Tech companies so far have stumbled when it comes to getting people to be mindful of their energy use and conserve. But a new German startup, Changers, thinks it’s come up with the right incentives to attract the do-gooder crowd: sell mobile solar chargers and build a social network around earning energy credits and online shopping.

Changers, founded in 2010, hopes to build a community and marketplace of eco-conscious users and retailers through shopping and competition. Here’s the proposition: you buy a solar charging kit that, when connected to your computer, will allow you to upload data about the energy generated by the charger and stored in a battery. That data goes to your profile page on Changers’ website, where the energy, measured in watt-hours, will be converted into credits that you can use to buy actual stuff from online shops.

The solar kit charges at a rate of 4 watts per hour and can hold 16 watts in its battery, which can supply power for two iPhones. So you can charge up the battery during the day and then transfer those electrons to your cell phones, tablets or other gadgets at night.

Solar social network

Through your page on Changers, you can track you solar energy generation, the carbon offset created by the solar electricity (2 watt hours of solar electricity equal to 1 gram of carbon emission), and see how you stack up against friends, neighbors or those in other countries. The energy-to-money conversion rate could be different, depending on the retailers, said Hans Raffauf, head of communications at Changers.

The site’s first retailer is Holstee, which sells clothes, bags, coffee makers, sunglasses, ear buds, and other products made from recycled materials. To shop on Holstee, you will have to accumulate a minimum of 100 watts, which gives you a voucher.

While the solar charging kit will cost you 9, joining the Changers community is free. Changers, which has raised an undisclosed seed investment of “a couple of million dollars” from German solar company Centrotherm Photovoltaics, wants to charge retailers in the future, Raffauf said. That won’t happen until Changers builds up a user base large enough to attract more retailers.

And, yes, sharing what your energy production and rewards via Facebook and Twitter is highly encouraged.

Web 2.0 launch

Changers hails from Berlin, Germany, but is launching its site in the U.S. primarily because it wants to start at a place with early technology adopters in order to get feedback and tweak its site. Raffauf said Germany could actually be a larger market – Germans are ahead of Americans when it comes to supporting solar electricity and emission-reduction plans.

Building an active online community isn’t easy. You have to create fun ways for people to interact and offer rewards that people want. And it can’t cost too much money, for while early adopters are happy to shell out big bucks for an iPhone and iPad, they often won’t pay anything for online social circles and web games. The 9 charging kit can therefore be a serious barrier for Changers to attract a big crowd. Raffauf said the company hopes to be able to subsidize the purchases, but it doesn’t have the means to do so now.

Finding the right retailers and enough of them also will be crucial not just for Changers to attract initial users but also to sustain user interest over time. The challenge of sustaining consumer interest has been a big hurdle for many energy management hardware and app developers, some of whom mistakenly thought that consumers would continue to be engaged with their energy management tools. Google and Microsoft, for example, launched energy measuring tools only to pull them earlier this year.

Energy software startup Opower, in partnership with Facebook and the Natural Resources Defense Council, thinks it has come up with something better. Opower plans to launch a Facebook app next year that will let users compare their energy use with their friends and get energy efficiency tips. The goal is to build “the world’s largest social energy community,” and the means involve using games, competitions and Facebook’s already large online user base.

Raffauf believes consumers need more incentives than energy data, games and competitions. “We are able to reward you for your behavior in a monetary way,” he said. “It’s a motivation that will get people to use it.”

Images courtesy of Changers

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Continue reading Starbucks rolls out mobile payment app for Android users, java junkies

Starbucks rolls out mobile payment app for Android users, java junkies originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 06:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For most people, a BMW is the car of their dreams. Few, however, can afford the heavy price tag that comes with brand new BMW cars and opt to negotiate for a less luxurious car. And that includes most of us, I guess. But if you’d like that stunning BMW real badly and don’t have the means to finance your passion, think about buying a certified preowned BMW instead. In fact, it won’t matter what BMW you’re buying, it’s a BMW, and it is worth each and every cent you pay for it.

Although, it is important to hit the iron simply when it is hot – you have to strike the best deal you can, after all. For example, buyers who chose a used BMW in 2010 had to spend more money than they expected. That was because of the fact that new BMW sales were badly hit by the 2009 slump and hadn’t had time to recover. Hence, few people were trading in their old BMWs for new and even there were fewer best used BMW car deals available.

While new BMW sales have shown some progression, it is a little premature to say how low used BMW prices will dip. In case you are willing to wait some time, you may most likely get a much better package than you can right now. The costs of certified pre-owned BMWs in 2011 will generally depend on how much the new BMW market makes a solid recovery. Pre-owned BMW rates are prone to fall even more.

However there are many factors to consider than merely the big picture. Many BMW dealers are enticing buyers with low as well as zero interest fund for their pre-owned BMW cars. It does seem as if the used BMW market is heating up with the weather. As well as when you do buy your dream set of wheels, make sure you buy smart. Think about what you want and arm yourself each of the latest information used BMW deals.

Any certified pre-owned BMW you think about buying have to be in good condition, supported by a certified pre-owned car (CPO) warranty and completely inspected by the dealer. Bargain for a sweeter deal with special incentives and other offers. Keep in mind that used BMW financial offers come with higher interest rates compared to those for new BMWs. If the dealers are providing lower than regular interest rates, it is time to strike a deal. Dealers hardly provide cash back offers with certified pre-owned BMWs, but you can surely bargain hard on the sales price.

If you are a Phoenix, Arizona residential you can visit Chapman BMW on Camelback for the finest offer for Phoenix BMW.

There are literally thousands of sites on the internet where you can buy previously owned automobiles. Many individuals think that dealerships are the only place to buy previously owned automobiles. By taking the issue off of their hands, you can easily buy previously owned automobiles under 500 dollars. For that reason, you must use extreme caution if you look to buy previously owned automobiles under 500 dollars online. If you’re willing to put some effort in to this, you truly can buy previously owned automobiles under 500 dollars that run great. Here’s where to go for the fantastic deals.

The Internet has opened up a whole new world to people wanting to buy previously owned automobiles . The majority of people would agree that the cheapest way to replace an old car is to buy previously owned automobiles. Now on the off chance that the price of the car is what you have earmarked to buy previously owned automobiles / motorcycles then you have to go much deeper in to the vehicles assorted attributes. Deciding on what features are very important to you will help you narrow your search when you purchase used cars.

Read useful and popular articles about car repair and troubleshooting as well as how to buy previously owned automobiles for a good price. Things like the gas mileage, part replacements, and total conditions are all valid considerations when you buy used cars. These incentives are sold from the factory on new vehicles but aren’t extended to those looking to buy previously owned automobiles .

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Despite some bad examples of gamification, the concept of adding game mechanics to tasks, as I’ve said, has merit when done in a thoughtful way. And that requires offering real-world rewards, said Irving Fain, CEO of New York start-up CrowdTwist.

Fain said the startup, part of TechStars’ first New York class, helps brands and companies track their social media efforts across multiple platforms and build engagement and loyalty through real rewards. He said he’s found budding success by tying game mechanics to things that people care about, not just points and badges.

CrowdTwist recently worked with LiveNation on its website for the upcoming Bamboozle music festival. The company created a feature called BoozleTwist on the Bamboozle website that allowed fans to gain points by doing things on the site and sharing online. For instance, viewing Bamboozle photos earns a user 500 points while “liking” Bamboozle’s status is worth 100 points. Reading the Bamboozle blog is worth 25 points. Users who attend the show can then eventually redeem their rewards, which can include things like signed posters from bands performing at the festival to a dinner with a band. One reward includes having a performer serenade a fan onstage.

Fain said in a month, BoozleTwist added 10,500 members. Engagement went from an average of three page views a week per visitor to 26 page views a week. Visitors now spend about eight minutes and 30 seconds on the site, compared to a little over two minutes before BoozleTwist. The campaign has resulted in 6 million impressions through Facebook and Twitter.

Fain said the key has been Bamboozle working with its artists to offer up valuable and unique rewards. That has given fans the motivation to engage a lot more than without the incentives. He said the power of points and badges is limited to people who are motivated by status. But real rewards can get people engaging because the pay off is tangible.

“Gamification tied to virtual things can’t sustain long-term engagement,” Fain said. “Our platform can activate and magnify an audience. It can encourage people to move outside their regular behavior.”

He said that’s where gamification works best, by bringing about smaller behavior changes on the periphery of a person’s existing actions. If brands are creative about what assets they have to offer users, they can build a lot more engagement and loyalty if they build that into their gamification efforts.

I think CrowdTwist has got a good take on this. There’s a lot of companies adding simple game mechanics to their products and websites. But many times, the features seem mindlessly bolted on and don’t seem to cater to what the the product is. Badges, points and other virtual rewards are great for certain users, but to activate a larger audience, a company needs to offer something real.

Foursquare, a leader in game mechanics, is also realizing this. It recently launched a program with American Express at SXSW that allowed Foursquare users who check-in at dozens of Austin retailers and spend at least to get another credit added to their American Express account. Others are also moving in this direction. Last year, I wrote about how TopGuest is tying location check-ins with real rewards like from existing loyalty programs. CrowdTwist’s take is different in that it can tie a host of online actions to rewards not just check-ins.

Ultimately, I think we’re going to see a lot more of this happen. It doesn’t have to cost brands and companies a lot. It’s more about figuring the right type of reward and the best way to implement it. If done right, real world rewards could help turn gamification from a buzzword into a real tool for companies.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):

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With hundreds of different bingo sites out there competing for business, there are lots of options available to players. Some operators offer bonuses in order to compete for business. It’s fairly standard in the industry to get a sign up bonus but if you shop around you can get much more than that.

I am going to be speaking about two of the bonus offers that are the most interesting that I have recently come across. The first one is an offer what was in February 2011, a holiday giveaway from Foxy Bingo.

Every day for a total of two weeks, they offered a game with free entry, and whoever won got a holiday. The holidays that you got were not to Blackpool for the weekend either, they were to glamorous destinations like Florida and Monte Carlo. Entering in to these games obviously made sense because they were free.

Also an interesting promotion is one from Jackpot Joy, this is going to run throughout all of 2011. It is called Ad Break Bingo, this forms part of the Channel 4 sponsorship deal that they have for deal or no deal, a popular daytime program. You simply need to have a Jackpot Joy account for this promotion, and each day you have to log in to see what your Ad Break numbers are.

Next, you simply need to watch the program Deal or No Deal, and pay attention to the ad breaks to see if your numbers come up, if not you can always log back in to Jackpot Joy later to check. You will get a huge prize of £250k if your numbers do come up, and to enter it is completely free of charge.

For an online bingo site to have promotions like this, it is really good for them, as the attention will be drawn to them and they will get lots of custom. Sure they’re basically giving prizes away, but when you look at the bigger picture, they’re acquiring more players due to these incentives. An edge like this is just what operators need in this competitive market that has a lot of companies wanting to be the best.