Google learns what you like then systematically shows you advertisements you might be interested in and makes my searching easier by telling me things I already know, or might be interested in learning depending on my profile … Do you see the problem here?  Let me put it another way.  If you were to go to a friend’s house and use his computer to “Google” something.  Did you know that you will get different results than if you used your computer?  Try it.

For the record I am a male but a touch older than 34 (although I look 29, ha ha).  The things it has listed for me are pretty close to what I search for quite often, which is a bit scary.  Just in case you are interested, check this out, Google’s Privacy Update: What You Need to Know. 

Most people think “well Google is free, they should make some money”, and you are right, kinda.  The services are free but you and I both pay with personal private information.  Google uses its knowledge of what they know about us and sells it to advertisers.  The advertisers then (through magic of course) show up in our searches and on sidebars and where ever there might be some space.  Privacy firm Reputation.com says your personal info could be worth anywhere from $50 to $5,000 per year to market researchers and advertisers.

So the next time you are looking for that awesome new fishing pole and you get an email about new trout fishing trips, or go to your favorite website and there is an advertisement for “BRAND NEW POLES UNDER $20”, remember THEY KNOW WHO YOU ARE

People from all over the U.S. and one in the Philippines watched patiently as we uploaded information and pictures to the site.  Also the fight was carried live via Pay Per View on the Spartan website.  As you can read from the site, people were able to watch the fight from a different angle than just a seat in the auditorium, and if you couldn’t watch the fight live people are able to go back and watch a replay.  Here DJ  is waiting patiently for the weigh-in with his trainer M. Flowers;

Was the Superman shirt a foreshadowing of the fight to come, or would the  locally known foe ruin DJ’s undefeated record, with a pocket full of Kryptonite.

The weigh-in’s were streamed live for everyone to see.  After the weigh-in’s more and more people were texting and calling our team to  help pump up DJ for his fight only hours away.

The following day we planned for DJ and Flowers to go to an indoor shooting range to take his mind off of the night to come;

We had a great day at the shooting range, everyone had smiles from a relaxing day of tearing up some targets.  The time had finally come. The preparations begin.  DJ and Flowers are backstage at the event getting the hand-wraps ready for the gloves.

As I upload the pictures, more and more people are texting and “liking” the updates as time grows near.

Fighter after fighter are coming back-stage battered and bruised.  Rookie  fighters watch the backstage monitors with eyes wide open, taking in every move of the ones that have gone before them.

We all joke with DJ about his fighting shorts as we all know the striking of the bell, the screaming fans and the loud music are just moments away.

We wait backstage for what seemed to be an eternity.  The promoters change the fight card to put DJ and his hometown opponent closer to the main event.  The air was thick with enthusiasm as the sounds of the cheering crowd beyond the curtain blended with the pounding of gloves hitting practice pads everywhere you turned.

This was it!  The officials rush DJ, Flowers and myself to a room made of ten feet tall black curtains surrounded by Monster drink logo’s and flashing lights.  The hometown fighter had just went into the Octagon.  The lights went out and the walk-in song for DJ came on.  The look on the face of DJ was intense and focused, Flowers looked determined but also like a proud father.  Flowers had his hands on DJ’s shoulders holding him back for a few seconds as the anticipation grew.    Then like a flash, DJ was gone!  Running down the entrance way through the crowd and to the Octagon.  He was ready to fight!

I was now in “corner-man” mode, no more texting, no more up-loading, it was fight time.  My iPhone was in my pocket the entire fight, it buzzed a few times as the announcer goes through the official banter before the fight.  But then the iPhone was silent…people all around the world were watching.

Fast-forward 30 minutes later…the fight is over, we walk with DJ back to the trainers room, the opponents hometown crowd are standing, applauding, high-fiving, knuckle-bumping DJ as he walks away from the cage.  He has won some fans tonight.  But the fight didn’t go his way.

A month of hard training, a weekend of anticipation, a world watching your every move. What could have been another MMA match in “Any-State-USA”, was an example of how new media is changing the way we live, interact and entertain.

The World Is Watching.

I had the opportunity to be a fly on the wall of a mobile marketing machine.  As I ride with the band, meet-and-greet, to the hotel, to the stage, to the bus, I notice something is different about what I would normally think about time on the road.  Each musician carries something with them that rarely leaves their side, a smart phone.  During a break after sound check, while eating a quick meal, each member is thumb typing or taking a quick picture to send out to a fan or a family member.  These musicians are connected to the world 24/7.

As I sat talking to the “dynamic-duo” front men, I asked them about their use of social media and what it means to them.  They both, almost on cue, say, “it is one of the most important things we do.”  They each go on to explain that Twitter and Facebook help them stay connected with their fans and help them spread the word about what is going on with the band, where they are, where they are going, what is happening in the near future and what to expect at that night’s show.

What used to be a job of 4 marketing people it is now done in real-time with a true immersion of emerging media.

This real-time conversation promotes their music and creates never-ending touch points with their fans.

(Hint; click on the links to see who the band is, Thanks LCC)

Now you can pick up your smart phone and ask it a question and it will answer you, or at least look up possible results.  Real time news started with the cable networks.  CNN and others will tell you “up to the minute” news and some how keep it interesting. Check out this article on  The CNN Effect .

But as you can guess that isn’t enough.  With Twitter, Facebook and a host of other applications we can get real time news and reaction from the world as it happens.  The other night during the State of the Union speech.  President Obama’s aides were tweeting his major points as he was delivering them to the world. Read about it here .  What is even more interesting is that two of the Republican candidates Rick Santorum and Buddy Roemer were tweeting responses in real time during the president’s speech.

So is a candidate a brand?  I think so.  Are they using emerging media to enhance that brand? Again I think they are. A brand can be a thing or a person. Our politicians learned this long ago, and are using it to the fullest today.

Here is another great article on 6 Ways the Mediea is using Digital Tools to Cover the Election

As you can see we do not have to wait until eleven to get our news anymore.  Do you think some of these applications could possibly take the place of our news events, or will people always need someone to hash through all the information to tell us what it all means?

Sure I still watch the news at eleven, but only to see the weather… wait I have an app for that.

How many times have you walked through your local grocery store and noticed the different languages on “slippery when wet” signs, or “restrooms”  or “enter” and “exit”. That should give you a little hint of what is happening across the U.S.  It’s not just your city.  Its the rural towns of West Virginia and the massive cities in California and New York.

If you are web person and frequent banking sites, retail stores or even pay your cell bill online you probably already know that the sites are offering multiple languages for their customers.  And it is about time.  According to studies Hispanic people are on the cutting edge of new media and are early adopters.

http://bettinainclan.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/latinos-early-adopters-to-social-media

Companies like CVS, Toyota, McDonalds, Nestle, AT&T and Coca-Cola just to name a few are specifically catering to multi-lingual customers.  I look for this to be a must in our changing world.  What do you think?

Over the years I have used numerous bluetooth devices and I am usually not pleased with the outcome. I seem to end up buying every new and improved earpiece and they all end up at the bottom of a junk drawer.  The technology to me seems very iffy.  I found this episode from Tekzilla that refers to bluetooth as being dead.

This commercial from Keystone light probably happens more than it should.

Bluetooth is just one of the many technologies that have changed our world.  Although bluetooth isn’t traditionally a technology that we can exchange or learn information, some smart phone apps do use it to exchange pictures and e-business cards.

So for the time being bluetooth isn’t dead and many developers still use it for their apps, but I foresee the use of wireless networks taking over the duties that bluetooth now accomplishes. This article compares Bluetooth and Wifi

http://tinyurl.com/4wsnwz   let me know what you think!