With Amazon Fire Mayday, Amazon will collect more data from consumers

Amazon.com revolutionized retailing by tracking customer habits and allow them to rank items and write comments.  With Amazon Kindle Mayday feature most focus on the tech support issue, but the game changer is for Amazon to collect more data from consumers to create the next game change.

Here is the Mayday feature.

News sites are focusing on the tech support feature and a bit on how to sell more.

1. Slate Magazine (blog)

   Amazon launches Mayday, a virtual Genius Bar for theKindle Fire ... The Verge-by Dan Seifert-Sep 24, 2013 Amazon may be trotting out new versions of its Kindle Fire tablets and an updated software platform for them, but its also introducing a unique ... + Show more

    

2. How the Kindle Fire's 'Mayday' Feature Will Help AmazonSell More ... Wired-Sep 26, 2013 Amazon's Mayday tech support for Kindle Fire HDX puts a tiny helper on your screen when you need it most. But the exchange between you ... + Show more

Amazon if they do this right is going to have an ability to connect to consumers in a way that no one else can.

I have my Kindle Fire HDX on order so I'll be able to see how it works.

iPhone 5s vs. Galaxy Note 3 comparison, Part 1

I spend at least 10x more time thinking about mobile than desktop solutions.  Mobile is interesting because of what it is going to enable people to do.  Thinking further out and being focused on users two new devices I will have to play with will be the iPhone 5S and the Galaxy Note 3.

Actually, I am going to stick with my iPhone 5 and ordered two 5s's for my family so the 5s will be close at hand, but I won't spend time with it every day.  I am the only Android user in the family, so I will have the Galaxy Note 3, upgrading from the Note 1 I bought 1 1/2 years ago.  I was an early Note 1 users for the stylus and big screen.  Something many don't think are important like the iPhone 5/5s audience.

Here is a comparison of size and resolution.  

I'll get the new phones in two weeks and will write more on comparing.  But, forewarned my focus is mainly on the Galaxy Note 3 because the target audience I am focusing on prefers the Galaxy Note 3 vs. the iPhone 5s.  We will address the iPhone market, but first is the Galaxy Note.

It is so much easier to develop really cool solutions when you don't develop across multiple platforms.  Think about it most of the mobile apps out there are cross platform or if they are on one platform, they really don't have to be.

Here is one piece of data iPhone 5/5s = 727,040 pixels on the screen vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 3 = 2,073,600 pixels on the screen. Almost 3X more pixels.  There is a close relationship between the # of pixels you can see and the amount of information you can communicate. 

Unplugging from the Cellular Network feels good

I am Iceland for this week and on the way over I decided to turn off the cellular data on my iPhone 5.  I am on AT&T so cellular coverage should be good.  What feels better though is not being a slave to my phone and having to check e-mail, text messages or phone calls.

One of the best things not being in a corporate e-mail environment is the amount of e-mail I get is magnitude less or more.  Direct e-mail to my greenm3.com e-mail address is about a dozen a day.  My business partners on another project where we have our own domain and e-mail we can see a month's worth of e-mail on one screen of gmail.  Aside from my family my phone rings 2-3 a week.  And, text messages again aside from family in general can go days or weeks with no messages until I head to a conference.

Ironically as little as I get e-mail, text, and phone calls it is still burden to get disturbed by random things.  So, just turning off the cellular data seemed worth a try.

Mobile is driving an always connected society.  To do quality work requires time to think and no distractions.

When I go back home I'll pick one day a week to just turn off the cell phone data when working from home.  The phone won't ring, text messages will be much less.  My family can still reach me with iMessage or just not on my office door.

I knew I would learn some interesting things on this trip to Iceland, but I didn't expect that unplugging from the cellular network would be one of them.

Give it a try. Turn off your cellular network.  

BTW, the cool thing is the iPhone 5 battery lasts a long long time with cellular turned off.

Are you Ready for the 7 billion Mobile Device Future? Intel's Top Anthropologist predicts a Mobile Future with 4 insights

Intel Developer Forum was this week and I have gone 3 times but didn't go this year.

The last days keynote is here by Genevieve Bell who is an anthropologist.  Below is a video of her keynote and the presentation.

Intel Developer Forum 2013 Keynote - Genevieve Bell

• Day 3 Keynote Presentation, Genevieve Bell (PDF 11.5MB)
• Transcript: Day 3 Keynote - Genevieve Bell (PDF 137KB)

To help the attendees tweet the her presentation Genevieve inserted Twitter Blue Birds to help people know what to tweet.

Part of why I like to blog is there are things I can say or show that is too hard to tweet.  It is so much easier to tell a story.  Here are the four insight that Genieve shared.

One of the points made is being in the moment, in the flow.  One of the problems Windows has is association with this.

To its credit Windows doesn't crash the way it used, but I would say the number 1 irritant is Windows Update. I can almost count on when I fire up Windows that Windows update will disrupt my flow.  Now to be fair I only use Windows once a month and too many times there is a critical update that forces a reboot.  Or I just get used to when I fire up Windows I allow 15-30 minutes at the beginning to run Windows update.  Luckily I just run Windows on parallels on my Mac.  The Mac does have updates as well, but they almost never force themselves in my flow.

Intel just announced it was shutting down its plant in the Boston area because it is stuck in 32nm wafer fab past and Intel is getting ready for a 14 nm future.  The old way of Intel was to build big complex processors to make money.  It looks like the new way is billions of small, low cost, power efficient chips.  Huh, sounds like the ARM strategy.

One of the things that doesn't get presented is whether Intel has figured out a future that allows the selling of these small devices, making little money on the billions of small devices because in the big picture Intel can figure out where to maximize its profit across the whole system.  Its like Google giving away Android so it can make money on advertising.

OK this what i wanted to say.  Couldn't do this in a tweet.  

Time to upgrade to Galaxy Note 3 from Galaxy Note 1, the power of the pen

In Feb 2012 I bought a Galaxy Note 1. Why because I was and still working on mobile services and we needed something different than what was the solutions for consumers.  I have no regrets with the Galaxy Note 1, but it is getting slower with SW updates.  The battery is worn down.  I have convinced others to get the Galaxy Note 2 which has better performance and battery life.

I bought a Galaxy Note 8 for Tablet experience and now rarely use the iPad.  Being able to write and replace paper notebooks feels better for the way I work and think.  The Wacom Bamboo stylus is a nice pen device.

Today Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 3 and I am ready to replace the Galaxy Note 1.

The press is pro-Phablet now.  Whereas at the beginning the media made fun of the Phablet.

Here is one review of the Galaxy Note 3.

Two years ago, at a consumer electronics show in Berlin, Samsung took to the stage and unveiled the introduction to what is now a booming smartphone genre. The 5.3-inch monstrosity, called the Galaxy Note, has blossomed into one of the Korean manufacturer's biggest brands. Today the same company is unveiling the Galaxy Note 3, the second sequel in a series of supersized stylus-smitten smartphones, which is even taller, narrower and thinner than the first two of its kind. As expected, the new 5.7-inch Note not only utilizes a S-Pen but enhances its functionality and adds better hardware and components to ensure it's able to handle anything you can throw at it.

The Samsung marketing group is pushing the Note harder.

GALAXY Note 3 makes your everyday life amazing

"We introduced the original GALAXY Note in 2011 and launched a whole new smart device category. The undeniable success of the GALAXY Note strengthened our conviction that consumers want higher quality features for smart devices and they want those new features to make their lives better," said JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Division at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung GALAXY Note 3 is a powerful, original approach that enables users to tell the stories of their lives through dynamic and seamless expressions of their passions across work, play and life experiences. With a simple click of the S Pen button, users can unlock opportunities for self-expression, features that transform everyday activities into extraordinary events and access to new experiences delivered to them on Note 3's larger screen."

Now I don't look so silly saying the ideal device for a revolutionary mobile service is the Galaxy Note.  The Note 3 looks awesome.