Although many of the posts here on The Web Outside showcase LocaModa’s finished products, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to pass the baton over to one of our developers and let him shed a bit of light on what goes on behind the scenes here.

Ben, a Platform Architect here at LocaModa, has written a two-part blog post in which he details the asynchronous sending and receiving of messages, as well as synchronous request/response using ActiveMQ and Spring.

Ben will be representing Loca at SXSW, so feel free to pick his brain in person if you’re headed to Austin. (He looks basically like the profile pic above, except in color.) If not, you can always hit him up on Twitter or leave a comment here.

Because LocaModa CEO Stephen Randall just isn’t busy enough, he recently authored two new white papers that speak expressly to the DOOH market, but simultaneously address a broader scope of place-based and interactive media issues as well.

These two white papers are available for free full download below.

Increasing the Value of a Digital Out of Home Network Via Metcalfe’s Law

Metcalfe’s law states that the value of a network is the square of its connected users (n2). DOOH networks, being typically single hub and spoke designs, fail to leverage the potential network effect of Metcalfe’s law and are consequently failing to maximize their value to locations, advertisers or end users.

The Digital Out of Home Tipping Point

Lessons can be learned from the web and the mobile industry to help Digital Out of Home reach its “tipping point.” Those lessons reinforce that media needs to be more measurable and more engaging, and networks need to offer less friction to brands and agencies wishing to reach their audiences across multiple channels.

The full collection of LocaModa White Papers is available on our site.

Thanks to Bill Gerba of the consistently excellent WireSpring blog for pulling together a list of the 15 Digital Signage Blogs, News, Magazine and Forum Sites You Should Be Reading. (And an even bigger thank you for including The Web Outside on the list!)

Bill will be moderating the upcoming Digital Signage Expo panel in Vegas where LocaModa CEO Stephen Randall will be discussing Social Networking and User-Generated Content.

And hey, while I’m in the mode of tossing around resources, check out Part II of Stephen’s Making the Most of Mobile Marketing article in the latest DSE Expo newsletter.

The snow is all kinds of serious here in Cambridge, but what better time to cozy up with a latte and some Nielson numbers? Hey, It’s New Year’s Eve, let’s get crazy…

Upon reading The Television-Internet Connection yesterday (a Time article from ’07 that is still particularly relevant), I was struck by the stat that 37% of the U.S. population over the age of 12 use their computers while watching television at home (Solutions Research Group). Because LocaModa focuses on building products that are cross-channel (i.e. work on out-of-home signage, web, mobile), it’s not surprising that such a significant chunk of the population is already habitually multitasking their “screen viewership,” yet it is a bit surprising that it’s happening so quickly.

Read the rest of this entry

Although “mobile location-based services” carries with it an overly broad definition and a crazy boatload of ancillary concepts, the basic construct can be whittled down to a place-based technology solution accessed via mobile. From FireEagle to Whrrl, the harmony changes a bit, yet the melody remains constant: connecting people where they go… when they’re on the go.

Although LocaModa reaches far further than a straight-up mobile LBS (in that we connect consumers synchronously through the web, mobile, DOOH locations, and social networks like Facebook), our core solution can be (at least loosely) aligned with the aforementioned model.

…All that to say… HEY, CHECK OUT THESE HUGE EMARKETER GROWTH PREDICTIONS.
(Who’s glad I got to the point? Other than me…)