Recently I read an article at Podcasting News about a company that is integrating iPods into their equipment. This is a very cool innovation, and yet I see where fitness centers and workout clubs can take it even farther. The equipment comes with LCD screens, so people can hook up the iPods to the screens and navigate the menu on a larger screen.

The company also offers several ways people can customize their workouts, which is pretty nice. I think video podcasts can actually add a lot of value to this innovation.

Say for example a personal trainer

Fitness centers should use this opportunity to have their own vidcasts, or hire a company to create vidcasts that are equipment specific. It would emulate having a personal trainer on the machine you are using, enhancing the workout and giving members the personal attention they are paying for. Have you SEEN the cost of a gym membership lately?

Podcasting has evolved at a fast pace since it’s introduction. The fact that we can subscribe to millions of channels of audio or video and watch at our leisure is amazing. But podcasting in it’s most popular form is still a linear technology. People subscribe to a podcast, a new episode is created and it is automatically downloaded to their iTunes or other reader.

I would like to see the technology used in a more non-linear fashion, whereby the playlists are generated dynamically based on the listeners needs. I can think of two businesses that would benefit from this type of podcasting right away. The first is the fitness industry, the other is the Real Estate Industry.

My first example, the fitness industry, can utilize podcasts to give fitness club members a more personalized workout without adding to the labor cost of the business. A member can sign up for a personalized workout by logging into a website (either on site or from home). A club employee, preferably someone who is a certified trainer, can assist in creating a workout regiment. Data such as what fitness level, age of member and specific equipment are defined in the profile as well. On the backend there are pre-recorded podcasts created by certified personal trainers. A playlist is generated dynamically for the member based on their profile and workout regiment. The member can now go to each piece of equipment in the club and choose that equipment from the playlist. A personal trainer will talk to them throughout the workout, keeping the member focused on the correct form, increasing speed or resistance based on elapsed time, while keeping the member focused and motivated. When the member leaves the club, the profile is updated. After a specific amount of time, and when the on site trainer approves, the playlist is updated to reflect a more vigorous workout.

Another industry that could benefit from podcasting in this form is the real estate industry. We are already seeing “Propertycasting” become popular. Propertycasting involves the distribution and publishing of audio and video feeds that offer real estate information over the internet for on demand listening and viewing. The problem is they are still using the same linear format. Not only that, for Realtors that have hundreds of listings, the cost is prohibitive. Even if they did all the work themselves instead of paying a professional podcaster, the amount of time it would take makes it impossible.

This is where text to speech technology comes in. Text to speech is becoming increasingly popular now that the technology is finally quality enough to work. Imagine a site that combines the search capabilities of MLS with text to speech and podcasting. Instead of entering a search and having the listings emailed to you, a podcast would deliver the images with a voice over describing each image. The voice could also read a description of the surrounding area, like the town or section of town, based on text in the database. Add to this the ability to add video and you’ve got great possibilities.

These two examples can easily be expanded to many industries. Other ideas I keep tossing around in my head are:

1. What other industries could benefit from non-linear podcasting?
2. What other technologies can be applied to podcasting to give it added value?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Seth Godin has a good post today on the importance of name tags. Wearing a name tag while at a convention or seminar is common enough, but they are typically low tech. I propose integrating new technology and applying new rules to this age old tradition.

The word tagging has taken on a whole new meaning since it was introduced to the web a couple of years ago. Wikipedia describes tagging as follows: A tag is a (relevant) keyword or term associated with or assigned to a piece of information (like picture, article, or video clip), thus describing the item and enabling keyword-based classification of information it is applied to. (see wikipedia’s definition). So why can’t name tags have the same functionality?

Say for example you are at a convention with 300 other people. It would be nearly impossible to remember everyone you met, and collecting that many business cards or adding that many people to your contact list is ludicrous. You want to add people to your contacts that you’ve had conversations with, that have something in common with you or that you wish to do business with. But what if everyone at this convention were wearing a name tag that was Bluetooth/RFID enabled. Now your talking about a group of like-minded people sharing their information just by being in the same vicinity of each other.

Every person that signs up for the convention or meeting signs up on a website and updates a profile. When you get to the meeting your Name Tag has your profile in it. Sharing of the data can be done automatically, say, if you are within 2 feet of someone for more than a few minutes. Or it can be done manually. Either way, when you go back to the website you can see all the folks you spoke with. If you see someone you do not recognize, maybe you stood next to him or her in line and didn’t realize it.

Other social events could benefit from this technology, like dating services. The organizer benefits as well, since people will be returning to your site to export the data to their contacts. I’m not sure that the technology is there yet to embed this into something as small as a name tag. But hey, I’m just the idea guy, that’s what the technicians are for.

I’ve written before about the lack of innovation when it comes to billboards. Leave it to Ford Motor Company to show me up. They’ve come up with what I’d have to say is the most simple yet innovative concept in billboards. They use a semi-transparent resin to blur whatever is behind the billboard and put the Ford Mustang logo at the bottom. Here are some pics:

This is very cool, and very innovative. It could be even cooler though. Imagine how a completely transparent background could be used? Some initial ideas:

1. Combine a transparent background with an image that changes based on the time of day
2. Any glass object (bottle, glasses, fish tank) gives the appearance of containing the skyline
3. A giant head peering into the building behind the sign
4. Flying saucer in the sky over the city

I know many artists (myself included, and I’m an amateur) that would have a field day with this.

A recent post on KarmaWeb about Digg eliminating the top users section of their website got me thinking. Digg has seen unbelievable growth since it’s inception. It put social driven news sites on the map, even inspiring some veterans in the industry to change their entire model. Admittedly, sites like Digg will always have their flaws. After all, having your article/blog/link on the front page of Digg is money in the bank, so people will inevitably try to cheat the system.

I’ve been a Digger for over a year now, and I’ve had a few front page stories. Before Digg did away with the user rating system, I was ranked number 203. Pretty decent. But lately I’ve found myself submitting stories, only to have the same one posted hours or minutes before. After the initial disappointment of being trumped, I happily digg the other story (I sometimes digg several duplicate submissions) and go on my way. But it’s happened so much lately that I’ve got to wonder, has the ratio of interesting news to digg users reached a saturation point?

Think about it. There are only a finite amount of interesting (Digg worthy) stories, articles, images, movies or podcasts being posted to the web on a daily basis. With a user base of nearly 900,000 (and growing) and up to 500,000 submissions per day, I thinks it’s safe to say that the news to user ratio has pretty much evened out.

So I’ve decided to stop submitting stories and just peruse Digg on a daily basis, post comments and enjoy watching the community. However, I can’t help but think about all the great websites and news sources Digg has turned me on to. If not for Digg, sites like Damn Interesting, Docuticker, DefenseTech and dozens of others never would have made it into my rss reader.

I’d like to use mashup creation sites like Dapper and Yahoo Pipes to create a directory of websites that have been submitted to Digg (and other social news sites). I’m sure this has probably been done and I have yet to discover it, so I will have keep Digging.

It seems like online retailers are coming up with more and more ways to engage their online shoppers. Internet shoppers are offered rating systems, suggestions, wish lists and user reviews. So why aren’t brick and mortar stores leveraging technology to offer the same benefits to their shoppers?

Think about those price checking machines you see at the end cap of every other aisle in the stores. These folks have invested in some serious infrastructure to get these things installed, and yet all they do is check for prices? C’mon people! With the use of customer rewards cards (or RFID keychains?) you now have the entire shopping history of this customer, while they stand there with an item in their hands that they (most likely) want to purchase.

How about feedback or product ratings? Place strategically located kiosks throughout the store. Heck, invite them over for some free coffee and snacks. Ask them for 5 minutes of their time. Make it interesting and fun and they may stay longer! When they scan their rewards card their shopping history pops up in front of them. Every product ever purchased (assuming they used the rewards card when they paid) Ask them to rate some products. Make it simple, 1 to 5 stars. Too complicated and they’ll loose interest. Heck, you don’t even need kiosks! Someone come up with a third-party website like UPromise. Except it rewards the customer for reviewing the items they purchased. Ah, but that’s a thought for another post, I digress.

Now ask them to rate your stores service, cleanliness, parking, politeness, lighting, whatever! Also, make it beneficial for them. Tell them that based on their shopping history, if they used coupons or bought things on sale they would have saved $x.xx. Then offer to send them an email of the coupon book, or snail mail. Either way, they’re benefiting.

All I am saying is that in the rush to get online consumers to your website, don’t forget to implement the same creative solutions in your stores. Your customers will appreciate it.

I, like a growing number of Americans, use my bank issued debit card more often than I use cash. Nearly every retailer allows me the use of it, and even the drives thru’s are in on the action. The only exception is when I need to purchase a minimum of $5.00 before I can use my card (so much for that gallon of milk at the local gas station quickie mart).

I also use my card for most of my online transactions., which leads me to the purpose of this post. There is a flaw in the design of these cards that is on all Discover, Visa and Mastercard cards universally, no matter who the issuing bank is. When I do an online transaction, 99% of the time the vendor asks for the CID number on the back of the card. The CID (Credit Card Identification Number) is the new authentication scheme established by credit card companies to reduce fraud for online transactions.

Since I use my card in the physical world more often than the online marketplace, it tends to get swiped quite frequently. The CID is located in such a place on the back of the card that it tends to get worn down. (See image here). I’ve had to replace 2 cards in 4 years because of this little design flaw. The magnetic strip was still working fine, it was just that the CID was worn off and I forgot what it was. I suppose if I can memorize my 9 digit social security number than I should be able to remember a 3-digit code. But that’s not the point. They should either make a card that can last as long as it needs to before it expires, or move the CID to the bottom of the card so that it doesn’t get worn out.

That’s my 2 cents, paid in cash.

While shopping for groceries this evening it dawned on me that this industry is missing a huge opportunity. Sure, the big grocery store chains use the latest technology for things like inventory control, self-checkout and so on. But they could be doing so much more. In fact, they already have the technology in place to start.

Most large grocery stores give their customers some type of rewards card. The card is used (ideally) at every transaction, which gives the store the opportunity to print “target marketing” on the receipt handed back to the customer.

Well, that is a start. But I’ve been waiting for years for them to do something more with this information. I was hopeful when a company named Upromise started. This brilliant idea allows me and my family to register our credit cards AND grocery store rewards cards with their website. Every time someone uses one of these cards and purchases a sponsored product, a percentage of that purchase goes toward a tax free education fund for my daughter. I’ve been doing it since she was born.

With the exception of Upromise, I’ve seen no innovations and it’s time I gave these guys a kick in the posterior. Here’s a few ways to personalize my experience at the grocery store. The first thing they should do is utilize their existing infrastructure and connect with users online. If they know what I purchased this evening, then I should be able to go to their website, log in and see recipes that match the ingredients I just purchased. I mean, they know what’s in my cupboard for crying out loud!

If I specify that I am on a specific diet, they should be giving me coupons to foods I should be buying. They should also be telling me exactly where, in what aisle of the store, that food can be purchased.

I should be able to make a shopping list online, and when I print it out it should be sorted by where it is located in the store. Why has no one thought of this before?

When a customer walks in and grabs a carriage, they should have the ability to attach a small computer to the handle. For obvious reasons, the computer is returned when they check out at the register. This computer would allow them to scan any food item, and the nutritional values would pop up on the screen. (This information is already available for free via the FDA database).

Take it another step. Allow the user to scan their card and their shopping list appears on the screen in front of them. If the user profile says they have any health issues, like high cholesterol or diabetes, the relevant section of the item’s nutritional profile is highlighted to warn the customer.

These are just a few things that can a visit to the grocery store a little more personalized and convenient.

Or any company for that matter. Think about this: the answer business is getting extremely popular. Ask.com, Yahoo Answers, Google Answers, etc etc. It’s a booming business! How they monetize it is up to them, but usually it’s ad based revenue. Companies need to pay attention, because this is an opportunity for them to generate some revenue and increase customer retention.

I only use Home Depot as an example because I worked there. I was in the retail store for a year or so, then moved on to the “At Home Services” part of the company. While Home Depot does offer hands on classes at each one of their locations, as well as their new “Home Depot TV”, I think an Ask.com type of service would be a perfect fit. They could easily set up a sub domain like ask.homedepot.com and become THE website to go to with any questions.

But only if you give me a discount on my cell phone bill, or let me browse at a discounted rate. I’m sure you’ve got plenty of consumers threatening to jump ship if you dare put any ads on their phones. Let me be the first to say that this is not an entirely bad idea. In fact, it’s a good idea if you are trying to attract more customers, or get more people to use their browsers.

Look at it from our point of view. Browsing with WAP, well, it sucks. The screen is way to small, the connection to slow and it drains my battery too quickly. Not to mention the cost. The only time I use it is to check the scores of my Red Sox or Patriots. However, I may be willing to browse more often if it were cheaper. So go ahead, place a few ads on my browser, just like Opera did a while back. As battery life gets better and the screens get bigger, I may be a regular WAP user and pay for an ad free version.

Originally posted at Seth’s Blog.