Podcating Is B-I-G, People!
Apple has transacted 1 million Podcast subscriptions on its iTunes Music Store within 48 hours of launching the feature. Read more about it at CIO Today.
Amazing Keychains
Huh? No really ... marketing premiums have never been so smart.
Check this from Popular Science - it's a slideshow of five keychain gadgets including a 4GB microdrive, a "biometric keyfob" that reads your fingerprint before letting you open the garage door, a "home heartbeat" device that sends you a text message if somebody attempts to break in or you left the iron on, a digital tire gauge and a handy-dandy password keeper.
More on E-Paper
http://www.eink.com/
I saw a posting for this really cool digital alarm clock made from electronic paper (e-paper). The potential applications for point-of-sale and OOH advertising are staggering. All it takes is a great idea to get the ball rolling. Here's a really big picture. And here's a press release with more details.
Podcasting via iTunes - Today
All you need to do is download the latest version of iTunes (v4.9) free from Apple, and you can get "thousands of free radio shows then sync them to you iPod and listen anytime, anywhere." See Apple's official Podcasting page.
Infomercials - Bottom-Sucking Scum No More!
Well, well, well ... Look who's appearing in infomercials. You know, those 30-minute cheesefests with D-list celebs hawking crappy wares.
Well, well, well ... What do P. Diddy, Alicia Keys, Jessica Simpson, Daisy Fuentes, Cindy Crawford, Vanessa Williams, Proctor & Gamble, GM and Pfizer know about infomercials that YOU DON'T?!?!?
Blogging for Grocery-Shoppin' Moms
Or, who says packaged goods companies can't figger out bloggin'?!?!
The nice folks at Stonyfield Farms publish four categories of Blogs for Moms. Plus, they've got a really cool online promotion called "Have a Cow" in which you pay $3 to "sponsor a cow."
Look Who's Blogging
P.S. If you're old enough to recognize the pop culture reference in this post's headline, then it's time to gut check your pop culture references.
Thanks to the Daily Herald (the suburban Chicago daily) for picking up this AP story on famous bloggers such as California pol Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, former King of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk and corporate executive/Boeing VP of Marketing Randy Baseler.
Hint: If you or anyone you know has a professional and/or business relationship with any of the above, then you really need to read this article. What d'ya say?
The nice editors at the DH posted links to these blogs and more on this page.
Mobile Phone Film Festival(s)
We're late to the global party b/c here in the USA our mobile phones are mostly walkaround chat boxes. Y'see, "over there" (meaning both Europe and Asia) using your mobile phone (the vernacular is calling it your "mobile" for short) for taking photos and making little-sized videos is all the rage.
Hence ... the Mobile Phone Film Festival ... movies made exclusively by and for mobile phones. Here's a Wired News story on the phenomenon. It refers to "the world's first" cellular film fest, which was held in Atlanta in '04. Now ... here's a link to the Thumbdance Mobile Film Festival(TM). Next up, the winner of this mobile film fest in New Zealand got a trip to Hollywood. Here in the States, Cingular held its Short Film Fest in the fall of '04 -- which goes to show that it doesn't necessarily pay to be early.
Thanks to Stump for dropping off a Boards Magazine article "Seeing In 3G" ... there's no live link on boardsmag.com yet. I'll update this post when it's up. You can borrow a copy of Boards from your favorite creative director.
Change of Venue Recommended
Snapple media event in NYC's Union Square goes awry. Funny, very funny. Thanks to Marty Kane for the link.
Online/Offline Integrated Promotion/Interactive "Thing"
What the heck do we call these? Campaigns or Programs or whatever? I like to call them UFOs. They're unidentified flying objects ... they fly into consumers' lives ... some fly right by ... others hover awhile and freak people out ... and the lucky few actually levitate people, pick 'em up and take 'em for the ride of their lives.
This one is for Martini & Rossi, it's called the Martini Mansion and it's running in the Netherlands. Look for viral videos, chances to win great stuff and 1-to-1/community features as well. Great design and even without seeing any samples you can envision what the on-premise, off-premise and above-the-line elements must look like.
Podcasting Primer, Chapter LCVIII
"Podcasting--the practice of recording and distributing MP3 files that can be automatically downloaded and put on digital music players such as the iPod--has in the space of months evolved from a hobbyists' tool to adoption by some of the biggest media companies in the world.
Less than a year old in their current form, podcasts initially were dominated by the often-eccentric recorded ramblings of the high-tech crowd. But they've quickly evolved into a widespread distribution format, with major media companies such as Clear Channel and BusinessWeek jumping onboard."
I couldn't have said it better myself. So ... I clicked, copied and pasted it here for you.
Different Kind of File Sharing Network - Weed
http://www.weedshare.com/
Wired News story
Yahoo News story
Billboard story
"Weed encourages file-sharing and makes payments to musicians at the same time. We do this by rewarding file-traders who respect artists' rights. We find this works a lot better than punishing fans who don't."
What's a Moblog?
Well ... it's a "mobile" + "web log (aka blog)" ... in other words: a blog published via your mobile phone (or sometimes PDA such as a Blackberry or Palm device). Almost all moblogs are made with camera phones. It's pretty simple, you take a snap, add a few words of text via your phone's keypad, then *send* it from your phone to your blog.
Most mobloggers are into self-published special interest blogs, such as this "day in the life at Microsoft" site. For some, moblogging's all about sharing camera pics with, well, everybody; they go to sites such as Yafro and BuzzNet.
Promotional Hooks
Last spring, Pontiac ran a "spotter" promotion called "Catch a G6" in which consumers were asked to take a photo with their cell phones when they spot a new Pontiac G6 and send it in to win $1 million. This article from USA Today covers it (and others from Scion, Kodak and more).
Sent In via E-Mail
Hey ... how 'bout that Internet technology? It lets me publish items on this
blog via e-mail ... like this one here!
:: Miguel H. Gonzalez :: miggon@hotmail.com
Bonnaroo BitTorrent Downloads
Get more on the Bonnaroo Festival here. I'll explain later. See more on BitTorrent below.
Pay Your Parking Meter with Your Cell Phone
c/o Yahoo News
Drivers lacking coins now may use cell phones to feed parking meters in Coral Gables, purportedly the first city in the country to offer such a service.
The Miami suburb began offering the system this month on its 4,573 meters; so far, more than 250 people have subscribed.
It took Kamran Saraf six-and-a-half minutes to enroll by entering his credit card, e-mail, license plate and telephone number. (Hmmm ... now that's convenient.)
PayMint, the Toronto-based company that offers the service, e-mails users copies of their transactions, plus allows subscribers to track their usage online. The service is already being used at several locations in Ontario and British Columbia
New Retail Concept - The Buypod
Under the concept, customers will enter the mall and register their credit card information, which will then be put into their Buypods. As customers browse merchandise, they can use their Buypod - which, as the name suggests, looks something like an Apple iPod - to scan the labels of items they want to buy.
Complete story c/o The New York Times
Ericsson, Napster team for music to mobile phones
As Apple's iTunes is coming to Motorola handsets and Sirius is partnering with Sprint (see below), so goes the "new" Napster and Ericsson. (Note, if you haven't been tracking this kind of thing: Napster was once an illegal downloading network. It is now a legitimate downloading service that competes with iTunes ... not altogether successfully.) I've also posted below a story about the new Sony/Ericsson "Walkman" handset that plays MP3s. This Napster partnership completes the offering, i.e. provides the service by which the MP3 downloads will be purchased.
Advertisers Want Something Different by Stuart Elliot, New York Times
"The world of advertising turns upside down when the advertisers - not the agencies - are the ones pushing the envelope. But that is what has been happening."
"Historically, agencies pushed clients," Mr. Nadal said. "Today, clients are pushing the agencies. The same-old, same-old is not being accepted."
"There's a lot of talk but less action."
If you or anyone you know resembles any of the quotations marked above, you ought to read this article.
Shopper loyalty suffers when "one size fits all" c/o DDI (Display & Design Ideas) magazine
JUNE 15, 2005 -- Retailers offering the same level of service and same products as other retailers will lose shopper loyalty unless they differentiate themselves, according to a new IBM survey of American shoppers.
Lack of distinction in services and products (more than 50 percent), disorganized stores (31 percent) and retailers that look and feel the same (46 percent) were cited by those surveyed as the top reasons to take their business elsewhere.
According to the survey, consumers prefer retails stores where they are recognized as individuals, products are easy to find and the employees are knowledgeable.
Many of the shoppers surveyed requested more technology such as technology-guided shopping (71 percent), scanners that identify fresh produce and generate price tags (64 percent), intelligent shopping carts (59 percent) and self checkout (48 percent).
"Consumers are clearly telling retailers that they want a personalized and interactive shopping experience," said Joseph Gagnon, global leader of IBM's retail consulting practice.
The Case for Multichannel Campaigns
c/o Inside Direct Mail magazine
- 65% of US online consumers research products online then buy offline
- 48% of US cross-channel shoppers purchase offline b/c they want to see it first online
- 47% of US cross-channel purchasers buy additonal products once at the offline store
- Some spend at least $154 more
Source: Forrester Research
What's a Mashup?
It's a composite of two or more songs mishmashed (or more simply remixed) into a new song. The combinations will ASTOUND you. For example, here's a mashup of the Allman Brothers and Jackson Five with a smattering of Naughty By Nature ... no really. It's incredible.
You'd think you'd need to be some kind of monster deejay to make a mashup. But no! Young adults are doing it themselves using plain old Macs and PCs. And they're posting them to, what else?, their blogs!
Sirius to Supply Music Channels to New Cell Phones
c/o Reuters
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sirius Satellite Radio on Tuesday said it reached a deal to supply music channels to telecommunications company Sprint on a mobile phone to be introduced later this year."
Just when you thought the phone was going to merge with the iPod ... along comes competition. Somebody's going to win this (remember VHS vs. Beta?).
Sony Ericsson's latest MP3/Cell "Walkman" Phone
Link to story
"Sony Ericsson has unveiled a new phone that bears Sony's "Walkman" brand name. Many analysts believe the biggest threat to iPods will [be] a combined mobile phone/music player."
- It stores about 4 CDs worth of music
- Includes built-in stereo speakers and a jack for a headset
- Will playback 30 hours of music with the phone off or 15 hours with it on
- Release date 4Q 2005
Six Ways TV Is Changing Your Life c/o The Chicago Tribune
Funny about how newspapers still use old-school headlines; it seems they still attract interest and prompt page-flippers to stop and actually read the darned thing. When and why did we stop? (Just a thought.)
So ... read this long article from the Chicago Tribune. It's worth your effort. It starts out talking about DVRs (digital video recorders) such as TiVO. Gives an anecdote about MLB.tv "which enables subscribers to watch certain baseball games from anywhere, via broadband computer connections." Further that in the UK "subscribers to SkyTV ... can change the camera angles on the soccer games they're watching, and place a bet while they're at it."
The gist is that "TV is going to change more in the next five years than it has in the last 50. But how does this affect you?"
Well ... it will affect all of us greatly. Importantly, this article is about TV but not the demise of TV. Because, in my opinion, it's not going away. Not at all. But it's bound to morph into something we're having a hard time visualizing at this moment. My idea is TV will become what I've called "DVD on Demand."
This article makes a case ... six in fact ... for what TV is becoming. In short, what it's changing into before our very eyes.
Broadband to 78% of US HHs by 2010
"With broadband prices falling and demand rising, residential high-speed Internet adoption is expected to jump from slightly less than half of U.S. online households to 78 percent of households by the end of 2010, according to JupiterResearch."
- SBC lowers DSL price to $14.95 (while AOL dial-up still costs $21.95)
Link - c/o Internet News
iTunes + 7-Eleven Slurpee Promotion
See the Slurpee Summer Prize Fest wherein you purchase a 32 oz. Slurpee and receive a 12-digit code for a free song via iTunes. So, Apple + Pepsi doesn't exclude Apple from partnering with Coca-Cola. There's a news story on Playlist magazine here.
Mobile Blogger from My Cell Phone
I can contribute to this blog via my mobile phone's text messaging and/or photo-taking features. See details from Blogger.
Your Cell Phone Can Name That Tune
Try this immediately: 1. Play some music in your office (fairly loudly), 2. Get out your cell phone and dial 888-SONG-411 (that's 888-766-4411), 3. Hold the phone up to a speaker for at least 15 seconds (Don't hang up, the service will cut off automatically when its got enough audio), 4. In less than a minute, you'll receive a text message with the song title & artist's name.
The service is provided by 411 Song; see their very corny demo here.
Let's be clear: This is Internet technology at work here. Not some cell phone wizardry. Ask me for a simplified description if you like.
Marketing Opportunity - DualDisc
Bruce Springsteen's new release, Devils & Dust on Sony/Columbia, is the first to be sold exclusively on the DualDisc format. It's an audio CD on one side, and a DVD on the other. You play it on regular, standard disc players. The CD side's got the audio. On the DVD side, you find a 5.1 channel surround-sound mix of the audio plus about 30 minutes of video.
Major multi-platinum-selling artists' albums are already on DualDisc including Los Lonely Boys, Mariah Carey (number one this week!), Rob Thomas, Jennifer Lopez, John Mayer, Averil Levigne, Destiny's Child, Velvet Revolver and many more.
Why aren't we using this as an advertising channel?
Sony PSP 'Must Have' Gadget of 2005
I couldn't agree more. Riding the train home a week ago, I saw one of these up close. It's phenomenal. An amazingly clear color screen. Plays nearly-Playstation-level games and videos. And Podcasts, too! This BBC story details the iPod as number two choice. (Look for an iPod implosion in the next 18 months as digital music moves to cell phones and gaming portables like the PSP.)
Outlook on "must have" gadgets for 2006? XBox 360, HDTVs (prices keep coming down) and MP3 mobile phones.
Think the Internet's Not on Your Cell Phone? Think Again!
I just got this junk e-mail from a MySpace/Friendster-style service for cell phones --
"You now have 1 friend(s) that invited you to join SMS.ac, the largest mobile community in the world!
With SMS.ac you can send messages via the Web or your mobile phone to your friends and family, flirt with millions of people around the world, or receive Mobile Alerts on whatever topics you choose right to your mobile phone."
Go to http://www.sms.ac/ to check it out ... or "flirt" if that's your thing.
Bloggers Become Famous, Too
Just not in the USA ... YET
Suitman is a filmmaker and creative director I worked for years ago. Read the Manifesto page of the Website to see how he became Suitman. There are now gallery exhibits, action figures and assorted emphemeral accessories ... even television appearances ... of Suitman. And it all started as a photo travelogue.
GM's Blogging, Why Aren't YOU?!?!
http://www.gmblogs.com/
Go into Fastlane Blogs and visit the G6 Corvette blog. You can listen to a Podcast produced for Vette enthusiasts.
What?!? A PODCAST from GM ... Let's see, GM, Boeing, hmm ... What is YOUR CLIENT waiting for?!?!
Sometimes Multimedia Innovation is ... Dorky
But That's O-Kay
The Case for DVD in Direct Mail
A Cambridge Associates study shows that long-form video/interactive links via DVD/CD in DM increases response and recall.
- 3x greater response ... some with a 600 percent boost
- 50-60 percent increased recall vs. print alone
- Discs can be cheaper to produce vs. catalogs or brochures
- Reduced weight of discs saves postage costs
- Built-in Internet links improves sales source tracking (like DVD extras)
- Recipients consider DVDs to be "valuable" estimating a $15 value
- Discs are more likely to be retained or passed along (word of mouth)
So ... why relegate "long form" commercials to poor old TV? Shoot long form and mail it! Go ahead, have media compare costs (millions to buy air time vs. "millions"(?) to mail).
Why Use Direct Mail Anymore?
According to the DMA 2005 Postal & E-Mail Marketing Report marketers use DM/DeM for:
51.7% - Generate Orders
25.8% - Generate Leads
8.1% - Build Loyalty/Retention
5.6% - Drive Retail Traffic
4.5% - Drive Site Traffic
2.2% - Obtain E-Mail Addresses
Re-assess your media/marketing mix accordingly. Buy the full report here.
DMA (Direct Marketing Association) Absorbs Association for Interactive Marketing
Not in and of itself an exciting news blurb, I'll admit. Here's the scratch -- 80 percent of the DMA's membership (agencies such as FCBi, Arc WW (Burnett), Draft, Wunderman (Y&R), OgilvyOne, etc.) is in fact practicing interactive media tactics and ideas. Hold the phone ... So are We!?!?!
The "convergence" isn't just about the media. It's changing agency services. With the growth of TiVO and video on demand and home media centers that show Vlogs and Webcasts on the plasma hanging on your living room wall, interactivity becomes an every-time deal.
The question is no longer whether to make a component of your campaign interactive. It's how "deep" should the interactivity go? Think about DVD extras. If the bonus features are great, you look. If not, you watch the movie. (Hint: we're in the bonus features business.) So, the OFFER had better be compelling, or else.
Web Schmebb!!! The INTERNET is Everywhere! Especially on your phone!
News Junkies Need It Now c/o Wired News
"FreeNews, one of the latest mobile newsreaders, lets the headline hungry use a mobile phone to digest their favorite blogs or websites efficiently in a matter of minutes ... A new generation of newsreaders foregoes images and delivers just text formatted for RSS feeds ... It is available for Motorola and Nokia phones, among others, as well as for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile OS devices and the palmOne Treo ... FreeNews itself displays full articles, automatically stripping out the graphics and HTML."
It's really just an RSS News Reader for your cell phone vs. your computer (see RSS entry below). See? The Internet is everywhere!
Radio Wakes Up & Smells the Podcast courtesy Wired News
"Less than a year after podcasting caught the public imagination, the radio industry is beginning to wake up and smell the money. Earlier this month, talk-show host Rush Limbaugh began offering podcasts of his shows for $50 a year, and competitors like The Dr. Laura Schlessinger Program may follow his lead.
... WNYC's podcasts of its nationally syndicated show On the Media are being downloaded 15,000 to 18,000 times a week.
... Washington all-news station WTOP, a sister station of WWZZ, has its own podcast -- a special 15- to 30-minute daily news update for commuters
... But at least one U.S. commercial radio station -- KFMB-FM/100.7 Jack in San Diego -- is testing the pay waters. It's charging listeners $5 a month to download its top-rated morning show.
... In Los Angeles, public radio station KCRW-FM, which podcasts a whopping 22 shows and features, has found a potential solution to the moneymaking question. You know those underwriting announcements on public radio that sound like commercials? KCRW's podcasts soon will have their very own faux ads, courtesy of local Lexus dealers.
How to Start Your Own Blog
The two biggest free blog sites are TypePad and Blogger. You are, in fact, reading a free Blogger-dot-com blog (written via Blogger then published on Blogspot).
For DIY "power-bloggers" who make "pro-level" blogs (such as pundit Andrew Sullivan) there's blogging software programs like Movable Type.
From a favorite advertising industry blog, Brand Autopsy:
How Is Blogging Helping?
"No, really... What is blogging doing to help marketing? Customer communications? Innovative ideas? How is it helping tell the story? What types of marketing advances are being accomplished? How are we helping ourselves?
THE POSITIVES
- INFORMATION SHARING
- ONLINE NEWSLETTERS
- BROADER PEER BASE
THE QUESTIONS
- TALKING TO OURSELVES
- ARE WE MAKING A DIFFERENCE?"
Plus there are great links to other articles on Word Of Mouth marketing ...
Who are the MP3 Bloggers? The record labels love these guys!
"Mp3 blogs (or audio blogs or music blogs) are the newest frontier in online music-sharing—a groundswell has appeared in the last year of people posting mp3 files of songs they love, free of charge on personal web sites (but only available for a short period of time), and usually annotated with biographical and contextual notes about the artist and the music."
The major music labels now supply the most popular MP3 Bloggers with free advance CDs. They've acknowledged the influence and effect on sales of these "influencers"/"gatekeepers" via word of mouth. See what I see? A shift for recording companies and artists away from the captivity of the music press to get buzz. Rolling Stone magazine just took one more step closer to the cliff.
Here's another article on Playlist magazine's site. A great overview.
What is a BitTorrent? And why does the MPAA *hate* it so, so much?
BitTorrent is a P2P [illicit file sharing] system that makes transfering large files (or groups of files) [like entire movies] amongst a large group of people easy, fast and efficient.
The BitTorrent network is set up in a way that is a little different than a normal P2P ["peer to peer"] network [like Kazaa or the old Napster]. With this network, you really don't do any searching for files that the other users have using the client as you would with traditional clients like Kazaa [or the old Napster].
... Instead you find a listing of "Torrents" which are simply links on a Web site, a Blog or a Newsgroup. You use a small, free application that converts that "Torrent"/link into a download "stream" from the "Torrent" network, which is itself composed solely of the PCs of the other users on the network ... locally, nationally and globally.
[I understand that you are now glazed over in the stupor of hearing too much tech speak ... sorry 'bout that but there is no other way around this.]
So the MPAA can't shut the network down. Unlike the RIAA's successful eradication of the original Napster. Why? Because the network is distributed among all the users. There is NO centralized "server" where, presumably, some person or persons could be raided, loaded into court and prosecuted.
It's a totally democratic file sharing system that is literally composed of its constituent parts. AND it's far faster than the MP3 file trading networks (such as Kazaa, Gnutella and Limewire, etc.). SO people are swapping MOVIES all over this sucker. And the MPAA is going bonkers.
Oh yeah, and the FCC can't do anything about it. Remember ... no central servers = no culprits.
Share this with your favorite account planner! It's called Blog Pulse and it's got charts, graphs and data on emerging trends in the "blogosphere."
Link reference: http://www.blogpulse.com/index.html
http://www.suntimes.com/output/tech/cst-fin-iptv08.html
*IPTV will deliver juiced-up video on demand. Rather than the limited library of movies and premium programming now available on cable, IPTV promises to provide virtually any program whenever you want. You'll be able to watch the programs on any device on which you have access to the Internet -- your notebook computer in an Internet cafe, on a cell phone in an airport writing area or on a city street on your Web-enabled PDA.
IPTV is being phased in starting next year in SBC's service area. Prices haven't been announced.
More details on CNET's News-dot-com site
Study: iTunes more popular than many P2P sites
Published: June 7, 2005, 10:27 AM PDT
Link to complete article on Cnet.com
"One of the music industry's questions has been, when will paid download stores compete head-to-head with free P2P download services?" Russ Crupnick, president of the NPD Group's music and movies division, said in a statement. "That question has now been answered. iTunes is more popular than nearly any P2P service."
From CNN today - The Top Ten "Unwired" places in the United States (i.e. with the most wireless hot spots):
1. Seattle
2. San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland, Calif.
3. Austin, Texas
4. Portland, Ore.-Vancouver, Wash.
5. Toledo, Ohio
6. Atlanta
7. Denver
8. Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
9. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
10. Orange County, Calif.
Link - http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/07/technology/personaltech/wireless.reut/index.htm
More Bling Tones
From Chicago Tribune's Red Eye - 06/07/2005
Call it hip-hop to go. Russell Simmons' Def Jam Enterprises and greeting card company American Greetings are launching several new wireless services under the name Def Jam Mobile, according to the New York Post.
Artists including Chingy and Method Man have signed on to produce new tunes exclusively for mobile phones.
Among other subscdriber services: news from allhiphop.com, Rev. Run's Daily Word and Simmons' Laws of Success, all delivered to your [mobile] phone. For more, go to www.defjammobile.com.
Let's Learn About Radio Frequency Identification - RFID
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/1619/1/1/
RFID Brings Messages to Seattle Sidewalks
An RFID system being deployed next week will send marketing and assistive information to users carrying active RFID tags.
By Mary Catherine O'Connor
May 26, 2004—Think you're already exposed to too much advertising? Then you might want to avoid Seattle's downtown and Pioneer Square areas next week. Awarea, a Seattle-based startup, is deploying six RFID reader stations atop Qwest phone booths near retail stores and cafes. Passersby carrying key fobs with an embedded active RFID tag will trigger the stations to broadcast various audio marketing messages through speakers mounted on the phone booths or above store entrances. The content of the messages is based on the tag holder's preconfigured profile, and the user can press a button on the active tag to get further information or to accept a special offer.
... this is an excerpt ... Read the full article here
Apple Vows to Make Podcasting Easier
By RACHEL KONRAD, AP Technology Writer
Published June 7, 2005, 6:26 AM CDT
SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs called podcasting "the hottest thing going in radio" on Monday and promised to make it easier for audiophiles to create and distribute the digital recordings. ...
... Business Week, Forbes, Disney and Sirius have podcasts, as do hundreds of individuals including wine aficionados, baseball fans and political junkies. ...
... At a technology conference on Monday, Jobs previewed iTunes version 4.9. The software allows users to click on and subscribe to different podcasts, then automatically delivers the shows to any connected iPod
-- far less cumbersome than the third-party applications many listeners now need.
Link to complete article on Chicago Tribune dot com: click here now
United Airlines announces in-flight Wi-Fi
Link reference:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/sns-ap-united-wi-fi,1,6312356.story?coll=chi-business-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
The Good News:
"The Federal Aviation Administration will let United's parent, Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based UAL Corp., install the cabin equipment necessary to provide wireless Internet connection to passengers and crew members on U.S. domestic flights. United becomes the first domestic airline to get FAA approval that allows passengers to surf the Internet while riding through the sky."
The Bad News:
"United Airlines and Verizon, which already provides airfone capabilities for the carrier, said it must still get approval from the Federal Communications Commission before the new service can officially launch."
Baby steps, people. Baby steps. Or as Seth Godin calls them ... "soft innovations."
Who Says Technology is for Techies? - Free Online Seminars from Apple
Guitarists and the Mac: A Conversation with Pat Metheny (Online Seminar)
Join Pat Metheny in this free online seminar and learn how the Mac can help you take your music to the next level.
For more information visit http://seminars.apple.com/seminarsonline/guitarists/apple/index.html?s=203
Mobile Field Editing with Journalist Dr. Bob Arnot (online seminar)
Join Dr. Bob Arnot to learn how the Mac can help you become a more successful storyteller and videographer by editing video on-the-go using tools from Apple.
For more information visit http://seminars.apple.com/seminarsonline/mobilefieldediting/apple/index.html?s=203
Let's talk about RSS
It's really simple syndication. Commonly called News Feeds. You want to know when a Web site's been updated? Subscribe to its RSS News Feed. Now, Apple and Microsoft are making it simple by adding RSS features into their respective Web browsers: Safari RSS and Internet Explorer respectively.
Safari RSS with built-in "Live Bookmarks" (Mac OS only)
More info on Apple's site
Firefox RSS with built-in "Live Bookmarks" (Windows and Mac OS)
More from Mozilla's site
Microsoft's RSS Basics
More info on Microsoft's site
Here's a Screen Shot of a popular Windows RSS Reader
Click here to see it
Most Popular RSS Reader for Windows - RSS Bandit Screen Shots
See multiple images here
Note: RSS Bandit lets you see images with text while previewing news stories from sites such as NYTimes.com and Salon.com
My Fave RSS Reader for Mac OSX - Newsfire RSS
Go get your own
Note: The single best feature of Newsfire is command+D, which lets you search for RSS Feeds within any web site's domain; for example, by typing "www.pbs.org" I get back a listing of all PBS News Feeds (which now number in the dozens).
Subscribe to This Blog!
Copy this URL -- http://norev.blogspot.com/atom.xml -- and paste it into your RSS Reader (Bandit, Newsfire or whatever). Henceforth, when I've updated this site, you'll receive a notice with a blurb of text from my latest update.
Now That You've Got That Blog Thing Down, Time To Jump On The Vlog Wagon
Rocket Boom
This is one of the more popular and entertaining Vlogs out there. Great one to start with. Go back in the archive and watch the May 23rd and 24th videos. Amanda talks about Roadcasting (see post below for Wired Magazine story). But more importantly, she showcases a new electronics product called the Akimbo player ... then she reviews it (favorably in fact).
Go see the Akimbo player for yourself. It's just like TiVO, but it stores Web content (feeds, video, streams, webcasts, vlogs, etc.) instead of cable TV shows.
THE WORLD'S FIRST ALL-PODCAST RADIO STATION
EXCERPT:
The world's first all-podcast radio station will be launched on May 16 by Infinity Broadcasting, the radio division of Viacom. Infinity plans to convert San Francisco's 1550 KYCY, an AM station, to listener-submitted content. The station, previously devoted to a talk-radio format, will be renamed KYOURadio.
Far Out There Forecast of the Day: Roadcasting
Courtesy of Wired Magazine
EXCERPT: Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are developing an ad hoc networking system for cars that would allow any driver to broadcast music to any other vehicle within a 30-mile radius.
Developed by a group of current and former master's students at the Human Computer Interaction Institute, the Roadcasting project would allow drivers to stream their MP3 music collections by Wi-Fi or similar technology to any other vehicle within range that is equipped with compatible hardware and software.
Seth Godin wrote about the Idea Virus a few years back; if you missed it, you can download a free sample here. By the way, "idea virus" is another way of saying "word of mouth."
Don't Believe The Hype ... Part IX
Article about Diet Coke's "What's Your 20?" Web Series ... Back in March 2001. It' flopped.
Here's one that nobody gives a f**k about Oneify. It's got "Webisodes" and everything ... yet ... pffft! (It's Pepsi One, btw.)
Go to ARCHIVE-DOT-ORG and use the spiff on the home page for the Way Back Machine ... it's a storage database of Web sites that're now ... gone. Just type in a URL and take a trip back to the good ol' days of HTML 2.0.
Lookit whatcha get when you type in www.fcb.com -- Funny, no?
Also, visit the Live Music Archive and download tens of thousands of shows. Mostly jam bands like the Grateful Dead, Phish and Umphrey's McGee ... String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, Donna the Buffalo (there's a show from May 14th ... y'know, a couple of weeks ago), etc.
The shows are offered in MP3 and Shorten formats. Ah ... what's Shorten? It's a lossless digital format that compresses files without diminishing audio fidelity. So ... that Calexico show from Sweden sounds like you've patched into the soundboard yourownbadself.
Also, check out the Moving Picture Archive -- http://www.archive.org/details/movies -- with vintage TV spots, movies and various reels that will blow you mind.
May 23, 2005 10:50 am ET MacCentral
Jobs says Podcasting support coming with iTunes update
By Jim Dalrymple jdalrymple@maccentral.com
Apple CEO Steve Jobs told the assembled crowd at "D3: All Things Digital," that Apple would add Podcasting support to its next version of iTunes (4.9), which is due within 60 days. Apple will also be launching a service that will allow users to upload Podcast content -- Apple will then choose which content it will make available through iTunes, people at the event told MacCentral. Jobs also indicated that Apple had 70 percent market share for downloaded music.
From Reuters: A ringtone soars to top of charts in Britain
'Crazy Frog' single outselling Coldplay hit, takes over No. 1 (Updated: 6:18 p.m. ET May 29, 2005)
LONDON - The Crazy Frog mobile phone ring tone shot straight to the top of the British singles chart on Sunday — the first time a ring tone has achieved such a feat. The Official UK Charts Company said Crazy Frog’s “Axel F”, which went on sale as a CD last week, knocked Coldplay’s new release “Speed Of Sound” into second place.
I highly recommend you read the complete story of how this ring tone came into existence -- it's truly stranger than fiction.
BBC NEWS ARTICLE
Synopsis -- Some kid in Sweden made a home recording of himself imitating the sound of a motorscooter. He gave permission for Jamster (http://www.jamster.co.uk) to post it as a ring tone. Then, somebody along the way mixed a "mash up" of the Swedish kid's mouth music and Axel Funderburk's (sp?) theme song from an 80s movie (Beverly Hills Cop, if memory serves). Viola! A pop culture phenomenon (in the UK at least).
See the video here -- AXEL FROG VIDEO
Note -- You can buy *four* different mixes on the US iTunes music store RIGHT NOW! (Or download the EP for only $3.96).
And now a sobering dose of reality: Polyphonic ring tones remain fairly scarce in the USA. Unlike European cell phone networks that *all* use a 3G network backbone, the USA's cell phone carriers run on something like three network platforms. So, it's costly to post ring tones that work on *everybody's* cell phones; but it's also imperative to release a ring tone that works on *everybody's* phones.
Now some good news: Network aggregators have started up to pull together content (such as text messaging, text voting and ring tone downloads) for multiple USA cell carriers. That's why, for example, you can now vote on American Idol even if you're not using an AT&T/Cingular wireless phone.
This article from the NYTimes presenting yet another reason why Podcasting (or Radio On Demand/ROD as it will inevitably become known ... even Adam Curry doesn't really like the moniker "Podcasting" per se) is changing, well, everything. And why the shift in marketing from power of the brand to power of the consumer continues to show us how the best ideas often come from enterprising DIYers who just wanna have some fun.
--
May 28, 2005
With Irreverence and an iPod, Recreating the Museum Tour
By RANDY KENNEDY
If you soak up the Jackson Pollocks at the Museum of Modern Art while listening to the museum's official rented $5 audio guide, you will hear informative but slightly dry quotations from the artist and commentary from a renowned curator. ("The grand scale and apparently reckless approach seem wholly American.")
But the other day, a college student, Malena Negrao, stood in front of Pollock's "Echo Number 25," and her audio guide featured something a little more lively. "Now, let's talk about this painting sexually," a man's deep voice said. "What do you see in this painting?"
A woman, giggling, responded on the audio track: "Oh my God! You're such a pervert. I can't even say what that - am I allowed to say what that looks like?"
The exchange sounded a lot more like MTV than Modern Art 101, but for Ms. Negrao it had a few things to recommend it. It was free. It didn't involve the museum's audio device, which resembles a cellphone crossed with a nightstick. And best of all, it was slightly subversive: an unofficial, homemade and thoroughly irreverent audio guide to MoMA, downloaded onto her own iPod .
FROM DAVID JONES --
Radio Gets On Podcast Bandwagon
Even though 99 percent of Americans have no idea what a podcast is, thousands have sprung up and hundreds of companies are chasing them with open wallets. Rush Limbaugh has joined the movement and will make his radio broadcasts available as a podcast. Clear Channel will offer podcasts of certain programming as well.
In a unique move, San Francisco's KYCY-AM has become a station programmed completely by podcasts submitted by listeners. It's all the rage now but it isn't dot com insanity. With the explosive growth in usage of MP3 player (on which podcasts can play) and the increasing amount of citizen-generated programming, podcasting, in our opinion, will take off and become a viable medium providing both individuals and corporations to cash in.
From Stephen Strong --
MediaPost's Out to Launch covers the debut of a viral campaign for the MTV Movie Awards which contains cutting room floor footage of auditions and award category clips that didn't make the final edit such as "Best Almost Topless Scene," "Best Man-Dog High Five" and Best Man In A Pirate Hat." The guys behind Two Headed Dog, NightAgency, crafted this one. There's also an MTVeatmovies.com viral that poses as a casting agency, Sunrise Casting Studios, which contains horrific faux audition clips for Troy, Ray and Spiderman.
• CATEGORIES http://www.mtveatmovies.com/categories
• AUDITIONS http://www.mtveatmovies.com/auditions
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