I have blogged a few times lately about attempts publishers are making the price of content on the internet (here and here, if you’re interested). Traditional media sources and content producers have always struggled with creating a profitable online model, and the rise of the smartphone and the tablet both highlights the issues they are facing, and presents new opportunities for a solution.  Two more attempts at this solution have been getting publicity recently. First, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has announced it’s plans for a new, national US publication designed specifically for the iPad. The publication is will feature short, snappy news stories (take this to mean lots of pictures, little in the way of analysis) and has been created with the goal of “having young people read newspapers”.   The second thing which got me thinking about it was a story about a series of new magazines created specifically for tablets, called Nomad Editions. Basically, the idea behind is that they’ll produce 5 “editions” around specific topics (food, movies, surfing, viral video, etc), published weekly, which users will be able to subscribe to. It will be built using an interesting technology called Treesaver , which allows users to view ther same content, using the same addresses, on their desktop or mobile device.

These are both nice ideas, but they both seem inspired by a premise I’m not sure I agree with. Mark Edmiston, CEO of Nomad, claimed that Nomad was borne of that fact that “…people reading on their iPads, they’re reading a different way”. Rupert Murdoch made similar claims about his national newspaper concept. The implication in both cases is that the new technology necessitates new content, as well as new content delivery. (more…)

When this 2010 election campaign is over,  Tony Abbott’s stumbling performance on last night’s 7.30 report may well be remembered as a costly moment for the Liberal’s campaign. Abbott was unimpressive generally, but in particular in his  response to questioning about the details of his party’s broadband plan. Abbott struggled with questions about the detail of the plan, then attempted to pass off his ineptitude by saying “I’m no tech head” .

What was stunning about this wasn’t  Abbott  ignorance of the detail of the policy, but the flippancy and complete lack of embarrassment with which he dealt with his lack of knowledge. By saying he “wasn’t Bill Gates”, he was implying, by proxy that technical issues were the concern of computer nerds, and that the details of the policy were beneath hin Which is stunning in both it’s arrogance and Abbott’s lack of understanding of how the real world works.

What Abbott doesn’t understand is about broadband speed is the question isn’t who in the electorate will be affected, but who won’t. What Australian business doesn’t now have a web presence? What person doesn’t pay bills or manage their finances online? What student doesn’t use the internet for study? In fact, who doesn’t go online as part of their day to day life?

The answer, evidently, is career politicians who have advisors to handle that sort of thing for them, and have never had to place an order, or pay a bill, or book a cab, or find a plumber online.  Rather than being the reserve of “tech heads”,  issues relating to broadband speed are part of mainstream life in Australia, and will only become more important.

To put the inappropriateness of the statement in context, imagine if Kerry O’Brien had asked Abbott a question about the wheat industry, and Abbott, unable to answer, had joked “Well, how would I know, I’m not Old McDonald?” Or if he had been asked an economic question and responded with “Who do I look like, Ben Bernanke? Ask a number cruncher, why don’t you?” Unthinkable.

Abbott can take some comfort in one thing, however. The man the ALP have entrusted to take him to task over this howler is Stephen Conroy.

As a Digital Producer one of the most common questions I’m asked (after explaining  that no, I don’t make movies) is “what’s the deal with Twitter?”  Clients  in particular will acknowledge Twitter’s importance as a tool for their organisation, but express a slight bewilderment at how or why it is useful to them on a personal level.  Someone recently said  “I can see why WE need to be using it, but why should I be using it?”pretty much summing the conundrum up. Almost as common are people who flirt with it for a few weeks, then lose interest. The most common reason?  “Oh, I started using it, but couldn’t think of anything to say so I stopped.

In Australia,  the stats back up the anecdotes. There are currently around 277,000 users, or roughly 1.5 % of the population. In the US, the following is far greater(a detailed breakdown of the numbers, with an incorrect headline, here), but still nothing like the level that Facebook’s are or MySpace’s were. The uptake experience of people I’ve talked to mirrors the stats as well. An estimate 40% of users drop off in the first month.

For professionals and businesses, there’s not really much debate anymore about Twitter’s worth. It has proven itself  an outstanding means by which to build a brand,  for business to business communication, and to speak directly to those interested in your band. If you’re already a celebrity, all the better – the opportunity for to connect with fans and to build your fame by giving them a taste of your fabulous celebrity lifestyle, at no cost to yourself, is just outstanding.  If you’re a tech person, or a media professional, or work in an agency, again, the benefits and uses are obvious and immediate.

But what about the average person, you ask? How do they make Twitter more than just “that website with the bird”? Pretty easily. Here are igloo’s tips on making Twitter work for you:

1. Don’t assume you have to say anything.

As  I mentioned, people often express their reservations about Twitter by asking “But what would I write about?”. The answer I usually give is don’t write anything.  (more…)

Google has finally changed their image search to be more user friendly. But who does it benefit?  Users, Advertisers, Google? Google of course.

The new Google images layout allows users to scan more images on one page, removing the need to click to another page for more results. There is about 15-16 pages of images (up to 1000 images) that you can scroll through on a single page.  How often do you search for an image and go further than the first few pages anyway?

You can also get a slightly enlarged image view on hover over, with some additional meta details of the image.

They have also done away with when you click an image, and get another thumbnail, and then you have to click to get a full size image.  The new layout allows you to click an image result and instantly get the full size image, over the top of the originators website.  So for you creative types, you can quickly view and download the full size image directly from Google.

Google being Google, means that they are providing users what they want, but also cannibalising traffic to publishers website.  Seeing Google now has 10 Billions images available, and about 1 Billion page views a day, that is a lot of users and pageviews that Google are not sharing with the community and more importantly their advertisers.  Their grand plan is…. well of course more revenue.  Google plan on selling sponsored ads in image search, where sponsored ads get greater presence.  Just like Adwords

It’s all about money for Google, but to put it simply,  it’s sooo much better for the users as well.  Google now have to get around the US Fair use laws that stipulate that they can only reproduce thumbnails, not full size image.  I’m sure US publishers will be jumping on the copyright infringement band wagon shortly.

Nice one Google, doing it for the people.

It was just one remarkable factor in a remarkable campaign, but it’s still surprising just how effectively Barack Obama was able to utilise social media and digital campaigning in his 2008 presidential campaign. He pushed his message and brand, generated support and mobilised financial backers. He attacked and diminished his opponent, without cheapening himself or tarnishing his image. Through this success in the “new media” he was also able to highlight the age difference between himself and his opponent, and add credence to his message of being the harbinger of change and innovation.

In considering the lessons this offers for the upcoming Australian election, there are a few qualifiers. The Obama social media campaign, particularly My Barack Obama, were primarily fund raising exercises. As well as financial factors, the length of the American campaign and the reliance on volunteers to facilitate their campaign rallies (occasionally quite elaborate affairs), so mobilization of supporters is vital just to keep the campaign running smoothly. As well, the Australian campaign is (mercifully) significantly shorter than it’s American equivalent and at a set time, which brings significant planning advantages.

Despite this, there’s a lot both sides can learn from Obama’s campaign, and from what’s happened since. Here, then, are the 5 tips we would give both parties, should they ask, about how they should conduct themselves digitally during the campaign. We are offering the advice to both parties because we are wise and benevolent like King Solomon and Quentin Bryce.

1. The Normal Rules of Twitter Don’t Apply (for the campaign period only)

I’m going to get slightly controversial with this one. For the next week or so, before the campaign hots up, expect to see several stories about Gillard and Abbott’s presence on Twitter. 90% of these will be bookended by a quote from a “social media expert” of some description, who’ll advise them that they are “broadcasting” too much, and that they need to “engage in conversation” (never “have more conversations”, for some reason) with their followers. Ordinarily, fine and sensible advice. Post-election, it’s just what they should be doing.  But right now, I’m not so sure. (more…)

In my post last week, I mentioned a report which blamed the lack of spending on internet advertising in part on the low quality of online advertising campaigns. It’s a claim that you hear from time to time working in the field,  either in the form of stray”I hate those pop up things” comments,  or from serious sources like this 2009 article from TechCrunch, which claims that “the internet is about freedom… and a truly free population will not be forced to watch ads”

The comment stayed with me through the week. I knew it was wrong and could thing of a lot of reasons, but didn’t post about it as I couldn’t think of a succinct way to explain it. Then the Old Spice Man exploded, and it dawned on me. It’s wrong because people LOVE internet advertising.

If you’ve been in a sleeping pill induced coma for the past week, the Old Spice Man is a deodorant campaign which has exploded. It’s mildly amusing bit in the Chuck Norris/ Barry “The Cougar” Dawson vein (you could almost call the humour Anchorman-lite)  which has exploded across the internet. It has 55 million YouTube views, and the campaign’s been given legs with the having the character uploading personal responses to users from various social media sources, answering questions on Yahoo, and so on.

The campaign’s not a great one, but it shows just how deeply internet advertising can penetrate if it is popular – or more correctly, how deeply a popular campaign can disseminate with proper integration and some momentum. This is advertiser created content as a legitimate entertainment source – people are engaging because they like the campaign in and of itself, not the product. Advertisements – not advertiser funded content, advertisements – are now a legitimate form of entertainment. (more…)

When you hear the phrase “Queen of the Internet”, you’re probably inclined to think of Lady Gaga or, if you are a traditionalist Tia Tequila.  But the title’s also been given to Mary Meeker , a Managing Director at investment bank Morgan Stanley. Meeker, who heads up the bank’s global technology research team, earned the title after the publication of her ground breaking  if unimaginatively titled  The Internet Report in 1995. The report successfully predicted much of the dot.com boom, and despite the bubble’s bursting in 2000, has been highly regarded and closely followed by investors and the tech industry every since.

Meeker’s 2010 Report was released to the public last month, and again, it’s full of fascinating information.  It’s particularly strong on the rise and rise of mobile computing and the flow on effect this boom is having on innovation and customer expectation. It finds:

- The growth of mobile internet is unprecedented, with the inflection point where the number of smart phones shipped surpasses PCs predicted to be reached as soon as 2012. Smart phones shipments have already overtaken feature phones in the USA. They have been the biggest growth drivers of computing devices in history. The report notes that wireless options are growing rapidly to meet this demand, and that the demands of wireless consumers have expanded massively year on year since the device’s launch. (more…)

Who buys CDs any more? Not me..

Except when they have theramins in them!

From moldover.com

Its very rare that i go to a new site that captures my interest for more than a couple of seconds or gets a return visit. The site may look fantastic, have a crazy papervision interface, integrate super nice video and be selling me a product that i’d love to own, but the overall experience feels like the previous site i just visited and was just another exercise in current trends.

Then there’s the sites or ideas that allow me enjoy the my limited time spent soaking up what online media has to offer, its got nothing to do with content or the product being sold, but rather the elegant execution and the considered and engaging animation and interaction.

This got me thinking into what has been some really simple and elegant ideas that have captured my interest and have been worthy of the ‘Send to All’ email.

Some of these are getting old, but hey ive remembered them because i enjoyed the experience and continually keep referring them.

http://wonder-wall.com/
http://www.muji.com/rhythm/
http://changeperspective.saab.com/
http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/landing_page
http://www.gettheglass.com/
http://thankyou.thisisgrow.com/TFWA
http://soytuaire.labuat.com/
http://panamera.com/#/home
http://www.thefuntheory.com/

Im sure ive left off a few gems, got anymore for the list?

Just a quick post on something I discovered earlier today. So I was looking for a chemist close by and as is pretty much par for the course these days google maps is the place to start (Sorry Yellow pages). Anyway, I punched “chemist” into the google machine and it returned this:

Nothing revolutionary there,  just the location of the Chemist. Then I wanted to get an idea of how far it was, based on a landmark I knew so I punched in “7eleven” which I knew was somewhere around there and the google machine returned this:

Location of 7eleven

Again, nothing revolutionary, just the location of the 7eleven that is close by.   But here’s where it gets awesome. I then clicked back in my browser to get the details of the chemist again and the mighty google machine, as I now call it, returned this:

The Awesome!

And that people is FREAK’N AWESOME!!! Google has remembered that I searched for something else close by and even though I pushed back has gone ahead and positioned it on the map for me.  Now some would say “big deal” But what IS awesome, is that someone at google has said “Wouldn’t it be good if we showed what someone searched close by even if they pushed back” and then went ahead and implemented it.

I didn’t ask google to do this for me and I don’t imagine it’s requested that much, if at all, but when it’s just there, it makes for a very nice piece of usability that I didn’t even know I wanted.

Bravo Google, Bravo!  You should be very proud of yourself, you can have an extra helping of desert tonight!

Have you discovered any nice pieces of usability that you didn’t know you wanted? And if so what were they?