Using the proper work-flow can save a serious amount of time. These apps help me sync all of my devices and maximize my working hours:

• Dropbox (2 GB Free)
  • Remember the floppy drive? Yeah, we barely do either and we’ll probably be saying the same thing about thumb drives in a few years because of Dropbox. Cloud storage is one of the most useful and time saving applications in the cloud, period. It makes it as easy as saving it in the Dropbox folder to share files between all of your devices. It’s also possible to create shared folders that can be edited by anyone. I used this a lot when making music with producers across the country. It allowed us both to work on the same project without sending files back and forth. That’s revolutionary.
• Wunderlist (Free)
  • Wunderlist is a relatively no frills to-do list application that does exactly what you want from it. Add an item on your phone, it syncs to your computer and vice-versa. Best of all, it’s available on virtually every device (from iPad to Linux) and works flawlessly.
• Evernote (Free/Premium: $5/month or $45/year)
  • If you’ve noticed a trend by now it’s that everything on the cloud syncs. Evernote is no exception and it’s essentially the last notebook you’ll ever need. It has some great features including the ability to “clip” websites and articles straight from your browser into Evernote. Folders and notes are also shareable making collaborations a breeze. Evernote’s uses are limitless, check out their blog for more ideas.
• Google Docs / Gmail / Music (Free)
  • Pretty much everything Google offers lives in the cloud. This makes it possible to access six years of Gmail history without dumping gigs of data on a phone or computer. The newest member of their cloud family is Google Music Beta. With one quick install it uploads all of your music, up to 20,000 songs, to their servers and makes it accessible for streaming on the web or on an android phone. It’s currently only available by invite but you can request one from them on the homepage.
• Backblaze ($5/month)
  • Remote cloud backup isn’t the most exciting but when your hard drive comes to a screeching halt, it’ll be your saving grace. At only $5 a month, you can sleep easy knowing that your projects are safe and secure.

These are just a few of the apps that I use in the cloud. What are your favorite cloud applications and how do you use them?

- Philippe Gagnon

Philippe Gagnon is the founder and writer for Craft Beer Culture. Currently residing in Orange County California, you can find him at the local brewery drinking craft beer or online through Facebook and Twitter.

Stacked, a new restaurant in San Diego, incorporates iPads into the meal experience. - Justin Bridle

People all seem to have the same nightmare at one point or another when grabbing a bite to eat, whether it be in a five-star restaurant, a casual cafe or a swank little happy hour spot. You sit there for upwards of ten minutes before the server even comes to the table. Your server forgets your water, or your beer, or your side of bleu cheese or what have you. Your order gets lost in translation between you, the computer and the kitchen, and it takes forever to get to your table. Your meat isn’t the right temperature. You skip dessert because all you want to do now is get out of there, but the check takes ten minutes. You slip your card in right away but another ten minutes goes by before it’s picked up. You feel betrayed by your server, so you leave a lousy tip and leave with a lousy taste in your mouth.

So where does this madness end? How do we eliminate all this red tape in our dining experience? How can we take back control of our destiny? Enter: Stacked, a progressive new restaurant at Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego. Their solution? The mighty iPad.

Upon entering Stacked during a rush, you can put your name in with the host and view your position on the wait list up on a large computer screen, much like arrivals and departures at the airport. That said, it most likely won’t be an issue since dining time is so varied. Upon seating, all you have to do is swipe your card into your table’s iPad, select your drinks and hit Send To Kitchen, and they’re on the way automatically. Your server comes over with your drinks to say hello and explain the system to you. Should you have any additional questions at any point during your dining experience, there is a little Help button on the bottom corner of your screen.

“It takes all the awkwardness out of serving,” says my server, Brilan. “The iPad anticipate people’s needs so well that it lets me enjoy conversation more with my tables and focus on recommendations.”

Stacked has a pretty simple menu; you can choose from an array of signature burgers, salads, pizzas, sausages and ice creamy desserts, but you can also “Stack Your Own.” This is where it gets fun. Customers can choose what type of bun they would like (brioche, pretzel, gluten free, just to name a few), the sort of patty they would prefer (salmon, turkey, angus beef, pulled pork, etc.), their choice of lettuce, cheese, toppings (fried egg, chili and homemade potato chips are among them), sauces and condiments. Every labeled photo modification is dragged across the screen using your finger. The mods and toppings fit together in attractive designs of juxtaposed shapes and colors. Want something on the side? No problem, there’s a special column to drag your sides to as well. Getting a pizza but want different things on your respective halves? Just hit the Split button. While you’ll have to agree on the same crust and sauce, anything else goes. Once you’ve put your personal concoction together, just hit Add To Order, then when everyone’s ready, hit Send To Kitchen. If you second guess your order, just hit Cancel.

When you’re finished, there’s no need to flag down your server and ask for the check, because you already have it on your iPad; just hit the Checkout button to view your total. You can split your check as many ways as you wish, itemized or by dollar amount, and tip using either dollar amount or percentage. And get this: you can choose to forgo a receipt, have it printed up for you, or just email it to yourself.

When a busser comes to clear a table at Stacked, they swipe their card, making the iPad screen go black. This shows the hosts that this table is being cleared. Wow.

“The guys from the Apple Store come in all the time because they’re already so well-versed in the technology and they’ve got only a half hour to grab lunch,” Brilan says. “So they get in, eat real quick and get out well within their alloted time.”

Brilan also points out the Member button, which you can enter your email into and save your previous meals at Stacked, so the next time you come in, you can just log in and it’ll remind you what you enjoyed last time. Stacked also plans to link their program up with Facebook, so that you can Like something you’re especially impressed with, and then your friends can view what you had and try it out as well. Oh, the possibilities of Food Networking…

Is this the wave of the future for the restaurant industry? It could very well be. Incorporating this type of technology lights a fire under the ass of efficiency itself, eliminating waiting across the board and literally putting all the control in the customer’s hands. Next thing you know, they’ll have Angry Birds built in for the customers to play while they wait. But, with that said, there is still something to be said for quickly choosing what you’d like to eat and letting someone take care of everything else; whether that’s done well depends entirely upon the server.

- Jennifer Karnan

Patrick Dillon and Jimmy Hendricks of Deal Current

Local San Diego tech start-up ‘Deal Current’ was one of the first full-service, white label, daily deal software vendors in the world.  The success of the software has grown the company’s revenue by over 1,000% since 2008, and if you’re looking for a cool, hip, energized place to work, they’re hiring. Not too shabby for a couple of highly driven young men who ran their HQ out of a shared apartment in North Park just five years ago.

“Daily deal” companies such as Groupon, Living Social, Buywithme, and CrowdCrave are all the rage right now, but at the forefront of the social commerce market, are two local tech gurus that offer million dollar solutions, at a fraction of the cost. In a recent interview at their Little Italy offices, James Hendricks the CEO and Co-founder said, “What separates us from other daily deal companies is the fact that we have an amazing support team. It’s our service, and our training tools that make us unique. We provide, for a marginal fraction of the revenue generated by a deal site, complete service solutions for constantly evolving space. We  train our clients how to use our tools effectively. If a smaller to mid-size company were to hire their own staff to provide all of these services, it would be cost prohibitive”.

The software itself is ‘white label’ meaning, for all intents and purposes that it’s blank, and can be ‘skinned’, or dressed with, the logo’s and graphics of the company that purchases it.The software allows a company or organization to market their brand to the public with daily deals and much, much more.

Deal Current offers a robust suite of social commerce solutions and unparalleled sales force training tools as well. The training tools include digital videos that teach clients how to sell daily deals to merchants, how to market their website, and how to attract affiliates. Hendricks describes the marketing software platform  as a ‘toolbox’ for virtually any type of web-based business that wants to increase site traffic and grow their business. “The small businesses that make it are the ones that are marketed properly and profitably. If you can do that you’ll likely be a success, but how many times have you been to a great little restaurant, that’s completely empty? It’s all about how you market yourself.”

President and co-founder Patrick Dillon offers a ‘big-picture’ version of his sales and marketing  perspective, “When the internet started, it was all about getting the information out there but there was too much out there.  Then social media came along and changed everything. Now purchasing trends are based on the social influences of one’s peers. Social commerce is where the money is going to be made now.” And that’s exactly how Deal Current works. It taps into social media trends for results that are trackable, increase site traffic, and combines member acquisition and loyalty programs.

Contact Deal Current to see how your business can capitalize on social media  and tap into the social commerce market.

According to eMarketer data compiled in January 2011, the U.S. virtual goods market is expected to generate $653 million in revenue this year, up 28% from 2010.  Virtual goods, in case you’re not a shut-in, are digital representations of goods for which one pays actual, real money. An example would be a digital sweater for your avatars girlfriend in an online virtual community. …$653 million. Or, a powerful, digital sword or weapon upgrade for  your character in a virtual game online…did I mention $653 million? This ‘fake-goods-for-real-money’ market has spawned a moniker for games known as “Freemiums”, or, free online gaming communities, with premium upgrades available for everything from nicer houses to luxury cars and digital bling. The upgrades of course, cost real money. $653 MILLION.  The popularity of social gaming and social network marketing has catalyzed tremendous growth in virtual goods monetization. Game developers, virtual worlds and social network providers are driving this economy, which is projected to grow substantially in the next several years.   Keep your eyes open for the virtual sweatshops.

• $792 million projected earnings in 2012
• Virtual goods totaled  $7.3 billion worldwide in 2010
• Between 2007-2010, 70% of all Virtual Goods were sold in Asia.
• In 2010, Swedish gaming company Mindark sold a virtual space station for $330,000 USD…… Sucker!

- A.R. Templeton

Visa says that the transition to these types of chip technologies will help to prepare retailers for the arrival of NFC-based, mobile-phone payments (Near Field Communication) by building the necessary infrastructure to accept and process chip transactions that support either a signature or PIN usage at the point of sale. In other words, your phone is getting so smart that it can now manage money.

In a press release on August 9th global head of product at Visa, Jim McCarthy said, “As NFC mobile payments and other chip-based, emerging technologies are poised to take off in the coming years, we are taking steps today to create a commercial framework that will support growth opportunities and create value for all participants in the payment chain.”  So, I guess everybody is getting a piece of the action then. Except the consumer, that is. Why is it not comforting when the head of Visa promises that ‘everyone is getting paid on this one,  folks.’ ? Consumers can expect to see an additional terminal for mobile phone payments at registers as early as the fall.

PRNewswire reports that Visa will continue its range of cardholder verification methods including PIN, signature, and no-signature requirement for low-risk transactions. In the long term, Visa expects that verification methods such as signature and PIN numbers will be reduced or eliminated entirely as new, and increasingly dynamic forms of cardholder verification are implemented with chip technologies. Fingerprint verification or retinal recognition technology via mobile phone is already being experimented with to avoid the possibility of a lost mobile phone becoming the equivalent to a lost or stolen credit card. This illustrates another benefit to the consumer as well. In contrast to a traditional wallet, a smart-phone is a wallet you can lock. That is, there are multiple levels of security; there is the phone lock, a required PIN number, credit card information encryption, and your credit card number is never fully displayed at the register or on your receipt.

Ultimately what this means for consumers is that your phone can now be used as a car key, a phone, a camera, a video-camera, a communication device, a GPS, a laptop, and now (drum roll) ….A BANK!  Just wave your smart phone over the terminal at the register, and the funds will be deducted from your account or more likely, added to your credit card balance. Going into debt has never been so easy! It’s a brave new world folks. The bad news is when you get mugged next year, the crook will just say “Hand over your phone mister!”.

According to the August 9^th press release by Visa, they will require U.S. acquirer processors and sub-processor service providers to be able to support merchant acceptance of chip transactions no later than April 1, 2013.  Merchants will receive free hardware to facilitate the switch, but will thereafter incur a small transaction fee similar to the one they suffer now for credit card transactions. Chip acceptance will also require service providers to be able to carry and process additional data that is included in chip transactions, including the cryptographic message that makes each transaction unique.

Visa will provide additional guidance as part of its Business Enhancements Release for acquirer processors to certify that their systems can support EMV contact and contactless chip transactions. By 2014,  50 percent of smart-phones will have NFC built into them — that’s 150 million devices. Could this new technology diminish the need for purses and wallets, or perhaps spawn a new device for carrying lipstick and chewing gum? And most importantly, will it give rise to a whole new spectrum of mobile marketing?    -AR Templeton

Circles; In the immortal words of Offspring we often want to “keep ‘em separated”, that is, groups of friends, co-workers, ex-fiancé’s and the like. Google+ lets you separate posts into groups where they will only be shared with certain recipients. This feature  goes one step further than Facebook, by ensuring that the pic of you doing a keg-stand isn’t re-posted to your boss accidentally by auto-blocking anyone you haven’t specified as a recipient. It also has posting fail-safes that are more deliberate than those on Facebook.

Hangouts: Hangouts are video-lounges where you can invite individuals or whole ‘Circles’ to join you for a debate on the merits of pet-neutering, or just a little one-on-one flirting, a la Skype.

Sparks: What makes sparks fly in your life? This feature allows you to follow a huge variety of topics ranging from the mundane to the bizarre, and even allows you to create your own category for direct content discovery. Into fly-fishing? Spark it, and you’ll be kept up on the latest in fishing from waders to wall-eyed pike.

+1: Sounds like you’ve been added to a list at a hot nightclub, right? Alas no. This is similar to the ‘Like’ button on Facebook, and automatically stores the content you’re viewing on your profile; all the easier to transfer the topic to your ‘sparks’ later on.

Is Google+ that much different than Facebook? Not to the casual observer. But, remember that all of this programming is ultimately designed to generate ad revenue from increasingly streamlined targets and the best way to do that is to let your client do it for you. The way that Google+ divides (it’s users), allows their sponsors to conquer. That is, the user categorizes his or herself by customizing their profile, likes and dislikes, and that makes it easier to pinpoint and maximize the specific demographic for an ad campaign or service using social network members as brand recruiters. Is your company using social media to maximize the effectiveness of your ads and the reach of your brand?

LinkedIn employees watch site hit 100M mark

Professional Social Media site LinkedIn leapfrogged MySpace last week to take the number two slot in the industry under the number one behemoth Facebook (160 million users). After a splashy public offerings debut in March the site hit 100 million users, the holy grail number for emerging social media sites. According to LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner the recent snowball in members can be attributed to a number of factors including the unemployment rate. Many Facebook users network on Facebook, but LinkedIn has been marketed as the premier social media site to find a job, to recruit talent, to source new deals, or even start a business. LinkedIn has been branded as a site where these goals aren’t eclipsed or overshadowed by posts of holiday pictures and invitations to high school reunions. On Linkedin, in other words, it’s ‘business time’. Currently in use in over 200 countries, half of all users are outside the U.S.. LinkedIn is currently garnering a million new users a week at a rate of more than one per second.

How do you use LinkedIn? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

• The average Facebook user has 130 friends.
• More than 25 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) are shared each month.
• Over 300,000 users helped translate the site through the translations application.
• More than 150 million people engage with Facebook on external websites every month.
• Two-thirds of comScore’s U.S. Top 100 websites and half of comScore’s Global Top 100 websites have integrated with Facebook.
• There are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
• People that access Facebook via mobile are twice as active than non-mobile users (think about that when designing your Facebook page).
• The average Facebook user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events.
• People spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
• There are more than 1 million entrepreneurs and developers from 180 countries on Facebook.

I’ve got a problem. I’m a blogger who likes to use visual content but Twitter is just too short with a 140 character max and doesn’t offer simultaneous visual feed. WordPress lacks the ability to instantaneously update followers on breaking news in real-time. Along comes Tumblr: the technological girl of my dreams. She’s a hybrid of a social networking site and a blogging platform where new and curated content can be shared without length restrictions. I think she really ‘gets me’…

Tumblr also boasts loads of other features on its dashboard that make it feel like a social networking site.  You can post personal blogs, text, links, photos, media and more. The fact that there are no restrictions on the length of posts and it’s real-time dispersion of information has quickly made it the preferred tech for ‘on the scene’ reporting by journalists and reporters.

Tumblr is proof positive that the Facebook explosion has developers clamoring to incorporate a sense of community into their sites to increase their user-base and Tumblr has done that in spades, tripling the number of users in the last six months. According to a report by Steve Rubel, the majority of the billions of page-views on Tumblr occur within the dashboard rather than on the individual domains they offer, making it more like Facebook than WordPress.com. This fact will give Tumblr a good deal more weight with companies looking to market on social network sites.

Tumblr growth triples over the past six months.

Here’s a short list of do’s, don’ts, and suggestions for marketing on YouTube:

• Use YouTube to introduce new products or services that your organization offers.
• Create an alternative or fun identity for your brand. A great example of this is the Old Spice ads and videos. Old Spice essentially used YouTube to drive the new (and very successful) branding of their products.
• Make sure you track your efforts! YouTube offers a full suite of analytics information called YouTube Insight. Insight makes it easy to see the traffic, source, and view information to any or all of your videos.
• Consider purchasing ads to be featured in other videos. Ads extend the reach of your products/services to consumers who may not see your videos in the first place.

These are just some quick tips to help your brand get started. Contact us today if you’d like us to help implement a YouTube strategy for your brand.