Internet Bubble 2.0?

A quite remarkable article in Reuters where an analyst claims MySpace could be worth $ 15 billion within 3 years. Wow!

Hope we won't fall into the goldrush again.

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The Clinton Saga

As you probably are aware of, Clinton was on Fox this weekend. Take a look at the interview, for it is probably one of the best come-backs you have ever seen. A shameful smear-attack from Fox, but luckily Clinton strikes back.

Fox is now trying to delete the entire interview from websites such as YouTube.

Thank god, MSNBC takes on Fox and Bush. Go Olbermann!

Online Data Storage - ODS

Are You Down With ODS?
by David Berkowitz, Tuesday, September 19, 2006

ONLINE DATA STORAGE ISN'T THE sexiest of trends emerging in the search space, but it's one with more implications than I at first realized. I wasn't convinced until renowned blogger and Web 2.0 evangelist Jeremiah Owyang made his case during an e-mail exchange, and then expounded on it at length in blog post listing 40 thoughts on why this is one of the big issues to watch.

The short version of the connection between storage and search is that more digital content requires more digital storage, and cheap storage stimulates consumer and enterprise proliferation of digital content. The more content that's stored, the more important search functionality is. The better the search functionality, the more people will use it. Additionally, following this vein, the more that people know they can find whatever it is they want, the more they'll create, digitize, and store content online, adding yet one more driver for the trend.

It's not hard to find examples of how this has played out; consider the genesis of Yahoo. In the 1990s, it was better known as a directory. Search didn't matter all that much until the volume of content became so large that browsing became inefficient.

The same comparison can be made with television. For most of its existence to date, you could view what was on by turning the dial or flipping channels. The more channels and programs that are added, the less effective a strategy browsing is. Search is a part of some of the latest digital video services, and in time searching for TV programs will be the standard. Such a shift is also happening with satellite radio and mobile content.

The search engines are a prominent part of these trends. Of Jeremiah's 40 observations, seven directly mention Google and four mention Amazon, which has a search engine at A9.com and which, along with eBay, can be considered one of the two largest shopping search engines. The other major engines appear on the list, even if they're underrepresented by name, and the engines are connected to almost all of the 40.

Owyang goes out on a limb in one of his non-Google entries, predicting that "consumer level data storage will become so cheap that the model will flip, and online storage companies will pay consumers/producers to upload content in return for contextual marketing and advertising."

In this hypothetical scenario, which is hardly far-fetched, the producers would earn revenue. They would supply the content that the consumers would access, with the content supported by contextual advertising; a share of that advertising would go to the producer. It's even more appropriate to talk of producer-consumers and consumer-consumers, as producers are consumers, too, yet producers take a more active role in supplying content.

The hypothetical model is essentially a "Bizarro World" version of an affiliate network. In the traditional affiliate model, a merchant site (e.g., Amazon) serves as the producer, which teams up with a publisher (often a low-traffic site run by a publisher-consumer), and the publisher earns a small commission on anything it helps consumers purchase. In the Bizarro affiliate model, a producer (or, a producer-consumer) provides content through a publisher (e.g., Google) and earns a small commission on ad revenue the producer helps the publisher earn.

There are some limitations and obstacles for the new model. Privacy issues are the most pressing. Consider what would happen if an online data storage company publicly exposed the entire digital cache of some of its users, including items marked "private." That AOL search database fiasco would seem like a dewdrop compared to such a tidal wave of concerns.

Then there are the ad models themselves; how much is content contextually related to such digital assets worth? It's a question I posed in January 2005, in a column of predictions for the year in relation to desktop search: "What's it worth to a search engine or technology company if five million users download its desktop tool? Few have convincing answers." The models for all these companies in the storage space, from Google Desktop to Xdrive, the AOL subsidiary that now offers 5 gigabytes of free storage, have yet to be fully fleshed out.

It doesn't have to be entirely sorted out for it to make an impact. Just think what could happen if a major search engine's index expanded from, say, 20 billion pages to 20 trillion files? The competition for ranking high will only get fiercer--but so will the opportunity to expand your searchable digital footprint.

I remember my mom taking me shoe shopping as a kid. She pointed to a pair of Timberland workboots and said, "You'll get shoes like that when your feet stop growing." When I graduated high school, I bought a pair; they still fit perfectly. As for my digital footprint, though, it's like I'm still wearing baby shoes. I think hardly any of us, outside of the few Jeremiahs out there, have a sense of just how big those searchable footprints will grow.

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

The Zune Zone

Microsoft officially launched it's own MP3 player today, called the Zune.
I must say, I am quite surprised. Perhaps Microsoft should also launch other skin-colours, but at first sight I do like the Zune.

Article

NBC invests in the future

A while ago, I wrote about News Corp' acquisition of MySpace. Recently NBC bought iVillage.
This is cross-media at it's best. Offering content and interactivity through tv and the internet. Although this concept is not new or radical, it is nice to see the big media companies are making their steps.

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From mobile to fixed

Just read an interesting news item on Reuters about Vodafone. Apperently the biggest mobile phone operator in the world (in sales) wants to expand their services. From mobile to fixed lines, therefore extending their range of service. Who will follow suit?

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Let The Games Begin

First off all, due to the holidays, the start of a new company (Generation Next), writing thesis, starting a new study, I haven't been able to post any items on this weblog.

I will try to update the weblog more often from now on.

Starting with an interesting item about in-game ads. This advertising approach is considered to be one of the biggest growing markets for the short-time future. Electronic Arts is going to start show ingads in it's games. EA has closed deals with two ad networks, Massive Inc. and IGA Worldwide.

Read the article here.

You Tube My Space?

YouTube and MySpace are the most popular websites out there. MySpace is even more popular then the Big G, Google.

YouTube is even so popular it serves up 100 million daily online videos. No other website is up to that level.

I am pretty sure News Corp. made quite a good decision to buy MySpace, but might have his doubts. Rupert may be putting his hands in his hair wondering how to earn money on MySpace.

But perhaps, salvation is near.

So, although MySpace may be more popular then Google, perhaps they will meet again.

.Doc or .ODF

The battle between Google and Microsoft continues on several levels. One of the interesting battles will be document-related. Will Office 2007 conquer or will Writely win?

Will we be using .doc or .odf (open document format) in the near future?

An interesting battle for us, consumers.

The Long Tail In Action

By Cory Treffiletti

The concept of the long tail is one that I find fascinating not only because of its applications to marketing, but also because of the speed at which it is being adopted by the publishers and content creators utilizing the Web today.

One example of this is the Web site Brilliant But Cancelled. For years we've seen interesting TV shows, and not-so-interesting TV shows, come and go. Some have been resurrected by passionate fans (like "Family Guy"), while others were witty and intelligent but never received enough attention from the networks because they were too witty and intelligent for the general audience (like "Arrested Development"). In both situations it required much action from fans to generate buzz enough to either bring the show back or distributed in some other fashion.

That was the old world, now comes the new world.

Brilliant But Cancelled (BBC) is such a simple idea but one whose time has come. With broadband penetration reaching critical mass and more people watching the smaller screen for quality video content, an outlet such as BBC makes sense. The site takes shows that were cancelled and gives them an outlet for an audience. It also takes shows that were never aired and provides them with an outlet for an audience. BBC becomes a testing ground for new programs and new concepts, guaranteeing that no programming goes to waste.

I can even foresee the day when the networks (or whatever they will morph into over the next few years) will air pilots of programs online to see if there's an adequate audience before airing the show on "live" TV. Before a show goes into the regular programming schedule, air it online for a few weeks and see if there's a buzz! No pilot will go to waste--and what better focus group to tell you about a show than the actual audience?

The application of the long-tail concept is such that any program will have an audience; it's just that the audience may not be large enough to warrant the prime-time programming opportunity. Airing programs online allows you to reach the intended audience while not creating any missed opportunities for advertisers within larger-reach shows. A show like "The Jake Effect" starring Jason Bateman can reach an audience, even though the show was never aired. If the audience is passionate enough, the show can be shot for the Web and advertisers can find access to their niche audience in an environment that's inherently interactive and highly engaged. There's an audience for everything, you just need to know where to look, or let them come and find you.

The term "long tail" has been around only a short while, but the concept has been around for far longer, with an impact that will be felt for many years to come. Technology enables narrowcasting, and the long tail encourages it. I can hardly wait to see what happens next!

Source: Mediapost

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.

Read more

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.

Read more

Tagging

My new favourite website must be Tagground. A website which helps you find subject through tags on all sort of social tagging websites.

Go take a look.