2007-12-31

Online Video Wars

Rejoice YouTube video viewers.....
Rejoice online video lovers....
Here comes more online video portals for your viewing....
All coming to bite off You-tube's share of audience....

Startup #1:







So what's so special about hulu ?
hulu offers full length shows like The Office, Prison Break, Bionic Woman, House and Bones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Miami Vice, Arrested Development,The Simpsons, Family Guy, King of the hill.....and according to hulu, they had partnered with E! Entertainment, FUEL TV, SciFi Network and USA Networks to bring more shows to the site.









































Alright, what's the catch you say ? hulu is currently available in private beta, only to residents in the united states. So, if you live in the united states, give it a go and share with us.

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Startup #2:






So, what's so special about VuMe ?
All kinds of user generated video exactly like YouTube.....However, user get paid for the videos they created and uploaded, based on how well their content had performed.













Alright, what's the catch you say ? Though this model of getting paid for posting video is differentiating them from the other online video sharing site, how long will it take other online video sharing site existing or new startups to copy this model as well ? Will you or the audience still want to come back VuMe as before ?

What do you think ?

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2007-12-29

Interactive Print Ads

Who says print ads can only be 2D ?






Now print ads can become 5D thanks to Americhip, they are bringing us print ads interaction never thought possible, in becoming a reality. Though this is a revolution in print ads, but how receptive are the consumers ? Does it meant more intrusion when they opened their favorite magazines, last expecting an interactive print ad popping out ? Are they receptive ?


























Are you ready in leveraging the technology for your brand ? Are your ready in getting your message to talk, sing, pop up, spin, twist and light up with your consumers ?

In this video, Martin Lindstrom speaks with Americhip’s Tim Clegg on how brands can leverage on this technology:


How are you going to leverage this ?

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2007-12-28

Project Da Vinci

"Dell announces new agency agreement with WPP valued at $4.5 billion in agency billings over three years."

Dell's Chief Marketing Officer,Mark Jarvis, noted on Direct2Dell:

"We've been calling this ‘Project Da Vinci' because we've been looking for the combination of artist and scientist—an agency that has both the creative horsepower and ability to measure the business impact of their work."

Its about the ROI, the return. Time to get your return on investment from your agency creative works. If your agency is only interested in getting awards and not your business goals or your bottom line results....FIRE THEM.

The importance of analytics - Improving shareholder value is the ultimate award for all of us to win. Yes, we don't mind winning industry awards, but our customers and our shareholders are our focus, not what we can win in Cannes. A combination of great analytics and creative is key.
Dell gets it.It's time to have your analytics as core part of your business strategy and not something that belongs only to the IT department. Yes, you will need to have your analytics and creative working hand in hand together down the long journey of ROI.

The Internet revolution - When you have one billion people online and another one billion joining them over the next four years, it becomes very important for us to have the right analytics, the right team and the ability to build campaigns in days, rather than months.
Dell is ready for the next lap into the internet revolution. Are you or your company ready for the leap ? Are your senior management or company serious about improving the bottom line through analytics and optimization ? Or are you falling behind ? If so, what can you do to convince your senior management or company about it ? Can you measure your return based on your existing analytics tools ? Or is your tools merely for reporting and not taking any action at all ?

How we will coordinate - Most agencies integrate by gluing teams and people together within their holding company with a completely separate P&Ls. Da Vinci will have one global P&L. One great team at WPP to match up with our team, so we can create magic together. One team that is known for highly productive relationships between those who create and those who manage the daily work. Pretty simple stuff.
How does your existing agency linked up with your company ? Are they serious in helping drive the success and returns of your business goals and objectives ? Or are they serious about helping their agency gets their awards ? If they are.....FIRE THEM

The importance of agency talent
- We want Dell's agency to be the agency of choice for the most talented people in the world.
How do you define creative talent for your agency selection process ? How are the agency's past clients faring ? Good or Bad ? One time relationship or long term based ? Do they help to drive the bottom line results and returns ?

Dell gets it. And ready.
Are you ?

2007-12-26

Looking for new property ?

Hunting for your new property ?
Or looking to rent a apartment ?
Try Google for your property hunt ?
Or your local papers ?
Too much information ?
Or don't really know where to start ?

Here comes Properazzi,
the property search engine,
they help bring together millions
of properties from thousands of real estate
agency websites for your convenience.












All you have to do is just key in the particular location,
and let Properazzi do the work for you.
If you're still not satisfied, you can refine your search results by
the property price or type, just to name a few options available.

So where do you want to live ?









Where's your next dream home ?
Or where's your next property investment ?

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2007-12-25

Merry Christmas

Rock Your Boat ! Wishes everyone Merry Christmas 2007


2007-12-24

Lonely City

Planning for the next holiday trip ?
Or the next business trip ?

So where's the coolest place to hang out, once you've reached ?
And where's best place to dine ?
And where's the town's cool and unique fashion boutiques ?
And finally the "must visit" ?

There's Lonely planet guide you say.....
But how often is it updated....
And shared....
And reviewed....
By people from the neighborhood or city ?

Here's Tupalo














Explore any city











Share your favorite hangout place











Connect with your friends and buddies

Lonely City still ?
Or Lively City ?

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2007-12-22

Most Expensive Domain Name Sales

How much did you pay for your domain name ?
How much are you willing to pay for a domain name ?

Here's a pretty interesting research done by GOOD Magazine:
The Top 5 Most Expensive Domain Name Sales


How much are you willing to sell your domain name ?

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2007-12-21

Need a loan ?

Need $$$ ?
For your new house ?
For your new laptop ?
For your next trip ?
And don't want to pay the heavy interest of bank loans ?

Try Lending Club



So, how does it work ?
Simply put, Lending Club is a social lending community whereby, you can borrow or lend money among the community, less the administrative charges imposed by traditional bank loans.




















However, Lending Club is only available to US residents, despite so, there are many upcoming and existing P2P lending social networks which is available readily.

Such as Zopa











And Prosper (US Residents) the P2P banking pioneers.




Need a loan ?
Less the administrative charges ?
And lower interest rates ?
Try P2P Lending.

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2007-12-20

Baidu Alternative of Google Analytics






Here's Baidu alternative to Google Analytics....Baidu Tongji:













The dashboard overview of Baidu Tongji














昨日最大访问量的来访网站 = Yesterday's Referral Overview ,

昨日搜索引擎关键字 = Yesterday's Keywords Search Overview,

关键字 = Keywords Overview

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Here's Google Analytics:

















Spot the differences between the two ?
Good or Bad ?
Keen to try it ?

However, it is only currently available to Baidu community users. Here's the link in becoming part of Baidu community, if you want to try Baidu's version. Similar to Google Analytics, its FREE.

Good or Bad ?
What's your take ?

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2007-12-17

How to Sabotage Your Own Website ?

How to Sabotage Your Own Website ?
Try uploading a "Page Under Construction" to your website and see what happen....











Does this seems familiar ?
Does your homepage or any part of your website portrait this ?
Is it found on your website NOW ?

It is not surprising many companies large or small are screwing themselves up with this "Page Under Construction", what do they think the audience or the consumers will react when they see this ? Do they expect the consumers to accept them (the entities) screwing up on their web experience ? Especially with the other tabs found the audience / consumers' web browser shortcuts, screaming for their attention.

Is "Page Under Construction" still FOUND in your website NOW ?

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2007-12-16

Quote of the day

"If you build a Web site,you must have a solid reason for doing so.
Once the Web site is operational, it is crucial to understand how well
it works --- failure to do so is a waste of time and money."
* Hurol Inan in "Measuring the Success of your Web site" *

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2007-12-15

Free SEO tool

If you’re looking for a comprehensive SEO tool, try Web CEO, it’s FREE and some of the features found in it include:














  • Helping you to find the best or top keywords and how you fare against the top 10 competitors.
  • Analyzes pages for various search engine compliance.
  • Helps you identify potential or existing problem by page of your web.
  • Free search engine submission through the built-in submission tool found in the software, which means no more paying to submit your website.
  • Check how many search engine link to any page of your website through the built-in Link Popularity Analysis tool.
  • Check who links to you as well.
  • Helps you to find link partners as well.
  • Check all your PPC Campagins through this, a one-stop PPC management.
  • Web analytics for your website.

Lastly, the monotonous part…..it also has the built-in website maintenance module.

Having said all this, it’s time for you to try it yourself and help boost your own website with the software. Here’s the link to the software download.

What SEO tools are you using ?
Please share your views and critique via the comments.

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2007-12-13

The New Marketing Executive

In the presentation "Moving from Measurement to Management: Making Marketing Effective and Accountable" by John Nardone and Ed See,of Marketing Management Analytics, they noted that today many marketing departments found in entities are still filled very much by the intangible side of measurement and return. With the marketing departments managed by people whom earn their strips by splashing the dollars on television and decisions on other media expenditure.

However,today a new type of marketing executive is highly demanded by senior management, someone whom can deliver real time tangible results and returns on dollars spent.

According to John Nardone and Ed See,the essential competencies required to run the future tangible and accountable marketing department are:

  • Project Management,
  • Business Metrics Design,
  • Organization and Process Design,
  • Data/Database Design,
  • Marketing Analytics,
  • Systems Integration and
  • Change Management.
Is your current or existing team ready for the future ?
Is your current marketing head armed with
the required competencies ?

Are you ready ?

What do you think ?
Please share your views and critique via the comments. Thanks.

2007-12-12

Goodbye ink ! Hello Zero ink !

Soon to hit the world....
A world without the need for ink cartridges or ribbons replacement for your office printer, your photo printer at home....

Imagine printing from your mobile phone....
Imagine printing from your laptop....
Imagine printing from your desktop....
Imagine printing from your digital picture frame....
Imagine printing from your TVs....
Imagine printing from your digital camera....
All without a printer.

How is it possible ?
ZINK™ (also stands for zero ink)....
Makes the impossible possible....

All you need is a special paper produced by ZINK™ Paper, and zero ink printing becomes possible this coming festive season, when ZINK™ begin selling the mobile printers.

Not only is it less costly to print your photos,it is also durable and it allows you to print as when you require. No more dumping the used ink cartridges or ribbons and worrying about causing environmental pollution.

Let the impossible become REAL....
and lastly a tagline from ZINK™....
"Take away the limits - Zero Ink. Zero Boundaries™."

Ready for the possible ?

2007-12-11

By Physicians, for Physicians

First there is Friendster,
there is MySpace,
than Facebook,
than Foops!,
now comes Sermo....





A community created by by physicians, for physicians.
So how does this works ?

Physicians from anywhere around the globe can just register at Sermo, which is FREE, and once registered they get to exchange knowledge and observations with other physicians in real time. Which allows them to learn and share the latest clinical findings, unusual events, trends and new insights on medications, devices and treatments, ultimately achieving better outcomes for patients around the globe.















Not only do physicians get to share and collaborate knowledge,
Sermo reward physicians financially for their astute observations and clinical insights that are deemed highly relevant and valuable.

A win-win situation for the physicians and patients alike.
Hmm.....what's the latest medical trends and insight you ask ?

Sermo might just have the answer.

Do you have the answer ?
Please share
your views and critique via the comments. Cheers.

Share This:

del.icio.us digg Furl Reddit Spurl YahooMyWeb

2007-12-10

Where did my money go to ?

It's pay day of the month.....
And it's time to get the new gadget I'm eyeing for the past month....
And guess what!
Think I'll have to put on hold for the new gadget.....been spending way too much on stuff I didn't really need at all. Time to have my expenses accounted for, hmm how about getting a financial planning software,Quicken or Microsoft Money, to manage my accounts and spending. However both software comes at a price tag and it's not really that easy to use it....

Here comes Expensr,





The web-based application which is FREE to use,
And easy to use.
It can help keep track where your money is going and the interesting part is, it helps you understand how people like you are doing with their money. You can even compare with your peers on how you're spending your hard earned capital.

Quit guessing and help yourself by predicting how long are you....
On your way to become a millionaire ?
Or on your way filing for bankruptcy ?
with the projection plan found in the web application.

Where did all your money go ?

2007-12-07

Sing, Hum, or Whistle

It's Friday....

Finally after a draining week, you decided to unwind at the nearby coffee store and as you're walking through the crowd to your escape. Something suddenly caught you, a pretty smoothing tune coming from the mall, and you started to hum along the tune as it whistles pass through.

After your cup of coffee and you were on your way back home, the tune starts to hit you again but this time it's stuck in your mind.....and you can't get your mind off it....man....who's the artist behind this song you ponder......






Luckily there is Midomi, remember your hum or whistle ?

Now you can sing, hum or whistle a few bars into your microphones on your computer, and Midomi can do the job for you. Hunting for your "that" hum using its search engine to match your tune against its musical library. Not only you can finally get to own the track you're hunting for, you could also contribute to the database by singing in Midomi's online recording studio.

And who knows ?
The next time round, when someone hum or whistle, you're the next top hit !

Hmm....what's that song again ?
Ohh Sing, Hum,Whistle at Midomi
Please share your views and critique via the comments. Thanks.

2007-12-04

When Starbucks meets iPhone

What happens when Starbucks meets iPhone ?


Sip.Relax.Listen.Touch.Download

It's a tiring and hard day of work and you told yourself....it's time for a good time to relax with a cup of latte. You're sitting down with the lovely cup of warm latte and hear this relaxing tune that is playing in Starbucks and you really like the tune.


You popped out your iPhone, and tap the Starbucks button and voilà.....there's the title of the current song and the artist that's playing right now. Wow I gonna have it...you tap the buy and download button and it's yours to keep and enjoy the tune anytime.



However, it is only currently available in New York,Seattle,San Francisco Bay Area and coming to LA and Chicago in early 2008.

Please share your views and critique via the comments. Thanks.

2007-11-26

Internet culture

What is Internet all about ?
Do you used it often ?
Do your company utilize Internet as part of its strategy ?


Or are you skeptical about its use ?

Or are your company skeptical about its use ?

Either....
For Security reasons.....
For the risk of being affected by virus....
For the spam and intrusion of advertisements....
For being too overly comfortable in the "this is the way it has and always work in our company"....
For being uncertain about the return of investment on it....
Or ?

In the following presentation by Marco Montemagno, whom is an Italian blogger, web entrepreneur, and CEO of one of the largest weblog networks in Europe called Blogosfere , he will try to convince you if are still uncertain about the use of internet for your company.

He has been giving speeches in Italy to help spread the Internet culture. The following
Presentation video clip below is given in front of 3000 people at the Interactive Advertising Bureau Forum 2007 conference.

The presentation is in Italian, however you can expand the Full Screen Icon to view the English subtitles.

If you're ain't convince about or just curious just take a look.




A pretty impressive persuasive presentation done by
Marco Montemagno, without even using any remote for his slides presentation, all done in sync.


Please share your views and critique via the comments. Thanks

2007-11-23

Interactive Marketing

2007-11-13

Bookmark this ! Bookmark that !

Startup to watch: Particls

Does the following apply to you ?

Ohh wow a cool site....
I need to bookmark this....
Ohh wow another cool site....
I need to bookmark this too....
And this....
And that....
And this....
News....Yes....
Sports....Yes....
....Yes....
Oh my it's just too much cool stuff....

The web is filled with too much cool stuff....
The web is too big....
And boy....I ain't got the time to read or browse through all....
Oh Yes Yes....luckily there is RSS and I could subscribe to the sites and topics I like and enjoy best and be notified when there is new information....that should solve my problem....
I think so....

Sounds familiar ?

Here comes Particls










How does it work you say ?

Particls helps you to track your favorite sites, topics and keep you update with your news, favorite site feeds through displaying desktop alerts brought to your desktop through Particls' very own desktop sidebar, popping up alert and urgent information and it could be SMS to your mobile phone.

And best of all its FREE !

Web 2.0 Comic

How is Web 2.0 changing our life ?
Are you ready for the change ?
Or are you lagging behind ?
Distinct or Extinct ?

2007-11-10

Trivop

Startup to watch: Trivop


How do you normally book your hotel ?

Booking it online or through the traditional way of making a phone call ?

Have you feel disappointed after booking the hotel online and only to find out that the hotel that you booked earlier on was not as good or as what you had expected. The beautiful pictures posted on the website ain’t what we saw over at the hotel when we’re there.

If only, we could take a tour around the hotel and not some kind of computer generated virtual tour but a real video tour, that will be so cool. And guess what, a startup in Europe called Trivop make this possible. How did they do it you say ?

They helped created the transparency for us travelers through real time video of hotels, which is easily found on Trivop. Now thats better than plain old pictures on the various hotel websites.

Seeing is believing.

2007-11-09

Mind Map ! Mind Map !




Startup to watch:MindMeister


How do you generate your new ideas or thoughts ?

Do you mind map ?

If so, how often do you use it and why ?

Do you at times wish to share your cool ideas or thoughts with your colleagues or friends but found that you have either forgotten to bring out your drafted ideas or mind map or simply just lost the mind map draft ?

The solution to this is MindMeister,whereby they brings the concept of mind mapping to the web, using its facilities for real-time collaboration to allow truly global brainstorming sessions among you and your peers.With your mind maps stored online, you can view it, share it among your colleagues or your boss anywhere as long as you are connected to the net.

And best of all, once your mind map is done, you can send it for viewing by your colleagues or boss and allow alteration if needed and even reverting back to the original version should you want to retain your original version. Best of all, you can Skype while engaging the real time brainstorming mode, by just clicking onto their names. Once your mind map is ready to share with the world, you can have it publish onto your blog or website.

Hmm….where’s my mind map draft that i created earlier ?

2007-11-06

Foops!







First there is Friendster….
Than there is MySpace….
Now there is Facebook….
And finally a first social networking from Belgium for the GENERATION Z (Kids born after 4 April 2006) !! And they have already signed up more than 12,000 members (both born and unborn) according to trendwatching.

So how does Foops! work? The parents of GENERATION Z can place pictures or sonograms on behalf of their offspring !! and helped their both born and unborn kids fill out their profiles !!




Have you registered your born or unborn Generation Z kid on Foops! yet ?

TED Talks: Richard Branson: Life at 30,000 feet



In this TED Talks, Chris Anderson speaks with Richard Branson, the radical yet humble owner of the Virgin empire about the ups and the downs of his career, from his multibillionaire success to his multiple near-death experiences.

Steve Jobs Says:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and your intuition.” -Steve Jobs-

A very useful advice given by Steve Jobs, useful question of asking oneself.

  • Are we living in someone's life ? If so why ?
  • Are we living the life of what our parents, peers or people whom they wanted us to live their "life" ? Is it because these people in our life, whom have tried in their lives and failed and want to base their past experience onto us ? Choosing us as their so called "Successor" to their "failed" dreams or attempts ?
  • Or are we living our own way of life ?
  • Are we happy living someone else's life ? Yes ? No ? If No, why are we still living in their shadow ?

To end this post with Michael Dell's quote:

The key is to listen to your heart and let it carry you in the direction of your dreams. I’ve learned that it’s possible to set your sights high and achieve your dreams and do it with integrity, character, and love. And each day that you’re moving toward your dreams without compromising who you are, you’re winning. Look around you..." -Michael Dell-

2007-11-05

How are spending your marketing $$$ ?

How and where are you spending your marketing $$$ ?
Is it time of the year to spend your marketing $$$ ?

Are you spending all of your firm's marketing dollars wisely or are you spending it just for the sake of spending it, to prevent your already very limited marketing budget being cut down even more ? Are you throwing out your marketing dollars out of of your corporate window ?

It is interesting to note some companies are purely spending their marketing dollars just on creating buzz or chasing after the cool or becoming the "Ipod" of their particular industry and forgetting about whether the buzz will help define what their brand stands for. Does these short term tactical moves actually helps to build the brand or just creating a buzz and be forgotten after the buzz melts down? Sure, one can argue that the consumers are in control today and they are only interested in what they want and zapping away clutter of TV ads with TiVo.

Burger King's online viral marketing, Subservient Chicken, which creates word of mouth and spread like wild fire, sure it indeed created a big buzz among many but does it really have any real connections with Burger king's core brand values ? Instead consider how are McDonald's spending their marketing dollars on, Brand building efforts!

  • Does the core message get across to the consumers ?
  • Does the buzz or any short term tactical moves reflects the brand or product's core value or attributes ?
  • Does the short fixes, keeps consumers coming and longing for more of the brand after the buzz melts down ?
  • Are your dollars well spent on building your brand for the long term? Or are you throwing our your $$$ out of your corporate window ?

2007-11-01

How are you spending your digital $$$ ?

How are you spending it ?

Or are not you spending at all ?

According to McKinsey's global marketing survey, 31% percent of the companies are spending on email as their digital advertising vehicle while 33% percent of the companies are spending on display ads as their digital advertising vehicle.

So how much are you spending your digital dollars ? If not, how much are you deciding to spend on it ? How are you spending it ? and spending it wisely ? Are you spending it for brand building, brand consideration or customer retention for your firm ?

Why are some firm slow in adapting in the use of digital-advertising or marketing vehicles or why are some firm not adapting in at all ? According to the McKinsey's global marketing survey, 52% of the users reported the reason being having insufficient metrics to measure impact on their business through the usage of the digital tools. While 41% of the users report the insufficient capabilities of the firm in adapting being the main barrier. So are your firm not utilizing the digital vehicles because of these reasons or otherwise ? Is it because of fear of brand reputation on hand ? or ? If so, how are you planning to implement any changes ? If not, how can you overcome the other barriers in your firm such as structure, people, system or the corporate culture ?

With accordance to the survey, by 2010 the Web will play a key role in consumer purchase behavior, especially with 70% of the respondents stating they will be using the digital tools for building product awareness among consumers and 83% using it on the consumers' needs for information search. The move will have an impact on every company regardless whether they adapt or not. Are your firm prepared for the move ? If not, what must your firm work on or change ? Change or extinct ?

2007-10-22

My Tree !


Buy One = Get One Tree Free !!



Pretty cool stuff by innocent drinks, whereby they are launching a project which helps plant a tree in Africa and India whenever consumers purchased a large carton of juice from them. Innocent then uses the money from the consumers to invest in tree planting schemes.

They even have a section of their site, whereby consumers can view the trees they planted.

Cool idea....
Buy One = Get One Tree Free !!

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