How kool is an instant Goal replay tweet, of the Brasil World Cup, 2014 ?

Photo credit; Eser Karadağ /Flickr CC

We interrupt our normal programming to inform you of a handy new service for those of usstill watching the World Cup in Brazil. @ReplayLastGoal is a Twitter bot that automatically tweets the video replay and animated GIF of the latest goal in the tournament. Handy right? There are plenty of ways to get the score fast – but this actually SHOWS you the goal. Awesome.

The open source project is by Xavier Damman, the Cofounder of @Storify (acquired by @Livefyre in 2013) and it’s seen its following rise since the the handy service sneaked out a week or so ago.

“I thought of doing this Twitter Bot because given the schedule, all the games happen during working hours so I don’t have the time to follow them,” Damman told me. “The only thing I could find were bots that were tweeting the score. But when there is a goal, I want to see it. So I built this bot during my nights.”

The bot records a live stream continuously with a 20 second buffer. When there is a goal, it records a short video, generates an animated gif and tweets it. With the recent support of animated gif on Twitter, it’s looking pretty good.

The not for profit open source project has also source code available for anyone who wants to create a similar service for anything else – how about baseball? Maybe.

Meanwhile, this is something the likes of FIFA should embrace – TV rights be damned.
ref; http://techcrunch.com by Mike Butcher

Crazy tech additions during Brasil World Cup 2014 !

Courtesy; iRobot, Sony, GoalControl GMBH, Getty images

Half a million soccer fans will visit Brazil to attend this summer’s Fifa World Cup—but they won’t be seeing the same game as in years past. The pitch will feature some impressive new technologies, starting with a ceremonial kickoff by a paralyzed teen outfitted in a mind-controlled exoskeleton. Here’s what’ll come next.

PackBots Instead of clearing bunkers and crossing minefields in Afghanistan and Iraq, 30 iRobot 510 PackBots will check suspicious packages and provide extra surveillance at the dozen World Cup venues.

4K Broadcast Sony and FIFA will broadcast the July 13 final match live in super-high-res 4K. Carriers who devote the bandwidth will get four times the resolution of 1080p— making it nearly impossible to fake being fouled, right?

GoalControl Fourteen video cameras mounted high in the stadium—seven pointed at each goal capture the ball’s exact position and send a vibrating signal to the ref’s wrist watch when it passes the goal line.

Vanishing Spray Argentinian sports journalist Pablo Silva tested hundreds of foaming emulsifiers to come up with this shaving ­cream like product, which evaporates within two minutes.* Refs will use it to mark off free kicks.

Brazuca Ball A record-low six panels makes for less water uptake and fewer seam defects. Plus, the cool panel shape means no large smooth areas— the source of the knuckle-ball effect that plagued the last two FIFA balls.

ref: http://www.wired.com

Batman's Tumbler, racing in the 2014 Gumball 3000.

Batman’s Tumbler will not be racing in the European leg of the 2014 Gumball 3000, the rally in which rich enthusiasts and celebrities pilot expensive cars across multiple continents.

The Tumbler, billed by the rally as “probably the most insane car we’ve ever had on the Gumball,” is a street-legal replica of the vehicle from the Christopher Nolan / Christian Bale Batman trilogy. Under the comic book exterior is a 6.2-liter V8 producing 400 horsepower. Without it, you’ll have to settle for Ferraris, Porsches, and Rolls-Royces.

Saudia Arabia’s Team Galag were set to drive the Tumbler along the 2014 route from Miami, through New York, London, Paris, and to the finish in Ibiza on June 11. The car, with a 6.2-liter V8 producing 400 horsepower, weighs in at 5,000 pounds. Perhaps not surprisingly, it’s been beset by mechanical issues, and is dropping out of the rally.

Galag didn’t provide details, but they blame Florida-based Parker Brothers Concepts, which built the car, for this missed opportunity. On their Facebook page, Galag said, “Parker Brothers Concepts have been given a year to fix the issues that were faced last year but chose not to do any work until it was too late to make any difference. We have been misled many times and were told that progress was being made and chose to put our trust in their word…They are also refusing to hand over the license plates in order to be able to drive the Tumbler legally on the road.”

We’ve reached out to Parker Brothers for a comment and will update this post when we hear back. (It’s not the Monopoly-producing Parker Brothers, by the way, which is too bad. We’d love to see a giant thimble or top hat loaded with a V-12 roaring into Ibizia.)

British driver and designer (and husband of rapper Eve) Maximilian Cooper created the Gumball 3000 in 1999 as a long-distance road race for him and his celebrity friends. Cooper says he got the name from Andy Warhol’s description of the public chewing and spitting out popular culture like gum, although we can’t find evidence of the quote outside of Gumball press releases. Nor do we see what it has to do with awesome cars.

The annual rally, held this year from June 4 to June 11, is the event that sells the Gumball 300 “lifestyle brand” of “entertainment, apparel, music and licensing divisions.” The price tag for participation is £40,000 ($67,194) per vehicle, including two drivers. Each additional person in the car costs another £20,000 ($33,597). That price includes hotel rooms at each of the layover points along the race, plus glamorous post-drive parties stuffed with famous people.

“Racing,” the requirements emphasize, is not permitted, but friendly competition to see who gets to the next hotel first is typical. Participating cars are required to have the Gumball 3000 logo stickered across their paneling, NASCAR style, and drivers “shall endeavour to keep them clean and visible at all times.” For the vehicles, the only requirement is that they be insured and street-legal in the host countries.

We’re always in favor of a ridiculous street-legal one-off automobile, especially when it pulls from comic books. For now, the dark knight will put off rising until next year’s rally.

ref: http://www.wired.com

Your Jewelry, can now call upon your important notifications ?

www.ringly.com

We’ve all done it: You’re at a restaurant, enjoying a nice moment with a friend when all of a sudden you hear your phone buzz. You want to stop the conversation, reach for your phone and check the notification. You really really do. But that would be rude…right?

We’re in a constant battle with our technology; do we control it or does it control us? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Ringly, a new line of technology-enabled rings, wants to make sure we have a say in which notifications are put in front our faces.

The rings, which launch today, are connected to your phone via Bluetooth Low Energy. You can configure the ring and its accompanying app to notify you when certain things are happening on your phone (calls, texts, emails, push notifications from Tinder, etc) by blinking colorful lights and soft vibrations. For those of us bound to our phones, it’s supposed to be a way to free us from our technological shackles. But actually, Ringly was started for the exact opposite reason.

“I’m always missing calls and texts, and it started to get really frustrating to have to keep my phone out on the table at restaurants and in meetings,” says Christina Mercando, Ringly’s co-founder and CEO. “I thought there just has to be a better way.” At that moment, Mercando looked down at her ring-covered hands and had an epiphany: “What if my ring told me what’s going on?”

Though notifications are hardly a uniquely female problem, Ringly has made the choice to position it as one. The rings, made from semi-precious stones set in gold-plated metal, look like something you might find in your great aunt’s box of costume jewelry. They’re clearly feminine, and stylish in a way that says the company is gunning for Barneys, not Best Buy.

                                                                   This is how it works !

Still, the tech is impressive when you consider what’s inside this little piece of jewelry. Bluetooth LE helped the Ringly crew to cram a light, motor, battery and accelerometer underneath the ring’s stone. It’s not a delicate ring by any means, but it’s certainly within the realm of normal. This discreetness was key, says Mercando. “A ring is the smallest form factor, so if you can fit the electronics into that, you can fit them into many different things, like a watch or bracelet,” she says.

The team hints at potential future applications–things like gesture controls, easy mobile payments, unlocking doors–but for the moment, its sole focus is to see how people use the ring in the realm of notifications. “The fashion world is blown away; they can’t believe something like this exists,” says Mercando. “And the technology world is like, is that all it does?”

The value of Ringly is entirely up to the person who wears it. The app allows you to customize which notifications you see, potentially an efficient way to screen calls. “A lot of moms will say, if the babysitter calls, that’s the only person getting through on date night,” says Logan Munro, Ringly’s mechanical engineer and co-founder.

But technology that claims to free us from technology is a complicated proposition. A ring that flashes and buzzes every time something happens in your digital life could be equally, if not more, distracting than just having your phone on the table. “The angle of this is totally something that helps you disconnect is misleading because it does notify you when things are happening and then you want to go and check,” says Mercando. “It’s helping people not worry so much about their technology and not have so much anxiety around it.”

A quick, totally unscientific poll of a few friends found that while all said the ring looked like something they’d wear, they worried it’d only enable their bad phone etiquette. “That thing would make me so edgy,” says one. Replacing one gadget with another might not be a solution for everyone, though who knows how it could change our behavior over time. The key to Ringly’s success will really be in its fashionable style–something that we covet regardless of functionality.

ref: http://www.wired.com

Elevate your Social presence online 'TIPS 2014'; did you make these changes ?

As always, I’m going to be completely honest: all the information on sizes and dimensions of cover photos for social networks, including backgrounds, profile pictures, etc. have changed several times. So, the infographics prepared for 2014 were basically rendered obsolete overnight.

In November 2013, Google Plus launched its latest change and just recently, in January 2014, Twitter changed the design of the users’ homepage. Even, at this exact moment, they’re preparing a new surprise for us all. So, this infographicthat’s been so helpful for all of us, isn’t really going to be that useful anymore.

The goal of this article isn’t only to present you with cold hard data about social media image dimensions, but to also give you practical advice to optimize your brand strategy, and improve its image throughout different social networks.Competition on social networks is fierce, so you can’t afford to waste opportunities to attract new audiences. Users are constantly exposed to tons of information, which is why the first impression of a brand must be powerful and convincing in a matter of seconds. If you want to avoid the mistakes all companies talk about on social networks don’t miss this article.

Now, I’m gonna share some information with you that I’ve been gathering on the sizes and dimensions of pictures for different social networks as of April 2014.That way we can complement the information on the infographics that are still valid.

1- Twitter’s cover dimensions – Updated April 2014 – (+tips!)
The new Twitter has arrived!!

On April 22, 2014 this popular social network rolled out its new web profile experience to users all around the world. It’s appearance has radically changed: we’re talking about real changes that are far from the original structure. Twitter has swapped the aspects that made it so unique for some that make it actually very (VERY) similar to Facebook.

So, what do you guys think?

The reason for these changes, and other changes that they made in 2013, is to give much more importance to pictures and buttons. Why? In order to give users a similar experience to the one they have on their mobile devices. Precisely, in May 2013, Twitter also optimized the navigation for Android and iOS devices which resulted in it being simpler to see, share, and tweet.

Here we go, the dimensions of Twitter’s cover: (Updated April 2014!)
The new Twitter is now available for all users. If you haven’t gotten it yet, you can find it here.

Now if you are particular about how you present yourself online, then please discover the major channels     ( Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, Vimeo, Youtube, etc) the latest changes like dimension and others; please visit postcron.com.blog for all the major social media platforms information with short and sweet details. It is by far one of the best put well together by Josefina Casas.

Pele, Zidane and Maradona - luxury brands creation of lifestyle !

LV Campaign

Real luxury lifestyle must be rooted in authenticity. If luxury brands stray too far from their roots, they will be reduced to little more than faded labels. Here is how companies can infuse their luxury brands with a sense of lifestyle—and substance, too.

Keith Richards lounging in his hotel room with a branded custom guitar by his side.
Zinedine Zidane playing a game of table soccer, with his Louis Vuitton trolley barely visible in the distance.

These images successfully create a sense of lifestyle, helping to articulate Louis Vuitton’s rich and authentic luxury brand identity. Everyone has a sense of what constitutes luxury; defining lifestyle is more difficult, and even trickier for brands to create. Yet there are enormous rewards for doing so. The conjunction of luxury and lifestyle is more popular than ever, and consumers and the press increasingly perceive lifestyle as an element in luxury.

Keith Richards

This comprehensive McKinsey report, “Luxury lifestyle: Business beyond buzzwords” details the steps and core principles businesses need to follow when trying to infuse their luxury brand with a sense of lifestyle. First, it’s important to understand that building a sense of lifestyle is a slow, evolutionary process that requires patience and care. Too many brands have rushed into expanding both categories and message touchpoints without first defining their core values.

Authenticity is the most important consideration when communicating luxury lifestyle. A senior executive at one of the world’s most renowned fashion houses put it this way: “Lifestyle is the result of what we do, not the purpose.”

Brands that effectively communicate lifestyle messages use images that tell stories beyond just their product. These can include visuals of cityscapes, leisure activities or other slices of the luxurious life. The brand’s products may be visible, but they are not necessarily the center of attention. These lifestyle messages and images are broadcast not just through magazines and TV ads, but across multiple channels, including blogs, social media profiles, and interactive mobile apps.

Connecting with the idea of lifestyle is promising territory for luxury brands. Consumers are eager for products that communicate a sense of uniqueness and distinctiveness, for something special and authentic that will enrich their lives. Brands that create these stories can enhance their value many times over.

ref: mckinseyonmarketingandsales.com

$12.5 Billion 'ROI' profit growth on 'PURE' Digital luxury marketing !

With three out of four affluent consumers turning to mobile devices to assist in purchases, their behavior and interactions with luxury brands are changing almost as fast as the technology itself, according to a report by the Altagamma-McKinsey Online Observatory.

As the affluent become more reliant on their devices to shop, marketers will need to work to create worthwhile digital experiences to keep pace with consumers’ preferences. But, as Altagamma-McKinsey found, this is not as simple as just redeveloping a Web site or creating an active Twitter account.

“Digital is going to enhance and complement the luxury experience as we know it today,” said Linda Dauriz, principal at McKinsey & Company, Cologne, Germany.

“It’s not going to question the luxury experience that customers have been demanding from stores and their staff,” she said. “Digital is going to give luxury brands the opportunity to complement their customer’s journeys.

“[Digital] is about branding the customer journey, branding a customer experience and digital will increasingly be component of this digital journey. The luxury customer is becoming more fluid and moving from the offline world to the online world seamlessly.”

The Altagamma Foundation and McKinsey & Company collaborate to form the Altagamma-McKinsey Online Observatory. The group’s second report, the “Digital Luxury Experience 2013,” studied the behaviors of 3,000 consumers living in Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan as well as the digital performances of 300 luxury brands in 12 product categories.

Keepin’ up
Altagamma-McKinsey Online Observatory’s report found that 20 percent of total sales in the luxury space, both online and in-store, were driven directly by digital touch points. Also, the total sales from pure digital marketing generated $12.5 billion, a 20 percent growth rate from the year-ago period.

In terms of growth momentum, in 2013 pure online sales raised 20 percent even though the overall market was considered to be “stagnant”. In the next five years, these figures are expected to reach $27.8 billion, but may increase even higher as new technologies are developed and incorporated into the daily lives of affluent consumers.

Mobile commerce gift guid for Mothers Day !

The report discovered that the mono-brand store format, or a storefront that carries a brand’s entire range, is growing at a faster pace than other retail models. For luxury consumers, this mono-brand format allows for a better depiction of a brand’s lifestyle.

For instance, French footwear maker Berluti continued its move toward a full-service lifestyle brand with the opening of a new boutique on New York’s Madison Avenue.

Berluti’s bricks-and-mortar location opened Feb. 6 only blocks away from its prior location on the high-end retail stretch. Although known as a bespoke cobbler, Berluti has expanded to apparel and furnishings to better represent the lifestyle of its brand (see story).

Berluti’s new Madison Avenue flagship is categorized as a mono-brand store

By having a mono-brand store location, the consumer’s in-store experience will be more similar to digital interactions, where all of the brand’s products are available at a click. Although common practice among luxury brands, which develop multiple social accounts and Web sites to accommodate different ranges such as a dedicated beauty page, the research suggests that this model is likely not needed.

In its assessment of the digital luxury marketplace, the report found that 65 percent of online sales are generated by fashion accessories, perfumes and cosmetics. One must only look at online retailer Amazon’s luxury ecommerce presence to understand how significant that finding is.

Amazon launched its luxury beauty store Oct. 10 to expand its luxury offerings to aspirational consumers aiming to save money on high-end products while still obtaining a piece of the luxury lifestyle. With Amazon stepping into the luxury beauty sector, brands and high-end retailers should look to increase levels of consumer engagement and customer service via online and mobile commerce so brand allure is not diluted (see story).

Amazon’s Luxury Beauty page 

Digital investments
As for consumer behavior the report saw that, in general, “digital passion” via “mobile penetration” is becoming more important in marketing. That being said, the report suggests that more can be done to further engage consumers online.

This engagement stems from four sources: online marketing metrics, or OMEX, that supports awareness and consideration to purchase and loyalty, social media, consumer feedback and the brand’s economic performance. Based on how the surveyed brands replied to their use of engagement tactics they were categorized by three archetypes.

Brands that use mono- and multi-brand retail strategies for both ecommerce and bricks-and-mortar stores and also engage consumers on all types of digital communication are branded as “plugged-in pros.”

Cartier can be defined as a “plugged-in pro” 

The second distinction is “selective e-tailers” that maintain only a mono-brand Web site for entry-level products geared toward aspirational consumers and use digital as a marketing channel while the third is “hesitant holdouts.” This title is given to smaller brands with tight control on retail and which sell from mono-brand stores only and use digital platforms as showrooms rather than a point of sale.

From these categories, the report notes that the archetypes have their strengths and weaknesses that can be aided by various digital strategies. Overall, each brand has a unique DNA and style, and understanding the archetype will help marketers develop proper metrics to compete effectively in the digital space.

Behavior to savor
A main take away from the reports findings is that to succeed in the increasingly competitive digital space, brands should invest in a digital approach to reach consumers and as a secondary tactic that works to connect consumers with branded content.

For instance, a report by Boston Consulting Group explored the online shopping tendencies of Chinese consumers, such as a widely-held penchant for researching products at length. “The Chinese Digital Consumer in a Multichannel World” report explains that the number of Chinese online shoppers is expected to reach 380 million by 2016, which presents brands with huge swaths of potential customers (see story).

Also, in response to how smartphones have altered the way consumers shop, a report by Forrester Research indicated that 66 percent of luxury consumers are more willing to interact with a sales associate equipped with a mobile device.

The “A New Generation of Clienteling” report discovered that some consumers do not feel that sales associates are the best source of product information. With the role of sales associates changing, bringing mobile technology into stores may help re-establish trust while creating an enhanced experience for consumers (see story).

Digital is no longer enough for brands to create awareness and loyal consumers. These tactics must be supported by a strong mobile tactic.

“The main piece of advice is to shift your mindset from branding product to branding experience,” Ms. Dauriz said. “Understand which experience or journey your customers are going through today and understand the break through they’re going through.

“Measure what you’re doing, ” she said. “Measure the money you’re spending, measure the results — the operational KPI’s.

“Don’t be afraid of testing and learning as you go, but measure what you do — but don’t go wild and shift your money without knowing what the return is.”

Mickey Alam Khan contributed to this article. ref: www.luxurydaily.com

What does digital luxury Customers 'WANT' today ?

BARCELONA – Thomas Romieu, Digital Director, LVMH Group, notes that what luxury goods shoppers really want is a streamlined experience that minimizes the number of decisions they have to make.

“Those of us in the luxury business spend a lot of time thinking about the how to offer our customers special experiences. But our perceptions of what customers want online often differ from reality. People often aren't looking for something baroque and atmospheric. Shoppers for luxury goods are generally successful, time-challenged people—so they want a streamlined experience that minimizes the number of decisions they have to make.

They also overwhelmingly go online with a very specific mission: to research products before making a purchase at a bricks-and-mortar store. In other words, they want information prior to purchase at the touch point they find most relevant. And in the vast majority of cases, that relevant touch point is the brand Web site.

www.uberdigitalluxury.com

In a survey of interactive marketing executives, about 60 percent of respondents said that their company's brand-owned Web site was still the number one way for them to engage customers. Nothing else—Facebook pages, blogs, YouTube channels—even comes close.”

“Getting five things right turns the Web site—a basic customer touch point—into an exceptional customer experience:

Make sure your brand—not fakes, discounters, or resellers—gets a "prime location" in search results.

Provide a site that works well on any device. While there's little difference in how PCs and tablets present content, smart phones demand something quite different.

Ensure your site works fast. Research has shown that 57 percent of customers will abandon a site if it doesn't load in three seconds. In fact, one of the major KPIs that the LVMH Group tracks is load times for our brand's Web pages, and how they stack up to the competition.

Take people straight to your products, and their prices. Not listing prices on your site aggravates your customers.

Create a great store locator. It may seem simple, but it's neither easy nor common. For example, French brands often list their stores' opening hours in military time on their English-language page. But that's not helpful to Americans—in fact, the message they are likely to get is ‘You don't understand who I am.’

All of these areas are fundamental, but over-delivering on the basics is what makes the experience special. Think of Apple: although we wouldn't normally consider it a luxury company, it provides its customers with a clean, intuitive, ‘luxurious’ experience online.”

“This emphasis on nuts and bolts may seem surprising to marketers used to hearing that they need to ‘surprise and delight’ customers. But customers are delighted when a site surpasses their expectations by being faster or simpler than they expect. For example, a site that is personalized to remember their preferences can be a boon to busy customers.

Adastra Super yacht & Graff Diamonds.

Conversely, abandoning the established grammar of site design for the sake of being ‘different’ simply aggravates visitors. When they click, people expect something to happen. When it's not what they expect, you're in trouble. The classic work on Web design, Don't Make Me Think, hammers home this point, explaining that people come to your page with a ‘reservoir of good will’ that quickly drains if they face confusing options or other problems. Once a company has mastered all five basic areas, it can add e-commerce, social media, immersive experiences, and other more recent innovations as well.

Of course, luxury products have a special aura, and a luxury brand's Web presence can and should reflect these dreams and aspirations. But the best place for customers to experience this atmosphere is the product-level page. Imagine a live store visit that follows the pattern of a typical Web pitch. The customer comes in and says, ‘I read about your XYZ bag and I'd like to see it.’ The salesperson replies, ‘We've been making quality bags by hand since 1887.’ It would be completely frustrating. A good salesman would get the bag, check that it's really the one the customer wants to see—and then explain what makes it so special.” ref: www.mckinseyonmarketingandsales.com

Men's 2014, style by Gieves & Hawkes of UK.

http://www.gievesandhawkes.com/

There comes a time in every man’s life when he has to dust off his shoulders from whatever misery he might have gone through and invest in a decent suit. Surely, a suit like that is something to invest in. One of the oldest bespoke tailoring companies in the world, Gieves & Hawkes has proven that devotion and love for detail will result in just this type of suit. Since their foundation in 1771 (yes, you read that right), the Savile Row taylor has created innumerable ready-to-wear as well as bespoke outfits that give competition a run for their money.

At its presentation in a Kings Street gallery on the first day of London Collections: Men, they once again had us begging for more – a part of me would like to add that this also refers to the cucumber cocktails they served. We saw a variation of stylish suits, many of which were pastel pink and beautifully chequered. Paired with red ties, they certainly had an element of colour innovation to them and hence felt everything but dated. Apart from pink, Gieves & Hawkes did a good job covering all sorts of colours of the palette: brown, grey, blue, etc. And that’s not the only aspect that made it obvious we’re looking at a spring / summer collection: We were especially delighted to see linen being put to good use! 

While a whole linen suit might be bit too much for many, we would recommend at least getting a linen jacket or trousers anytime. The fabric even seems to have found its way into evening wear this season. But this is not where it stops. Gieves & Hawkes is known for having an E.B. Meyrowitz concession at their Savile Row flagship. We’re talking bespoke eyewear here! At the presentation, many of the models looked at us through a pair of stylish shades. Luckily for us though, these sunglasses were relatively small and didn’t hide too much of the models’ faces (why hire Versace model Edward Wilding and then not show him off?).

In conclusion, the brand hasn’t surprised us but that’s a good thing: Quintessentially British as they are, Gieves & Hawkes can afford staying very true to their roots and leaving the element of innovation to accessories and colours. In 2013, traditional cuts and finest fabrics still have the power to convince us all along the line. In a year’s time, when the collection will be worn on the streets, a Gieves & Hawkes suit will doubtlessly be one of those I-just-dusted-off-my-shoulders suits. Not that we would let it get dirty.

ref: http://www.menstylefashion.com