Apple's $3K Headset, BlackMagic for Twitter, and DJI's New Stabilizer

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Who else watched the premiere of The Last of Us? Never played the game, not a big fan of the zombie genre, but it was one intense and captivating show.

Alright, let's dig into the signals. Have a great week!

Joey

🕶️ Meta's quest to create the metaverse has been a bit ho-hum, but things could get a boost this year with Apple (finally...and hopefully) launching their long-awaited mixed-reality headset. It won't come cheap, with a reported cost of around $3000.

It's definitely a first-gen device targeted at hardcore enthusiasts and pro-users who will develop apps and build out the ecosystem so when future, less expensive versions of their AR glasses launch there will be things to do.

A few interesting things about the design: it will have an outward-facing screen that will animate open or close to indicate to others if you're using the goggles for augmented reality (you can see the real world) or virtual reality (you're totally in a virtual world). It will also have a tethered cable that runs to a battery pack you need to clip to your belt. A bit un-Apple like, but apparently the only way to power the glasses without making the headset uncomfortably heavy.

⚖️ DJI just announced the RS 3 Mini, a camera stabilizer for lighter, mirrorless cameras that's designed to be more travel friendly and easier to move, weighing 40% lighter than the original RS 3 (trust me - when it comes to hand holding devices for long periods of time, weight matters). Available now for $369.

🪧 Where's the best ROI for your ad dollars? By undercutting rivals, it's TikTok. Cost per 1000 impressions is 50% less than Instagram and 62% less than Snapchat. Plus, TikTok sees engagement rates up to 6%, versus just 0.6% on Instagram.

🗺️ Have a brick-and-mortar location? Apple just launched Apple Business Connect, a free tool to claim physical locations on their map app and update info. You can add and update photos - hopefully video support will be coming soon.

🦹 If you do a lot of creator or UGC campaigns on TikTok, your life might get a bit easier. TikTok is testing out a talent manager portal to manage and establish relationships between brands and creators. This is on top of their Creator Marketplace, where an entire campaign can be handled from start to finish, including managing feedback, deal flow, contracts, and reviewing reporting metrics.

🧙‍♀️ BlackMagic: Awesome Chrome extension to turbo-charge your Twitter experience with easy posting, extra metrics, tracking favorite accounts, and a lot more.

💽 ProBackup: You probably think about backup up your hard drive, but what about all the online apps you use? We use ProBackup to save a copy of everything on ClickUp to Google Drive, but it works with a bunch of other apps too.

🔦 Talkwalker: Google Alerts is alright, but I found Talkwalker to be better and quicker at alerting me to new keyword mentions that Google missed. Set up alerts for your brand or any other phrase you want to track.

Always Be Testing

Yes, we should always be learning, but the precursor to some types of learning is testing.

Testing ideas, testing video formats, testing thumbnails, testing tweets, testing offers, testing ads, etc.

A million things we can test. This email tested 4 different subject lines before it hit your inbox.

Even the little elements in your profile can be tested. I just discovered a tool called Birdy (look, bonus 4th tool!) that A/B tests your Twitter banner, bio, name, location...literally anything that can be edited on your profile it will test to see which converts more people to follow you.

(If someone wants to do this for YouTube I'll pay $$).

So start testing and start learning.

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