tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238200621652714042024-02-21T09:47:34.101+01:00Add.Like.Follow.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-11977386663380078822013-12-21T08:51:00.001+01:002013-12-21T08:53:41.426+01:00Beginning of a new start-up column on Bright Side of News : THE ROCKI ROAD<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 16.988636016845703px;">Pursuing my itch to write again, I've started writing a column - the real life adventure of running a new tech startup in today's blood thirsty consumer electronics world - THE ROCKI ROAD. Behind the scenes as we the ROCKI team kickoff our pursuit of the ROCKI dream after a successful campaign on Kickstarter. The winding road complete with roadblocks, uphill battles, rollercoaster emotions journeys through territories including smartphones, smartwatches, wearable technology, streaming services, music, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, venture captial and events such as CES, Grammy's, Mobile World Congress, Cebit, and more, all seen through start-up eyes. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 16.988636016845703px;">I'm very happy that THE ROCKI ROAD has found a home on www.BrightSideOfNews.com. Episode #1 Life After Kickstarter Shall Begin At CES. <br /></span><a href="http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2013/12/20/the-rocki-road-part-1---life-after-kickstarter-shall-begin-at-ces.aspx">http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2013/12/20/the-rocki-road-part-1---life-after-kickstarter-shall-begin-at-ces.aspx</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.984375px;">I'd love to hear your feedback - Did you enjoy it? Was it boring? Too much rambling? Did you smile or lightly chuckle? Positive feedback or negative feedback, is all good feedback.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-54918103250848940642013-03-19T15:54:00.001+01:002013-03-19T19:41:01.762+01:00Samsung & Apple, iWatch and wait ..<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Rumorville is closely watching and rumor-mongering Apple's iWatch. Apparently Samsung is also watching (pun intended), confirming today that they too are working on a watch (<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/19/samsung-confirms-it-will-build-a-smart-watch-as-speculation-about-apples-iwatch-continues/" target="_blank">article here</a>). I hope it looks better than the current ones. As a gadget lover, I've fallen in love with the idea of the "computer watch" long ago, so long ago that I'm already on the 5th divorce without ever getting married.<br />
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Yes, hello everyone, my name is Nick, I'm a gadget addict, I've never had a smart watch and still want one.<br />
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My first love was the Casio databank watch. Never had it, but so wanted it. This other guy in basic school had it. It could do so much things and it looked so cool on his wrist (not too sure it made him any cooler, but I was not one of the cool guys too so who am I to judge if he was cool or not). Whether a cool gadget makes the wearer cool, that's a long debate and every marketer will sure tell you "Oh you silly boy, of course it makes you so cool"<br />
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Then David Hasselhoff showed up on tele with the talking car and every so often he would talk into his watch. The watch would occasionally even prove to save his life automagically like when he is unconscious. Who could forget that photo of the Hoff-man with his hand to the wrist - what a classic. So we wanted that watch too. Couldn't get one, not even a plasticky pretend-it's-real toy version.<br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSHRHS3IQPBlGLTXYMMaCU-xmJZSaFETeSozL3pEMaypAweHQGd" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>And as trends go cold, they go very cold - everyone ran away from digital watches and the Hoff-man like it's the plague. So for a while watches were safe from having to do anything other than tell you the time, and of course tell everyone who you are and what your net worth is - a Rolex or a Tag Heuer, a CK or a Replay.<br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSHRHS3IQPBlGLTXYMMaCU-xmJZSaFETeSozL3pEMaypAweHQGd" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSHRHS3IQPBlGLTXYMMaCU-xmJZSaFETeSozL3pEMaypAweHQGd" width="200" /></a>Meanwhile, twenty years went by, David Hasselhoff is somewhat cool again, Casio while not back to its glory days have shaken off the plague-problem. And suddenly Sony decided that since they can do phones, they could do watches too plus you can't argue that they do have the bragging right of "hey look we're the kings of personal and portable we gave you the walkman". The first time I saw it, my first thoughts were who are you trying to fool, that's not a watch, it's like a blocky bulky mp3 player with some strap that you can strap to your wrist and you call it a watch. Not to blame the form designers, it's probably the technology - it's not there yet, the electronics are not small enough for the designers to be able to play with forms and shapes. The idea is cool though but I sure ain't buying this. So let's wait.<br />
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Of course the Chinese Factories had to follow up with their Android watches in all shapes and sizes. Innovation is sometimes like evolution, a case of hit and miss, just try all kinds of combinations and mutations. I was at that time in Shenzhen - the capital of China electronics - when a friend was visiting and saw online all the mutant Android watches and absolutely wanted to get one. Convinced me that I should help him get one (the sales people didn't speak much Chinese). After years of experience with factories and product photos, I was already a little wary. His enthusiasm did rub off on me and I felt the tingling of optimistic anticipation too as the nice sales lady offered to bring the watches to us (instead of us having to go to the factory). There we sat at the Starbucks (only reason for choosing Starbucks is that everyone seems to know where it is) as she took out the watches - my heart sank sank sank sank and sank. True enough as I suspected, product photos tend to hide thickness pretty well, every decent product marketer knows that, to show photos of products from a certain angle. There was nothing wrong with the devices - she has no less than 10 different models - they function well and you can make bluetooth calls. There was no breakthrough I was hoping for - it's still a bunch of devices with a strap, and since it's strapped to the wrist and it can tell time, let's call it a watch. In my books, a wrist device is NOT a watch. We didn't buy any.<br />
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Pebble, the 10 million dollar Kickstarter record holder. Cool, there's THAT many people loving the idea of a smart watch. I must say this is getting very close (still not there, for me). Love what they did with the display, the clock faces. It is thinner than previous Smart watches (and as I said earlier waiting for technology to allow form and shape), but again don't be fooled by the product photo angles, it's still thicker than it looks on the photos. Nothing wrong with thick if the form and shape is good (think huge thick diving watches). Pebble still hasn't evolved smart watches beyond the let's strap a device to our wrist with any strap and call it a watch. And I can see the Pebble team's strengths is in 2D design - the faces are really awesomely cool - not so much on 3D form. All in all, a solid Kickstarter project that's done more than any of the the big corporations have in moving forward in the quest for the smart watches.<br />
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Thirty plus years on and we might just be finally getting there? Samsung's preview photos are sadly not exciting me, it's the same old same old device + strap story. Apple? The iWatch concept phots in rumorville is are awesome but remember how exciting the iPhone5 was supposed to look like, according to the concept rumors?<br />
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Smart Watches - I'm still waiting to say the Yes, I do... with all the cynical optimism of an old post-menopause 5-time-divorced-without-ever-getting-married single. iWait.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-1446142604483696872013-03-19T11:04:00.001+01:002013-03-19T11:05:55.928+01:00Facebook Timeline predict the future?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Have you inserted photos into your timeline in the past? You have, haven't you. Carefully constructing the past on your timeline, the college photos, the old vacations, even the baby photos. Not just personal timelines, but also the world Timeline is being filled in too. Example, did you know you can check out the Timeline of the 2nd World War as it unfolded.<br />
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What started off as a sequential Timeline to record your Now moments as you post, has also taken on the role of recording the past. Lets us time travel and reverse into our pasts. That got me thinking... so, if we can Reverse into our past on Timeline, can we then also Fast Forward into our future on Timeline?<br />
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Figment of my imagination? Think again - it's hypothetically very possible. How? Facebook's other new feature - the Graph Search.<br />
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It's the pattern analysis / predictive technology behind the Graph Search could hold the key to the Future. Facebook analyses your Like!s, posts, comments, locations, and makes predictions that helps your friends search for you, or for you to search for them and practically anything else. Example, "friends who like sushi and are going on vacation to Europe this summer"<br />
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As the old saying goes (and also remembering my history teacher in school who repeatedly emphasized the relevance of learning history), "by studying the past, we can predict the future". Facebook could use all that pattern analysis to predict what you might do tomorrow. Based on predictive extrapolation and geographic data, Facebook could hypothetically predict who you might bump into "coincidentally" at the airport. How about predicting the cliched "romance is in the air as the planet of love moves into your star" - that could very well be Facebook <i>knowing</i> someone's secretly in love with you! I can see the marketing caption "Facebook - the new Horoscope, more accurate than any other cos its real science!"<br />
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I digress. Predicting personal future on the Timeline is fun but what would make much more impact would be predicting the World. The future of Mankind. It is hypothetically possible.<br />
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For now, after happily playing with Timeline the Now, and then Timeline the Past, I'm ready for Timeline the Future. The current Timeline stops at Now. It would be so awesome to be able to just slide it forward into the future, and discover your future life, perhaps you attending your favorite band's concert coming up (hint: advertising dollars!!!). Facebook Timeline the Future would also be so one-up on the upcoming Google Now, which Google is promising would stay one step ahead of you and show you everything you want to know now before you know it. Why just one step ahead when you can fast forward into the future - just slide on the Timeline into the Future - time travel is real - the Future is Now, Now is the Future. I'm ready for Timelining into my Future.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-4745674563208570652013-03-13T16:44:00.001+01:002013-03-13T17:45:23.829+01:00Would Google Glass be banned in strip clubs?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSupSoG5QXlv8sDeQk0philpI_OC5hx5dhl4GOxLDoDuc-_gRr2pNVi7FQUYyOZVPUXT7iaprEEANlGLO3DUXsKIR5wxgUJKNndVUV-EckgNLWfzhLgdw4oi2_mkmKnIDDVQfhKDLkCk4/s1600/20130313-google-glass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSupSoG5QXlv8sDeQk0philpI_OC5hx5dhl4GOxLDoDuc-_gRr2pNVi7FQUYyOZVPUXT7iaprEEANlGLO3DUXsKIR5wxgUJKNndVUV-EckgNLWfzhLgdw4oi2_mkmKnIDDVQfhKDLkCk4/s200/20130313-google-glass.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's no doubt there's an excitement in the techie world about the Google Glass, seeing the number of news and non-news that comes by every day. Some positive, some negative, everyone is jumping into its slipstream to say something about it. Yes, myself included with this blog, here I go...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />"Wouldn't that be a lot of invasion into privacy?" that's consistently the first comment whenever I explain the Google Glass to a non-techie, so consistent that it's becoming predictable. Of course, many blogs and tech journals have also jumped onto the bandwagon with articles like "Expect wide usage bans over privacy concerns", "Google Glass Half Full : Why that ban may not be needed", "Google glass is good for privacy"... you get the drift. The marketing champ that stole the limelight is 5 Point Bar, the Seattle bar that made a press release being the first bar to ban the Google Glass, promising an ass kicking for anyone disobeying the ban. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />The lists of where Google Glass would not be welcome runs on and on:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pubs, Bars, Cafes : what if you're caught on camera and your wife sees you there when you shouldn;t be, or worse, with someone you shouldn't be with</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cinemas : you could actually be live streaming that blockbuster movie to anyone(s) in the whole world, or be the first to put up the torrent batmen_returns_again_6_cam_x264_aac-BiGdAddy.torrent</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Casinos : something about counting cards? All I know about casinos is from watching too much Las Vegas (the TV series)</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Playgrounds : because it could be used by pedophiles to monitor kids</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes, the list can go on and on. That's what disruptive innovation does, it forces people to scramble new rules which didn't need to exist before. New rules about what's acceptable behavior, what's outright not ok and there would be a lot of gray area, a lot of disagreement before the dust settles and a new social norm finds its own balance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Now you might wonder why sorely missing from the above list of Ban-Google-Glass places is : the Strip Clubs, the title of this post - Would Google Glass be banned in strip clubs? It would be the most logical place to ban it - the privacy of customers, concerns of the performances being recorded / streamed etc. On the contrary, I think Google Glass would be very welcome!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So why do I think Strip Clubs just might not ban it? Just look back in history, you'd find the porn industry has always been the firsts to embrace new technology:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">DVD - when Hollywood was still holding out on DVDs, porn stood up for it - I know because I was marketing DVD-ROM drives and there was like 3 movie titles available for Region 2 (Europe), and at the same time already 200+ porn titles Region-Free - it's true!</span></li>
</ul>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Video Conferencing - the firsts webcam uses (then known as video conferencing ) were mostly personal "hello Grandma" and the likes. Before other non-tech industry could say "Hello, you see me?", all kinds of porn webcam services were making good and solid revenue!</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">not to mention breast implant technology, photoshopping, modem dial-up bulletin boards, photo-sharing sites, discreet internet shopping... they've always been ahead on the adoption curve. Well, not just adopting new technology, but actually embracing it and synergizing with full creativity.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">You see, there's no stigma.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Not chained by stigma, it's free to embrace, free to create, free to create opportunities that outweigh the negatives. Imagine pay per view or ad-funded crowdcamera'd very multi-angle streaming, instead of illegal streaming; imagine sexciting (sorry I couldn't resist the pun) augmented reality, instead of privacy concerns (eg. auto realtime face replacements could replace your face with that of a dragon); imagine imagine ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And we all know the old saying "you can do anything you put your mind to". Opportunities don't come to those who say nay. Take a lesson from the porn industry. New opportunities, new challenges, new industries, all thrive on disruptive innovation. Lose the fretting, just imagine.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>---- disclaimer</i><br /><i>I've been advised me to put this disclaimer (for the sake of my professional career): I am not from the porn industry, nor paid by the porn industry, nor involved with the porn industry in whatever form. The references to the porn industry in the article is just a personal observation that I've noticed in my many years in the technology world, with the introduction of each new technology. And please please read my blogs with whatever sense of humor you can mutter and not take it too seriously.</i></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-42088350866990717222013-01-18T15:38:00.000+01:002013-03-13T16:50:51.245+01:00That Parallel Universe - s01e01 - something about WeChat, Facebook video call, morphing clones and all that<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQ1wrij32d5mECLlJ_lxi6tbBhfb2NrhNbujI6ktu3MaLoyHd6gLYn3BZI0wCBn_XI2XQ8fH2cJw84F8svsjoZjfN839323CVB5R6GOhF8CiL_Kckzm51OXbl_ZLEhb4vBiqdnpJrqNg/s1600/blog001-weixin-whatsapp-facebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQ1wrij32d5mECLlJ_lxi6tbBhfb2NrhNbujI6ktu3MaLoyHd6gLYn3BZI0wCBn_XI2XQ8fH2cJw84F8svsjoZjfN839323CVB5R6GOhF8CiL_Kckzm51OXbl_ZLEhb4vBiqdnpJrqNg/s1600/blog001-weixin-whatsapp-facebook.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.7656535098794848" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 53px;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was reading this article about how Facebook is trying out video calls in their messenger app (<a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/01/facebook-buries-video-calling-partner-skype-with-a-tiny-app-update/" target="_blank">WIRED: Facebook Could Bury Video Calling Partner Skype...</a>) </span></b><b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 53px;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I can’t help thinking : the social media in that parallel universe (aka China) is actually one-up on this one. Traditionally more known for its “cloning” ability rather than one-up-ness, where each newborn Social Media killer-app would generate similar clone(s) in the parallel universe, the social media giants of China seem to be finding their own feet.</span></b><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 53px;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For months, I’ve actually been happily been using video calls (and also video calls without the video) from within my social media hangout/ecosystem on the phone, without thinking much about it. It’s just there without much fanfare. Done it on wifi, done it on 3G as well - the audio call qualities were certainly good enough for business discussions too (not the choppy “hello hello do you hear me” kind in the early days of VOIP). </span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s WeChat (Weixin as it is more commonly known in China). So what is this WeChat?</span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well it was born more like Whatsapp, once it’s installed, it reads your mobile phone book and tells you everyone in it that also has WeChat installed, after which you can message each other... very much like Whatsapp. Then it developed further.</span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Added “Moments”, a facebook/instagram like feature where you can make posts (with up to 9 photos per post) and friends could “Like” and/or comment. That morphed the Whatsapp-clone into Facebook/Twitter type of ecosystems of social hangouts. Like any ecosystems, it could have been embarrassing quiet with little activity. No worries here, partly helped by the fact the its parent is Tencent (the company’s other product is QQ, the ICQ-clone which morphed into hands down still the largest social media ecosystem in China. I’ll write more about that in another post)</span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Within 14 months of WeChat launch, it hit the 100 million users benchmark in March 2012. Impressive, isn’t it? Now what do you think of this... the next 100 million came within a mere 6 months! Yes, by Sep 2012, WeChat had 200 million users. And as I write this, the Jan 2013 figures shows it has gone past 300 million users (that’s a 100 million in a little over 3 months) While that’s still a farcry from Facebook’s Billion, it’s not hard to gasp at 300 million users in 24 months. And mind you, it’s not just numbers - as a user it is VERY noticeable too how many more friends are on there now and how much more bustling it has become.</span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So back to the video calling function, I do look forward to Facebook rolling out the feature to everyone (instead of iOS-USA only as it is now), so I speak with friends in this world (WeChat’s footprint in this world is as close to zero as you could get, zero, nought, nihil).</span></b><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 53px;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.7656535098794848" style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 53px;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And then back the topic of that parallel world - over there these days it’s not just about cloning where the copy is a lesser product anymore you know. That was one era ago. It’s on to the next era now where the born-clones has a very vibrant and enormous environment, full of nutrients and resources, to grow in its own way such that it exceeds its origin. Ahhh how sweet, isn’t that what every parent wants of their offspring? Would the clone’s origins feel the same of their clones too : ) Or would we all start running around clutching our hair screaming “end of the world - end of the world - clones that think - clones are taking over the world”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whatever your perspective is - positive or negative, engage or barricade - that parallel universe is there, not going away, alive and kicking, breathing and growing. And quite often than not, surprisingly different from your mental image and can be refreshingly new. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[note: Please don’t take this blog tooo seriously. It’s written light-heartedly, time off from all the serious thinking, always from my perspective with a dash of my oddball humor. I do invite you to a conversation if something I wrote interests you and you’ve got something to say - positive or negative, serious or light-hearted - conversations are always welcome]</span></span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-37258614935075030212011-06-18T19:40:00.001+02:002011-06-18T20:52:03.356+02:00What if +1 was named +Godzillion…<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSSx0_eqp2mut3v-rupp9WpqbkuAmXrzSvgFTPFuxoYSB-kO4iXa-fMjzrxLeZxZBnrZGnwq5RNwWSMCVjho5eI-48ilejmtH0u5SJSkTqugh63sAOljTrUVR7S8t4VeW9eVL4ZzvH60A/s1600-h/ItsInTheNameDoh-plus-Godzillion%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="ItsInTheNameDoh-plus-Godzillion" border="0" alt="ItsInTheNameDoh-plus-Godzillion" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-cQF36DFd7vw/TfzjDo9LCOI/AAAAAAAAAKc/cB-DSDImC68/ItsInTheNameDoh-plus-Godzillion_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="496" height="281"></a></p> <p>Google’s +1 has not been doing well in getting followers to click on that +1 Button. Just passed its half month mark, +1 is only managing single digits where right next to it, the rival buttons are getting 10s, 100s, 1000s of Likes, Tweets and so forth. I’ve written an article today on Bright Side of News looking at exactly how bad (or good) +1 is now. In short, not good. The news vine is also starting to write about this disappointing start. What’s wrong? Is it too harsh to start judging +1 now already?</p> <p>It’s already tough enough to be doing catch up against the golden boys Facebook and Twitter, much less saddled with a bad start. Adding followers one at a time is not quite going to work. Just imagine how different it could be if only +1 was named +Godzillion right from the start… </p> <p>Check out my +1 reporting on <a href="http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2011/6/18/is-google-2b1-yet-another-social-media-dud.aspx" target="_blank">Bright Side of News here : Is Google +1 Yet Another Social Media Dud?</a></p> <p>ps. remember to +1 the articles! Without the power of +Godzillion, Google needs every +1 of you…</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-37788329831141945632011-06-17T13:39:00.001+02:002011-06-17T14:18:56.520+02:00Happy (belated) Birthday IBM : 100 Years Old<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-z292GvBmB1E/Tfs84uaeFOI/AAAAAAAAAKM/hn-eRoHVyD4/s1600-h/IBM_PC_5150%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="IBM_PC_5150" border="0" alt="IBM_PC_5150" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-YcGNzwNnWu4/Tfs85RUj7LI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/eK2NsYqUAu0/IBM_PC_5150_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="177"></a></p> <p>IBM, a name we don’t hear much anymore. Not in the feeds, not in the tweets. IBM, the mighty Apple-killer… I have fond memories of how I traded in my Apple II compatible for an IBM PC compatible. I wrote a blog post today about it - which is now published on <a href="http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2011/6/17/happy-(belated)-birthday-ibm-100-years-old!.aspx" target="_blank">BrightSideofNews.com (BSN*)</a> - reflecting on its past glory, a gentle reminder that the movers and shakers of today - Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Nokia (this one might be on the way already) - could be the grandpa’s of tomorrow. </p> <p>Have you also once had an IBM PC back then? Did you also totally miss this 100 year old birthday? Can’t be bothered? Feel free to share your thoughts, and memories about it. Comment here, or Twitter @AddLikeFollow</p> <p><a href="http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2011/6/17/happy-(belated)-birthday-ibm-100-years-old!.aspx" target="_blank">Happy (belated) Birthday IBM : 100 Years Old!</a><br>IBM had its 100th birthday yesterday, and I missed it. I did see the news flash by yesterday in by daily news watch, but I was just too busy to write about it. It wasn’t on my to-write list, not on my agenda and disappointingly not on my social media birthday calendars which I have come to rely on. Facebook, Skype, MSN, LinkedIn, iPhone, you name it… noone reminded me of his birthday, shame on you. In fact, probably the only reason it is being news’ed about is because a publisher is pimping the book IBM 100 Years! If IBM has become so off-center in our worlds today, why then do I feel compelled to write about it? And felt it was worth writing about a birthday a day late? <a href="http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2011/6/17/happy-(belated)-birthday-ibm-100-years-old!.aspx" target="_blank">… read more here …</a> </p> <p><a href="http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2011/6/17/happy-(belated)-birthday-ibm-100-years-old!.aspx">http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2011/6/17/happy-(belated)-birthday-ibm-100-years-old!.aspx</a></p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-79861958139564535612011-06-16T22:33:00.001+02:002011-06-16T22:34:57.080+02:00Lovers Spurned #1 : Facebook & Apple<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-7zQCMSQILq0/TfpoeWa0MqI/AAAAAAAAAKE/8TS7XQBUDqM/s1600-h/img-3049%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="img-3049" border="0" alt="img-3049" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-olm-GgdKubk/TfpofduzsXI/AAAAAAAAAKI/6N2nRh4_ISk/img-3049_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="196"></a>Earlier this month, Apple announced and showed off “deep integration” of Twitter in the new iOS 5. Meaning wherever an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch goes, Twitter is there - the hot new celeb couple in town!</p> <p>News (<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/13/signs-of-what-could-have-been-ios-hooked-up-with-facebook-before-marrying-twitter/" target="_blank">and gosh leaked photos too</a>) is circulating in the feeds showing Apple’s ex-lover to be none-other than Facebook – Twitter’s archrival. The circulating pictures of unreleased betas are showing that same “deep integration” with Facebook, exactly where Twitter is now. After all Facebook is the undisputed king of social media, many times larger than Twitter. </p> <p>How did that Apple and Facebook relationship run into the rocks? Is it a clash of egos? Jealousy? Who ditched whom? Some say the cracks started with the Apple’s Ping social music network which was supposed to be a service with “iTunes on Facebook”. Some say it’s because of Facebook being in bed already with Microsoft in Windows Phone 7. </p> <p>Whatever it is, Apple’s jumping straight into bed with arch rival Twitter is surely not making things smoother. So, skip the “let’s be friends” politeness, and get straight into the cat fight of spurned lovers. meowwrrrrrr.</p> <p><a href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/06/facebooks-project-spartan/" target="_blank">Facebook attacking Apple with HTML5 App Store for iOS devices</a><br>Coming soon Facebook’s very own App Store for your iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch. Seriously. Currently the only way to get apps are through Apple’s iTunes Apps. Facebook is determined to break that monopoly and shift Apple users onto Facebook’s own ecosystem. The project is still in development, a pure coincidence that it is being leaked now, right after the leaks of the Apple-Facebook integration. </p> <p><a href="http://blog.games.com/2011/06/07/apple-game-center-ios-5-facebook-gaming-fall/" target="_blank">Apple Game Center in iOS 5 mirrors Facebook gaming</a><br>An amazing 53% of Facebook users play games on Facebook. Based on the latest numbers of 700m Facebook users, it means Facebook Games has more than 350m gamers! Far far ahead of the last September launched Apple Game Center with 50m subscribers. So to compete, Apple is launching new look and new features in iOS 5 that makes Game Center more like Facebook’s Games page!</p> <p>Actions of a spurned lover? Or root of the break-up? Watch out. Hell hath no fury like a lover scorned.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-48914928826695682072011-06-15T17:03:00.001+02:002011-06-15T17:29:18.232+02:00Xbox Live = Microsoft’s cloud ecosystem?<p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-5zLomAVjEm0/TfjJzftv_8I/AAAAAAAAAJ8/NwZxVveZYBk/s1600-h/XBLUi_1308074442_640w%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="XBLUi_1308074442_640w" border="0" alt="XBLUi_1308074442_640w" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-1ueQB5pN5AU/TfjJz1cwlrI/AAAAAAAAAKA/BSQVl9BYc8k/XBLUi_1308074442_640w_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="139"></a>Microsoft recently showed a new Xbox Live dashboard that is very similar to the user interface of Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8. Add that to their confirmation that Windows 8 will feature “deep Xbox Live integration”.</p> <p>The intention is to use Xbox Live as the center of entertainment where PCs, Notebooks, Tablets, Phones, Xboxes connect to. Users will be able to enjoy that same games, same content, same app services across different platforms, different devices. Sounds like a cloud to me! </p> <p>Xbox Live + Windows 8 + Windows Phone 7 + Xbox360 = Cloud Ecosystem?</p> <p>What’s going for Microsoft in this strategic move to use Xbox Live as the center of gravity is that Xbox Live already has a 35m userbase. The significance is that these are not just casual register-and-forget subscribers, but actually subscription-money paying users focused on consuming games and entertainment. That is a strong powerbase uniquely different from that of Google and Apple. Furthermore, Microsoft’s Xbox360 already has a place in the living room putting that TV screen in its ecosystem, while both Google’s GoogleTV and Apple’s Apple TV has flopped and not (yet) been able to gain any foothold on the TV.</p> <p>In the war of ecosystem, the headlines have mainly been peppered with Apple vs Google. But do watch out for Microsoft, it´s moves with Bing + Social Media, this Xbox Live integration, shows Microsoft is hardly asleep. With it’s artillery room full of product weapons, all it needs is that right synergy and marketing to center itself again as the dominating cloud ecosystem.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-60466047093149151942011-06-14T17:06:00.001+02:002011-06-14T17:14:34.038+02:00Dumb and dumber is more numbers<p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-k_-LxkWGi6M/Tfd44NLuoeI/AAAAAAAAAJg/KMWLYXJ7Fc4/s1600-h/040910_NW2%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="040910_NW2" border="0" alt="040910_NW2" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/--hse891oAPw/Tfd441H0K8I/AAAAAAAAAJk/gLf4V5rwGwk/040910_NW2_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="150"></a>Before you jump to conclusion, this post is not about the movie dumb and dumber, although it is in the field of entertainment – games, phone games, social games to be precise. We play games to entertain ourselves and sometimes to socialise – traditionally it would be a game of cards, chess, hide and seek, or even table tennis. That brings me to Pong, the forefather of electronic games. Since then computing power and hardware abilities has grown massively in one direction. Each new game machine delivered more, faster, higher def. With more processing power crunching more graphics, the games got more high definition, more realistic, more complex, more sensational. Games started to look and feel like Hollywood, and costs more to produce and even more to buy. </p> <p>Well that is until Nintendo’s Wii came along a couple of years ago, totally reversing the trend. With less development resources and less money to risk, Nintendo could not take on Microsoft and Sony in the game of biggger badder hardware and epic game developments. Cleverly, Wii went back to the basics, simple, fun and enterta( ining. You don’t need to spend hours building up your character, or understanding the plot. Not only Pa and Ma can play, even Grandpa, Grandma and baby sis can play too! Now that´s numbers! </p> <p>The runaway success of Wii has proven dumber is more numbers! More fun, simpler to play, more people can and will play.</p> <p>So what’s next? What is dumber than Wii games… yup… phone games, social media games. Even shorter, even simpler, even more no-brainer so you can simply stop thinking and just play. Game over? Try again. Try again. I swear just one more time. The popularity of Angry Birds just knows no boundaries!</p> <p>This is the article I came across last week that started me thinking about simple mindless games – <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2011/06/apples-game-center-outnumbers-microsofts-xbox-live/1" target="_blank">Apple’s Game Center outnumbers Microsoft’s Xbox Live</a>. Fact is, Apple’s Game Center (think iPhone/iPad app games) has hit 50m members in just NINE months, overtaking Xbox Live’s 35m members which has been running much longer. The picture used in this article is the introduction of Apple’s Game Center just September last year. 50m in just this 9 months!</p> <p>iPhone/iPad games, Android games, Facebook games… even Skype has joined in with Skype game. I wonder what will a Twitter game look like (edit: hitting that ReTweet button 5ox a minute is NOT a game). The days of dumb and dumber games has just started. Well as the saying goes in marketing, Keep It Simple and Stupid. Watch the numbers grow!</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-79695608107010017272011-06-13T10:35:00.001+02:002011-06-13T13:41:47.591+02:00Will you be Facebook-ing on dutch design Sofa?<p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-gu-Zf1XQAlQ/TfXLtSTDcmI/AAAAAAAAAJY/QtCU-JXELmA/s1600-h/facebook-sofa_616%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="facebook-sofa_616" border="0" alt="facebook-sofa_616" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-P4Nbi5-7x1k/TfXLt9NJpcI/AAAAAAAAAJc/IFYVjcWt7YQ/facebook-sofa_616_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="175"></a>The saying goes “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”. Everyone knows this. Apply this to company acquisitions, and this is exactly what Facebook has done in buying Sofa, a design-interface-software company based in (i.e. till now) Amsterdam, best known for Mac apps like Kaleidoscope and Versions.</p> <p>“<em>The Sofa team will be moving from Amsterdam to Palo Alto in the coming weeks – and we’ll make sure to infuse some of our particular flavor of Dutch culture at Facebook” – says Sofa on its bl</em>og</p> <p>The news broke already late last week, especially the dutch media seems thrilled with this acknowledgment of dutch design prowess. I thought and wondered… here’s a team of design talents letting go of its past work, uprooting and shipping themselves across the oceans. There must be more than exciting opportunities, there must be creative space! At least I sure hope so for the Sofa team.</p> <p>Indeed, the Facebook acquisition of Sofa is not about buying the software products in the company’s portfolio. Products are specifically left OUT of the deal. It’s all about buying the Sofa Team, the team that creates not only great working software, but also great looking software – it’s the experience they create. “Buy a great product; you have a product for today. Buy an awesome team; and you have awesome products for a lifetime.”</p> <p><em>“The team will contribute to a wide selection of the products that the design team works on. Typically, each Facebook product has a designer who is a core part of the team.” – says Facebook in a statement</em></p> <p>Take a look at Sofa’s past work <a href="http://www.kaleidoscopeapp.com/" target="_blank">Kaleidoscope</a>, <a href="http://versionsapp.com/" target="_blank">Versions</a>, <a href="http://www.checkoutapp.com/" target="_blank">Checkout</a>, <a href="http://www.enstore.com/" target="_blank">Enstore</a> and their <a href="http://www.madebysofa.com/" target="_blank">website</a> / <a href="http://www.madebysofa.com/#blog" target="_blank">blog</a>. Check out their app/web design style and interface.</p> <p>With social media as hot as it is, competition from Twitter following right on their heels and Google fuming green with envy, Facebook is upping their game with hyperactivity - changes and new features like Happening Now, FriendFeed, Facebook Lite etc. In a time where User Interface shapes user behavior, this is a truly timely acquisition. </p> <p>Will Facebook start looking and feeling like Twitter? Will Twitter start looking and feeling like Facebook? Will I be Twittering from Facebook? Or Facebooking from Twitter? Or will I Facebook/Twitter in Google or iOS? The kettle is boiling as we speak and the landscape is about change. </p> <p>Where will they put their brand new Sofa shipped in all the way from Amsterdam? Or will each and every programmer, developer, marketer and all get to rest their creativity bums on their very own dutch-flavored Sofa? Or will the Sofa simply be left in a corner in the recreation room? Time will tell how much Dutch user interface and design signature we will see. </p> <p>As a user, I’ll be looking forward to enjoying a Facebook on my dutch Sofa. </p> <p>Good luck, goede reis en veel succes!</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-57017990369345763722011-06-12T13:40:00.001+02:002011-06-12T14:12:43.650+02:00What’s social hierarchy gotta do with marketing?<div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:20255707-ae88-43a2-b5a3-862395cd6859" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div><object id="ch6513189" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6513189&use_node_id=true&fullscreen=1" width="481" height="270"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" quality="best" value="http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6513189&use_node_id=true&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://www.collegehumor.com/moogaloop/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6513189&use_node_id=true&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="481" height="270" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object></div></div> <p>So you watched the video and had a laugh? Jokes aside, did you notice the pick order of the pack? The obvious ones, The Leader (Google), The Loser (MySpace), The Challenger (Facebook) and the rest.</p> <p>In every group environment, there is a social hierarchy – there is always an unofficial leader and more often than not, also an unofficial loser who seems to be at the receiving end of jokes and yet still does his best to be part of the group. Some of the other common characters are the challenger, the clown, the worker-bee, the thinker etc, many of which I’m sure you recognise .</p> <p>Now if you think of a particular market space and the various brands / companies in it as a group environment, then there must also be a social hierarchy since brand / company image do interact in the marketspace (press news, user comments, editorial etc). Social media undoubtedly put this interaction on speed.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-26EU4KFR5I4/TfSlxj66ETI/AAAAAAAAAJA/xP9BMIsS8ZA/s1600-h/CollegeHumor-TheRoastOfFacebook-video_thumb%25255B3%25255D%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="CollegeHumor-TheRoastOfFacebook-video_thumb[3]" border="0" alt="CollegeHumor-TheRoastOfFacebook-video_thumb[3]" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-l0vBvUEfyIQ/TfSlyEkLQ_I/AAAAAAAAAJE/BEVzenFTJWo/CollegeHumor-TheRoastOfFacebook-video_thumb%25255B3%25255D_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="141"></a>In the video you see The Leader (Google) gathering his group in an attempt to put down The Challenger (Facebook). The Juniors (Twitter, Foursquare) take stage to sling mud at The Challenger, while the Seniors (Youtube, LinkedIn) watch quietly from the sidelines. Juniors have less to lose and thus are typically more vocal. Seniors because of the weight they carry, tend to remain silent and weigh each word carefully before publicly expressing them. Like in the human world, The Loser always still gets his airtime (oddly, everyone would have preferred otherwise), and predictively would clumsily solidify his position as The Loser. And common sense tells you, being associated with The Loser is not good news for your position - see Gizmodo wince when mentioned by MySpace : )</p> <p>Every Brand / Company in a market space should take a good look at which position the brand / company has in the social hierarchy. In this way, the brand / company can actively take control of its interaction in the group dynamics. Without that understanding, any interaction would be passive following the group dynamics and seem out of control. </p> <p>As a new comer into an existing market, it is even more important. The brand / company needs to know who the players and their positions are. Just like a new boy in the class, the newcomer’s position in the group is determined by the group. Played right and positioned right, the brand / company’s every move seem like social magic. Got put in the wrong corner and every action would just come out wrong, there would be just no doing right. </p> <p>Instead of merely looking at how a brand / company is communicating with its users, we should engage group dynamics.</p> <p>You might say the video is scripted by people so it mirrors people behaviour. True. But the video is merely a convenient way to illustrate the social hierarchy. Put the video aside, pick a marketspace (socialmedia, tablets, cola, fashion… )and look its social hierarchy. Tell me if you too see the various characters alive and kicking. Have fun. </p> <p><font color="#a5a5a5">---<br></font><font color="#a5a5a5"><em>Video “The Roast of Facebook” at CollegeHumor <br></em><em>Appearing in the video (did you spot them all?): Google, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Foursquare, JDate, Youtube, Netflix, StumbleUpon, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Flickr, Tumblr, Paypal, Digg, Hulu, Pandora, Gizmodo, Reddit, Friendster, CollegeHumor </em></font></p> <p><em><font color="#a5a5a5">ps. did you wonder so where is Apple in all this? Remember in your class, wasn’t there this one guy, independent, walk-his-own-path, odd, aloof, seems too cool or too something to be part of the group, never showed up at the prom, and later in life turns out to be either a hugely successful billionaire or a wannabe cross between pink floyd and andy warhol.</font></em></p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-86262931936485749872011-06-11T09:33:00.001+02:002011-06-12T14:14:35.491+02:00MySpace troubles… It’s in the name, doh.<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhke-QONruqlKjinfNx1DixTwCR8EsjyZnA7HDZRBOUx9yx6tdvKDnnxnzpHrgonwvJxhK0CJyU9rq-c2UQPzWCqA8sU3Sxvdn0SvzLM4qz85K_O20op7YJiTAXrmawT_gKLIRAmwQW15o/s1600-h/MySpace-ItsInTheNameDoh16.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="MySpace-ItsInTheNameDoh" alt="MySpace-ItsInTheNameDoh" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-MAOS1QoyfDM/TfMaQWYbLZI/AAAAAAAAAH0/j5OkI6zAukc/MySpace-ItsInTheNameDoh_thumb13.jpg?imgmax=800" width="473" height="265"></a></p> <p>MySpace barely made the news recently and it ain’t good… Newscorp the owner who bought it for $580m is trying to offload it, hoping to get back $100m, but embarrassingly sources say there’s only 1 bidder (in all due respect that’s not bidding). MySpace was one of the earliest social media site and once was <em>the </em>place to be. But ever since the rise of Facebook, MySpace could do no right. Traffic tanked and continues to tank. A re-make, with facelift and new logo, to re-market itself as entertainment hub, a space for bands and musicians looks good visually, but is still not helping the numbers… traffic still continues to tank. Yes, there has been mistakes, and competition is formidable, but nobody can truly explain how the fortunes of the once almighty MySpace can sink like the Titanic. I guess that’s socialmedia, hot today cold tomorrow, you’re it or you’re not. At the rate traffic is leaving like a tsunami alert, the single bidder could end up being the new owners of his very very own uhm space, <em>literally</em>.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-16268745456268158082011-06-10T08:14:00.000+02:002011-06-12T14:18:06.110+02:00Facebook Real World: wife traps husband with fake profile, or so she thinks…<p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-wSrKG-pG09Y/TfG63cOOUJI/AAAAAAAAAHY/mFguyqDQsOA/s1600-h/facebook-murder-plot-12.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="facebook-murder-plot-1" border="0" alt="facebook-murder-plot-1" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-0enwdd-v8JY/TfG64n2CgQI/AAAAAAAAAHc/h4HtylMsx3A/facebook-murder-plot-1_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="109"></a>If you see this 17-year old girl Jessica Studebaker hooking up with you on Facebook, be warned, it’s too hot to be true. It’s the fake profile of an unhappy wife set up on Facebook to lure and trap her husband, as basis for divorce. Much to her joy, husband walks into trap, so it seems. They develop a friendship and husband starts talking about eloping, sharing information about putting a GPS tracker on the wife´s car and, and *you gotta sit down for this* wanting the wife to be “out of the picture” (aka kapish, zilch, wiped out). wow. This is the kind of stuff you see only on TV Soaps… it’s now gone onto Facebook. Does this also make Facebook an accessory to murder (in the event that the murder does happen)?</p> <p>The soap elements continue… there’s a 360 degree twist. Husband knew all along and was playing to it, to catch the wife’s actions as (you guessed it) basis for divorce. geez. How can he prove it? He’s written an affidavit, stating his suspicion that it his wife and that he is merely going along with it, which he deposited with a notary at the bank, and also made a copy kept at a relative. Apparently he was not too dumb to disbelieve that a hot 17 year old girl would hit on him (37 years old).</p> <p>What a mess. The whole case is now in court, we’ll have to see what the judge thinks of it all. Every week, every day, Facebook is showing up in very real world situations, very real life places, the good, the freakish as well as the ugly. I’m taking bets on when (not if) we’ll see reality shows (ala MTV Real World) on Facebook… I wonder which name it would be – a) Facebook Real World b) Facebook Raw c) Facebook The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-73440281980493948982011-06-09T18:33:00.001+02:002011-06-12T14:21:27.949+02:00Dutch girl tattooed 152 facebook friends [video]<div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:dbac5b68-7fd6-4d3b-97f1-21489a681eb2" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="63debdfc-671c-4bd5-8975-46f3efc89061" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApOWWb7Mqdo&feature=player_embedded" target="_new"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-tpZ6ptBpErM/TfSvPCvg7LI/AAAAAAAAAJM/vioz1FHR-ZU/videof20caa719930%25255B15%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('63debdfc-671c-4bd5-8975-46f3efc89061'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/ApOWWb7Mqdo?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/ApOWWb7Mqdo?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">Facebook photowall tatto</div></div> <p>That Dutch girl with Facebook photowall tattoo story that was making the rounds on social medial - it came out today that it was a hoax, but for a couple of days (slightly more than a week actually), it was very believable. Some were disgusted, some batted an eyelid, but a LOT of people found it believable enough. The way social media has entered our daily lives, it is not unimaginable. So, this one is a hoax, but the next one might not be now that the idea is out there for somebody nut enough to follow follow. </p> <p>As a viral marketing campaign, it was pretty successful with more than a million views on Youtube and major press reporting on it. Whether it brought actual sales of the company´s products (you <em>can </em>buy products from this Dutch company with photowall of Facebook friends plastered all over it at PrettySocial.NL, the company who engineered the hoax), we’ll have to see. At least they got the free publicity that money couldn’t buy (such as me telling you about what they do, which I just did). The general opinion on Twitter sphere is rather positive, from beautiful to brilliant.</p> <p>I actually found it amusing, and as the initial reaction to the viral marketing sunk in and went away, I thought about the product – gee, it could be rather cool to give as a gift, a Facebook photowall gift… hmmm… </p> <p>ps. you can read more about the story here <br><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/06/08/facebook-tattoo-hoax/">http://mashable.com/2011/06/08/facebook-tattoo-hoax/</a></p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-13266721941931009162011-06-08T19:20:00.001+02:002011-06-12T14:28:39.634+02:00Battle of the Clouds Apple, Google & Microsoft<p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-8NmhDENkeuo/Te-uqbw0JeI/AAAAAAAAAGY/qeXRcJron8s/s1600-h/cloud-apple-google-microsoft%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="cloud-apple-google-microsoft" border="0" alt="cloud-apple-google-microsoft" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-z3HEiz3nsQc/Te-uqz5LnjI/AAAAAAAAAGc/DO9iSfNY2LU/cloud-apple-google-microsoft_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="184"></a>It’s raining Clouds. These recent days has seen the 3 major movers and shakers of <em>technosumer</em> world (Apple, Google, Microsoft) each busy stealing the thunder from the others’ clouds. Cloud computing is not new per se, it has been a key technology development shaping the professional computing world (data warehousing, corporate services etc). But now it has gone into a frenzy of world domination as each fights to be <em>the</em> cloud that is everything and everywhere for every of you… get ready for the Battle of the Clouds.</p> <p>So what is this Cloud in the consumer world? It stores all data private and public in a huge common virtual space, where each person’s data is separated only by an ID and password. For common data (eg. music), there is only one copy of it in the cloud and you (and everyone else with access) co-share it with your ID/password access. And since it is in virtual space, any device would have access to that one data via the internet, and would update the same copy. So your phone, tablet, computer, netbook, office computer will all have the same content anywhere, everywhere.</p> <p><a href="http://www.apple.com/icloud" target="_blank"><strong><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="apple-icloud" border="0" alt="apple-icloud" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-KQnSII7D5dA/Te-urRQQ-NI/AAAAAAAAAGg/lw9gy6f-uQI/apple-icloud%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="196">Apple’s iCloud</strong></a> was officially announced on 6 June, coming to you this fall, built into iOS 5. With one sync update every single iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch could be iClouded in no time. Apple promises seamless integration of iCloud in all your existing and new apps since it is built right in the core of iOS 5. Take a photo with your iPhone and that photo will be everywhere in all your devices (Apple of course).</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-zP_myubII98/Te-vVaH5WKI/AAAAAAAAAGk/tCJXP6z9nR4/s1600-h/google-cloud-print.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="google-cloud-print" border="0" alt="google-cloud-print" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-_kwVcjx_CEo/Te-vV4sF4sI/AAAAAAAAAGo/Ls_5XROC_A4/google-cloud-print_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="156"></a>Google’s Cloud (or rather Clouds) is currently a 4-prong force = Google Cloud Music called <a href="http://music.google.com/about/" target="_blank"><strong>Music Beta</strong></a> active trials in USA (for all your music everywhere), <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/p/cloudprint.html" target="_blank"><strong>Google Cloud Print</strong></a> (print to your cloud printer from any device anywhere), <a href="http://tools.google.com/dlpage/cloudconnect" target="_blank"><strong>Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office</strong></a> (to steal your office documents away from Microsoft’s Cloud), <a href="http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html" target="_blank"><strong>Google Apps Cloud Service</strong></a> (conveniently hip-ping Apps with Cloud). You don’t need to be a weather man to see more cloudy skies at Google – coming soon to ChromeOS for Chromebooks, Android 3.1 phones and tablets and Chrome 12 browser.</p> <p><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/cloud/" target="_blank"><strong><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="windows-cloud" border="0" alt="windows-cloud" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-HaVZJzDP-h4/Te-vWRwRdlI/AAAAAAAAAGs/31Zzq6rT4eY/windows-cloud2.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="188">Microsoft Windows Cloud</strong></a> is Microsoft’s answer to its rivals. Having the most corporate footprint among the 3, it has already been actively clouding with its corporate clients – Microsoft Cloud Services, Microsoft Cloud Power, marketed with Microsoft Cloud Experience events. But those, as mentioned earlier, are the corporate clouds. In the hype to cloud the consumer world, Microsoft has been the least clear and and least vocal. Windows Cloud seems to be a hastily patched together marketing answer adding Cloud to existing services to [insert cloud icon] Create, [insert cloud icon] Connect, [insert cloud icon] Share with Windows 7 and Windows Live. Microsoft marketers also have to think of how to re-hip the un-hip Windows Live Mesh (seriously which non-tech consumer gets that name) which is essentially a cloud, just not hip. Or wait it out with Windows 8 (recently announced and demo’d), Windows Phone 7 (o dear) and Internet Explorer 10 browser.</p> <p>Cloud, Cloud, Cloud and more Cloud coming your way. In the Battle of Clouds, music of thunder will roar and flashes of lightning will strike as advertisements, offers, online sentiment swaying and other tactics will come your way to convince and grab you into their cloud. Don’t be afraid, don’t let them cloud your judgment – just pick that one soft white fluffy cotton-like cloud and frolic in consumer content heaven… i.e. until one dominates and then changes the rules (don’t they always do? remember the nice Microsoft as an underdog?). Enjoy the coming happy clouds while you can : ).</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-64533300109959869602011-06-07T23:57:00.001+02:002011-06-12T14:31:07.197+02:00Facebook party 1500 guest & 100 police <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:55cf61f0-368e-4407-b878-2130c3399231" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="bada07a7-3e18-4ff7-af29-2537926f6912" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZZVoQVUInU&NR=1" target="_new"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-5jGsTDmseiQ/Te6e12fNMyI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/X1NJR1VgtQ0/video450647095ed8%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('bada07a7-3e18-4ff7-af29-2537926f6912'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/2ZZVoQVUInU?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/2ZZVoQVUInU?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p>Yet another Facebook party invitation gone wild, gone viral, gone out of hand – Thessa, German girl in Hamburg happily throws a Sweet 16 birthday party and puts her party invitation up on Facebook – as would any teen with any social (media) cred these days, pretty normal so far isn’t it? Problem is that with her privacy settings, the invitation went public, meaning <em>everyone </em>is invited. 15,000 signed up for the party! Uhm, she must have noticed that. Eventually 1500 actually turned up, and to keep the crowd in order, throw in 100 police – the power of social media!</p> <p>She tried to cancel the party but it was too late – it’s already gone viral and there’s no stopping the crowd once it gets moving as you can see in the video. So what have we learnt? Not only can social media over throw governments, social media can also throw awesome parties, like it or not.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-A8HidrpjOa4/Te6e2uyi9YI/AAAAAAAAAGM/gc6vDbEa3jU/s1600-h/girl-leaves-own-birthday-party-0%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="girl-leaves-own-birthday-party-0" border="0" alt="girl-leaves-own-birthday-party-0" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-oLGgHdVnBzk/Te6e3aTZrfI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/BMEJTStrr4s/girl-leaves-own-birthday-party-0_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="164"></a>Interesting numbers actually : 15,000 confirmations, 1,500 shows up, that’s 10% show-up for a “public” event. No event marketing needed, no secretariat chasing RSVPs, not even invitation cards / postage costs, almost no cost involved in marketing and she’s got 1,500 guests! </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:11d14f15-fc0a-47cc-b3b1-70986e41036b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="f13a0c78-411d-420e-8d23-408ad38fc393" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blyZu9YdP4I&feature=related" target="_new"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-3GuLqmBrehk/Te6e39KXTMI/AAAAAAAAAJU/JBcLm0YBBEY/video46f30a961075%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('f13a0c78-411d-420e-8d23-408ad38fc393'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/blyZu9YdP4I?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/blyZu9YdP4I?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-55437798421507722772011-06-06T14:35:00.001+02:002011-06-12T14:34:47.832+02:00China iPhone iPad iTouch users = 10 million<p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-U_3yET44Y24/TezJX0Wyg9I/AAAAAAAAADk/nwoDrKIv2Dk/s1600-h/China-iOS-20m_201104%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="China-iOS-20m_201104" border="0" alt="China-iOS-20m_201104" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-tQd6ZUaMuws/TezJYebdxGI/AAAAAAAAADo/PXUZ99u10Ao/China-iOS-20m_201104_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="186"></a>10,000,000 – that’s the number of iOS users according to sampling by a Chinese software company targetting iOS, as at end April 2011. They go on to further breakdown by the various models iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and data on type of apps and the most used apps in China. There has been little official data published about iOS in China. This report is one of the firsts I’ve seen stating numbers. Here’s some of the figures.</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-y9qFT3Ab1rA/TezJZdYbM-I/AAAAAAAAADs/hpZkv9fQN7s/s1600-h/China-iOS-total_201104%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="China-iOS-total_201104" border="0" alt="China-iOS-total_201104" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-qYMyyw1Raqs/TezJZyp0u8I/AAAAAAAAADw/COTXjfz96vI/China-iOS-total_201104_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="186"></a>iPhone has the biggest share of the pie at 70.25%, that means a cool 7 million iPhone users in China! Given that they cost more than a month’s salary for your average grad with starting job in an office, that’s not a small number. But from another angle, with a population of 1.3b, that’s only 0.005%. Don’t you just love China numbers?</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-NQXwX803YPA/TezJa1URheI/AAAAAAAAAD0/-T4uwtNcHQM/s1600-h/China-iOS-iPhone_201104%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="China-iOS-iPhone_201104" border="0" alt="China-iOS-iPhone_201104" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Fn7jGfOpJxY/TezJbfqr5uI/AAAAAAAAAD4/mMVCXB4WRxw/China-iOS-iPhone_201104_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="186"></a>The take up of iPhone 4 went fast, already at 63.17%, 3x more than 3GS. Given its position as a status and trend icon, no wonder old models are ditched fast and hard like they are diseased. I myself have seen enough friends / acquaintances do the switch, it’s not so much an upgrade but more of a <em>keepingup(up)grade</em>. If your social circle switches to the 4, you can’t seriously not hurry and do the switch too, can you? or at least that’s how it goes in China. I must say the <em>keepingup</em> happens in Europe too, just not as pressure-cooked as in China – just my casual observation. </p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-sCGBdKyfyVk/TezJdFmxgHI/AAAAAAAAAD8/uPMm8MvGtfA/s1600-h/China-iOS-ipad_201104%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="China-iOS-ipad_201104" border="0" alt="China-iOS-ipad_201104" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-wnziVnIqP0E/TezJdhUKyRI/AAAAAAAAAEA/O1hBRhHxRjM/China-iOS-ipad_201104_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="186"></a>iPad 2 showed up in the numbers too, even though it is new, a month plus into its US launch, and not officially launched in China yet. So the iPad 2 numbers surely are “imports”. With iPad1+2 at a share of 16.45%, that’s 1.6m users.</p> <p> </p> <p>What do all these numbers mean? That’s a good installed userbase of iOS in China - currently 10m, translating to 0.007% which means awesome growth potential. Just imagine hitting 0.05% is already a 7x growth! You App developer, yes you… tempted? It seems to go quite unnoticed by everyone outside China and there is not much data on the internet. Which got me really thinking! Wanna think along? Anyway, there are more slides, if you are interested, do email, tweet, comment. Or simply questions? Love to talk/share/chat about app opportunities.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-78552768464479711392011-06-05T10:18:00.001+02:002011-06-12T14:36:52.320+02:00Bouncing balls and Yes-Set psychology<div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:90d7b4d8-470a-4f96-9d67-1729bf7a470e" class="wlWriterSmartContent"> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-top: 0px" id="614c38b0-dc5e-413c-abe5-b28b5da55500"> <div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bb8P7dfjVw" target="_new"><img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('614c38b0-dc5e-413c-abe5-b28b5da55500'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/2Bb8P7dfjVw?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/2Bb8P7dfjVw?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt="" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-iXI2mBoBm-8/Tes7xh-dhyI/AAAAAAAAADY/j_728pOia94/video590f52844390%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" galleryimg="no"></a></div></div> <div style="width: 448px; clear: both; font-size: 0.8em">Sony Bravia (Bouncing Balls) – An example of the Yes-Set psychology</div></div> <p>Remember the bouncing balls commercial from Sony (Bravia LCD TV)? Fun wasn’t it? watching all the balls bounce up and down and up and down. Well, subconsciously you would have been nodding your head up and down, and up and down as your eyes follow the balls, very minimally, very sublimely. Then Sony conveniently shows you their TV, and because you already in the “Yes-Set” mindset (from the gentle nodding), there is a very good chance that you will approve of the product and associate with it positively, yes yes yes. ah, the beauty of sublime influence. Bravo! </p> <p>Well you can do it too, get people into the Yes-set first so they are more likely to agree with what you actually want to say! No, not throw a bunch of balls around, haha. First start by asking a set of very simple questions that gets a Yes answer… Is your name xxxx? Yes. Are you living in xxxx address? Yes. In xxx city? Yes. O well we have an exciting offer for you… uhm, Yes. ; Sound familiar? … Yes ; p</p><a class="twitter-follow-button" href="http://twitter.com/addlikefollow" data-show-count="false">Follow @addlikefollow</a> <script src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" type="text/javascript"></script> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-51911756973410435442011-06-04T09:43:00.001+02:002011-06-12T14:39:42.792+02:00Lawyer wants to see iPad 3 (o, and the iPhone 5 too)<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-_Fr4DKRpi34/TeniNdy69UI/AAAAAAAAADE/u6OOVN-j6jo/s1600-h/AddLikeFollow%252520-%252520Show%252520Me%252520Your%252520Ipad%2525203%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="AddLikeFollow - Show Me Your Ipad 3" border="0" alt="AddLikeFollow - Show Me Your Ipad 3" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-P7xufr-aZPA/TeniN5A0FqI/AAAAAAAAADI/OwXWpFYNHsM/AddLikeFollow%252520-%252520Show%252520Me%252520Your%252520Ipad%2525203_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="177"></a>Moral of Story: Lawyers are smart, smarter than 17-year old boys. After reading about the <a href="http://addlikefollow.blogspot.com/2011/06/boy-sells-kidney-for-ipad-2.html" target="_blank">17-year old boy selling his kidney for iPad 2</a>, I came across this article about Samsung lawyers wanting to see iPad 3. The news is actually about a <a href="http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/samsungs-lawyers-demand-to-see-apple-ipad-3-and-iphone-5-prototypes-20110531/" target="_blank">lawsuit between Apple and Samsung that Samsung designers are copying Apple</a> (Phone / Pad).<br><br>In what ways is the lawyer smarter than the 17-year old?<br> <ol> <li>He only wants to <em>see </em>it<br>Doesn’t <em>need</em> to have it, doesn’t <em>want</em> to have it, just <em>see</em> it <li>He does not have to pay any body parts or money for it<br>Samsung and Apple are paying for the court charade <li>He gets money for it<br>Yea, not only does he not pay any body parts or money, he actually gets paid for it! <li>He wants 2 for the price of 1<br>Yesss, seeing the iPad 3 isn’t enough, let’s see the iPhone 5 too, pretty smart if you ask me</li></ol>Not only is the lawyer smarter, apparently also being smartypants about it. When he gets to see the iPad 3 / iPhone 5, he is not showing to us. Yes, you heard it right, we don’t get to see it. He (they) see it in private, damn! C’mon admit it, how many of you are thinking cool we’re gonna see the iPad 3 and iPhone 5. Not. <a class="twitter-follow-button" href="http://twitter.com/addlikefollow" data-show-count="false">Follow @addlikefollow</a> <script src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" type="text/javascript"></script> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-55649295226741206382011-06-04T00:04:00.001+02:002011-06-04T21:29:37.167+02:00Online TV more and more popular<p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-cUjMpKSk6Ak/Telad85IqGI/AAAAAAAAACs/EQDYrJL1A28/s1600-h/20110530_metro_onlinetvkijkensteedspopulairder%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="20110530_metro_onlinetvkijkensteedspopulairder" border="0" alt="20110530_metro_onlinetvkijkensteedspopulairder" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-tCk5VgyhYno/TelaeQN6aoI/AAAAAAAAACw/3B-Tid8ixyM/20110530_metro_onlinetvkijkensteedspopulairder_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="236" height="244"></a></p> <p>“Watching TV online (Catchup TV) is getting more and more popular, especially among the younger generation. From the age group 13- to 19-year olds, 36% watched a (Catchup) TV program online at least once a month, according to figures from Stichting KijkOnderzoek (organisation for viewership research)”</p> <p>Saw this article in the Metro newspaper (Netherlands) a couple of days ago, just confirming a trend that’s been clearly visible already. Well my question is… so there’s this trend to watch TV on the internet, and then there’s this other trend to have TV with internet, does that mean trend + trend = I will be watching TV on the internet on a TV with internet? Food for thought, let me pause my internet TV and get a pizza.</p> <a class="twitter-follow-button" href="http://twitter.com/addlikefollow" data-show-count="false">Follow @addlikefollow</a> <script src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" type="text/javascript"></script> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-71954328803718713622011-06-03T22:52:00.001+02:002011-06-04T21:25:50.299+02:00Boy sells kidney for iPad 2<div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:5c6514de-4bbc-4331-a838-b63808368b0a" class="wlWriterSmartContent"><div id="54d3ad6a-49b7-4938-bde3-80b9fb82d93c" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KJCmh2QbL8&hd=1" target="_new"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-GkUgGmsBlic/TelJhTtPkfI/AAAAAAAAACk/ggfRufmk__0/video5ade70b01a7e%25255B13%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('54d3ad6a-49b7-4938-bde3-80b9fb82d93c'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/1KJCmh2QbL8?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/1KJCmh2QbL8?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p><a title="http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2011/06/02/6772047-boy-sells-kidney-for-ipad-2" href="http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2011/06/02/6772047-boy-sells-kidney-for-ipad-2">http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2011/06/02/6772047-boy-sells-kidney-for-ipad-2</a></p> <p>A 17 year old boy saw an internet ad to sell kidney, got in contact, negotiated the fee (about US$3500) because he wanted an iPad 2. Travelled alone to the hospital doing the surgery, got it done, got paid, and came home with an iPad 2 and a notebook. The cold shivering side of generation Like and Follow. sigh.</p> <a class="twitter-follow-button" href="http://twitter.com/addlikefollow" data-show-count="false">Follow @addlikefollow</a> <script src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" type="text/javascript"></script> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-16189415514430516412011-06-03T22:06:00.001+02:002011-06-04T21:12:55.321+02:00Follow Follow<p><a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2011/05/introducing-follow-button.html"><img style="display: inline" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV9KkAPofHUkx7FFHF4J7v59iPHvz3QPSHxTNxJjK9m2R0UCaydBn4YsHgN8hDm-hN4V1QpSkFpPsighODog-qrbLNmTpEByjmwK2UnP4bLyN6mglQd1dWyEog3aqTqxX-4W8iH6dhhuog/s520/twitter-follow-button.jpeg" width="462" height="266"></a></p> <p>We all know how Facebook has single handedly reduced our complex world of “Loves” and “Hates” into “Like”. I used to Love some stuff, and Hate some others, and got all passionate about it, esp. with other similar or opposites. And in one couple of Facebook years it’s all been simplified to “Like”, not even dislike, just Like. One up for positivity! The popularity of “Like” is massive, was thought out to be. It’s simple, it’s positive, it spreads positivity, and most importantly I have to do nothing else – just one click, and nothing else, no typing, no thinking of what to say.</p> <p>Following the footsteps of “Like”, comes “Follow” – equally simple, equally hip, equally just one click… follow. Why Subscribe (thinks of subscription forms) and why Add (yikes mathematics), when you can simply Follow. </p> <p>So all the Google, Youtube subscribes and adds have turned into follow, and to complete the story, Twitter has too joined in and launched the “Follow” button. The king of 140-word simplification realised that even 140-word could be too much to ask, for the fact that there are so many non-active Twitter. Well, what’s simpler and more passive … Let’s Follow. </p> <p>Well after all the active finger exercise typing this text, let me catch up on the simplicity of positive passiveness… Like Like Follow Follow Like Like Like</p><a class="twitter-follow-button" href="http://twitter.com/addlikefollow" data-show-count="false">Follow @addlikefollow</a> <script src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" type="text/javascript"></script> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723820062165271404.post-54687785688161563242011-06-03T20:42:00.000+02:002011-06-04T21:27:34.709+02:00A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words > Twitter goes Photos<p><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/fmB15ER3LUQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p> <p>How do you expand a company/service beyond 140 words? Well, how about a 1000 words! That's what Twitter is saying. Twitter goes photos (& videos). Already live now, your twitter search shows also photos and videos in addition to tweets. Soon, you will also be able to directly upload photos into your tweets, kindly powered by Photobucket. Funny to see if soon there will also be Twitter Apps and Twitter Games! How about a Twitter Like button too? ; p What we'll have then is a Facebook with lots of # @ RT and a happy tweety bird ; )</p> <a class="twitter-follow-button" href="http://twitter.com/addlikefollow" data-show-count="false">Follow @addlikefollow</a> <script src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" type="text/javascript"></script> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16751308798048512089noreply@blogger.com0