The New Flatness

New York Times 2.0

Good panel with Guy moderating.

While I have been in Japan working for the past few months I have experienced the power, value and just fun that is in the use of mobile devices.  The mobile phones in Japan and I believe most of Asia, are much more advanced than they are in America.  On countless occasions I have sent and received photos that I’ve talked with my phone.  The image quality on my phone is great and sending them back and forth between friends is easy.  As far as video goes, acquiring content here is very popular.  My friend here downloads music videos, music and photos directly to her phone on a regular basis.  The screen on the phone itself is big so viewing video and pictures is not eye straining.  The other night at dinner a few of us were talking about something I said on another one of my blogs and the next thing you know a phone is out with the webpage all ready pulled up.  And it was actually easy to navigate.  Being here and seeing mobile devices used to potential has cemented in my mind that mobile connectivity is going to be so valuable in ways that we can’t imagine yet.

Duncan Riley’s post in The Blogging Times is a good prediction for the future of commerce on the internet.  The way he explains it is that web 3.0 is just 2.0 but better and easier to use.  The customer will be more in control he says, but the customer has always been in control.  The customer is always the most important link in the chain.

I think that the difference now is that everyone HAS to acknowledge the consumer.  The consumer is impossible to ignore.

I’m really digging The Blogging Times.  Really well done posts on good subjects.

This article from Business 2.0 got me thinking a bit about the future of advertising within consumer generated content. This is such a new way for advertisers to reach the most passionate people. The article brings up a good point that the audiences of blogs are the the “cream of the crop”. The reason being is that the audiences of blogs are there because they want to be there and usually are passionate about the blogs’ subject.
There are 50 million blogs out there now. How many of those are able to generate any revenue for advertisers and the bloggers? You gotta have a niche in the bogosphere; otherwise you don’t matter.

Although read what John Battelle said here.

The entire ad market is changing so much right now. Its an exciting time for the industry. There is so much room for different types of experimentation.

Google is moving search into TV ads.  I think its a good rehearsal for ad placement in online video.

Google has really perfected the art of the parlay.  Using search to become such a valuable resource in advertising.  …and being able to do it in multiple formats.

MTV Flux for the user gen.

Music publishers putting the hammer down on exchanging guitar tab. Once again, the industry only sees things in black and white.

Online video distribution competition is moving into high gear.

Some of Michael Wolf’s predictions are encouraging.

Sony Mylo.

User generated content sites drive web brands. This is important.

How to ask questions.

I asked why someone wasn’t doing this in a post I made on Aug. 6th.

Who is getting the most out of VoIP?

Cyworld coming to America.

I am in Japan working right now and this is very apparent.

Char has a post today about social networking that is right on. I believe his thoughts are really valid especially when you look at where we are right now. Social networking is such a buzz word right now and sites that encourage it are growing so quickly. There will be a time when the growth slows and the questions that Char is asking are going to be the same ones asked by many.

This is a good deal for all video content providers and owners.  The deal sounds to me like it is  the best possible thing for Viacom and Google.  I like that Eric sticks with Google’s don’t be evil mantra when he says that the majority of profits should go to the content provider not the distributor.

The music business should have moved as fast as the video business in trying to create some value from digital distribution.

…to be able to pull my mobile phone out of my pocket while I\’m standing in a store, whether it is the Apple store or a clothing store, point my camera phone at a product and in a few seconds receive results from eBay and Google\’s auction site as to what similar products to the one I\’m looking at are available for purchase anywhere in the world.

3D image recognition from a 2D source.

Apple has created some deals with American and foreign car companies to allow for full connectivity of iPods in the cars and trucks. I read about what Bob Lefsetz thinks about how this will affect the satellite radio industry.

I lean towards agreeing with him.

Bob mentions in his post that he thinks all music that people have on their iPods is not from the iTunes store but ripped CDs. This is probably true but someone needs to hack together an app that can monitor anonymously what percentage of iTunes purchased music people have on their iPods. It would be interesting to see what the real numbers are since its impossible to estimate that number.

Bob also brings up the point that satellite radio is about music discovery where the iPod is not. What does it take to make the iPod a discovery device? …connectivity.