“You know when I was your age I had to get up off the couch and turn a knob on the TV to change the channels!” I say to my son of 11 years. “Awww come on dad – stop making up stories,” he replies. “No really, and we only had three channels that came in halfway decent...
Leigh Fatzinger of OnMessage Ventures in Seattle, put together this great presentation about the trends in social media and how it is affecting the PR industry. Check it out here.
I met Clay Loges at a business networking event last week here in Seattle. Clay’s motto is, “Look for an area of change — then you get to make up the rules.” He’s been living by this for years and has become quite successful along the way.
A former banker and serial entrepreneur who once owned a text paging service in the new Russia – and was a pioneer in the 10-Minute Oil Change service station business and a GPS business — Clay’s latest venture is called Yodio.
Yodio stands for “Your Audio” and is a service which allows people to add audio tracks to image slide shows. The basic idea reminded me of the narrative my Uncle Mitchell gave as he went over his trek through Nepal slide by slide.
He must have given that slide show 20 times or more over the years. If he had Yodio, he could have recorded the soundtrack easily and shared the slide show in seconds with hundreds of his closest friends.
Although mobile content is something consumers can buy and download from virtually anywhere, Chinese start-up Duo Guo is banking on a different approach by selling such content through specialized kiosks in brick-and-mortar retail stores.
Based in Shanghai, Duo Guo—a subsidiary of D Mobile Inc.—has developed partnerships with China’s largest retailers and leading global media companies to bring games, ringtones, software and other mobile services to China’s 500 million mobile phone users in a retail setting. Each Duo Guo kiosk is staffed by a salesperson, who can help consumers as they browse for content. Once customers make their selections and pay, the content gets beamed to their phone via Bluetooth. In addition to its starting line-up of ringtones, wallpapers and games, Duo Guo recently began offering exclusive mobile content from emerging Chinese artists through its “artist of the month” program, and has launched into ticket sales as well. Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Tesco are among the stores that have signed up to host Duo Guo kiosks in China, while the company also operates its own standalone stores in subway stops and Shanghai’s busy Zhong Shan Park area. Content at Duo Guo kiosks is updated every Friday to encourage frequent browsing.
By Mark Levy, CEO MaxxoMedia
Who do you want to be today?
At Universal Studios City Walk in Los Angeles, they have a store where you can have the picture of your face inserted into a variety of scenarios. For instance, you can have your face placed into a picture of Indiana Jones or onto the body of a supermodel. Well, today I found a place online where you can do this with thousands of different photos — all for free. You can even share the photos you make with friends.
If you’ve ever tried to manipulate pictures in order to try something different or just to have fun, you know that without the proper training and photo editing tools, it is very difficult and most of the time the results aren’t all that great.
Cell Phones Still Hot; More Mobile Advertising Proposed
Although a new Harris Interactive study reveals that over one-third of consumers say the dire economy will not affect their spending habits, the 60 percent of consumers who will limit their discretionary spending will curtail going out to restaurants (74 percent) and limit their purchase of electronics (71 percent). 41 percent of consumers, however, have no plans to stop or cut-back on the purchase of cell phones, making it an increasingly viable advertising channel.
To many, it seems the use of mobile phones has become an indispensable part of their lives. People are actually severing ties to land lines with increasing frequency. According to a new study from the National Center for Health Statistics, notes the report, 16 percent of U.S. homes are using wireless phones exclusively
By Mark Levy, CEO MaxxoMedia
MCPS-PRS, the U.K. music publishing licensing and collecting organization, recently released a proposal suggesting that new digital media companies that want to license their copyrights should provide equity in their fledgling companies in exchange for the license.
They cited as some of the reasons behind this proposal:
1. Start-up firms present an undeniable headache for music rights entities. At incorporation, emerging firms tend to lack the financial resources, both in terms of cash holdings and cash revenues, to pay otherwise standard fees for music rights.
2. Emerging firms are not stable entities, in terms of their chances for success and the nature of their business models.
…and…
