December 2009 Archives

Avatar was more than I could have dreamed of. Native American history being one of my favorite reading subjects and my cousin working within this movie, Avatar rang deeply for me. But I will tell you how watching this movie with a TechCrunch audience differs from watching it on a weekend evening with a wider demographic.

The stereogram effects make us act geeky, or faux-geeky shall I say. With the opening credits shooting at us in 3D, the mostly male, young and modern ooh-and-awe to rippled laughter. Sigourney Weaver's Dr. Grace Augustine character wearing a Stanford T-shirt caused some home plate laughs. Colonel Quaritch's bellicose character was interpreted as obvious mockery of the Bush administration to parodic chants of "USA! USA!" I felt the audience's deeper appreciation of the motion capture technology used to create this movie, and many approached Michael Arrington of TechCrunch to thank him for helping to arrange this free screening.

Here's a picture of Mr. Arrington and I after watching the film. Given that I had initially approached him as the theater lights dimmed, he was a really nice guy and listened to my rapid-fire self-introduction. Proof that not everyone who attended this TechCrunch screening was a techie, the lady we'd asked to take our photo using my iPhone didn't know which button to press!

That's right, I did! TechCrunch held a few online submission contests via its website and Facebook to see the much-anticipated Avatar on opening day. After missing the first open sign-up by an hour (which is a week in Facebook and TechCrunch time), I got my comment in for the second contest where "10 Best Comments Win A Ticket"!

My cousin, Ilram Choi, was a stuntman for Avatar, and also for Star Trek for you fellow fans out there. So I'm doubly excited to see Avatar and recognize his signature jumps.

I'm really loving TechCrunch more than usual today! I will follow-up with pictures.

After my calculated and yet robust shopping week in San Francisco, some themes emerge: Conscientious spending, an emphasis on environmentally-friendly products, an increased awareness of shopping footprint, and the use of social media for smarter holiday shopping.

Thus I'm boggled & irritated when companies like Deloitte spend time & money for studies leading to article titles such as "Social Media Likely to Impact Holiday Shopping Decisions." Likely to impact? Isn't this a given if you've sat in front of a computer?

Whereas in years past our inboxes were bombarded with the annual flurry Friends & Family email blasts, this season we get our cues from Facebook, Twitter, and Digg notifications. Retailers using Facebook to promote shopping discounts attain "cool brand" status among a youthful & ad-resistant online demographic, and effect an insiders' club feeling with Facebook Fans' Only discounts. Last week, Toys"R"Us became the fastest growing brand on Facebook with a fans-only preview app and promo code. This speaks not only to the concern of brands to attract customers through social media, but also to the various demographics that signed up: Both genders, Moms who tend to household shopping, the increased number of Dads who now stay at home, and the online marketing generation now growing into adults with budding families of their own.

Not too many years ago when I was glued to my chair monitoring holiday e-commerce sales daily, editing copy, and checking inventory, the Ghost of Christmas Future could've brightened my winter mood to the year when two funny appellations would make holiday shopping so much more fun: iPhone and Twitter. The Gilt Groupe iPhone app sends sales alerts to your iPhone, and their Twitter page has holiday tips and deals. These far more entertaining shopping channels draw the shopper's eye away from paid search engine links and save retailers from wasted clicks.

Twitter inventor Jack Dorsey has got the web abuzz today with the official unveiling of his latest and possibly greatest invention. What, you ask, could possibly top Twitter in terms of sheer innovation? What could change the way people go about their business faster or more dramatically than Twitter has? The key word here is "business" and that's exactly what the new product, simply called Square, is gunning for.

Think of it like the next step in the evolution of an easy-payment technology like PayPal. The Square is a small plastic device, about the size of a piece of hard candy, that plugs into the headphone jack of an iPhone or iPod touch. Here's the thing: it's a credit card reader. That may sound like a bit of an anti-climax until you think for a minute about the ramifications of such a device. It will allow vendors -- anyone from the biggest corporation to the hot dog cart -- to accept credit cards quickly and easily. This is a near revolutionary idea to any business owner who has ever gone through the fees and hassle of becoming plastic-friendly. Details are still forthcoming about how much it will cost to use Square, but presumably it will be less than the credit card companies charge.

What we do know is how Square works, and it's pretty cool: just swipe the card through the Square reader, and the payer signs on the phone's touch screen -- similar to how you'd sign for a package from UPS or FedEx. It also means no more paper receipts. Instead, payment information is emailed or texted directly to the customer. To get a clearer idea, check out the video above (via TechCrunch) showing the Square in action, as well as a few words from Dorsey about the device. Square will reportedly be available to the general public sometime next year.