How Mainstream Is That? ... Parade Magazine Reports on Emerging Platforms!
Mobile Phone TV + Media! ... http://archive.parade.com/2005/1120/1120_media.html
Gadgets of 2005! ... http://archive.parade.com/2005/1120/1120_gadget_guide.html
Hey ... if it's in Parade, it's in America's living rooms and shopping carts!
RFID Lanyard for Tracking School Attendance
There's little mystery here -- Just compare this to using the ID card you've got to enter our building. The difference is our ID cards are bulky and magnetic (don't strap it to your Blackberry), while RFID chips are very small and much, much cheaper.
Roll Your Own Search Engine by RollYO.com
http://www.rollyo.com/
You can designate a specific search ... for example a new digital camera or mobile phone ... or register for a "My Rollyo" page and add "celebrity" searches such as Arianna Huffington's favorite blogs or Debra Messing's favorite online shopping destinations.
You Need To Know About ... Skype
Free Internet Telephone Service (VOIP) That's Finally ... Global
- Here's the main Skype Web site
- The "Share Skype" promo site
- This leads to a Google Results pageThe Skype Blog
- KishKish™ "helps small business efficiently use Skype as their main communication vehicle"
- FreeConferenceCall.com for "free teleconferencing with Skype"
- The Wikipaedia entry on Skype
Mastercard Introduces PayPass System - RFID Chip Branded "Blink"
http://www.mastercard.com/aboutourcards/paypass.html
The Chase version of this card is featured in a campaign called "Blink"... at this promo site. Notice the "smart chip" in the center of the card. That's the RFID chip, folks. The trade pub CardWeb has an article here. It requires a compatible POS terminal that Chase is rolling out nationally.
The ExxonMobil SpeedPass is familiar, no? It should be ... it's practically the same technology. But now it's embedded in the credit card instead of requiring a dangling keychain device. BTW, SpeedPass and McDonald's was a total failure!
The ExxonMobil SpeedPass is familiar, no? It should be ... it's practically the same technology. But now it's embedded in the credit card instead of requiring a dangling keychain device. BTW, SpeedPass and McDonald's was a total failure!
Authors warn that marketers, retailers and the government are likely to overreach into confidential consumer information by using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.
Examples include Illinois' I-Pass, ExxonMobil's SpeedPass and the State Dept's plans to embed a chip into your passport. Read the complete article here.
More Evidence that Mass Media are Moving Out of Home
AdSpace Mall-vertising Video Boards
- AdSpace screens are available in 22 U.S. malls. Current markets include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Sacramento.
- The 22 malls in AdSpace’s current network have 340 million visitors annually, according to the U.S. Mall Directory. Each month 189 million people shop at U.S. malls, according to a 2004 Arbitron study. The average shopping time in malls is 90 minutes.
BARENAKED [LADIES] ON A STICK!
... is a USB flash memory drive containing songs, videos, and exclusive content from the Barenaked Ladies, and will go on sale November 22, 2005! Essential for any BNL fan’s collection, the 128mg USB flash memory drive (about the size of your pinky finger) is a fast and easy way to share music, videos, pictures and other data. It is PC/Mac compatible, re-usable and incredibly low priced at $29.98 (close to the same cost of the device on its own with no special content). It will be available on Amazon.com and Werkshop.com (Nettwerk’s online merchandise store), and will also be sold at all BNL shows this winter.
This 128 reusable drive contains the following features:
- The complete For The Holidays Album in mp3 format
- Live tracks
- Best of the Adlibs
- Album artwork
- Photo Gallery ... and more
Google Unveils Tool to Map Shopping Trips
SAN FRANCISCO - Joining the herd of Web sites jostling to cash in on the holiday shopping season, online search engine leader Google Inc. is adding a tool designed to make it easier for consumers to map out their local trips to the mall. The feature, to be unveiled Tuesday at Google's Froogle shopping site, will pinpoint the merchants selling a specific item within a designated ZIP code. Besides displaying a map showing all the local stores carrying the merchandise, Froogle also will list price differences.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company developed the free tool to help consumers avoid the frustration of traveling to a store that no longer has an item on their shopping lists, said Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer products.
Froogle, a comparison shopping site that Google launched three years ago, will continue to give visitors the option to buy the merchandise online. Google receives a commission for the online referrals.
Initially, Google is depending on a contractor to pull the inventory information from several hundred major merchants. The search engine hopes to make the service even comprehensive by encouraging stores to submit their own customized merchandises list to the newly created "Google Base" — an information clearinghouse for everything from family recipes to scientific formulas.
Froogle will pull the product inventory lists from Google Base and include them in its index, Mayer said.
With the busiest shopping season just days away, other major shopping comparison sites also have been upgrading in a bid to lure more traffic. Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), perhaps Google's biggest rival, recently expanded its shopping site so it spans 90 million products, up from 60 million a year ago.
Froogle hasn't been nearly as successful as Google's main search engine, which has reigned as the Internet's most popular for several years. In the comparison shopping niche, Froogle ranked as the fifth largest site with 6.36 million unique U.S. visitors during September, according to Nielsen/NetRatings Inc.
The top two comparison sites — E.W. Scripps Co.'s Shopzilla and eBay Inc.'s Shopping.com — each attracted about 15 million unique visitors. They both advertise heavily on Google and Yahoo to lure much of their traffic.
Black Friday Morphs Into Cyber Monday
Got heartburn from the stuffing your mom made and don't feel like hoofing it to the mall the day after Thanksgiving with the rest of the shopping schleps? Looks like this is your lucky year. Now, instead of Black Friday, the day traditional retailers monitor store traffic and sales for the holiday sales season, it's all about Cyber Monday. Yes, that's right folks, now that online holiday shopping has been creeping steadily into store sales, it's time to give the Monday after Thanksgiving a name—and somebody out there thought Cyber Monday sounded good. According to the Shop.org/BizRate Research 2005 eHoliday Mood Study, 77 percent of online retailers said that their sales increased substantially last year on this Monday, a trend that is driving serious online discounts and promotions on Cyber Monday this year. So now you can sleep off your turkey and play video games the day after Thanksgiving, and just do your Christmas shopping online. At work. According to the eHoliday Mood Study, 43 percent of online retailers plan to offer special promotions and discounts on Cyber Monday. Deals will range from free shipping to gifts with purchase to percentages off.
Vimeo for Your Videos
What Flickr did for photos ... Vimeo does for Video
Now that about half or more of US Internet users are surfing at broadband speeds, there's a video revolution going down on the Net. Vlogs are popping up all over. iTunes is offering tons of free videos. Third party software developers are coding apps that let dorks like me convert Quicktime videos into iPod-friendly .m4v videos. And now there's Vimeo ... where there are lots and lots and lots of videos to see and share. Many are simply (and illegally) captured from TV. But it's a start ...
http://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/18/8-easy-steps-to-put-internet-video-on-your-ipod
Too Tech for the Room
or Another Installment of How Consumer Adoption Requires Simplicity or Else!
Just read the steps necessary to capture Web video and transfer it to your new iPod Video player. It's byzantine at best! Only when someone makes it as easy as "click here to download" will consumeres adopt portable video in large numbers. For now, it's just way too techie.
Wal-Mart opens new store concept for disaster impacted areas
NOVEMBER 18, 2005 -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Bentonville, Ark., yesterday announced the grand opening of the new "Wal-Mart Express" on the site of its formerly damaged Wal-Mart Supercenter in Waveland, Miss. This new store format will offer a merchandise mix solely focused on the unique needs of this community still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Operating more recently as a "tent store" to provide basic needs for residents, the new store will open its doors tomorrow at 8 a.m.
The Wal-Mart Express is a new store concept that differs from the footprint of a typical Wal-Mart store. The 57,000-sq.-ft. store can be entered through the store's original front entrance and is enclosed within the original 205,800-sq.-ft. building by dust-proof, insulated walls. The merchandise mix will differ from a typical Wal-Mart store, focusing on essential items, in the quantities and sizes needed for this community, as they continue to rebuild from the storm. Wal-Mart plans to eventually return the Waveland store to a Wal-Mart Supercenter in the future.
"Cyber Monday" becoming one of the year's biggest online shopping days
NOVEMBER 21, 2005 -- While traditional retailers will be monitoring store traffic and sales on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), online retailers have set their sights on something different: Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, which is becoming one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. For the past few years, online retailers have found that sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving have been creeping higher, giving retailers an additional reason to be jolly during the ceremonial kickoff to the holiday season. According to the Shop.org/BizRate Research 2005 eHoliday Mood Study, 77 percent of online retailers said that their sales increased substantially last year on the Monday after Thanksgiving, a trend that is driving serious online discounts and promotions on Cyber Monday this year.
Experts believe that an increase in web traffic could stem from the fact that consumers may have faster or more secure Internet connections at work and choose to shop there, or that they were unable to finish all of their shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend. Analysts also expect many consumers to shop on Cyber Monday from home after work or when their children are sleeping. Regardless of the reason or the time of day, consumers are expected to head online in droves on Cyber Monday, many during work hours.
According to a recent Shop.org survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more than one third of consumers (37 percent), or 51.7 million people, said they will use Internet access at work to browse or buy gifts online this holiday season. The survey found that more than half of young adults 18-24 (51 percent) and nearly half of those 25-34 (49 percent) will be shopping online during work hours. The survey also found that men (42 percent) are more likely than women (32 percent) to shop at the office.
Podcast "Network" - ODEO
The number of outlets offering podcasts is proliferating. That's not new news. Let's watch as the winners and losers emerge and disappear. Here's a good candidate.
http://www.odeo.com/
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1860802,00.asp
And The First Blu-Ray Title Will Be...
Sony BMG offers MP3 files and disks for unsafe CDs
BARCELONA (Reuters) - In an attempt to make up with consumers whose PCs have been exposed to unsecure copy-protection software which acts like malware, music publisher Sony BMG said on Friday it would swap unsecure CDs for new unprotected disks as well as unprotected MP3 files.- Link to complete article
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051121/ap_on_hi_te/tivotogo_expands
TiVo Inc. Expands to IPods and PSPs
TiVo Inc. is expanding its video recording service so users will be able to transfer recorded television shows onto Apple Computer Inc.'s iPods or Sony Corp's PlayStation Portable — the latest move aimed at putting TV in people's hands for viewing anywhere.Sam Goody goes high-tech
NOVEMBER 15, 2005 -- Entertainment retailer Sam Goody, a part of Minnetonka, Minn.-based The Musicland Group Inc., will debut the interactive Reactrix media network in about 100 of its stores. Placed at the front entrance of most Sam Goody stores, the networked media displays will be used to draw mall shoppers into the store and drive advertising sales. Reactrix's visioning technology actually "sees" and responds to consumers' movements as they interact with the programmed media content. Reactrix media mimics video games, the form of entertainment preferred by 12 to 24-year-old consumers, Sam Goody's core target buying audience. Certain Sam Goody locations will also newly be featuring a Graze Bar, a store-within-a-store that allows for interactive CD burning and cell phone sales. The Graze Bar concept was developed by Henke Design and Excel Fixtures.
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