We recently quoted on a video project and our client was surprised by how inexpensive it was. Why was it inexpensive? Partly because we’re smart about controlling costs. Secondly, it’s 2010.

Technology is progressing to the point where the barriers to entry are becoming increasingly low. Video equipment is continually decreasing in cost, video editing which used to need a bank of computers and a suite filled with editing equipment can now be done on a fast laptop. This morning Digital Inspiration posted this video from Nokia. It’s a short professional film – shot in only four days in high definition entirely on a Nokia N8. Yes, the Nokia N8 is a wireless phone. Take a look. It stars Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire and Pamela Anderson.

Now before you give up your career to shoot a sequel to Inception (or even Patch Adams for that matter) you should know that while this film was shot on the N8, over 50 people were involved in the creation including a professional director, lighting technicians, gaffers, art directors, electricians, stunt coordinators, sound engineers, special effects artists and a few bankers with some pretty wicked parkour skills.

Millennial Media, a company which claims it serves up ads to 72 percent of 82 million mobile users in the United States just posted some stats, and they’re pretty interesting.

As far as number of ad impressions go, in June Apple served up 56 percent of the market — and that doesn’t fully take into account the iPhone 4 because of the timing. BlackBerry’s RIM/OS is in second place with 17 percent. Android holds 11 percent, dropping 4 percent since May. That drop is interesting because the Android OS is used on multiple different handsets from several different manufacturers.