Top Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Feb 4, 2010

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When you are looking for new ideas or you need to solve a problem, do you think on paper? This post will show you 2 very simple, easy to use tools, which can help you become massively more creative and a superstar problem solver. – 2 Simple ways to improve your thinking (Jim’s Marketing Blog)

Maybe nothing new, but still good ways to brainstorm when you need new ideas or have to solve a problem. I’m a big fan of mindmapping (or what Jim refers to as spider diagrams) – which work equally well in a program, white board or on paper. They’re also great for explaining problems or concepts to others because they allow you to break it into more easy-to-digest pieces.

This morning, we got some tips from people who were angry or surprised about Lexcycle removing the USB sharing feature from the Stanza app. I looked up the app in the iTunes Store and saw that the update notice now read ‘Removed the ability to share books via USB as required by Apple’. – Apple Demands Removal Of USB Sharing Feature In Stanza iPhone App (TechCrunch)

As an example of one of the problems with closed systems, Apple gets to control what’s available through its systems. Did they have a legitimate reason to have the functionality removed? Maybe. Did the feature conflict with something they wanted to offer? Possibly.

Although the company has been struggling financially for more than a year now, at times being on the verge of shutdown, Motorola’s mobile division created quite a stir with its Android smartphone, the Droid (partly thanks to an aggressive, expensive marketing campaign).

Now, Motorola is riding the wave with several new Android handsets; recently it was the Backflip, and now another phone is joining the club: the Devour. – New Android From Motorola is Called Devour (Mashable)

Motorola’s Android is pretty cool. If I wasn’t in the middle of a contract with my iPhone, I’d probably get one – or at least seriously consider it. Motorola needs to maintain a steady stream of good products if it’s going to remain a company.

Remember that “If You Printed Twitter” image that made the social media rounds two weeks ago? A similarly formatted graphic that describes the state of Internet use and adoption has been published today for your infotainment. – State of the Internet Explained In One Giant Infographic [PIC] (Mashable)

Nothing ground breaking here. But seeing data in visual form certainly has more impact.

I wrote about the GoDaddy checkout process about a year ago, and it was one of the longest and most annoying checkouts I have seen on any e-commerce site.

There were up to ten separate steps in the process, depending on the options you select along the way, and so much cross-selling that finding a path through to the end was a real challenge. It was the very opposite of checkout best practice. – Is this the most hated checkout process on the web? (eConsultancy)

GoDaddy’s checkout is horrible! Upsells all over the place, confusing verbiage, buttons where you don’t expect them. If GoDaddy’s prices weren’t so good, they probably wouldn’t be doing so well. I wonder how many sales they lose to the crappy checkout?

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