Thorn Technologies

Apple kicked off their 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday, where the company unveiled new products and made some important announcements. Here are our thoughts on the big stories that emerged.

iOS7 Update

The most important announcement at WWDC was the update of iOS7, with Apple CEO Tim Cook calling it “the biggest change to iOS since the iPhone”. Apple’s lead designer Jony Ive sees “iOS7 as defining an important new direction, and in many ways, a beginning” for the iOS ecosystem.

All of the new features and updates can be found in Apple’s press release, but the most important changes were the new “flat”, transparent icon design and typography changes, facelifts to core iPhone apps, introduction of Control Center (providing one-touch access to connectivity and other options), a motion tracking element that allows users to see behind icons as the device is moved, improved multitasking, AirDrop to easily share content, the addition of filters to Camera, the Safari interface redesign, and improvements to Siri.

Apple took some of the best features of other mobile operating systems and third-party apps and combined them.

The flat design was definitely the most polarizing change. Some loved the new look, but many designers were critical of it on Twitter. Flat design for mobile operating systems became popular when Windows Phone first implemented it in 2010, and Apple has jumped on this bandwagon. The “skeumorphism” (i.e. making software apps look like physical things, e.g. the top of the iCal app looks like it’s made of leather and there are remnants of ripped paper) of iOS6 is gone, and app icons are a bit cleaner and minimalist.

Something similar to Control Center has been available on Android for a few years, as has the motion tracking element that lets you see behind icons.

And many of the updates to iPhone apps came from popular third-party apps such as Sunrise, Instagram, and the Yahoo! Weather app (Yahoo!, really?!?!).

I haven’t gotten my hands on iOS7 yet, but from what I’ve seen in video and images, I think that the launch of iOS7 is an incremental improvement. I’ve never been a fan of skeumorphism (it may look nice but doesn’t add anything), so the move to flat design is refreshing. And the improvements to multitasking, motion tracking, Camera, and Safari are nice but won’t change the game.

Overall, well done on the redesign, as it’s a huge undertaking to completely rework arguably the best mobile operating system out there. But while current iPhone users will definitely be excited to upgrade, I don’t think Android or Windows Phone users are going to jump ship.

Introduction of iTunes Radio

As expected, Apple launched its own streaming music service, iTunes Radio, to compete with Pandora, Spotify, and other music streaming services.

iTunes Radio has both paid and free, ad-supported versions, allows listeners to create custom radio stations based on songs and artists and discover new music through featured stations, and highlights songs trending on Twitter. It doesn’t offer full access to entire albums of songs, like Spotify does, though.

Some described this as a “Pandora killer”. I think this is just Apple’s expected evolution in the music space that was required to compete with the litany of available music streaming services. It’ll be interesting to see how many music lovers switch to iTunes Radio.

Preview of OS X Mavericks

Apple moved away from big cat names to big-wave surfing sites with its preview of OS X Mavericks. It also incorporated a bunch of iOS-like changes to the Mac operating system.

Among the biggest improvements include:

1. New tabs in Finder, which work the same way as Safari, allowing you add a tab by clicking a plus button and drag and drop tabs.
2. The ability to tag individual files
3. Enhanced support for multiple displays
4. Ability to use Apple Maps and iBooks on your Mac, and sync to iOS devices
5. Interface and performance updates to Safari, Calendar, and Notifications
6. “Timer Coalescing” and “Compressed Memory” functionality to increase efficiency and save battery life

The upgrades to OS X Mavericks focused more on function than form, and I’m personally excited about seeing these changes first-hand.

Something Missing?

Ask most Apple fans about product launches at WWDC, and they’ll ask, “Did they say when the next iPhone is coming out?”

Sure, Apple updated their MacBook Air laptops, but the hardware update everyone really cares about is that of the iPhone. Will it be the iPhone 5S or 6, and when will it come out? Who knows, but many people would like to.

Apple did make some big product announcements at WWDC 2013. But while little was groundbreaking or uniquely innovative in the big picture, each of the products launched will likely improve user experiences and keep their rabid user base satisfied.

Like this post? Then follow us on Twitter - @thorntech and @mikewchan - for future updates.

iOS7 Homescreen image courtesy of Photographus via Flickr Creative Commons

OS X Mavericks image courtesy of MacRumors.com via Wikimedia Creative Commons

I pay too much money for cable TV – way too much. My channel list goes up to the 900s, yet I only watch about 10 channels 90% of the time. Despite all the money I spend on cable TV, I find myself watching more and more video and TV on my laptop, iPad, and mobile phone. But cable TV provides unmatched access to the most content in one place, so at what point will I cut the cord?

Many others are in the same boat as I am with respect to viewing online and mobile video and TV. According to a study performed by Adobe, digital video consumption has grown 30% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2012, video starts on smartphones tripled from 2011 to 2012, and tablet video consumption just beat out smartphones in video starts. One of the largest mobile-viewing events of every year, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, just happened in March and drove record-setting video streams, with usage of their March Madness On Demand mobile app fueling this growth.

The mobile TV ecosystem is complex, and the lines between TV and digital video, and premium and non-premium content, are blurring. Everyone from broadcasters like NBC, CBS, and Fox to distributors like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon are trying to get their piece of the pie.  And cable and satellite companies like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and DirecTV have the most to lose, which is why they try to capture as much value as they can through the TV Everywhere initiative, or even stifle consumption by capping bandwidth delivered through their Internet data services.

The primary competitive advantage these cable companies have is not necessarily choice, but instant access to content. Here’s a great overview of the options available to obtain the content you may want. You can subscribe to Netflix for movies and series and Hulu for broadcast shows and access all this content on your mobile devices, but you’ll have to wait at least a day to watch your favorite shows.

Enter a company like Aereo, which allows you to watch live broadcast TV over the Internet, accessible on any mobile device, PC, set-top box, or TV, for an $8 monthly subscription fee. This service would allow consumers to instantly access their real-time broadcast TV necessities, such as news and sports, at a much lower cost. Aereo has caused an uproar with broadcasters, who have taken Aereo to court to try to shut them down (albeit unsuccessfully) and even threatened to move all of their content to cable networks. And now Aereo even has a doppelganger named Aereokiller.

Consumers are finally realizing that they’ve been dwelling at the very bottom of the TV value chain, and now can take advantage of the multitude of options to access the content they want, on any device they want, at lower prices. But with more options comes more decisions to make, and many consumers currently choose to stick with the path of least resistance and higher cost. So when is enough enough? When will consumers cut the cord en masse and really force cable companies and broadcasters to finally change their business model and cater to their preferences?

What do you think? Has the time spent watching online and mobile video and TV increased for you? Do you think you’ll ever cut the cord, and if so, when? Or have you already? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Like this post? Then follow us on Twitter – @thorntech and @mikewchan – for future updates.

The adoption of smartphones in the U.S. continues to grow at a 36% clip. Mobile messaging apps like WhatsApp, Kik, and Facebook Messenger that bypass the text messaging capabilities of mobile carriers continue to gain popularity. And more and more people are using their smartphones to access social media sites. So where does that leave text messaging (a.k.a. SMS, or Short Message Service) in businesses’ mobile marketing mix? Is text message marketing dead? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons and how text message marketing is being used today.

Pros of Using Text Message Marketing

Text messaging provides unparalleled mobile reach: There are over 234 million unique mobile device users in the U.S., all of which can receive text messages.

Text messaging nearly guarantees customer engagement: 98% of all SMS and MMS (Multimedia Message Service) messages are opened. Compare this to the fact that only 16% of Facebook News Feed stories are viewed, only 29% of tweets are seen, and only 12% of emails are opened.

(See this infographic for a summary of the above stats.)

Text messaging instantly engages: 90% of text messages are opened within three minutes.

Mobile phone users want to receive offers via text message: 70% of mobile phone users want to receive offers, with 41% claiming they want them delivered via text message.

Cons of Using Text Message Marketing

High cost: Businesses typically spend around $0.01-0.05 per text message sent. This can get very expensive if distribution lists are large and text messages are sent with high frequency.

Little ability to be creative: You only get 160 characters to deliver your message with no ability to incorporate visual assets.

It’s difficult to build profiles around a mobile number: First of all, it’s tough to instantly discern whether a phone number is a mobile or landline number. Furthermore, building a profile around a mobile number is much more difficult than doing so around an email address, where you can track more robust engagement metrics.

Primary Uses of Text Message Marketing

Many companies use text messaging to deliver alerts and notifications to their customers. Mobile carriers like Sprint send text messages when voice, data, and text usage is close to the monthly limit, airlines send SMS messages to notify passengers of flight delays, and banks may deliver account balances and other financial alerts via text. SMS is a key channel to deliver important, time-sensitive information.

Other businesses use text messaging as an engagement channel to deliver product news and special offers. Tide and Coke leveraged SMS programs to engage fans and grow their mobile subscriber bases. When I worked for the Washington Capitals, we created the Caps Mobile Club and delivered breaking player news, special ticket offers, and score updates to over 25,000 subscribers.

Companies are also using SMS to garner donations and execute purchases via carrier billing, and many retailers and malls are sending geo-fenced text message offers to lure shoppers to their stores.

It’s clear that there are plenty of ways to use text messaging to engage customers and facilitate purchases.

So, Is Text Message Marketing Dead?

Though SMS usage may be on the decline, text message marketing certainly still has its place in the mobile marketing mix. Though there are some drawbacks, text messaging basically guarantees that your message will be read by the largest population of mobile users. But it must be strategically employed with the user experience in mind (i.e. you can’t text your customers too often!) in conjunction with other online and mobile channels such as email and social media. Bottom line is that text message marketing is still alive.

What do you think? Does your company use text message marketing, and if so, has your usage grown or decreased? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Augmented reality has been a hot but experimental topic over the past five years. Will wearable hardware bring AR to the masses?

Augmented reality, defined as a live view of a physical environment that is superimposed with computer-generated content such as video, audio, or images, has been around for a long time. The first head-mounted AR system was developed in the 1960s by Ivan Sutherland at Harvard. The most well-known use of AR, the first down line in football broadcasts, was conceived and patented in 1978 and first seen on TV screens 20 years later.

But AR has recently gained more consumer popularity due to the growth of smartphones and their camera capabilities. There are plenty of augmented reality mobile apps, and TechApna lists their ten favorite apps here. More brands are implementing AR into their advertising. And print publications are using AR to make their issues more interactive, with Esquire leading the way (starting with augmented reality pages in their December 2009 issue that come to life when placed in front of a computer’s webcam, to their December 2012 issue where users can scan every article, ad, or photo to share or shop). Still, the technology hasn’t quite achieved widespread acceptance, and most people can’t tell you what augmented reality means.

My First Use of Smartphone Augmented Reality

I first interacted with smartphone AR using the Layar app when I got a Motorola Droid five years ago. After downloading the app, I could hold up my phone to view the surrounding environment through the camera lens and Layar would use “geo-layers” to superimpose the view with information about places to eat and drink, metro stops, ATMs, and other points of interest nearby.

I thought it was so cool at first. But after using the app a few times, I found that 1) it was weird to walk around holding up my phone, and I bumped into stuff, and 2) I thought it was easier to just do a local search with Google or Yelp. The usability of AR smartphone apps like Layar didn’t really fit into my normal everyday behavior; maybe many others agreed, since Layar pivoted to focus on helping publishers use AR to create more interactive content. And I don’t know anyone who uses Monocle, the AR function of the Yelp app that is similar to Layar.

My point is that for this technology to gain widespread acceptance, not only does the content have to be good (which for most cases, it already is), but how that content is accessed by the user has to be seamless and non-disruptive. Humans do not enjoy bumping into things.

Wearable Augmented Reality Hardware May Be the Answer

Though these types of products probably won’t hit the market until next year, there has been an extraordinary amount of innovation and progress made in bringing wearable AR to the masses. Google Glass has made the most noise and rightfully so; the demo video is awesome, Google is a marketing machine, and almost everything that the company builds is great. Oakley and Microsoft have followed suit. Lesser-known companies like Vuzix are building augmented reality hardware and software for both consumers and industrial workers. And we can’t forget about the augmented reality contact lens.

There will surely be improvements in smartphone AR, especially with Apple getting into the game. More brands will use the technology to interact with their customers and maybe even to facilitate purchases. More publishers will follow Esquire’s lead and use AR to engage readers. But we think that wearable AR hardware will ultimately usher augmented reality to the masses. Even though wearable AR seems like something out of a Mission: Impossible movie, everyone knows how to wear glasses and contact lenses, which makes the AR delivery mechanism much less obtrusive to users and more incorporated into daily habits. Similar to the adoption of many new technologies, a few years may pass before this takes shape, but it will happen soon enough.

What are your thoughts on wearable augmented reality, or AR in general? Do you currently use AR apps, and do you see yourself using something like Google Glass in the future? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Image credit: Leonard Low

In our last blog post, we talked about the rise of mobile social commerce and highlighted the primary activities occurring in the space today: social sharing, location-based deals, reviews, and involvement of payment providers in the ecosystem. But what’s going to happen next and what are the upcoming trends in the MoSoCo space? Let’s try to predict the future.

Mobile Wallets Will Get More Social

Though still in a nascent stage, mobile wallets are gaining traction, and with more smartphone manufacturers integrating Near Field Communications (NFC) and mobile payment capabilities, the use of mobile wallets should increase; consulting firm Carlisle and Gallagher predicts that 50% of current smartphone users will use their mobile wallet for daily transactions in three to five years. Big boys like Google, Isis (a joint venture between AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless), and Apple all have skin in the game, while startups like Square and LevelUp are making noise as well. We predict that all these mobile wallets will incorporate social activity more deeply to allow users to share product information right at the point of sale. Both retailers and brands will then offer incentives for their customers to share more often, with hopes of accelerating the viral loop.

Pinterest Will Incorporate More E-commerce Functionality; Facebook and Instagram to Eventually Follow

We already know how influential Pinterest is in referring traffic to brands’ and retailers’ e-commerce sites. But why can’t consumers purchase directly from the site? That’s going to change, and this will be hastened by Japanese Internet retailer Rakuten’s big investment in the leading visual social network. Furthermore, with Pinterest dedicating more and more resources to mobile, this will quickly translate to users’ phones.

Facebook already does a great job integrating e-commerce into its site (coining the term “f-commerce”), and a bold prediction is that they’ll somehow leverage the Instagram acquisition to drive more f-commerce. We can imagine Instagram users snapping pictures of a recent purchase, sharing it on Facebook, then having the images link to the brand’s or retailer’s Facebook page where friends can purchase seamlessly.

More Payment Providers Will Partner with Social Networks to Enable MoSoCo

The success of Amex in the mobile social commerce space will spur other payment providers to partner with social networks. Visa and MasterCard are active in the mobile payments space, but they haven’t really engaged with social networks to enable f-commerce or t-commerce (Twitter) to the extent that Amex has. Look for this to change.

In-store Commerce Will Get More Social

Retailers have the daunting task of integrating offline and online purchase data to get a full view of their customers. But improvements in those processes, combined with the gathering of social graph and sharing data and the location-based data from users’ smartphones, will fuel the delivery of personalized offers when customers walk through retailers’ doors. Additionally, shoppers will be able to share online what they are buying in-store, as well as see their friends’ recommendations and preferences during the purchase process.

Mobile social commerce is still in its early stages and there’s still a lot of work to be done to increase adoption. But rest assured that brands, retailers, phone manufacturers, social networks, and payment providers will work hard to push the technological envelope to grab a share of the MoSoCo pie.

What are some of your predictions for the future of mobile social commerce? Let us know what you think in the comments.

The convergence of three technology trends – mobile, social, and commerce – is changing how we become aware of, learn about, and buy products.

We wrote a blog post about how mobile commerce is changing the way we shop and highlighted how retailers engage consumers and more and more transactions are executed using mobile methods. According to eMarketer, U.S. m-commerce sales hit $24.7 billion, which accounted for 11% of total e-commerce sales; both of these numbers are projected to grow rapidly over the next few years, reaching $86.9 billion and 24%, respectively, in 2016.

Social commerce, which involves social media and user interaction to assist in the online purchase process, is flourishing as well. S-commerce sales are projected to hit $30 billion by 2015 with 50% of web sales occurring through social media, per The Social Skinny. Vocus states that there are over 42 million Pages on Facebook and 17% of these sell products, and the advent of Credits and Gifts will only drive more purchases on the leading social network.  Pinterest is basically an online store and now is the 4th-largest traffic driver worldwide.  And there are a bunch of startups disrupting the s-commerce world.

Meanwhile, people are spending more and more time on social networks on their phone, as opposed to their computers.

Combine these three concepts – mobile, social, and commerce – and businesses have something really powerful to effectively and instantly influence purchase behavior.

What’s Happening Now

There’s a broad array of activity occurring in the MoSoCo space; below are some of the more prominent tactics currently used by many companies.

Social Sharing

Many retailers and brands facilitate and encourage social sharing on their mobile websites and apps, hoping that customers will propagate product info to their friends to raise awareness and influence future purchases. Visitors of Macy’s mobile website can post to Facebook, Like, and tweet about a product. Under Armour fans can Like and pin an image of their favorite sneaker or t-shirt to Pinterest. And Amazon’s mobile app leverages the mobile operating system’s Share functionality to let users circulate product information via social networks, email, or any other way they please.

Location-Based Deals

It was only months ago when daily deals were hot and check-ins were popular. Though the hype has fizzled, companies still use Groupon, Livingsocial, and Foursquare to lure customers through their doors with discounts and allow these deals to be redeemed via mobile apps. With location being such an important factor of mobile commerce, look for much more activity around this aspect of mobile commerce, which we’ll address in another post soon.

Reviews

Though many don’t immediately associate reviews with social, they are one of the most foundational and important aspects of social commerce and influence purchase habits immensely. It’s typical for companies and brands to incorporate ratings and reviews into their mobile websites. But the best take it a step further and engage with their customers on their site or on popular review websites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, and this will become even more important to build loyalty when users are on the go.

Involvement of Payment Providers in the Ecosystem

American Express continues to be on the forefront of facilitating MoSoCo for both their members and merchants, and the Amex On the Go Pinterest page outlines their array of initiatives. Amex cardholders can use Membership Rewards points to purchase products simply by scanning product bar codes with the RedLaser mobile app. The Amex Sync program allows cardholders to link their Amex account to Twitter, Foursquare, and Facebook to earn savings and seamlessly purchase products by tweeting special hashtags, checking in to local establishments, and getting offers on Facebook. And the My Offers section of the Amex mobile app aggregates multiple local offers (available in NYC and LA right now) into a single place. These programs add value to both cardholders and merchants to drive purchases and build loyalty.

While the concept of MoSoCo has been around for a couple of years, it’s primarily been an experiment for most companies. But as smartphones continue to proliferate, more and more companies will build out and accelerate their mobile social commerce offerings, most likely starting with the tactics mentioned above.

In our next post, we’ll take a shot at predicting what we will happen next with MoSoCo. In the meantime, we’d love to hear about how your company is using mobile social commerce tactics to influence purchase behavior and increase sales.

Lately we’ve been getting inquiries from marketing agencies and other software development firms about white-labeling our web and mobile applications or development services. It’s an interesting business model that we’re considering, so we figured it may be helpful to share our thoughts on the subject and provide some things to ponder if you’re considering a white-label relationship.

For those who aren’t familiar with the concept, a white-label product is one that is produced by a company (the producer or software developer) that other companies (marketers) re-brand and sell as if they made it. Common examples include the store-brand products sold in your local supermarket, such as Safeway Oatmeal or Trader Joe’s Turkey Meatballs (which are delicious, by the way). Safeway and Trader Joe’s don’t actually produce the product; rather, they contract with a food manufacturer to make the product and then they slap their label on it and sell it in their stores.

In the white-label software development world, a well-known example is CakeMail. CakeMail develops e-mail marketing software that marketers and agencies can brand then use to service or resell to their clients. CakeMail takes care of all the technical aspects of the software, such as product improvements, data security, and e-mail delivery and reputation, while the marketers use the software to help their clients.

There are a few things that need to be taken into consideration, whether you’re the marketer or software developer, before jumping into the white-label world. As with any business deal, there are pros and cons to weigh.

Pro and Cons For Marketers

The primary pro for marketers is that they can create new revenue streams for their company via the sales of these white-label software products or services. They’ll also save valuable money and time since they don’t have to deal with software development, maintenance, and hosting.

On the other hand, the product may not have all the features that clients desire and marketers may not have the ability to customize the software. And because there is a layer between the client and the software developer, service and support issues may take longer to rectify, and there may be some details that are lost in translation and communication.

Pro and Cons For Software Developers

Pros for software developers include access to end users to whom they normally wouldn’t have access, and the cost savings from not having to hire a sales and marketing team and spend advertising dollars to promote the product or service.

Because the marketer is the middle man and the software developer doesn’t interact directly with the end user, it’s much more difficult for the developer to obtain feedback on the product, which is always important for continuous improvement. Additionally, if a software developer white-labels her product to multiple marketers, each may desire specific customizations to the software, which may be difficult for the developer to implement and maintain. Finally, margins for the developer may be very low; sometimes agencies may try to offer competitive pricing to their clients, which in turn leaves little room for profit for the software developer.

In order for a white-label software development relationship to work, both the marketer and software developer need to really trust each other, ideally having a prior working relationship. Both must believe that the other’s products and services are worthy of their own brand. And finally, the financials have to benefit both parties.

What are your thoughts about white-label software and mobile app development? We’d love to hear from you, whether you’re a marketer or software developer, in the comments.

Thorn Technologies has an opening for an experienced iOS developer for an exciting new project. We are looking for someone who can take a lead role in the development of an innovative iPad game from the early concept phase through App Store release. Our client is a successful serial entrepreneur with VC backing. This is an amazing opportunity to be involved with a very high profile mobile application development project and earn a ton of street cred.

We are seeking an eager and self-motivated developer to work in this flexible but fast-paced environment. While location and hours are flexible, you will be expected to meet tight customer deadlines and constantly push the boundaries of mobile application design and functionality. Self-discipline is a must. You will be expected to telecommute when not required onsite for team meetings or at client offices.

We offer a competitive salary and benefits, including health insurance, dental and vision for all Full Time Employees. Independent Consultants will be considered with the right qualifications. You will be free to work in your ideal work environment, but you must reside in the state of Maryland and be available for team meetings in Columbia, MD when necessary.

Location:

• Primarily telecommute. Must reside in the state of Maryland and be available for team meetings in the Columbia area.

Must Haves:

• Object oriented analysis and design experience
• Proven experience developing native iOS applications for iPhone and iPad
• Mastery of Objective-C and XCode development environment
• Experience releasing commercial applications to the iTunes App Store
• Strong understanding of the Apple Human Interface Guidelines for iOS
• Web Development Expertise including JavaScript, CSS3 and HTML5
• UI and UX design experience
• The ability to write code that is clean and beautiful
• The ability to work with the team to turn customer vision into functional requirements, wireframes, screen mockups, working prototypes, and final production releases

Definite Pluses:

• Game development
• Experience developing animation, 3D rendering, and graphic intensive apps using OpenGL or other high performance graphics engine
• Backend server software development experience
• Java Enterprise Edition
• Spring / Hibernate
• Android App development
• Experience developing mobile optimized websites
• Expertise with Linux / Tomcat / Apache

Education or Work Experience:

• B.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent 4 year degree
• At least two years of professional mobile application development experience

Interested candidates should send resumes and samples of recent work to resumes@thorntech.com. U.S. citizens only. No recruiters or agencies please.

In this article, we will briefly overview some of the most commonly spotted differences between JavaScript standards, jQuery and Prototype. jQuery started in 2005 specifically to make CSS selectors usable from JavaScript. Prototype also started in 2005 specifically to make Ajax easier to use from Ruby. Since then, a number of standards have been developed which replace the functionality of much of these libraries, and in many cases, these functions check to see if a built-in version is already available, which can speed up the runtime of your code. So if these two JavaScript frameworks are so similar, then we should have no trouble finding areas of comparison.

First we can do a function-by-function comparison, which looks at some of the most commonly used functions. In the following table, “$” means “jQuery”, and “#” means “.prototype.”:

First of all, both frameworks have AJAX handling functions, which make life easier, however, their parameters have slightly different names, so see the respective documentation for details. jQuery has a function that wraps the typeof operator, which adds a distinction between objects, arrays, and null. The reason for Array.isArray being in the ES5 standard is that the typeof operator does not distinguish between these types and returns “object” for all three. Object.extend is available in both, under almost the same name. Object.toQueryString is also available in both, and can be reimplemented with the help of the built-in JavaScript function encodeURIComponent(), however, it is definitely easier to use a preimplemented function instead of doing it yourself.

Event listeners are another common use of JavaScript frameworks. jQuery seems to have a different definition of “bind” than the rest of the JavaScript world, which Prototype recognizes with its similarly-named Function methods. The first bind() turns a method into a callback function, while the second bindAsEventListener() actually does the binding with addEventListener(). The nice thing about the ES5 definition of bind() is that it requires that multiple arguments be handled in a manner consistent with currying, which makes it similar to Prototype’s curry(). Templating is another area of comparison. Prototype has a built-in template language (which uses “#{var}”), and jQuery has a deprecated plugin (which uses “${var}”), but it seems that more people are using Mustache for templating these days, which can be used with either framework.

Lastly, and most importantly, CSS selectors are what most people use these two frameworks for, and there are many methods to query objects in the DOM to get their children that match a name, ID, or class name, which are all subsumed by jQuery’s find() method and Prototype’s getElementsBySelector() method. While the two libraries do support slightly different gamut of selector syntax, they’re mostly the same. Just remember to add the extra $ if you’re using Prototype.

Running a spot during the Super Bowl is the pinnacle of TV advertising, as companies spend upwards of $4 million to engage with more than 100 million U.S. viewers in one sitting. The ad creative is super important, but the best executions connect with spectators not only via the commercial itself, but also through social and (maybe more importantly) mobile, to continue the conversation after the ad airs. After all, if you’re paying that much for a 30-second time slot, shouldn’t you milk it for all it’s worth?

While this year’s crop of companies created some memorable spots that incorporated patriotism, heart-warming emotion, and, of course, humor, most failed to truly integrate the mobile channel to further connect with viewers. A study by Hanon McKendry shows the growing importance of the second screen (computer, smartphone, or tablet) to the Super Bowl viewer’s experience, and advertisers did not capitalize on this trend.

The first failure is lacking any call-to-action (CTA) at the end of the spot. Though many companies use these TV ads to simply raise awareness and build brand equity, a CTA is necessary to prompt the smartphone- or tablet-wielding viewer to learn more about the product or service if he or she so chooses. Brands like Kia and Doritos failed to simply provide a URL for the viewer to visit.

The next failure is including a URL that leads to a non-mobile-optimized site, which the NFL did with their “Leon Sandcastle” ad that led to NFL.com/primetime, and Milk did with their “Morning Run” spot that led to milkmustache.com. A mobile-optimized landing page is critical to the user experience; if a mobile site is too hard to read or view, the visitor will undoubtedly leave in a heartbeat.

The results varied for those who made a conscious effort to incorporate mobile into their ads.

Many commercials, such as Anheuser-Busch’s Ad-Meter-winning “Budweiser Brotherhood” spot and Best Buy’s “Asking Amy” spot, included Twitter hashtags to continue the conversation via social media on mobile phones; solid but nothing spectacular.

A few companies used responsive web design to incorporate engaging mobile-optimized landing pages into their spots. Though I think the ad creative of Axe’s “Lifeguard” spot was weak, it led viewers to axeapollo.com, which was a mobile-optimized landing page that incorporated video. Lincoln’s “Steer the Script” spot led viewers to a beautifully designed, mobile-optimized landing page (steerthescript.com) that incorporated video and relevant tweets.

In my mind, only two spots effectively incorporated mobile into their creative.

The first was the Wounded Warrior Project PSA, which highlighted the sacrifices of our troops. The CTA was to “Text WWP to 50555″ to donate $10 to the Wounded Warrior Project. Though donations through SMS isn’t the newest or hottest technology, it’s a tried and true tactic that works.

The undisputed winner was Oreo. In the spot titled “Whisper”, the brand started the debate on whether the cookie or creme is the better part of the Oreo. At the end of the spot, viewers were prompted to follow Oreo on Instagram where they can tag photos with #cookiethis or #cremethis to continue the debate. The spot grew Oreo’s Instagram follower base from 2,000 to over 36,000 and likely captured the attention of hundreds of thousands more. In addition to their Instagram mastery, Oreo was also able to nimbly newsjack the power outage by posting an ad on Twitter and Facebook stating that “You can still dunk in the dark.” The ad was retweeted over 14,000 times and Liked over 20,000 times, further proving that the Oreo brand team had their mobile and social strategy down pat.

As the already exorbitant cost of Super Bowl ads continues to grow, companies should extend the engagement much further past the 30 seconds of airtime. Leveraging mobile-optimized websites, mobile social networks, mobile apps and SMS are important ways for brands to continue the dialogue with viewers and get the most out of their $4 million.