A deep dive into digital marketing

Paperless check-in on AA

Chris — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:27:58 +0000

So I’m flying on AA tomorrow out of ORD and plan to try to new paperless check-in, info below. But here’s what I’m wondering. When you go through the scanner and they say “keep your boarding passes out” and the TSA person looks at it once you go though the metal detector, how’s that going to work with my iPhone or Blackberry?

Will let you know tomorrow!

12. Paperless Flight Check-In

What is Paperless Flight Check-In?

Now when you check in for your flight departing from Los Angeles (LAX),
Chicago O’Hare (ORD), or John Wayne/Orange County (SNA), you can choose
to receive your boarding pass for any nonstop flight with a single
passenger electronically on your mobile phone or PDA.

When checking in on AA.com, choose the
“Email to Cell Phone or other Mobile Device” option and include the
email address for your mobile phone or PDA.

Retrieve your
Mobile Boarding Pass via your email and save it to your phone for easy
access at the security checkpoint (check your phone/PDA manual for
options on how to save emails and view offline).

If
I’ve checked in with Paperless Flight Check-In and have a Mobile
Boarding Pass on my cell phone or PDA, what should I do once I arrive
at the airport?

At the airport, retrieve the boarding pass from your cell phone or PDA
and make sure the entire barcode is visible on the screen. Also, turn
the backlight setting for your phone/PDA display to the brightest mode.
Proceed directly to Security with your government-issued photo
identification and mobile boarding pass. Show the barcode at your
security checkpoint as you would a paper boarding pass. If the scanner
cannot read your barcode, a paper boarding pass will be required.

You may then proceed right to your departure gate where you wait
for your boarding group to be called. Be sure to verify your gate
assignment when you arrive at the airport as gate assignments and
departure times may change. You must be at your gate for boarding at
least 30 minutes prior to scheduled departure time. Reservations are
subject to cancellation if you are not checked in and at the departure
gate at least 15 minutes prior to departure

Be sure to have your boarding pass displayed on your mobile phone or
PDA once your boarding group is called. You will need to show the
mobile boarding pass to the gate agent for it to be scanned, as you
would a paper boarding pass. If the scanner cannot read your barcode at
the gate, a paper boarding pass will be required.

AT&T + iPhone = Free Wifi

Chris — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:38:49 +0000

That’s right, recently announced by AT&T and shared across twitter and the web, free AT&T Wifi for iPhone users at AT&T WiFi hotspots. So beyond just Starbuck, including any of the public AT&T Wifi hotspots, you’ll get free Wifi on your iPhone, can you tell I’m excited.

As AT&T says

AT&T knows Wi-Fi is hot, and FREE Wi-Fi is even hotter. Which is why FREE AT&T Wi-Fi access is now available for Apple iPhone at thousands of hotspots nationwide, including Starbucks*. Users can relax and access music, email and web browsing services with their favorite blend in hand from the comfort of their nearest location. For information visit www.att.com/attwifi.

Enjoy the experience of mobile Internet on Apple iPhone. Your iPhone now has free AT&T Wi-Fi access at thousands of hotspots nationwide, including Starbucks*. Visit www.att.com/attwifi for more information or find a Starbucks location near you. That’s all you need to get going – so go ahead, see what your iPhone can do!

And it’s pretty darn easy to activate, instuctions via AT&T are below.

iPhone users, get started with Wi-Fi

Activate Wi-Fi from the settings icon on your iPhone
Select “attwifi” from the list of available networks
Enter your 10-digit mobile number and check the box to agree to the Acceptable Use Policy. Tap ‘continue’
You will receive a text message from AT&T with a secure link to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot. You will not be charged for the text message.
The SMS link will only be valid for 24 hours at the location it was requested. Another request must be submitted when using another hotspot location.
Open the text message and tap on the link for 24-hour access to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot

A sad day

Chris — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:57:11 +0000

I got home from a business trip today to discover in Crains and the Tribune and via the Joffrey blog that Gerald Arpino, internationally-renowned Co-Founder and Artistic Director Emeritus of The Joffrey Ballet, had passed away peacefully today in his Chicago home after a long illness.

My wife and I have been attending the Joffrey for over ten years, and every performance we’d look the the stage left balcony and he’d be sitting there, leaning forward ready to watch the company he loved so much. It somehow felt oddly comforting to see him there at each performance.

We attended last Saturday, to view Ashley C. Wheater, the new Artistic Director for the Joffrey and sadly noticed that Mr Arpino was not there.

But we’ll be looking to the balcony each time as just like our ongoing support and attendance of the Joffrey hasn’t wavered, I seem to think that Mr. Arpino will still be watching each performance of the company that he grew and nurtured so well.

And even in his passing he’s left the company a legacy, not only in what he’s done but in bringing in Mr. Wheater as the performance of the new fall season of Postcards, In The Night and Age of Innocence were the best we have every seen of the Joffrey.

Let’s get social

Chris — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:44:42 +0000

Last week Google, at their Chicago office, hosted an afternoon event on social marketing along with a rawkstar party later that evening.

The event featured two keynote speakers: Jeremiah Owyang, Sr. Analyst Forrester and Paula Drum, VP, marketing, H&R Block. It was great to meet both of them as I’d spoken with them via phone, email and twitter but not met face to face. Both of their presentations were great, as expected.

Prior to Jeremiah’s presentation he sent a tweet that I’d be tweeting the presentation and thanks to Mrs. Naslund’s Freshman typing my typing speed allowed me to keep followers up to date. Interestingly his one tweet added about 30 followers, again showing the power of social networking.

Dick Costello, that’s right of Feedburner hosted a panel discussion, which unfortunately I couldn’t stay for however you can catch the photos of the even here (thanks Kate for posting on Picasso). And in addition to the photo’s Google has also posted PDF’s of the presentation which are here as well.

If you want to see the archive of tweets from the presentations they are here, but you’ll have to go back a few pages as well.

Congrats to my cousin Roland “Chris”

Chris — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:33:39 +0000

Big congratulations on his recent promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army!

Shake it up baby

Chris — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:39:59 +0000

A good friend of mine just sent this advert for Wii that’s running on YouTube. Check it out. And more here on Adrants blog.

First blush, wow how the heck did they do this. Second look, ahh it’s one big flash file.

Next thought, very cool they made it look like a YouTube page, I wonder if it all works. Drat it doesn’t. So points for keeping the traditional functionality look but a ding for not actually making it work.

Still kudos for the work and to Google/YouTube for letting them do it.

I’m shocked (by my iphone power adaptor)

Chris — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 23:09:28 +0000

Apple has just issues a safety recall for the new ultracompact Apple USB power adapter. According to the site they have “determined that under certain conditions the new ultracompact Apple USB power adapter’s metal prongs can break off and remain in a power outlet, creating a risk of electric shock. We have received reports of detached blades involving a very small percentage of the adapters sold, but no injuries have been reported.”

The ultracompact USB power adapters were supplied with every iPhone 3G sold in the following countries, and may also have been purchased separately as an accessory:

Meanwhile they say only use the USB charger on your computer.

However help is on the way.

The Exchange Process

Replacement adapters will be available starting Friday, October 10, 2008.

There are two ways to exchange your current ultracompact Apple USB power adapter for a new, redesigned adapter.

Order a replacement adapter via the web. These replacement adapters will ship within three weeks of your order, starting on Friday, October 10.
Exchange your adapter at an Apple Retail Store starting on October 10.

ctrl-alt-delete on parallels

Chris — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:40:12 +0000

Just launched parallels and got the screen wanting me to enter ctrl-alt-delete, how’s that I’m on a mac. Well a quick Google shows that to type Control-Alt-Delete on a Macbook Pro to login to Windows within Parallels, just hold down the Control and Option keys, then hold down the fn key, and press the Delete key.

And wahla I’m in! A further note that fn-Delete sends a forward delete (removes characters to the right of the cursor), as opposed to the delete key, which actually sends a backward delete (removes characters to the left of the cursor).

Thanks MacOSX Hints!

Dog Pile - yes another post on the new Twitter update

Chris — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:31:11 +0000

Yesterday Twitter made an update to their web interface. Can I say thanks Ajax!

Biggies are moved the tabs to the right, updates refreshed via Ajax (yep much faster loading) and a slightly tweaked UI.

The UI has been cleaned up a bit and made the star and reply swoosh beside every update into hover state items.

Find out more, check out your own twitter page or read their blog here.

I like it but I’ll still be using the web app’s for the most part as I wrote about here.

Digital Ethnography - a reminder

Chris — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:42:15 +0000

I’m pretty sure you’ve seen these video already, which are from, Dr. Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Digital Ethnography at Kansas State University.

The below video was played at CNMS08 as part of a presentation from Constance M. Yowell, of the
John D. & Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which reminded me, maybe some people haven’t seen it.

The video summarizes in a great video form what students face, do, act, etc.

You can follow his blog here and YouTube channel here. He’s got a lot of great content on both but check out his YouTube channel for some of the student videos as well, good insight on today’s Millenials