I’m off to Mindmatching!

I’m not blogging much over the last few days because I’m off to TO to deliver the first Mindmatching session this year tomorrow! I am pumped because I have really tweaked it. I listened to our corporate customers intensely for the last  year about Mindmatching and think I have figured out how to teach rocket science–so they can actually build one at the end of the day. (The rocket thing is a metaphor).

As some of you may know I am not a geek but I have been managing them since 1996. Yikes! that’s 11 years. My world is brands–how to make them real. Give them meaning. And that begins with understanding the brain and mind of customers. Some folks call this new, hot domain, “neuro-marketing”. I have dubbed my version “Mindmatching”.

It’s a wonder corporations have coasted from the industrial revolution til now without 110% commitment (or even 10%) to understanding the human mind!

I’lll be back on Wednesday–promise.

Shipwire: Quick Start for Homepreneurs

I love the turn-key aspect of Shipwire. Entrepreneurs can receive, store and ship merchandise with just a few clicks. I know our small business wannabees and gonnabees visiting Plexus 2007 will hook in to this one. Credit card and PayPal make money simple. There’s no programming required–just a Shipwire email address into your on-line store makes it happen. Question is with warehouses in L.A. and Chicago what can Shipwire do for Canada?

Makes me want to start importing pirates paraphernalia on the side (minus Johnny).

I like Sentinel — it sniffs out sploggers

I was pretty miffed not long ago when a splogger jimmied my posts (several to boot)  without any credit to me nor permission. WP’s stats allowed me track this unsavoury character–you should read the forum about splogging at WP. To a certain extent I can relate to Viacom since I felt the same sense of violation. I did not lose dollars per say BUT someone enriched themselves at my expense. And frankly to have my content placed in these junk-sites is an embarrassement.

It is theft in the purest sense to seemingly create value from stolen content.

Blogwerx offers tracking software, Sentinel, that will catch the thieves redhanded. I like it. Hopefully it will be fast and remove the content from the thieves’ blogs. Blogwerx say they offer a fast scanning algorithm. The basic solution is free–worth a try.

With those caught red-handed Sentinel sends a DMCA warning and after three strikes are black-listed. But I’m still not clear on how it blocks sploggers before the get-go.

But I like it.

The joust is on between YouTube and Joost

Today (February 20), Viacom cut a deal with Joost to carry some of its properties (not Paramount Pictures or Colbert yet) with the proviso that Viacom receive 2/3 of the ad revenue.

I wrote about The Venice Project on December 21st, declared today as the covert name for Joost. Frankly, you can’t say too much for secrecy in the valley–it can be key to success.

Joost is re-launched by two founders of voip star Skype (now owned by eBay) and much maligned pirate video service, Kazaa, respectively.

The videos will be managed from desktops providing a richer viewing experience than the pixelated, crowded YouTube browser experienced. There was a place for this player and Joost has just made a home run! Just feast your eyes on the thumbnails above–these are full screen experiences. But it is still in beta phase.

Internet TV is coming into focus with Joost; hosted video and “streaming video” are fading.

BRAND OF THE WEEK: Zink

The Zink made a splash at the Demo 2007. It was one the darlings of the event–an innovation not unlike the grandeur of the wii. The Zink (the brand name stands for zero ink) is a pocket-sized printer. 

Innovation in technology is not all about user generation–it’s about the user. It was refreshing to see this gadget heading a parade of (albethey awesome) web 2.0 apps.

A true innovation in the printing realm because it prints without ink. The paper is reminiscent of Polaroid (it is offspring) and lasts without yellowing. Simply, the paper is embedded with dye crystals. Zink says, “if your world is mobile, why shouldn’t your printer be?” They also state that the printer is affordable and comes in many sizes, including rolls.

What’s interesting is that Zink can be incorporated into consumer electronic devices turning each into printers. Xbox printer? TV printer? Not sure here. But mystifying.

If you have a camera phone or digital camera, you can put an end to delayed gratification, unshackling yourself from clunky appliances. And save room on these devices for other images.

Zink estimates that the total amount of photos captured by mobile phones will reach 228 billion by 2010. And that the number of camera phones shipped will exceed the number of digital cameras next year.

Don’t run out the door yet, it’s due to be out later this year but you can see a demo.

Palm Desert Demo Dozen favorites

I have reviewed all the new apps, most from start-ups, many from big players like Adobe and Seagate, and all were impressive. Kudos to all the inventors–they are defining our future. The Web 2.0 meme is alive indeed! Here is a list of what I see as the top dozen favorites in the buzz network (not prioritized):

1. Zink (inkless printer that fits in your pocket!)
2. Eyejot (the best of email video)
3. eJamming (voip for musicians)
4. Apollo (Adobe) (web apps to the desktop-not hosted!)
5. Mobio Networks (mobile 2.0 mashups paltform)
6. Jamman (high-def feature films from all over the world)
7. Scram (Ceelox) (embeds info behind images for security)
8. Sentinel (blogwerx) (tracking blog plagiarisers, sploggers)
9. Zoho’s Notebook (multiple sources of content into one)
10. D’Fusion (Total Immersion) ”augmented reality”
11. Shipwire (affordable browser based warehousing & shipping-could launch a new legion of home-preneurs!)
12. Me.dium  (follows people’s web surfing)

Frankly, it’s unfair to leave any out; but, we all suffer from a collective attention-deficiency. Merit should be given to Teleflip, Vringo, DesignIn, Seagate’s Crickett, Boorah, Blinkx, Aggregate Knowledge, SplashCast and Boston-Power’s Sonata. Everyone has favorites. I tried to blend those of the pundits.

An interesting point is that few are monetized via advertising-it’s all pay-as-you-go or straight-forward buys.

Apparently, the Demo 2007 was crawling with VCs. Plexus 2007: The Web Marketing Conference & Demo will be populated with real buyers from the marketing and ad world. VCs are welcome.

The very successful “demo” event model applies to every innovation even if from Yahoo, IBM or Adobe. It moves quickly. It’s dynamic, invigorating. And you get the big picture, the value, quickly. Reportedly, attendees just love it! Chris Shipley, head of Demo 2007, has been inundated with praise for her excellent execution of this demo-styled event.

Happy Valentine’s!

Mobile customers overwhelmed!

There are so many services coming down the pike that the wallet cannot sustain all. And frankly I don’t like to see the lot of you geniuses surrending your brand power to the service providers like Verizon. Yes, they can bundle to meet needs–but it will cost you. I can see mergers. Perhaps, you should partner with each other. Video email with ring tones for example.

It is a miasma of options right now–and trying to lock-in customers long-term can backfire if something better comes out and they’re stuck in a contract. It may be good for your cash flow but… You always want to seek customer happiness. No matter what. Consumers don’t forget and will punish you with no renewal and bad blogging.

And just today Adobe launched their Flash based video email! This is a new market for them; but, the rest of you must move strategically….fast.

I’m just sayin’.

BRAND OF THE WEEK: Eyejot

Video sharing in a blink! is Eyejot’s trademark mantra. This online video sharing platform requires no downloading of an application to use. Users can create and receive, no ifs, ands or buts. You can start using Eyejot immediately, with any browser and in any platform. And it integrates with mobile devices and iTunes too.

Imagine now instead of keying in a message to your Valentine, you can belt out a dirge on your knees and send it via email. You don’t have to get hosted at YouTube for this! This is an emoticon killer!

I love it. Love it. Love it. Get this on Oprah’s favorite things.

Is Microsoft picking the lint out of its navel?

Plexus 2007 goes Demo

We are so committed to engaging our business audience that we had an awakening. AHA! The Demo format is dynamic and truly engaging. The Demoers of innovative products and solutions, also do a 7 minute bit on stage demoing live on PP or the web. That’s a lot of changing content, but not toe fast for the speedy, time-pressed minds of our biz vistors to grasp the value. If the founders can’t do it in this time, their intended won’t get it. It’s a proven format. One that customers love. And never used before in Canada. So the event is aptly re-titled: Plexus 2007 – The Web Marketing Conference & Demo. The site has already been re-suited. We’re excited.

Patent trolls could alter future of the web

Well the moment has arrived. A few days ago Viacom demanded that YouTube remove 100,000 videos from its service, throwing down the gauntlet with 100,000 spam messages to cease and desist. For producers and artists whose revenues have been altered by digital squatting, there seems to be no end in sight. Distribution is everything right now. Just last week content producers in Hollywood threatened to hold back delivery to theatres in Canada if they could not get control over copying while movies play; apparently Canada (according to US) is mecca for this practice. Content producers are digging theirs heels deeper.

In a new clever move last January, YouTube has offered to compensate home grown video producers for their material. That will prevent claims from rising, perhaps class actions, to countless numbers.

Frankly, this is not about whether YouTube or other services have erred; it is about a new digital economy defining itself. Growing pains. There will be ambulance chasers who will enter the courts with old world patent and copyright laws for windfalls notorious of  large court judgments. And it will be the Googles and the Yahoos they will pursue. Maybe even the Flickrs and Technoratis.  But strangely enough this problem cuts both ways.

There is new impetus for claims against the common user via EULA (End User License Agreement), a contract between end user and producer of software. For software purchased at retail these are referred to as “shrink-wrap agreements” and on-line, “click through agreements”. Few read them following through with agreement by merely using or clicking “I agree” on-line. The agreements are ridiculously long and their meaning, difficult to comprehend. But, there is increasing debate about whether these agreements are enforceable.

Some of these agreements allow the licensors to snoop into the users’ computers and in some cases to remove existing software. In many cases the user cannot even “criticize” the product. This goes completely against the new consumer democracy all tech players purport to be purveyors of. Is this not the height of hypocrisy? Yet, EULA is now on steroids, ”overwritten” with TOS (Terms of Service ) contracts,  to lock-in and control innocent users. We know the corporations (and you know who you are) who indulge. Start-ups driven by VCs (who love “lock-in” software) are no stranger to this TOS practice. The relative absence of these could be a brand building feature!

In the grander scheme of things, is this wise? EULA must be reformed. Firstly, licensors must have a good hard look at their actions and recognize that they are taking basic rights under our collective constitutions away. Ambulance chasers (patent attorneys) see an opportunity; but, truly when rights in constitutional preambles come into play what are their chances? The public will become aware, perhaps stop clicking, stop buying.  It’s not inconceivable. Software producers must rely on the copyright law that protects them well enough and enjoy the benefits of their works. Et tu?

Software creators must look at their values—-publish and espouse them. In this, there is brand affection and loyalty in a sea infested with (name your predator here). Rethink.