Groupon-Like Functionality for Facebook

If you're in the business of selling a product or service online in large quantities, according to Mashable there's a new Facebook application coming online that allows brands to attach Groupon-like promotions to their page. These promotions allow brands to offer a discounted product or service, but only if the amount of people that sign up for the deal hits a critical mass.

The app, Group Deals, was created by Wildfire Interactive, and allows users to set the value of the deal, define the threshold needed to activate it and link it to their e-commerce system through their own pre-defined discount codes. It also allows brands to define deal terms and conditions and customize the appearance of the page using CSS. I haven't seen it in action, but it looks amazing in theory and concept.

Apps tied in to Facebook automatically have a massive, well defined user base of 500,000,000, and the connectivity via the Facebook Open Graph allows for relatively effortless viral promotions. It's the first really legitimate shot at widespread sales via social media. There's also a really great opportunity to see some creative campaigns from major brands that are focused on promoting sales directly through these Group Buys.

Image courtesy of Mashable

by Garret Ohm

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Augmented Reality Ice Cream

As a company with a vested interest in mobile application development, we're always taking time to stay up on current technology trends in this area. One we've been following closely is the burgeoning area of augmented reality. To date, there have been a few really incredible uses of augmented reality in mobile apps, most notably augmented reality browsers such as Layar. Layar's a really cool application that uses the viewfinder from your phone's camera and your phone's GPS capabilities to show you on-screen descriptions of what's nearby.

Here's one that we just stumbled upon, and while I'm not sure I'd classify this as a mobile application nor a USEFUL deployment of augmented reality, it certainly qualifies as incredibly cool. Enjoy:

by Garret Ohm

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CRTC BBQ OTB is coming

The Chesapeake Regional Tech Council has its 6th annual BBQ on the Bay Tech Expo coming up, and I wanted to get the word out about some of the details. It's definitely an event worth checking out. It's on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 from 6-9pm at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation headquarters (6 Herndon Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21403). If you're in any way involved in technology, I highly recommend attending. Not only are there great technology discussions to be had, but there's also an open bar and some amazing food (not to mention the amazing scenery). To get more information and to register, please click HERE.

We're excited to be a Bronze sponsor of the event again, and are busy putting together a little something special to complement our sponsorship. You'll have to register and attend to see what I'm talking about, but here's a little hint:

by Garret Ohm

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Latest Work: Tandberg

We are very excited to announce that we recently launched an engaging new web-based training course for Tandberg, the leading global provider of telepresence, high-definition video conferencing and mobile video products and services. As the final touches of their acquisition by Cisco were put in place, they came to The Sutter Group seeking a solution for one of the core challenges of the acquisition: Quickly getting Cisco employees up to speed on Tandberg's products and technologies.

Given a turnaround time of just a few short weeks, The Sutter Group created a sophisticated and engaging web-based training course titled "Tandberg Product Expert, which consists of 8 individual learning modules representing the Tandberg products and underlying technologies. Working with the Tandberg project team, we first identified all functionality requirements and helped them solidify the overall architecture, outlining all content departments and the flow of the course from start to finish. The wireframes that resulted were used as a guide throughout the development and implementation of the course.

Next, taking cues from Tandberg's existing brand guidelines, we developed the design for the user interface, striving for a look and feel that would complement the high tech nature of the course content without drawing the user's attention away from the content itself. The selected design, which you can see in the screen captures we've provided, was used as a blueprint for the development of the entire Tandberg Product Expert course.

more...

by Garret Ohm

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Monday Marketing Link Love 5.17

Howdy. It's Monday, and you know what that means: More linkalicious goodness from our Monday Morning Link Love feature. Prepare yourself for linkage:

AdAge says UGC has jumped the shark: A few years ago, the industry was abuzz with the user generated content phenomenon. Brands far and wide were flocking to the tactic that asked ordinary customers to create advertising for a brand. The whole premise was to get consumers intimately involved with a brand, but there's one main problem: It's been done to death.

by Garret Ohm

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