Do you know how to Juggle? – Defrag Conference 2011

Posted by:Meshin | Posted on: November 15th, 2011 | 0 Comments

Meshin was pleased to sponsor Defrag again this year. It’s one of our favorite conferences, and we’re continually amazed by the fantastic content and plugged in attendees! We had some great hallway conversations, our pre-conference dinner was well attended and super thought provoking, and many people attempted to juggle their way into the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 that we offered up to the person with the best three ball juggling time. In then end, Alessio Signorini walked away with the prize after posting an impressive 90 seconds of exquisitely controlled juggling. One thing we noticed repeatedly was how folks’ willingness to juggle varied in direct proportion to their knowledge of the stakes. Several times we were initially waved off, only to have the juggling balls snatched from our hands when the competitors found out a Galaxy Tab was on the line. Context changes everything, doesn’t it? Here are some of the juggling times.

Alessio Signorini - @A_Signorini: 90 seconds

Mikey Tom - @MikeyTom: 46.4 seconds

Richard Grote - @heyrich: 40.4 seconds

Mollie Rusher - @MllieRusher: 40 seconds

Rob Rusher - @RobRusher: 37.1 seconds

Bart Lorang - @lorangb: 36.4 seconds

Tim Falls - @TimFalls: 35.1 seconds

Leigh Drogen - @ldrogen: 28.3 seconds

Jared Polivka - @jaredpolivka: 28 seconds

Joel Runyon - @JoelRunyon: 15 seconds

Ingar Brown - @IngarBrown: 10 seconds

Deanna Bennett - @deannabe: 9.9 seconds

Jodie Schwirtz - @Jschwirtz: 8.3 seconds

Todd Vernon - @ToddVernon: 6 seconds

Nate Kadlac - @kadlac: 2.4 seconds

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See you at Defrag 2011

Posted by:Meshin | Posted on: November 9th, 2011 | 0 Comments

Technology is a funny thing. We strive to use it to increase productivity, but as technology and tools advance, they frequently becomes more complex, so the apps and gadgets that are supposed to make us more productive often take so much time to learn and use, productivity gains may be marginal at best. App Fatigue strikes again. The best technology is designed to support how we actually conduct our daily lives. We all juggle work and life. In order to be productive and successful, we need to rapidly shift context throughout the day. From boss to father, from brother to friend – we’re constantly shifting between the relationships that define us. Being the technology champions that we are, we use a variety of tools to stay on top of the work/life relationships that make us successful. This complexity can be simplified.

We need applications that promote seamless context shifting while helping to accelerate action. How does technology work for you? Is it personalized to make you more productive? When you see us at Defrag 2011 Conference as a presenting sponsor, ask us about juggling. We have some thoughts on the matter. Show @oneumbrlla and @hoffboy how well you can juggle and you could even win a Galaxy Tab 10.1. We’ve recently updated our beta and we’re looking for help in shaping the future of mobile communications. Download our Android app at GetMeshin.com and be sure to connect with @meshin at #DefragCon.

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Mary Meeker: Mobile is a Big Internet Trend

Posted by:Meshin | Posted on: November 8th, 2011 | 0 Comments

Last month at the Web 2.0 Summit, Mary Meeker presented her latest Internet Trends presentation. Always required reading, you can find the KPCB Internet Trends 2011 deck here, but we’ve found particular interest in the optimism that’s surfacing. Over the past few years, mobile has been a big theme, if not THE theme, of her presentations, so it’s no surprise that mobile is again a big part of this year’s presentation. Distilling trends and peppering her brilliant insights throughout the deck, we pulled a few highlights that might certainly apply to you today. 1. The obvious: Mobile. Yes, still mobile. It was big in 2009, bigger in 2010/2011 and now we’re still talking about mobile in its infancy stages. Mobile device sales (smartphones and tablets) are overtaking feature phone sales in the US and Europe, but there are 835 million smartphone users to the 5.6 billion mobile device subscribers. So, for the mobile future - big will still get even bigger. Globally, the mobile success story continues. App revenue and advertising revenue is up to a figure of $12 billion. Meeker identified the overarching uber-trend as the empowerment of people through the connected device. 2. The less obvious: Touch. The User Interface has moved from text to graphics to touch. Moving from mouse clicks to screen touches, we’re navigating the web, our email and our contact lists with the tip of a finger. The latest trend in the evolution of the internet is the human-computer interaction and natural user interfaces. Steve Jobs was right. We’re only just scratching the surface with our Meshin UI, but we’re thrilled to be so nicely positioned. 3. Still important: Commerce. E-commerce is growing, even through tough economic times. Is it because buying and selling is quicker and easier or is growth coming from the mobile realm? Yes and Yes. Leaders like eBay and PayPal have doubled their gross mobile sales and payments in the last year alone. Mobile commerce has also been centered around local commerce, via discounts and deal-makers like Groupon. In closing, on the near final slide, Meeker addresses our Technology sector with this:

Wow! Unprecedented times!

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…*

The mobile future is here, what are your takeaways?

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