WiFi That Just Works?

I ran across eero the other day. It bills itself as a “the world’s first WiFi system. A set of three eeros covers the typical home. They work in unison to deliver hyper-fast, super-stable WiFi to every nook of every room.”

eero

Very stylish, Apple-like hardware. I’ll be interested to see if the software and app deliver everything promised on their website – 60-second setup, mesh networking, one-tap guest access, high performance, automatic updates, advanced security and simplicity. If so, this could be a very welcome addition to many homes.

Pre-order pricing for a single device is $125, while a set of three will cost you $299. But those prices won’t be the same forever — the final retail pricing will be $199 for one and $499 for a three-pack.  Pre-orders are now closed and their website says they will be available to order in early 2016 – presumably at the higher prices.

Radical Candor

“Radical candor is humble, it’s helpful, it’s immediate, it’s in person — in private if it’s criticism and in public if it’s praise — and it doesn’t personalize.” That last P makes a key distinction: “My boss didn’t say, ‘You’re stupid.’ She said, ‘You sounded stupid when you said um.’ There’s a big difference between the two.”

– Kim Scott (@kimballscott) – The secret to being a good boss.

How Mobile is Changing Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior and expectations have forever changed. With powerful phones in our pockets, we do more than just check the time, text a spouse, or catch up with friends. We turn to our phones with intent and expect brands to deliver immediate answers. It’s in these I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do, I-want-to-buy moments that decisions are made and preferences are shaped.

Think With Google:  4 New Moments Every Marketer Should Know

$700

Apple’s stock price broke the $700 mark today after announcing the iPhone 5 set a record with over two million pre-orders during the first 24 hours of availability last Friday.  AAPL has risen over 65% in nine months.

Carolina Rollergirls website featured on WordPress Showcase

HM&P‘s recent redesign of the Carolina Rollergirls website is featured in the Showcase at WordPress.org and is currently rated in the top 5! Reasons why it’s in the showcase: “Carolina Roller Girls uses WordPress and a custom theme to create a site that can be easily maintained by the organization. It features a grungy design, jQuery-powered slider, blog, and events listing.” Check it out at the WordPress Showcase or go directly to the Carolina Rollergirls site.

Carolina Roller Girls

Give It Five Minutes

Jason Fried at 37 Signals wrote a great post about the fragility of ideas, gut opinions and learning to think before reacting. The advertising business is all about conceiving, nurturing and selling ideas so it’s important that we learn how to react to other people’s ideas.

Ideas are fragile. They often start powerless. They’re barely there, so easy to ignore or skip or miss.

There are two things in this world that take no skill: 1. Spending other people’s money and 2. Dismissing an idea.

Fix for Slow iPad Sync and Backup Failure

The other day I started experiencing very slow iPad syncs which ultimately resulted in backup failures. The process would hang at “backing up” in the iTunes status bar approximately 90% through the sync/backup process. It appeared that the existing backup was corrupted. The solution that worked for me was to delete the existing backup in iTunes and completely re-sync.

  1. Connect your iPad.
  2. Go to iTunes Preferences > Devices.
  3. From the list of device backups, highlight your iPad’s backup file and click on the “Delete Backup…” button.
  4. After deleting the backup disconnect your iPad and shut it down.
  5. Quit iTunes.
  6. Power on your iPad and connect it to your computer.
  7. iTunes should start up and automatically perform a sync. If it doesn’t, click on your iPad in the left-hand column of iTunes and click the “Sync” button.