The Nike FuelBand is simply a fancy pedometer. Like the Fitbit Flex and Jawbone Up, it tracks your movement using an accelerometer. It also dispenses “fuel” points based on your activity using a proprietary algorithm. No — it isn’t about how often you shake your wrist — but the more active you are, the more fuel points you earn! I’ve worn the Nike FuelBand now for two weeks and I’ve rarely taken it off. In comparison, I would take my watch off and lay it on my desk at the beginning of each day alongside my iPhone.

The Nike FuelBand features that I love are:

Overall design. The electronic “guts” of the band are hidden inside a semi-flexible rubber material that is bound by a stainless steel clasp. The clasp opens up to allow the user to slide the band over their wrist. It also protects the charging terminal. In comparison, the wraparound design of the Jawbone Up allows it to easily fall off your wrist if it is put under tension.

Solid battery life. The FuelBand takes about 30 – 45 minutes to fully charge, which is inline with other wearable bands. The band has surprisingly been running for almost two weeks now without requiring it to be recharged. I’ve also spoken with another Fuel Band owner that happily reported that his band lasted for about 30 days without requiring a recharge but he also indicated that his band was lightly used (infrequent data display and sync).

Wireless data transfer. Workout data from the band is transmitted via bluetooth to the Nike+ FuelBand iOS app. Nike recently indicated that a smartphone app for Android is not on their current roadmap.

Durability. Data on the band can also be viewed via a push-button LED display. The band will display whichever stat was last accessed (aka, time, fuel, calories, steps) if the button is pressed once, or it will show the next stat if the button is pressed multiple times. The glass display on the Nike+ SportWatch GPS is susceptible to cracking if it is accidentally dropped on a hard surface.

Continuous motivation. I’ve previously written on how mobile can enhance the gym experience. The Nike FuelBand app notifies me when I reach my goal. The app also allows me to challenge others with Fuel Bands, but unfortunately I’ve not had a chance to test out this feature.

Open API’s for developers. Nike has exposed the profile data and points accessible via a web service and a mobile SDK. Since Nike won’t release an app for Android, hopefully a developer will take on this challenge.

Overall, the Nike Fuel Band is awesome. The only two misses are a higher price tag over other comparable devices and the lack of a smart alarm/silent wake alarm that monitors your sleep cycle and shakes you awake at right moment. I’m looking forward to getting more use out of it in the coming months.

My best proof point is based on data from our client which serves customers in 9 southeastern states. This client gets significant referral traffic from Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter so initially they wanted to increase their social media investment. However, I noticed that Pinterest accounts for only a minor portion of visits (20%) from southeastern states vs. the entire US  (see below; I’ve represented the number of visits to the site with X, Y and Z to protect the confidentiality of our client’s data). In comparison, Facebook generates the most southeast referrals and Twitter is closely behind. Additionally, Pinterest traffic (not surprisingly!) is mostly mobile (iPhones/iPads).

So why is Pinterest poor at referring local traffic? Pinterest filters pins based only on categories (see Pinterest home below). And users cannot filter their pins based on their network. In comparison, both Facebook and Twitter surfaces updates from their network of friends and followers. So while Pinterest users may spend more money, buy more items and conduct more transactions than any other social media buyers (comScore), Marketers who are working with local businesses need to consider that content shared on Pinterest will have a minimal impact. It will be like casting small pebbles onto a big lake where the message never gets amplified enough to have the same impact as one coming from Twitter or Facebook.

The good news is that Pinterest recently announced the acquisition Livestar, a mobile application that recommends nearby boards. This acquisition is a passive acknowledgment of needing to focus on generating quality, local traffic. It is also a worthwhile strategic investment considering that Pinterest users are highly mobile. The acquisition will likely not have any meaningful impact on Pinterest traffic in the near term so for now, marketers should take caution in recommending Pinterest to brands that are interested in gartnering local traffic.

NOTE: Check out this 100 Statistics on Social Media if you’re looking for more reasons to make an investment.

It is certainly exciting, especially when you consider that internet ad spending is expected to grow at a rate of 18.1% this year (according to AdAge). And as digital outpaces spending in all other categories, these agencies are going to just kill it.

So if you’re on the agency side, just take a deep breath and get ready for the fun to begin!

When I learned that they wouldn’t lower my price (and my prior critique of the Comcast streaming service certainly didn’t really help my case), I began to consider cutting the cord. Knowing that I’d save $100+ a month, I looked a few video streaming options:

• Apple TV. I’ve been a fan of Apple TV since the very beginning. Unfortunately, their current device (third generation) still lacks 1080p capabilities and many owners are pissed about the lack of airplay mirroring support with a Mac ecosystem that’s only two year old (source) so I decide to pass on it.
• Boxee TV. The Boxee team has recently pivoted with their introduction of a new set-top box that includes no limit DVR capabilities. While this feature is available in my area, my enthusiasm quickly dwindled when I learned that shows cannot be recorded through the remote. Instead, they must be scheduled through the web. That’s certainly poor UX but it doesn’t explain the disappointing sales at Walmart. This was also a pass.
• Google TV. This is one of the only devices with potential. Unfortunately, the first generation release of Google TV on Logitech hardware was lacking to say the least. There is hope with the third generation version though it may be available only as built-in service to LG smart televisions. Having access to Google Play and a real browser like Chrome is certainly promising but for now Google TV 3rd gen is only a pipe dream.
• Roku. Again, this is one of the best streaming devices on the market. It has the biggest application store. Unfortunately, our Samsung Smart TV supports virtually every major app that this device posses, including support for the Amazon Cloud Player, so the investment in it wouldn’t provide any additional functionality/advantages.

Lastly, I considered purchasing a Mac Mini because it offered the flexibility of watching any stream that’s available on a computer but at $500 it was also the priciest. While I may end up getting one, I decided to just to let the experiment run the course for a few months before making such an investment.

So, I called Comcast to disconnect my service. They justifiably tried to sell me on bundling more services or downgrading to a cheaper package. As the conversation progressed, I found myself annoyed that the pricing tiers were no better than going with over-the-air signal which includes HD. That’s also what a recent review of cable pricing by Forbes showed. At the end, we downgraded to just internet for $62 per month. The trial begins.

Now that the tough part is behind me, I am motivated to get more out of the new year. I always want more — who doesn’t?! I just know that in order to succeed professionally I have set goals for myself. So below are my three business goals for 2013:

1. First do what you need to do, then what you want to do. My oldest son swears that he’d be a millionaire if he had a dollar for every time that I repeat this. He obviously hears this a lot! That advice cuts both ways: I intend to push off my distractions and focus.
2. Never settle for less. My teammates know that my standards are set high. I always push want the best out of us. This year, I will continue to push both on them and myself to produce more.
3. Don’t take yourself too seriously. I find that I’m way too rigid and intense when I first meet people. I need to learn to stop and relax which will take some practice.

I expect to revisit these at the end of the year and measure myself against these. I want to accomplish these goals as much as one wants to breath. In case you’re wondering what I mean, check out the video below.

Thanks to Mara Mazzoni for sharing this video with me.

Considering that 80% of Americans aren’t engaged in fitness — either they don’t participate in a regular fitness program or belong to a gym, the manager actually has a 20% pool of prospects so he should try to do whatever it takes to keep me motivated and paying. And motivation can come from a mobile application vs. a personal trainer. Why? Well, besides the fact that one in every two consumers in the US has a smartphone (according to 2012 data from Nielsen), we’re religiously using our iPhone and Android devices to monitor every aspect of our everyday life. In fact 52% of consumers with smartphones use their device to gather and measure health information, such as how many minutes they’ve exercised or the intensity level of the workout routine (according to a 2012 Mobile Health report by Pew Research). And apps motivate us to remain healthy because documenting our workout increases awareness. Psychologically, awareness is the key to adopting healthy behaviors.

I also want more out of the time I spend at the gym which is currently 3 – 5 hours a week. While many gyms use fitness programs to entice members to participate, none seemingly consider how to extend a members’s visit beyond the actual workout. It is known that the longer you are in a store, the more you are likely to spend. So one approach worth considering is for gyms to lease out space to health-focused online retailers to promote their products. The retailers could create temporary pop-up stores at the the gym and either sell the product directly, drop-ship the product or send consumers online to make the purchase. Gym staff could even serve as the product advocates. I’ve been dying to check out the latest fitness gadget, like the Nike+ Fuelband, Fitbit and Jawbone Up, but haven’t had the time. I would gladly spend a few minutes at my gym checking these out before I run out the door to start my day.

Maybe one day some a gym will take me up on the challenge. Until then, I’ll continue to just focus on working off the Chunky Monkey ice cream that I had last night!

NOTE: There’s a very informative panel presentation on mobile health apps at SXSW 2012.

Image Credit: Joint Base Lewis McCord

Well after the excitement wore off, I realized that Google didn’t really build a browser. Instead, they created a UIWebView — that’s the equivalent wrapping Google Search in an iFrame shell and telling everyone that you just built a search engine. That’s hardly unbelievable.

So why should I care if Google didn’t build an iOS browser?

Engineers certainly get upset over this kind of behavior. In fact, my former mobile engineer, Richard Guy, used to get extremely frustrated whenever I questioned the need to build a native mobile application. He would bellyache over the slowness of web-based mobile applications and while it was hard to show the difference in a live application he was right.

Guy Podjarny, Chief Product Architect at Akamai, recently published iOS 5 Javascript performance tests. The tests measure duration, so lower numbers are better. According to these test, there’s a 200% performance loss for UIWebView vs. Mobile Safari:

The practice of using the UIWebView is already too commonplace. Facebook’s current iOS application uses UIWebView. Fortunately, engineers at Facebook have hinted at a faster, native application coming later this month. I’d image that the effort was driven by the findings in the 2011 survey on mobile web sites conducted by Gomez, a application performance and monitoring company. According to the survey, 71% of mobile web users said that they expected a websites to load as fast on their desktop as it would on their smartphone. Additionally, 57% of mobile users stated that they would not recommend a mobile site that’s too slow and 43% would not return to the mobile site. Consumers clearly expect mobile applications and sites to be snappy.

In all fairness, Google mentioned in their FAQ’s that “Chrome does not have access to Safari’s Nitro engine, [and] Chrome may have slower javascript performance.”

While this statement is very well crafted, it is blatantly false. Google.com relies on Javascript and based on the performance tests one would expect the site to be slow. It is odd that Google would release an app with inferior performance, especially when considering that Google uses site speed to influence Page Rank.

So if responsiveness is important to you, do what I did and delete the Chrome for iOS! Google.com is much faster on plain ol’ Mobile Safari.

Sorry Google but Steve is still getting the last laugh!

Chrome possesses a better user interface. The URL field also serves as an input field for search whereas on Safari the functionality is delegated to two independent fields. Additionally,  the app relies on a more robust, custom keyboard that contains additional punctuation symobols on the screen (see below).

Chrome improves upon tab switching and private browsing experience. Power users can more quickly flip between tabs by simply dragging their finger from the edge of the current tab. Also, users can begin a private/anonymous browsing session by opening a tab from the browser instead of exiting the application (see below).

Chrome synchronizes tabs from all of your devices. Tabs from my Windows laptop and iMac were available in Chrome mobile just seconds after I browsed them and vice-versa (see below). This allowed me to easily switch screens, especially when I am on an eCommerce site where I am expected to complete a long user registration form.

Chrome delivers a decent browsing performance. Initial performance appears to be on par with Mobile Safari. While Mobile Chrome is supposedly slower than Safari, especially when scrolling down a page, I did not notice any significant lag in my initial test (though further testing is required).

Bottom line: Impact of Google Chrome for iOS

Google has actually gone thermonuclear on their competition. With the new Chrome browser for iOS, Google has ensured that they will further expand the lead of Chrome on Internet Explorer on both the traditional PC and mobile fronts. Additionally, Google is attempting to steel some of the recent thunder from Apple, which recently announced a browser tab sync capability in Safari across all devices with the release of iOS 6 later this fall. From an engineer’s perspective, Chrome for iOS is definitely an upgrade but the rest of the world won’t likely download it unless Google buys ads to spread the word!

My only criticism, and this is a nit-pick, is that Google failed to add any developer tools to their mobile browser. Chrome for iOS does not possess even a simple debug feature for developers to test their website. Hopefully, Google will add this feature in their future release.

FInally, as users begin to use the tab sync feature, brands will have to further readjust their mobile site strategy. In the past, most mobile website were developed for on-the-go users — they focused on local content and call-to-click actions, plus they were built with lightweight navigation and limited imagery so that they could quickly load on slower connections. But with the adoption of a “perpetual tab experience,” users are likely to begin browsing on one device but then shift to another. To ensure a seamless experience, brands will need to rebuild their mobile website using a responsive design which can adjusts the view-able content based on the size of the screen. This approach, which focuses on building first for a smaller screen, has yet to be fully embraced, but it will!

This year, I had the opportunity to read the The Big Short, a book by Michael Lewis. It is well-written tale on the real estate bubble of 2008 and the ensuing financial market meltdown. The entire book is amazing — one that was tough to put down — but there was one quote in it that jumped out at me:

If you’re in a business where you can do only one thing and it doesn’t work out, it’s hard for your bosses to be mad at you.

I can easily relate to this quote because I’ve tended to have multiple roles in each one of my jobs. While some roles weren’t right, these experiences validated my initial assumption that I have a passion for technology. And it is passion that has allowed me to go from good to great.

So what are the two things that hold us back from finding our passion?

The first thing is a lack of motivation. We’re such creatures of habit that we tend to fight change. That is why it is critical to experience new things, like getting out of your comfort zone, and to test (and retest) your limits every so often. You never know when you finally understand that one programming concept or overcome that one physically impossible challenge.

The second thing is a lack of curiosity. Ignorance is bliss! We simply don’t know what we should know.

At the end, if you don’t find either motivation or curiosity you’ll need to accept the fact that reaching your full potential is no one’s fault but your own.

PS If you’re a finance geek, this book is definitely for you!