Imagine going out for a big night on the town and the only money you need is found right on your smart phone. That concept is becoming a reality and near-field communication is playing an important role.

Near-field communication or NFC is basically short-range wireless technology that allows for contactless mobile payments and interactions. It’s similar in concept to RFID key cards. You basically wave your NFC enabled smart phone close to a reader and it engages with the device. NFC has a range of about 1.5 inches making it a good choice for secure transactions.

The convenience of paying with your smart phone instead of carrying around a wallet filled with cash and credit cards is why handset providers, carriers, banks and retailers are aggressively engaged in NFC development. Google was the first company to introduce an NFC enabled smart phone to the US market: the Nexus S. This summer the company is expected to release the Google Wallet app so Nexus S owners can make payments on PayPass terminals as well as store their credit cards, coupons, loyalty cards and gifts cards on the devices. Not to be outdone, PayPal just announced that it will be providing peer-to-peer payments for Android NFC phones. Continue Reading →

Recently, a client asked us to post a video we produced for them on their website. Posting the video was pretty easy to do. But simply embedding a video on a page doesn’t guarantee your audience will find it. In fact, every minute 35 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube alone! With so much video content competing for viewer’s attention, it’s more important than ever to develop marketing strategies for your web video content and one strategy to consider is video SEO. Continue Reading →

Here it is. The day I’ve been waiting for. The iPhone finally released from the clutches of the dropped call master: AT&T. At long last my patience has finally paid off. So why did I have to ruin everything by reading the fine print?

Let’s start with the good news first. Yes, the iPhone is coming to Verizon. So all the speculation was true and I should have trusted the Wall Street Journal and bought Apple and/or Verizon stock when I first heard about it. My bad. Loyal Verizon customers, like myself, will be able to pre-order phones starting February 3rd for the standard price of $200 for the 16 GB model and $300 for the 32GB model on a two-year agreement. Everyone else has to wait until February 10th.

Additionally, the Verizon iPhone will have a different antenna configuration since it is built on Verizon’s CMDA network. This may fix the antenna problem associated with AT&T’s iPhone 4. We just don’t know yet. And you will be able to connect your computer to the Internet through the Verizon iPhone. Up to five devices at a time can use the iPhone’s built in Wi-Fi network to connect to the web.

Now for the bad news and unfortunately there’s quite a bit of it. Verizon has been touting the speed of its LTE 4G network, but you won’t be able to use it with their iPhone. Apple said the first generation of LTE chipsets would have compromised design so they created a CMDA network version instead. This means a 3G iPhone for Verizon, so no 4G data and no GSM roaming. This seems like a huge step backwards.

Another huge disappointment is that you cannot talk and surf the web at the same time. So if you are on your phone and your friend needs directions to a restaurant you’re going to have to hang up and call her back.

And then there’s the great unknown. If there are many people like myself who have been waiting to get an iPhone with a non-AT&T network, will the influx of new users create the same kind of signal problems and dropped calls that AT&T is experiencing?

Personally, I was ready to go all-in on an iPhone and my preference for user-friendly, Apple designed products remains. However, my primary interest has always been to find a smart phone that provides the features and apps to make my life easier. The limitations of this release make me want to take a closer look at other Verizon 4G phones announced at CES like the HTC Thunderbolt or the Droid Bionic both of which will run up to 10 times faster on the LTE network than the 3G iPhone.

I’m not saying that I won’t end up with an iPhone. There’s still lots of compelling reasons to go with Apple and an iOS product. I guess I’m just disappointed that the Verizon iPhone isn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be. It’s like thinking you’re getting an iPod touch and instead you get a Nano. It’s nice, but it’s not exactly what you wanted.

Launched in 2007, the COUNTRY Financial Security Index® is a bi-monthly measure of Americans’ sentiments towards their overall financial security. Survey results are released to the media and general public quarterly via the COUNTRY Financial Security Index microsite.

The focal point of the site is a Flash-based line chart that visualizes survey results nationally and in five select markets. Unfortunately, there was no way to compare one market to another on just one chart. Additionally, limits with the current graphic made month-to-month results appear incremental.

Manning was enlisted to solve these problems. We streamlined the design of the site to make it easier to read the data. The line chart was redeveloped to be more interactive and to make the X and Y axis scalable. Users can now see and share direct market-to-market comparisons. We also made it easier to embed the chart on blogs and other sites. Continue Reading →

There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t see something written somewhere about HTML5. I’ve seen headlines proclaiming HTML5 is an Adobe Flash “killer” to HTML5 not being ready until 2022! So why is so much written about HTML5 and why should anyone care?

As you probably already know, HTML is a computer language used for website creation. Its latest version, HTML5, is being developed to provide new ways of experiencing online content. By the end of 2010, HTML5 will be on most modern browsers.  So if you’re thinking about creating a new website, iPad app, or online video or game in the next year, you should probably know a little about HTML5.

1. Who owns HTML5?
HTML5 is an open standard which means it is not owned by any one company. Its being developed by a group called the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) to be the new standard for watching videos, animations, ads and games on the web that had been previously dependent on third-party browser plug-ins such as market leader Adobe Flash.

If you watch video on the Internet today you are watching it through a proprietary plug-in like Flash or Silverlight. Under HTML5, video and audio will be handled by the browser so plug-ins are no longer needed. In theory, this should provide wider compatibility and a more stable environment so videos are less likely to crash your browser. Continue Reading →

We’ve worked with FirstGroup for years, but this was our first international project for them. So just in time for school, we launched FirstStudentCanada.com. Continue Reading →

We’d like to say we left our hearts in San Francisco, but the truth is we were too busy producing web content for the ABA to see much of this city by the bay.

Team Manning was hunkered down for a week in and near the Moscone Center, the site of the American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting.  Mitch, Mike and Doug spent long days and nights shooting, editing and posting video clips to the group’s primary communications site www.ABANow.org.

Photo by Phil Coblentz

Our team was kept busy with quick turnarounds of video content such as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, new ABA president Stephen Zack and David Boies, the attorney who successfully challenged California’s ban on same-sex marriages. It was a fascinating time to be in San Francisco considering this ban was overturned while the meeting was occurring. Not that we had a great sense of what was going on outside of our edit room. Our late night work schedule limited our opportunities to get to see the city. So while there were few cable car rides, we were able to have some amazing Chinese take out. Continue Reading →

Illustration by Matt Hamm

Recently, Social Times cited a study showing that 50% of companies entering social media have no plan.  It’s sort of like going on a road trip without a GPS. It could be an interesting ride, but it may not get you where you need to go.

Social media are simply tools that facilitate conversations between individuals. What social media you deploy and how you deploy it should really be driven by the goals and needs of your business.

Rather than saying, “We need to be on Facebook,” what you need to be saying is, “Who am I trying to engage and why? What are their needs and interests? What are they saying online and how can I contribute to the conversation?”

There’s a huge misconception that companies need to be on every popular form of social media. You’re told you need a blog, Twitter profile, Facebook page, LinkedIn group, Digg profile, YouTube channel, Flickr account and don’t forget Foursquare! But are your customers there? And do you have the resources to engage and respond to your customers regularly on all of these platforms? If not, you’re better off doing nothing, than doing any of these options poorly. Continue Reading →

We’re pleased to announce that Manning was awarded two bronze Telly Awards for the a global branding program “Making A Difference” produced for our clients  Stryker Corporation and their PR Agency, Gibbs & Soell. The video was a winner in both the Corporate Image and Employee Communications categories.

Continue Reading →

Vegas is a city filled with distractions, as evidenced in the movie “The Hangover.”  So if you’re trying to promote an event in Las Vegas how do you grab people’s attention?

Our solution?  Make a lasting impression.

We created this custom E-Card to promote East Side Entrees at the upcoming School Nutrition Association Conference in Las Vegas.

Enjoy!

www.BreakfastBREAKSmilk.com