The 40 Companies that kick ass according to Wired

Ok, so I haven't been posting alot lately. This is because I have been busy. Yes, busy working and playing with my new toy, the Macbook. Yes, it's awesome. Yes, it's expensive. Yes, I love that thing.

Anyways, the Macbook can only be developed by one of the coolest companies in the world, Apple.
And according to Wired it is among the best companies that currently are the best.

The 40!

Buffet buffering charities

Warren Buffet, one of the world's richest person's in the world, decided to give 85% of his wealth to charities. As a close friend of the Gates family he is giving at least 80% to the Gates Foundation.

If people like these would exist more, there wouldn't be so many problems any more.

Blogged with Flock

Computer is personal again

HP has just launched it's new campaign in The US. The Computer Is Personal Again.
Although I am not a HP fan. In fact, I just received my Macbook today, I do like the ads HP is airing.

Watch them here.

Five Takes on 800 Pounds

By David Berkowitz

HARD AS ONE MAY TRY, it's impossible to ignore the 800-pound gorilla, or in this case, the 450,000-server computing network, as The New York Times estimated last week.

The latest announcements from Google have been released at such a frenetic pace and cover such wide territory that it helps to review all the pieces in one place, deconstruct what the real meaning is for marketers, and understand how they affect the competitive landscape. To make this easier for marketers and their agencies, we'll use a four-tiered scale to measure the impact:

• Act: this could affect you immediately
• Prepare: you're safe for today, but do your homework
• Play: it's fun, it's cool, it's great for the blog, but it won't matter for your day job
• Consider: it's great fodder for the media, but there's no pressing impact for you

Now, on to the latest additions to the Google line-up:

GBuy: Prepare, especially if you're processing transactions online (this shifts to Act on June 28).

Google is said to be releasing GBuy, its answer to PayPal's merchant tools, on June 28. Merchants will be able to process payments through GBuy, and the payments are processed off of the merchant's site, giving Google access to conversion data. Couple that with information from AdWords and Google Analytics, and it has an open window into the complete sales funnel. Some fear Google could use this information to raise prices for some of its services, such as the minimum bid price in AdWords for certain verticals.

RBC analyst Jordan Rohan, widely quoted in the press for his GBuy coverage, said Google could offer a "trusted GBuy merchant" logo on sponsored links from retailers using AdWords and GBuy. Such a seal could increase click-through rates from consumers. GBuy-Adwords advertisers would have a competitive advantage, and they could lower their bids to maintain the same AdWords ranking. Competitors would then have to either bid more (beat 'em) or join GBuy (join 'em) so as not to be at a disadvantage.

Those factors -- consumer demand, peer pressure, and the carrot of more favorable advertising costs -- could create a surge in GBuy merchants. Still, the fear of giving too much information could lead to some marketers holding out. If you're an AdWords advertiser processing transactions online, keep some time free on June 28 to sort through the facts once the service debuts.

Ad Scheduling (or dayparting): Prepare or Act

Google now allows advertisers to schedule ads by time of day or day of the week. This won't impact every marketer. Advertisers already can use paid search management technology interfacing with Google that has dayparting built in. Additionally, advertisers with an ample budget might not need the feature at all. I generally feel the same way about dayparting search ads as I do about using demographic targeting with search. If a consumer's typing in a relevant query, then any other targeting such as time of day or the searcher's age takes a back seat. Such targeting may be useful, but it's more of a way to nudge the needle on conversion rates for a well-oiled campaign.

That being said, there are situations where ad scheduling can have a significant impact. For instance, consider an advertiser whose budget tends to run out earlier in the day or the month. This advertiser might run TV campaigns from 8pm to midnight, but if it blows its ad budget by 5pm, the campaign won't benefit from the large volume of searches triggered by the offline campaign. Similarly, a marketer budgeting for search monthly could, for example, be at a disadvantage if the budget runs dry on June 23, but the advertiser's running a major multi-channel campaign for the week leading up to July 4. Turning the campaign off certain days and times can serve to better manage the campaign holistically.

Google Earth: Play

Google has taken new steps to open up Google Earth to developers. Anyone can add their own notations to the 3D maps and build 3D models of 2D landscapes using SketchUp, the design software Google acquired in March. It's also integrated into the new Picasa update, where users can tag photos with geographic information. Google is working on integrating Earth more with Google Maps, so you can expect a whole new generation of mash-ups to emerge.

Picasa Web: Play

Of all the Google announcements that came out, this one's my favorite to toy around with. Google is testing web-based photo sharing integrated with Picasa, turning its photo editing and organizing software into a Flickr competitor. For Picasa users, it's a stupid-simple way to share pictures, and it's good enough to provide a viable alternative to other options.

Google Shakespeare: Consider

My brother, author of the book Shakespeare on the American Yiddish Stage, might find a reason to act on this, but for marketers, Google Shakespeare should be little more than a curiosity. There's some buzz behind it since Google's publicizing its commitment to its book search program, which book publishers love to bristle at, but Google can borrow a line from Othello: "Thou know'st we work by wit, and not by witchcraft."

The challenge that remains is for marketers to keep their wits about them.

David Berkowitz is director of strategic planning at 360i. You can reach him at dberkowitz@360i.com.

Wikipedia not so democratic?

The New York Times
There's a lot of talk about wikis--Web sites where anyone can add, remove, or edit the content--these days. Skeptics who thought allowing people to mess with the content of a site would make it useless have been proven wrong by the power of Wikipedia, the online user-generated, user-policed encyclopedia. Then again, Wikipedia--which is by far the most popular and most important wiki site on the Web--has had to make a few concessions to make sure that its content stays correct. In fact, now, the bureaucratic structure of the Wikipedia online community is such that it's actually rather difficult to update content on the site. And it's only growing more bureaucratic, writes The New York Times. Some 82 entries were recently placed outside of the "anyone can edit" realm, including Christina Aguilera and Albert Einstein, due to repeated vandalism or disputes over what should be said. Another 179 entries, from George W. Bush to Islam to Adolf Hitler, were "semi-protected," allowing only registered users to edit them. It might look like Wikipedia is compromising its democratic ethos, but Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales says that protection is usually temporary, and only affects a fraction of its 1.2 million English-language entries. One thing is sure: people trust the information on Wikipedia. According to Nielsen//NetRatings Wikipedia is the third most-popular news and information source, beating the likes of CNN and Yahoo News.

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Thanks for everything Bill (the good and the bad)

As you probably must now by now, William Gates III, will retire as from 2008. He did send out an email to his employees.

Thanks for everything Bill. Good luck for the future!

The heat intensifies

As you probably are aware of, both Google and Microsoft offer maps on the internet. Question is, which service offers better results. Unfortunately both Google and Microsoft both focus on the USA only, but hopefully will turn their attention to Europe as well.

A clear comparison between the two can be found here.

(Don't) be evil

Google's corporate motto is: Don't be evil. I am affraid Google's motto is getting in the way of Google. This might be good for investors. Google has to keep innovating, think of the latest load of innovations we have seen, it is simply too much.

And Google is getting into evil territory. Sergey Brin even admitted Google had set aside their principles to gain access to the Chinese market.

My request to Google is; Don't be evil.

Google will go beyond online

GOOGLE is planning a new ­version of its search engine – designed for TV screens – that the company’s co-founder and its chief executive believe will rival traditional broadcasting.

Chief executive Eric Schmidt told The Business: “At the most people currently have access to only around 500 television channels,” said Schmidt. “They should have access to everything – that is where we are heading.”

As they prepare to make the move from the PC to the television, internet service providers and broadcasters are trying to develop electronic programme guides (EPGs) that will enable viewers with a broadband internet connection to choose from a far wider range of video and film entertainment than is currently available. And Google believes it can offer a world-­beating EPG.

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