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The store is the company's first venture into mobile commerce. American Apparel says it chose to start with Japan because many Japanese consumers-especially teenagers, American Apparel's target market-are comfortable shopping from their phones.

"Almost as many Americans (236.5 million) watched TV on their phones during the second quarter of 2012, as watched it on a conventional TV set (283.3 million), albeit for much shorter durations. While the average American spends nearly 145 hours per month watching TV on a traditional TV, Nielsen didn't even report the average time they spend watching on their phones. But mobile subscribers watching video on their phones -- a smaller sub-segment of about 37 million Americans -- spend an average of five hours and 20 minutes watching TV on their phones each month, an increase of 31 minutes over the second quarter of 2011."

The company, which offers deals to those with high "Klout scores," is offering those with a 55 or above to qualify for a one-day pass to American Airlines' Admirals Club in 40 different airports -- regardless of whether they're booked on one of the carrier's flights. Admission includes first-class benefits like free Wi-Fi and beer.

another AMEX and foursquare thing.  spend $10 get $10. Cardmembers can sync their American Express card with their foursquare profile, check-in and spend $10 at participating small businesses across the United States and receive a one-time $10 statement credit.  

Eighty-six percent of Americans surveyed said they don't want political campaigns to customize messages based on their interests. Again, this has become a de facto approach to the way political advertisers use online advertising, particularly on Facebook. If a Facebook user, for example, shows an interest in gay rights issues by liking related organizations, chances are he might have been served an Obama for America Facebook ad in 2011 with a message focused on marriage equality: "President Obama supports repealing the Defense of Marriage Act. Add your support now!" stated a Facebook ad from the President's reelection campaign that appeared to be targeted to people who liked left-leaning groups on Facebook, including gay rights-related groups.

Smartphones are on a fast track to become the primary device for both creating and consuming digital content. According to the Pew Internet for the American Life Project, already a full 31% of Americans who own internet-capable phones browse the web primarily from their phones. These numbers are actually higher in emerging markets. What's more, there are at least three other factors at work here. First, images are global. They eschew all language and cultural boundaries. Photography is the only true universal medium. Nothing comes close. Second, images are distributable. The bandwidth required to transmit photos is minimal, yet the opportunities for quick, creative expression are plentiful. As of this writing, Apple's App Store alone has over 10,000 iPhone apps in its photo category -- many of them for editing. Photoshopping has been democratized. Finally, images are digestible. You can glance at a picture for as short or as long as you want. Photos are a non-linear, shared consumption experience. The same can't be said for video or even text.

Shopkick moved in to trial iBeacon with their service shopBeacon -- installing iBeacon functionality in 100 American Eagle stores nationwide. The move follows a Shopkick trial in 2 Macy's stores

Relates to our "Digital Have and Have Not" trend. A majority of Americans don't know what IoT is but a majority of them are for it when it's described in Star Trek terms;-)

Facebook voting for American Idol. Indicative of Facebook's place in popular culture.

A recent study published by AVG, an Internet security company, found that 92 percent of American children have an online presence by the time they are 2. One third of mothers in the United States said that they had posted pictures of their newborns online, and 34 percent of American mothers had posted sonograms of their babies in the womb. According to the AVG study, American mothers are more likely to post pictures of their children online than mothers in any other country.

"Overall, 32% of those younger than 40 say they followed the debate live online, including 22% who followed it both on television and online, and 10% who followed exclusively on a computer or mobile device. Those 40-to-64 are less likely to have followed live online (11%); just 1% followed only online, while 10% followed online as well as on television. Very few Americans 65 and older followed the debate live online (2%) and none followed live coverage exclusively on a computer or mobile device."

"Walmart began recruiting top Silicon Valley talent and acquiring start-ups last year. For instance, Walmart acquired Kosmix, a company that specializes in making web design more seamless, for $300 million. That team has been working for over a year to fix Walmart's systems and improve its website.  Walmart is investing in the "social gifting" market. A year ago, Walmart launched "Shopycat," which makes gift recommendations based on friends' Facebook profiles. The site is now called "Walmart Gifts" and allows customers to log in and get personalized recommendations based on Facebook and Twitter profiles.  The retailer got a better search engine. A dozen top engineers took 10 months to build it, and while the company won't discuss sales figures, they said the new system is more user-friendly. "If you search for cotton socks now, you'll actually find them," Manjoo writes.  Walmart is trying to lead the charge in same-day shipping. Its at an advantage considering that 96 percent of Americans live within 20 miles of a Walmart.  Walmart is investing like crazy in its mobile app. "Walmart imagines that as you go through an average day, you'll remember things you need--milk, bread, a new tennis racquet, a toy truck for your nephew's birthday--and tell the voice-enabled Walmart app. The app will list each item's location inside your local Walmart and include product info; eventually, it will also learn your preferences and offer recommendations. And once you're actually in the store, you'll be able to summon an associate to help you," Manjoo says. "

"Citi piloted LinkedIn's first branded community in April, erecting Connect: Professional Women's Network as a sponsored group for members to discuss topics online, such as women-on-women bullying in the workplace. Then in late summer something unexpected happened: Members began taking things offline. One New York-based member posted a question, asking if others would like to meet in person. That has spawned nine different meet-ups in not just New York but Seattle and Miami. "That's not necessarily behavior we could have predicted from an online social network," said Citi's managing director and head of North American marketing Vanessa Colella."

Interesting to see Coke doing yet another campaign allowing fans to vote, considering the flop of the Superbowl spot. And touches on the growing concern of allowing users to dictate content. It's one thing to use data, it's another to directly ask what people want and then give it to them.