IOT Products To Feel Like You’re Living in 3017

The Internet of Things is a fast-growing market that is creating high powered products that can do everything from managing household tasks to enhancing your marketing strategy.

It is predicted that the IoT market will grow from 15.4 billion devices in 2015 to 30.7 billion devices in 2020 and 75.4 billion in 2025, according to IHS Technology’s report “IoT platforms: enabling the Internet of Things”. These are some of the most futuristic IoT products for a life that Marty McFly would be in awe of.

June Oven

The June Oven calls itself seven appliances in one. The June Oven functions as a convection oven, slow cooker, dehydrator, air fryer, broiler, warming drawer and toaster oven. It comes with a list of over 100 one tap cooking programs for quick and easy cooking. With a mobile app that you can use to turn on the oven, watch live video of your food cooking, and check food temperature, the June Oven is a one-stop shop for futuristic cooking.

CUJO AI

Cujo is an IoT company that gives you a smart firewall to protect your home or business to secure all smart devices and protect them from outside threats, including hackers. Using AI, Cujo is able to personalize the security for each connected device in your network. View your personal analytics, set filters, limits, and alerts so you can stay on top of how your networks functions.

Eight

Eight specializes in smart sleep. Eight’s smart mattresses offer a personalized option to build your most comfortable bed and all are built with technology that can track your sleep patterns, set alarms, and have smart temperature controls to keep you cool or warm. If you already own a mattress you love, Eight also sells a sensor layer that can fit over any mattress that boasts those same features.

Click and Grow

If you’re trying to grow an indoor garden to start growing your own fresh herbs and produce, or if you’re simply trying to combat a lack of a green thumb, the Click and Grow Smart Gardens are a great way to move towards a fresh, sustainable and easy way to garden. Built with NASA developed Smart Soil to ensure the ideal oxygen, nutrient and water configurations and a modular LED lamp arm for a perfectly controlled environment, the perfect garden is only a click away.

Coros Omni Bike Helmet

Enhance your bike ride with a smart helmet that allows you to listen to music, make phone calls, and access audio navigation without blocking out the noise of the outside world that is imperative to your safety. With automatic  LED safety lights and an emergency sensor that alerts your emergency contacts in the case of a collision, your rides have never been safer or more high tech.

ProGlove’s Smart Glove

This glove designed for industrial workers allows for real-time haptic and visual feedback, gesture sensing, and wireless connectivity. Designed to withstand the requirements for safety in industrial conditions, the gloves are also equipped with a barcode scanner for quality control on the floor and assembly line tracking.

Kohler Verdera Smart Mirror

The Verdera Smart Mirror is the first lighted mirror available to consumers with Amazon Alexa embedded. Control other smart Kohler products by voice or with the Kohler Konnect app, as well as access the full functionality of the Amazon Echo; from traffic reports to weather updates, shopping and playing music. With an adjustable voice controlled LED lighting, you’ll ensure that you always look your best. This smart mirror also has built-in motion-activated night lights for easy navigation in the dark.  

Amazon Dash Buttons

Amazon has been pushing their Dash Buttons for a couple years now, but the technology doesn’t get any less enticing. With buttons that connect to your wifi network and link to Amazon’s app, you can simply push the button to order more of the things you need, with a dash button for almost everything, including laundry detergent, paper products, dish soap, batteries, and groceries.

GM’s Marketplace

This in-vehicle commerce platform is the first of its kind. With Marketplace, drivers of GM vehicles can complete errands in a truly efficient manner. Make dinner reservations, find the nearest gas station, order and pay for a coffee and more, without hassle, right from the car’s touchscreen.

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Vero: The “New Instagram”?

Social media platforms come and go as we have seen with Yik Yak, Bebo, Vine, and Ello. But there is a platform making waves right now that many are calling the “new Instagram”.  Vero was launched in 2015, and the app is quickly gaining popularity, recently seeing a flood of users starting to download and use the app, as many influencers have posted about their move to the platform.

Vero has positioned itself as the “True Social” social media platform, aimed towards those looking for “a safe, genuine reflection of their real-life relationships in an online setting”.  This is what you need to know about the “Instagram Killer”.

No paid or boosted ads

Vero has no paid advertisements, which clears up users’ feeds for posts from their connections and community. “You see what has been shared with you when it’s been shared with you. You won’t have to pay to ‘boost your post’, or ‘reach your audience’,” says Vero. That doesn’t mean that there are no ads, though. Companies can link to external sites, unlike the Instagram model, and there is an integrated “Buy now” button that can be purchased. Part of Vero’s revenue will come from a portion of every sale made on the platform.

First million users- free access for life

Currently, Vero is being offered for free to the first million members, but once that threshold has been reached, anyone that joins will have to pay an annual fee. This is pretty much common knowledge, but is perhaps the fear of missing out on this opportunity driving the platform’s spike in popularity? When the free accounts are spoken for and those late to the game must pay, there will no doubt be more news to be heard about this platform.

Connection types

Vero’s commitment to an authentic social experience is based on the argument that other social media platforms leave users with a false sense of connection with followers and friends that causes more intrinsic loneliness. The app has implemented controls that allow you to segment your connections so that users can share posts and interact with one another in a way the platform calls more natural. In the app, you can segment your connections into the following groups: “close friends”, “friends”, “acquaintances”, and “followers”. Each post you make can be shared to all or to a portion of these groups.

Chronological feed

In a world of algorithmic feeds, Vero breaks the mold by showing all posts chronologically. There is nothing that will cause one post to be promoted over another. Vero says, “We don’t curate it, manipulate it, insert advertising in it, or hold back posts. You see what has been shared with you when it’s been shared with you.”

Read more opinions about Vero here and here, and the Vero manifesto, then let me know what you think of this new platform.

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Essentials for the Traveling Entrepreneur

Travel is oftentimes a staple for entrepreneurs, and getting where you are going and making sure you are packed is only half the battle. These essentials can make travel easier, more comfortable and even more fun.

Audio splitter

Whether you’re listening to music or watching a movie, an audio splitter is an affordable travel necessity that makes it possible to share audio with your travel companions without any trouble.

Portable power bank

Don’t lose power on your phone while you’re on the go again. Having a portable power bank or a phone case that has an extra battery pack keeps your phone going when you’re away from your hotel room.

Wikivoyage: Kiwix

Wikipedia travel guides are a great tool for traveling, but if you don’t have internet they may be inaccessible. With the Wikivoyage download from the Kiwix app, you can access the entire TravelGuide database for information about your travel location, restaurants, things to see or do and more for free.

Neck pillow

Sleeping on any flight can be uncomfortable, but a neck pillow can keep your neck in one comfortable position and help you get to and stay asleep.

Smart suitcase

From motorized cases to expandable packing space to portable charging enabled, having a smart suitcase can make your trip much smoother. Travel and Leisure has a list of many great options to update your luggage.

Waterproof phone case

If you will be traveling near water, a waterproof phone case is the way to go, as you can ensure that whatever happens, your phone is protected. Amazon has many different waterproof options, but be sure to read the reviews so you don’t end up waterlogged.

Noise-canceling headphones

There’s nothing worse than needing to get work done or trying to sleep on a plane with a chatty seatmate. Noise-canceling headphones are a great way to block out the sounds that you want to avoid while playing the audio you want or even just acting as an over the ear earplug/ conversation repellent.

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Marketing Tool: Chatbots

80% of marketers are expected to be using chatbots by 2020. Personalized marketing is becoming an expectation for consumers, and chatbots are another tool to bring personalization to your audience. It is certainly fair to say that not every company will need a chatbot, and that some customers will not utilize or like the option of using a chatbot, but for ever-evolving times, it is important to understand this trend as it is, as it can be, and to fully acknowledge the pros and cons of using chatbots within a marketing strategy.

What is a Chatbot?

NBC defines a chatbot simply as: “simple artificial intelligence systems that you interact with via text. Those interactions can be straightforward, like asking a bot to give you a weather report, or more complex, like having one troubleshoot a problem with your internet service.”

How do Chatbots work?

A chatbot responds to a message just as a customer support employee would, but is available at all times. Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa are all examples of widely used chatbots. Chatbots are programmed with specifically coded responses to questions or can be built with AI and can, therefore, expand their knowledge base with machine learning.  When your customer asks a question or interacts with your bot, the responses that it gives are modeled to act like a real human response. Sometimes, a question will be impossible for the bot to answer, either because it has no prior experience with that question or because it is phrased in a way too complicated for the bot to understand. If that is holding you back, there are ways to program your bot to have prompts that might be able to get the bot and your customers back on track.

Why use a Chatbot for marketing?

Chatbots do more than just answering questions, they can also effectively drive engagement, make sales and nurture leads. Because chatbots built to use AI can learn, they can also remember details and have a more personalized and human interaction with your customers, something that is important as “nine out of ten consumers say personalization has an impact on their buying decisions, “ says research from LeadsCon. The evolution of social media and technology has played into the need to utilize big data in order to provide a more targeted and engaging approach to customer support and marketing.  Check out Hubspot’s list of seven brands using chatbots and get inspired!

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Twitter is Dying, and Other Social Media Rumors

Social media gets a bad reputation for promoting the spread of fake news, but even the sites themselves get rumors spread about them. “Twitter is dying” has been a phrase that has been tossed around for years. The social media superpower has over 300 million active users, and more than 30 offices, so it certainly doesn’t seem like it’s dead. Find out what’s true and what’s false in the list ahead.

TWITTER

Twitter boasts a huge global reach and influence, but the reason people say it’s dying is because there have been numerous problems that have come up over the last few years. From issues with abusive users to leadership that makes decisions users dislike there seems to be a large disconnect between corporate decision makers and the users on the site. From a move to an algorithmic timeline (which introduced #RIPTwitter) to the potential introduction of a 10,000 character limit from the original 140 characters, taking away the core of what Twitter started out as, there is a general agreement that there is an inherent issue with how the platform works with those using it.  Twitter isn’t dead yet, but there have definitely been moves made that could cause a decline in use and eventual exodus from the microblogging platform.

VINE

The 6 second video sharing app and twitter go hand in hand. Twitter purchased Vine in October of 2012.  The short videos matched the short text posts perfectly, and the creativity began almost instantly. But the magic couldn’t last forever. In October of 2016, Vine announced that it would be phasing out its mobile app. This decision made users not only question Vine, but the longevity of Twitter as well.

FACEBOOK

No stranger to the rumor mill, Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg are under constant scrutiny.  There have been numerous claims that the platform will start charging for having a profile (untrue, but continues to come up), or that privacy and ownership of content rules will be changing (the site released a statement in 2012 saying that their policies have been and will continue to remain the same as they have always been), and most recently the rumor that Zuckerberg will run for president in the next election (which he denies).

SNAPCHAT

Snapchat is one of the most popular photo sharing apps, and as such has been in the news for all sorts of reasons, good and bad. New features, the whispers that the introduction of Instagram Stories has hurt the quick sharing app, an IPO which many are calling a flop, and the rumor that the apartment spaces the company was using as offices in LA were not being lived in, not complying with regulations. Snapchat is known for secrecy, but when the entire world is online, no one is immune from rumors.

What social media rumors have you heard over the last year?

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Instant Translation Technology

Have you ever wished you could translate something you’re reading immediately as you are reading it without having to type or copy and paste a phrase into Google Translate?

Now you can, by simply pointing your phone at the page and using the Google Translate app.  The app can translate over 103 languages, and most recently added Japanese translation to the list.

The full 103 languages are available for text translation. You can translate about half of the languages offline (no internet needed), you can use your camera for instant text translation or upload photos for translations. With the handwriting feature you can draw characters instead of typing, and with 32 languages you are able to have instant two-way speech translation.

The app is available for iOS and Android, and is free to use.

If you are unconcerned with text translations, and conversational translations are what you need help with, Waverly Labs’ Pilot Earpiece is going to be a game changer. These in-ear devices come in pairs so you can speak to anyone regardless of whether or not they have their own. You will hear what the other speaker is saying in your own language, and they will hear what you are saying in theirs. The devices are available for pre-order now for $249 USD. They are expected to ship in the summer of 2017.

Another wearable option is the ili translator. With instant offline spoken translations, a helpful library of travel phrases and an easy to understand interface, ili is being offered exclusively for businesses in the US starting in June 2017, with general consumer products becoming available later in 2017.

World travel just got a whole lot easier!

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Best Marketing Apps for Small Business

Larger enterprises have the luxury of having several hands on deck helping with different aspects like marketing or sales. However, we all know that small business owners wear different hats, sometimes all of the hats. In order to streamline processes for busy entrepreneurs and small business owners here is a list of free easy to use apps to help with online marketing.

Asana

Asana is a platform designed to help businesses track work from projects, to conversations, to diversified notification types. The app is a dream for all the multitasking entrepreneurs that delegate or need to delegate work with their team. Streamlined processes and transparent work flow are some favorite features.

Google (Docs/Messenger)

Google Docs is a one of the most efficient ways for teams to share content. From slides, spreadsheets, documents, email and messenger Google is the one stop shop. Business partners and employees can collaborate and chat all in real time.

Facebook Pages Manager

Facebook is currently one of the biggest and cheapest ways to market your business online. Having a business page that is active and engaged is imperative for your business. The Facebook app is a simple and convenient way for keeping on top of scheduled posts, and answering direct messages from customers in a timely manner.

Twitter

Twitter has been having a pretty tumultuous time in the social media realm but don’t let that deter you. One of the fastest ways to go viral, easiest ways to be engaged with your audience, and staying in touch with current events is still Twitter. The app is one of the easiest to use with great UI/UX and a small learning curve.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the place to be especially if you run a B2B business. Although it can be difficult to reach an outside market, and despite ads being a bit pricey, LinkedIn is one of the most reputable social media platforms. It brings a large sense of legitimacy, and can help you find targeted leads. The app can have a bit of a learning curve but is manageable after a few uses.

Instagram

Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms right now. In the past few years they have added features that include business pages, live video sharing, and simple searchability. It’s a great place to showcase company branding and culture all in a sleek and clean app that’s extremely user friendly.

Fiverr

Fiverr is for all the entrepreneurs that sometimes need to outsource some duties. It’s an amazing marketplace to find nearly every kind of serve for your business for literally any price range. The website and app can be a little confusing to maneuver at first, as there are quite a few moving parts, but it’s well worth it.

Canva

Canva is made to help all the design challenged entrepreneurs create practical, aesthetically pleasing and professional looking images for social content, print material or email blasts. Canva has created templates for beginners and opened up a platform with enough artistic freedoms to those with a better understanding of design, or those who want to to learn.

MailChimp

MailChimp is one of the world’s largest email marketing services. Email marketing is still considered one of the top tools in the marketing world, and MailChimp makes the process of sending out those campaigns easier than ever. With an easy to navigate website and app, Email marketing is made accessible even for beginners.

Mashable

Mashable is one of my favorite websites for keeping your ear to the ground as it relates to all things business, tech, social media, popular culture and where they all collide. Keeping up with the times is a great way to stay ahead of popular trends, find curated content and stay engaged with your customers.

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Smart Home Accessory Review

Perhaps our first real familiarity with the idea of smarthomes originated in pop culture, The Jetsons, Tony Stark (Iron Man), Disney Channel’s “Smart House” (1999). But now our perception has changed to a more realistic view.

Automated home security, lights, audio systems and more are all possibilities of the present.

So you have a smart home hub like the Amazon Echo or Google Home, but how do you use it to control all of these things? If you are looking to venture into the world of automation within the home these are some good places to start.

The Apple Home Kit

If you are an Apple product fan you may want to try out the Apple Home Kit. This hub allows you to control all compatible smart home products (lights, shades, thermostat, locks, outlets, garage doors, security systems and more) remotely from your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Apple TV. Unfortunately if you are more of an Android fan, this isn’t for you.

Phillips Hue Wireless Dimming Kit

This white light dimming kit itself cannot pair with the Echo or and other larger set-up without the purchase of the Phillips Hue Bridge, but if you are looking for an easy way to control up to 10 lights per remote without setting up or using a hub, this is the way to go. This easy to install and customizable kit is a great first step into home automation.

Lutron Serena Remote Controlled Shades

These smart shades are pricey, but they are easy to use and to install. However, as far as smart capabilities go these shades are lacking in a few key areas. They can be programmed to open and close at certain times, but if you would like them to conserve heat and open and close based on temperature you have to use a third party app. These shades are compatible with Siri, and use the Apple Home Kit and the Caseta Bridge plug, but as anyone knows Siri is very particular and doesn’t always work to it’s full potential. While the shades have cons, they are also compatible with a longer list of other smart home products than many other smart shades.

Nest Home Accessories: Learning Thermostat, Smoke and CO Alarm, Indoor and Outdoor Cameras

All of these accessories are able to be set up in a larger hub using Google Home and Amazon Echo. The thermostat works with your schedules and learns your patterns to save you energy and money. With it’s smart eco-friendly temperature alerts and sleek design, Nest’s thermostat is both effective and attractive. In the same regard, the smoke and CO alarm is able to send notifications to your phone, identify fast and slow burning fires and locate where CO leaks are in your home. And perhaps the most impressive, the indoor and outdoor cameras are able to record, use intercom, and, with a subscription fee for Nest Aware you can access your video history up to 30 days later. You will also get alerts on your phone when the camera sees a person, and never lose power, as the cameras plug in rather than use battery power.

Blink Home Security System

If the idea of wired in home security sounds like too much for you, the Blink system is small but effective. These tiny battery powered cameras have a guaranteed battery life of two years, and replacing the batteries is easy, as they are powered by replaceable AA Lithium batteries. Motion detection, temperature sensors, Echo compatibility and tons of other features have put this home security system on the radar of CNN, Business Insider, Forbes and tons of other publications.

With the addition of these products into your home the smarthome once only referenced in pop culture is closer than you think.

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Best Instagram Tools for Professional Marketers

With over 500 million monthly active users, Instagram is one of the most powerful social media platforms today. Thanks to its popularity, you can find many available tools to improve your marketing strategy on the highly rated social platform.

Here is a list of my favorite Instagram tools to help you assess your current approach, analyze your audience and create engaging posts. If you make sure to use them properly, achieving optimal results will be nice and easy.

1. Hootsuite

This is a platform for social media management that makes scheduling and publishing posts a piece of cake. You can use its Instagram options for scheduling your posts in advance so you don’t have to worry about forgetting to publish them.

Once you have prepared your posts, you can move on to deal with other important tasks. Then, when the publishing time comes, Hootsuite will send you a notification. Instagram, like any other social media, is overflowing with posts and ads so, it’s important to post content on a regular basis. This tool will help you keep up with the hustle.

2. Social Insight

This is a tool that runs a thorough analysis of your account. You can follow your account growth, interactions and engagement. The main features allow you to estimate the best time for posting content and gain data on followers (gained and lost ones). You can also see the information on the average engagement.

Furthermore, if you own more than one business account, Social Insight lets you connect them and compare their analytics. This is one of the most promising Instagram tools used by businesses owners.

3. SocialRank

SocialRank provides you with the insight into the follower demographics. It does that by managing, identifying and organizing your followers. Once the tool has gathered the followers’ profiles, you can filter and categorize them according to a variety of criteria. Afterwards, you can export the lists of followers and use them for further assessment.

This is a great tool for collecting data about your customers’ age, gender and location, but you can also identify other relevant factors to find out what the audience wants and adjust your strategies. Knowing your audience is a prerequisite for conducting a successful business. SocialRank can be an excellent tool for getting to know them.

4. Crowdfire

Crowdfire is used for managing your following. Use is to keep your following in order. The tool identifies people who don’t follow you, or who aren’t active, and gives you the option to unfollow them.

Crowdfire also enables you to quickly start following users who might be interested in your service or product. It generates the suggestions about who you can follow by relying on your following patters. In addition, you can use the tool for monitoring the effects of your updates on the users.

5. VSCO

Since Instagram is all about photos, make sure to incorporate VSCO in your marketing strategy. It’s a top-notch tool for taking and editing photos. This photo-editing platform will help you tackle the visual side of your marketing approach. You can use a variety of filters to customize your photos and appeal to the audience. You can take pictures of your products, or capture beautiful scenery that can be a great theme for your following campaign.

The statistics show that the average number of photos shared on Instagram on a daily basis is 80 million. In order for yours to get the audience’s attention, they need to be more than just pleasing to the eye. Find a theme that will be a constant in the photos that promote your products and use VSCO to make it perfect.

6. Boomerang

This is a great tool for creating videos that will appeal to the audience. Having a well-developed strategy entails engaging with your audience the best way you can. You need to speak their language. And according to Liquid Creativity, Boomerang videos have become a crucial part of the Instagram language.

You can use Boomerang for filming one-second long videos. And the best thing about it is that you won’t need much preparation since the videos don’t have audio. Therefore, you don’t have to work on dialogues. Capture a perfect moment behind the scenes, or make an interesting video about your product. Every second counts!

7. Foursixty

Instagram can be also used for purchasing. Foursixty enables you to sell your products on Instagram by linking them to their product page. In addition, your customers will have an opportunity to add items to their carts, instead of having to browse the Internet for the website.

Some companies that successfully use Foursixty for sales are ban.do or Pura Vida Bracelets. Follow their lead and post photos of satisfied customers using your products. That signals to other users that you’re reliable, and creates an incentive to get the product for themselves. Everyone needs a little push every once in a while. All you need to do is link your images to the product pages, which is exactly what Foursixty helps you do.

8. Instagram Business Blog

Instagram has recently announced the launch of their Business Blog. It will be used as a business resource to contribute to the success of other companies. You can visit the blog to get all the information necessary to make the most out of everything Instagram offers. Keep up with the news from the Instagram world and learn how to use the available tools effectively. Also, find out what other business accounts are up to.

Instagram marketing statistics shows that 48.8% of brands have an Instagram account, including 90% of the top 100 brands. That indicates that the competition on Instagram is fierce and you have to use every tool to get to the top. After all, who knows Instagram better than Instagram?

9. Repost

This is an essential tool for sharing user generated content. By doing so, you will show your customers that you appreciate them and their opinion. Repost is easy to use, all you need to do is click and share the content you like, while acknowledging the person who created it.

Repost features enable you to bookmark photos or videos you want to repost. You can also find photographs you like by typing in a hashtag or a user’s name and to repost by tapping a single button. This tool will contribute to strengthening the business relationship between your clients and you.

10. Facebook Power Editor

Instagram uses Facebook Power Editor for generating sponsored posts. By using this tool you can easily target factors, such as age, gender, location, habits, or interests of your users, which will help you create ads that will meet the needs of your customers. You don’t have to invest much into running ads, even $1 would suffice, but if you’re ready to invest more, your ads will, of course, have a larger reach and bigger exposure.

Conclusion
With the right tools and proper use, Instagram has the potential of becoming one of the most powerful business platforms. It offers a wide variety of different tools, and you shouldn’t hesitate to use them. Find the ones that meet your needs, and start improving your social media business strategy.

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The Secret to Building Your First 100 Twitter Followers

I regularly speak to clients, business contacts and people at our conferences who want to use Twitter more, or who have struggled with getting past the initial stages of using the site. If you are an experienced Twitter user, then hopefully you’ll still be able to share this post with friends or clients who are just starting out in building their brand or their own profile on the site. 

Getting Started

There are plenty of guides and blog posts that cover the basics of signing up for Twitter account and advice about how to use the site in general. Twitter has released their own Twitter for Business minisite, and Mashable have compiled a number of blog posts into a Guide Book.

I think it’s valuable to think in terms of building an early base of followers, since the flywheel effect comes into play beyond a certain threshold. I would pick the number 100 as a target where anybody can say that they’re beyond the ‘beginner’ stage, and where all the advice from the other guides becomes much more applicable.

Preparing for Promotion

If this is a brand new Twitter account, the first few tweets will demonstrate that you’re actually using the service and lets potential followers know what to expect. This makes gaining followers a little easier.

After creating the account, you should immediately try to publish a few interesting tweets. If there are things on your mind about your industry or area of expertise, then make a comment or two. You could make insightful remarks about your niche or publish links to useful or interesting content (though avoid promoting your own content at this stage.) You could even supplement these tweets with less formal comments, such as something funny, a comment about something that’s been bothering you, or just mention when the weather is going to change.

You can also share images and photos. When photos are shared through certain prefered services (such as Twitter’s mobile apps, yFrog, TwitPic and Instagram), they will be added to your own photo gallery. Thumbnails of these pictures will be displayed on your profile page, which will make your profile look more interesting and can encourage people to follow you. 

First 100 Followers

Depending on the existing influence of you or your company, your first 100 followers might be stunningly simple to find, or particularly difficult. I’ve suggested some straightforward ways to build this solid base of followers.

Your Friends & Contacts

The first batch of people you engage with could be coworkers, friends, clients or partners. Aim for people with whom you have a close relationship, so that you can simply email or ask them directly; friends won’t mind you asking, and you could easily pick up your first couple of dozen followers this way.

Your Blog

You can promote the account on your blog, by writing about it and explicitly asking people to follow you. (These readers can visit your Twitter profile to see the types of thing you’ve published already, and make a decision about whether to follow you.) Your blog should be a great source of followers, since the readers are already a self-selected group that trust you enough to subscribe and are interested in what you have to say: this translates well to having an interest in following you.

Email Lists

If you have an email newsletter that gets sent to certain people, you could use that list to promote the account as well. If you have separate lists for different audiences, it’s worth trying to tailor your description to each of them.

For example, a recruitment company with an email list of HR Managers could tell them something like “We’ll be sharing new advice from our recruitment agents about finding and retaining the very best employees.”

Meanwhile, the same company’s email to job-seekers might say “I’ll be publishing the best new job listings on Twitter, so you could find out about the hottest opportunites before anyone else.”

Promoting your Twitter handle

You should also begin using your Twitter username on and off the web, so that people can find and follow you without you explicitly asking them to. There are many easy ways to do this such as:

• Include a link in your email signature
• Add your Twitter URL / Name on print media such as business cards and flyers
• Consider including it on any advertising
• Include a link to your Twitter account anywhere you participate online, such as in forums or when blogging.

Finding People to Follow

Through your regular use of Twitter, you’ll discover interesting and relevant people to follow. However, it will be important to find some relevant people to follow early on.

The focus should be on accounts who you are legitimately interested in following or talking to. For example, suitable accounts might include:

• Interesting or well connected people from your region
• Local companies, restaurants, events, etc.
• Other accounts focused on your business niche
• People with similar interests to you, etc.

Three particular methods for finding these people are listed below:

1. Twitter Search

Twitter’s advanced keyword search tool (more details below) will let you find people who are tweeting about particular topics. It also allows you to restrict your search to a geographic area. For example, I might look for “seattle mariners” or “520 bridge” to find people have an affiliation with or live in my area.

2. Twitter Lists

The official ‘Lists’ feature allows you to view user-generated lists of account. Finding lists created around a particular topic may give you a selection of people worth following. (TheNextWeb has more information about Twitter lists.)

You can find the lists that a particular user has created by following the ‘Lists’ link on their Twitter page.

3. Third Party Services

There are numerous third-party sites to help discover users on Twitter. We also recommend third party services such as Listorious, WeFollow and Twellow to search for relevant groups of people.

One of the most useful services, FollowerWonk allows you to search the profile bio text of Twitter users, which can help to find users in particular niches or local regions.

Sharing Content

There will be two distinct types of tweet that you publish. The first type is one which you decided to write, independent of others. The second are is reactive to what else is happening on Twitter. Early on, I recommended that you post tweets of the former at least once or twice a day. These updates could include:

• A comment from you that demonstrates expertise of thought leadership in some aspect of your niche
• A link to news or blog content that your followers might find interesting
• Photos that are either taken yourself or found online

In addition to creating content, it is important to engage with users more directly. At minimum, this should include checking and responding directly to direct messages (DMs) and @ mentions from other users. (The @Connect link on the site lets you see people who have mentioned or responded to you. In addition, various smartphone apps will alert you when someone mentions you in a tweet.)

We recommend checking relatively frequently and responding to these messages quickly. Whether people are asking you a question or just mentioning you, a quick response will be well received by the other person.

Other Conversations

In addition to seeing things that people have said explicitly to you, scan through the content posted by the people you follow. Are there interesting posts that you would like to comment on, or conversations that you’d like to join? Go ahead and respond to anything that people have posted.

Remember that people on Twitter don’t mind receiving responses or comments from people they’ve not talked to or met before. Don’t feel you have to stick to any off-line social conventions about butting in to a conversation: this is Twitter, and people have only posted content looking for a reaction or response.

Like this post? Read more at http://steverenner.com/blog-2/

Google’s Tango Goes Beyond Augmented Reality

Google is well-known for working on highly exploratory products and services. From internet-carrying balloons to cars that drive themselves, and everything in between. One such innovation is Tango, developed by a team led by computer scientist Johnny Lee, a core contributor to Microsoft‘s Kinect, which is part of the same ATAP division that’s currently working on bringing us the first truly modular smartphone.

With the recent announcement from Lenovo that its first Tango-equipped phone is finally on the market, you’re probably curious as to exactly what it is.

To explain Tango in its most basic form: it’s giving devices the ability to see and understand their surroundings in a similar way to how we do. That means building a custom set of sensors and a processor that can connect the various sources of information, and understand it all.

There are three main parts to the Tango technology. First is the motion tracking technology. Using a motion tracking camera, 3D depth sensor, accelerometer, barometer, gyroscope and GPS, a Project Tango-compatible device can tell where it is, and how it’s moving within a specific space or area and which way it’s pointing.

When combined with the second and third features, depth perception and area learning, it can understand the space you’re moving with great accuracy. So if you’re holding it while walking through a narrow corridor and turn a corner, it remembers where you’ve come from and tracks where you’re going. It can even tell where the walls are, and how close you are to specific objects.

Perhaps more impressive within the depth perception is that it can tell whether an object is small and close, or far away and large. It calculates both distance between you and the object, the object’s size, and where it sits in relation to other items in the area

Together, these generate data about the device in “six degrees of freedom” (3 axes of orientation plus 3 axes of motion) and detailed three-dimensional information about the environment.

How To Use Tango

There are a couple of key uses for this kind of technology that Google has listed so far. For the average consumer, augmented realityis going to be one of the biggest draws for this technology. Because its sensors are so advanced, it can use the cameras to detect the surroundings, and then place virtual items in the scene in relation to the real life physical objects. So, you could see, virtually, how a desk or coffee table in a room to see how it would look, or more interactive gamified items.

There are a few games already developed for Project Tango, one of which is called Bullseye’s Playground which essentially builds an entirely virtual 3D world modelled on a building’s physical layout. Users can then interact with characters or throw snowballs and find various surprises on the way. Google partnered with Target in the States to offer an in-store experience to its walk-in customers using this app.

Project Tango will also let users measure objects accurately. You could measure a table, as an example, using augmented reality to draw a joining line between one end and the other. And, because of its motion tracking and area learning technology, you don’t have to hold the device completely still. It can recognize and measure an object regardless of how far away it is, or even if you move during measuring.

What’s more, because it can detect surfaces and knows and measure angles etc. it knows how, and what angle, to place the virtual objects. As a basic example, it knows how to orientate a virtual object to lie on a horizontal surface, like the floor, and it can place items on a vertical surface, like a wall or a chair leg. You can also move your device any which way because it remembers where those surfaces were and where you placed the virtual items.

Tango can also be used to accurately map indoor locations, potentially expanding Google Maps’ knowledge to reach inside buildings. So if you’re in a particularly huge shopping centre and it’s been mapped using Google’s Tango, you can easily find your way using your smartphone.

From a business and enterprise standpoint, Tango could be incredibly useful for estate agents, building surveyors, architects or interior designers who want a more visual way to measure buildings.

Supported Devices

As of right now, there are two devices available to buy with Tango support, and that’s the tablet development kit and the Lenovo Phab2 Pro smartphone. The tablet isn’t the most impressive device spec-wise, but it’s been made primarily so that developers can build apps and programs that make the most of the project’s capabilities.

With the Phab 2 Pro, which is now selling for $499, Lenovo and Google are trying to prove that AR can and should become an integral component of modern smartphones. Lee thinks of Tango’s technology much like GPS, which transformed the utility of mobile phones and, years later, helped give birth to services like Uber. If augmented reality is equally transformative in letting our devices understand physical spaces and “see” the world, it could help reshape entire industries, from gaming to retail to real estate.

Until there’s more devices out there with Tango tech, and that’s not happening until next year, at least, this all feels very much like an experimental test phase for AR. But developers don’t seem too discouraged. That’s both because Pokémon Go proved there’s an appetite for these type of mobile experiences, and Google is convinced it’s only a matter of time before every phone makes the jump to 3D mapping.

“This is something that is not going to go away,” says Legacy Games CEO Ariella Lehrer, whose company is making a kid-friendly zombie game called Crayola Color Blaster. “This ability to understand space is coming, and I think the market is going to be very large.”