Bill Gates’ show-and-tell ushers in virtual living

“The line between the virtual and the physical world become increasingly thin”, the Microsoft voice under Surface says.

So many bloggers have posted questioning Microsoft’s contribution to innovation. I have never understood that since the scientists in the Redmond labs are shaping our future like no one else. I already posted some time ago about their holographic computing and an image search engine and now Surface corroborates my point yet again. Bill says it won’t be out for 10 to 15 years but the prototype shown is impressive. To think what is basically a backlit tabletop screen can enable you to move its visual content with a finger touch and drag is impressive. You can even draw with your finger or a paintbrush.

Everything is getting more visual and less text driven. Easier to learn, adopt and use. More intuitive. Videos and images are key platforms for marketers to seek in the immediate future. Why? Well, the visual sense is fast and easy for interacting with customers. Surface is to computing, what Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone line was to telegrams and the town crier. It is yeat another sea change in how we live our lives.

As Bill has demonstrated you can drag items chosen off a menu onto the image of your credit card and it automatically tallies your total. You can even drag virtual theatre tickets and maps onto your PDA or souped up cell just by resting it on the surface of your table. No drop menus, pages, or buttons to forage through.  Imagine the uses to Surface for customer experience, marketing and operational efficiency.

I am confident all the Surface can be has not surfaced yet.

Les Moonves certainly not on the moon! CBS launches its own distribution network today

This just in! It’s called the CBS Interactive Network. The ‘ol networks have been slow to respond to the digital threat but CBS has now grabbed that brass ring. CBS has struck deals with Sling, Comcast, AOL, MSN, CNet, Joost, Bebo, NetVibes, Veoh and more.

CBS Interactive claims it is,  “the most widely distributed professional content provider on the Web.”  And all content will be free, monetized by advertising. No mobile yet but it is open to it.

HOT NEW LAUNCHES April 2007

1. Ballhype.com: It’s a social, collaborative site for sports fans. They can comment on their favorite teams local to national and rate the comments Digg style. This site is totally dedicated to sports fans with no other aim.

 

2. EMI  launches DRM-free music! That means no anti-copying software. Steve Jobs is putting his and Apple’s name and reputation behind the move. The music in question is said to be of higher quality and now available on iTunes.

 

3. YuMe Networks launches first advertising within downloaded videos on BitTorrent entertainment network! On any device! Add to your lexicon,  air-time “pre-roll”, “mid-roll”, “post-roll”, watermark and more on-line.

 

4. DoubleClick announced today that it is launching an ad exchange. It’s like a cross between Sabre (airline booking software) and eBay. Any advertiser will be able to bid for ad space on this interface.

 

5. Google Desktop for Mac. It’s a Universal application which indexes the contents of your hard drive. The image on the right is the new side bar. Reviews are not half bad.

 

6. The Coop: Mozilla adds social networking into Firefox.

 

7. Sansa Connect: A collaboration between Yahoo!, SanDisk and Zing Systems to launch yet another wireless MP3 player this Friday April 13th for $250 US. 

 

8. MailChannels launches a new spam filtering program that slows email by an additional 8 seconds rather than the former 2 seconds. This cuts down on impatient spammers. It can retrofits into any email infrastructure saving corporations a great deal.

Keep posted daily for more hot launches to this month’s awesome beginning!

HOT NEW LAUNCHES March 2007

A number of developments in web 2.0 and gadgetry keep the market hopping. HOT NEW LAUNCHES will be published each month featuring innovations from start-ups and behemoths. It is a live list that will grow through the month so you can have a quick picture of what’s fresh in the marketplace.

1. Google launching a mobile phone – a Blackberry like device with a C++ core. Google did start a partnership with Samsung in January; so there is collaboration here. Lots of chatter here and chattering teeth from the competition. Idea rating: 3 1/2 stars

2. My.Netscape - the next generation of Netscape’s personalized home page in beta (there’s nothing at this link today-keep checking). The chatter in the market is hopeful on this one. Idea rating: 2 1/2 stars

3. Adobe Creative Suite 3.0 – due out March 27. Idea rating: TBA

 

4. Geni on-line family tree building already into its second round of financing with Charles River Ventures value at $100 mm. I simply love this hosted app. I am in! Idea rating: 3 1/2 stars

 

5- Skype Prime Beta a Skype to Skype 1-900 style i.e. paid by the caller to experts at the posted fee per minute. This is about a brand so visionary that it sees beyond its appliance. Linked in has a similar service but I do not believe for mobile and for larger fees. Idea rating: 4 stars

 

6- Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G1 Sonys’ first wireless digicam which will send images over wi-fi networks. Standard resolution 480 X 640 at 30 frames per sec. Memory card able to hold 8 GB. No touch screen on this one. Idea rating: 3 1/2