Alas, the semantic web may win out as 3.0 and perhaps ubiquity will be relegated to 4.0. But truly, the latter is a bigger wave.

A few days ago I ran searches for “trends in on-line advertising” and the results were targeted BUT they were over three years old. That’s not a trend.

When I feign to spend time clicking on results, I look at the copyright at the bottom of a site to see if they have updated the year–if not, I am suspicious especially when there are no dates on the site. I can’t count the many posts in the blogosphere that do not date their material, many under the guise of being current.

My point: there is a lot of dated, superceded, “dead” information on the web that may lead folks down the road no longer travelled. I’ll guess it is at least 30%–maybe much more. As one pundit said, “search engines are in their infancy”.

What I love about Amazon.com search tools is that you can change the search according to date of publication, not just subject relevance. That’s why New Releases is a whole other kettle of fish in the book and video biz–everyone wants to be au courant.

When doing searches the internet is looking old.

I’m just sayin’…

If that isn’t enough to grate me, the feed stats button was buttressed to another called “Blog Surfer” that took me to a line-up of posts by Robert Scoble. Arrrrrgh! While I may have visited his blog a couple of times in the past I’ll decide want I want on my dashboard not WP. I am not the least bit interested in Mrs. Scoble’s trip to the spa and the like. WP thinks this may force views to other WP bloggers–but it is really a form of advertising. I thought WP was dead set against this! The dashboard entry point and forums provide enough here.

Please WP, you are excellent thinkers and doers but this one is a thumbs down of stellar proportion.

Ranked 1st: web analytics

Ranked 2nd:

• Social media marketing

• Search engine marketing

• Advertising on the web

Ranked 3rd: Improving web site content

Ranked 4th:  eMail marketing

Ranked 5th: Rich media in on-line advertising

Ranked 6th: mobile marketing

The disparity between analytics and mobile marketing surprised us but this is still directional data. We are continuing the surveys and will adjust the results as we advance. Bear in mind these are Canadian executives and their vision and needs likely differ from their US counterparts.

As results come, they confirm that our growing line-up of keynote speakers at Plexus 2007: the Web Marketing Conference & Demo is bang-on.

The key precedent to entering the world of blogging is transparency. Currently, consumer trust is at an all time low and transparency is the antidote. Someone recently posted that a corporation that does not offer a blog from its CEO or executive team is suspect. There is truth in this statement. The web is about interactivity; marketers have always wanted a relationship with their customers and the web is the simplest, most accessible tool.

Remember blogs can and must be moderated. Where my blogs have received thousands of spam messages over the last six months, these spammers are now posting “nice blog” and other short saccharine statements with minimum links to get through our filters. But moderation saves the day. Expletives, hateful comments (under the guise of freedom of expression)–all can be deleted. I compare much of stealth hateful comments to “road rage”. The blogosphere has too many hateful participants and frankly the more we moderate, the more it will be taken over by social decorum. There is no more honesty in freedom to hate than there is in freedom to be kind. Even Tim O’Reilly is trying to start a new higher standard for blogging; I blogged about this earlier. I applaud this worthy cause and his courage.

Blogs put a face, a voice and a heart behind a corporation and its brands. It adds vital meaning to the brand. And builds community around it. And furthermore, it also provides a zero cost, authentic tool to learn how your customers feel. In a panoply of marketing tools, this is probably the most effective.

The truly fearful can turn off comments as a starting point—it’s not interactive but it does provide a sincere voice. I’t s a good start.

Blogging is an indispensible tool for marketers. Some say, “I don’t have time to blog”; truly, they are postponing the inevitable. Blogging should be on every marketer’s daily To Do list.

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.

Well it’s too soon to tell–the ink is still drying on the aQuantive deal, Microsoft’s biggest acquisition ever. (Have you noticed how organic growth stops when garage entrepreneur’s become behemoths?)

My suspicion is that Razofish will be affected. It’s not wise for any media to buy an agency and vice versa. This is not rare though; WPP for example own media. Nielsen are owned by VNU. Marketers will simply have to set-down ground rules to their media planners in-house or outsourced. Or conflicts of interest will run amuck. With the large consumer packaged goods and auto accounts, the biggest on-line buyers this will buzz around the water cooler. Razorfish’s client lunches budget will balloon. I’ll bet they are sipping apple martinis on Mad Avenue as I key-in.

Did Microsoft account for advertiser losses in its valuation? Will Microsoft spin out the Agency? It would make life easier; but, temperance can prevail.

VS

The internet is all about openness, sharing, community. It is the democratization of all voices, the”long tail”.  It’s what it is. I believe in creative rights totally! But the thing is, if Viacom were to win its case now to be heard July 27 ’07 (NYTimes) it could truly alter the face of the internet. And the tail could be snipped short creating costly barriers to viewers and put power back in the hands of traditional networks for awhile.  Networks are still thinking analog and fighting to maintain a dying model while they figure out a way to dominate on internet turf. This win will buy time while they create a new revenue stream to upshore losses in the old format.

Digital entertainment will be ubiquitous within five to ten years and we will see the rise of production companies who find impetus solely from the internet using BitTorrent styled or compression technologies. The world will move from 20 some broadcast hours to a place where there is no limit on time or choice. Audiences will become exponentially fragmented and advertising will become less intrusive and relevant. No one not even Viacom will be able to stop this reality.

If YouTube get their wrists slapped it will cost them and their users will have to begin opening their wallets, BitTorrent style. Or offer a pre and post-roll advertising model for free access. Don’t we have enough advertising in our lives! In the end, YouTube will remain the leading purveyor of home-grown and perhaps professional shorts (although I don’t feel professional shorts should be placed in an environment replete with content that offends mainstream sensibilitities).

Google are requesting a jury for this epic day. Internet users around the world must be posted for this drama as it unfolds. This signifies that the internet is still young and undefined. It is not just technology advances that define it as we can see; it is also special interests. Democracy is for all. Everyone gets their kick at the cat.

I truly enjoy using Hakia for my queries — not key words–I get more focused (hence less) answers. I use it first before Google. “Search for meaning” indeed. Here is the value described by Hakia verbatim:

hakia is building the Web’s new “meaning-based” search engine with the sole purpose of improving search relevancy and interactivity, pushing the current boundaries of Web search. The benefits to the end user are search efficiency, richness of information, and time savings. The basic promise is to bring search results by meaning match – similar to the human brain’s cognitive skills – rather than by the mere occurrence (or popularity) of search terms. hakia’s new technology is a radical departure from the conventional indexing approach, because indexing has severe limitations to handle full-scale semantic search.hakia’s capabilities will appeal to all Web searchers – especially those engaged in research on knowledge intensive subjects, such as medicine, law, finance, science, and literature.

Dr. Riza Berkan, CEO, states that searches take an average of 11 minutes and 50% are abandoned. He also claims that web search is in its infancy.

The search biz has ballooned with vertical applications including search engines for videos (Purevideo) and blogs (Blogdigger). There are hundreds now. There are Clustering Search Engines (Kartoo), Meta Search Engines, Talking Search Engines (AbbyMe – truly an avatar like person talks to you – great fun!), Filtered Search Engines… There is a lot out there to challenge the supremacy of Google which frankly is the time-gobbler among them all. It is truly this factor that has spawned so many.

Soon we will need a search engine of search engines.

Last week I could not believe that MS announced they were rolling up XP leaving the marketplace with only Vista in new devices. The cries on the blogosphere were deafening. I read again and again, “I am buying an Apple” and comments I won’t repeat based on my own Code of Conduct. I added my 2 cents by stating this opened the door wider for Google. Well the door swung open further today!

Google’s Doc and Spreadsheets (their version of Word and Excel) is out in beta now with a Power Point clone. I can’t wait to see the antics this latest Google assault will wield from Steve Ballmer (behold his response to iphone).

Between Vista, Zune and now this, 2007 may be the annus horribilus.  

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.

Many take this COC as censorship but Tim is clear to state that it is to offer the Freedom of Civility. The usual suspects are weighing in, including Danny Sullivan (search engine star), Mike Arrington (tech review star), Robert Scoble (blog star) and Doc Searls (of Cluetrain Manifesto fame). The New York Times has also joined the frey.

My take: It’s about time this conversation begins.

The blogosphere does not have the respect of the big business community and many other web users thanks to its limited lexicon, explitives and often baseless posting and commenting. O’Reilly seeks to make blogs more transparent i.e. no stealth journalism. This should keep the web more honest. In a seven step initial proposal, he also exhorts blog owners to be more vigilant with abusers–and to cease their own abuse. O’Reilly’s idea has been mocked by many; this is symptomatic of the fact that these are the voices usually heard. There are many who support him. It will be very interesting to see this play out. Movies always end in good conquers evil.

Now I am on the lookout for an app that mashes it all together without any coding on my part–in a secure environment. But can I find the time for this?!

A few days ago I announced in Hot New Launches April 2007 that DoubleClick is launching an on-line ad exchange. But three marketers, Philips Electronics, Home Depot and Hewlett-Packard, had already contracted eBay to the tune of $50 million to build a similar exchange. In lock-step the cable networks are digging in their heels and refusing to sell air time to eBay, fearing the permanent reduction of the price earned by human negotiation.

I like the access these exchanges provide to marketers indeed. Will these auction platforms provide the intuitive thinking media planners and buyers bring to the table? Most media planning is based on numbers, ratings, reach and frequency. Program selection requires more than Nielsen ratings; however, the marketer will be able to choose content on-line. So will these auctions put traditional media negotiations at risk? Will eBay offer a visual plan and buy spreadsheet? Will it be this intelligent?

Air time buys have always been made within a model that includes a number of impressions within a four week period. Ideally, a minimum of three impressions are required to get advertising to the minds of viewers. That means you must buy multiples of three :30s to ensure that you are seen three times e.g. 24 spots and more.  (With audience fragmentation this increases!) There is no doubt as neuroscience proves that repetition can result in message absorption; BUT if the advertising is not engaging emotionally, a higher buy is required. More spots. Frankly, air time is a commodity. The content rules. No auction will ever benefit content, its relevance and resonance. This is the untouchable. TV is still the best device today for quality, intrusive content delivery–and it is now that networks have a morsel of power left to ensure their sustainability.

I don’t think off-line media will soon die. Simply, the players will increasingly adopt on-line media and both will subsidize each other depending on the momentum of this media evolution. No doubt, this is THE industry under siege at the hands of web 2.0.

So for now these exchanges will have to find propulsion through other than cable delivery networks. Will the resistance end here? On-line is hot and will breathe life into these engines. Don’t forget this ad space:  outdoor, radio, print, shelter, transit, mall, elevator, grocery carts, product placement (brand integration), dirigeables, wall graffitti, urinals and forehead tattoos.

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!

British mountain climber Rob Bader will make the call this May courtesy of Motorola, the sponsor. It’s a little pretentious since there is a tower in China with a clear view; but really, there are still many dead zones event if you can check in from Everest! Fun promotional idea though.

A new launch late March 2007 named BubbleGuru is all about interrupting the viewer at your web site with a sizeable bubble housing a webcam-produced video of yours truly. If you are a guru indeed it may captivate the viewer. Think demo assistance. Or words from the CEO. The Bubble guys would be wise to show the various usages rather than “good for business”–show me how! Inspire me.

But judging from the quality of most home-grown videos, “BubbleGoof” may be a required brand extension. Indeed, for the casual user this will be fun. For established web sites and blogs……hmmm? Many “gurus” would not be hired as extras anywhere (they tend to be knock-offs of Napoleon Dynamite!) All kidding aside, I would hesitate to annoy with trite content (the bubble can be turned off by the viewer at any time). The Bubble is not to be taken lightly; good content is key.

The bubble follows you as you scroll down–blocking whatever is behind it. Intrusiveness is not where it’s at-but hey, this tool offers an easy turn-off button. Frankly, I would not be surprised if many refreshed their pages just to see it again. Because after all, it is a fresh idea.

On the up side, I think there is too much friction getting videos live at any address. It’s nice that the user is empowered, doesn’t need a programmer and can change the message every day. Really, it’s a bubble-vlog.

Have a look here and see how the bubble looks in action at our tech event site: http://www.bubbleguru.com/flag_page.html?=DKs75MpI&=www.Plexus2007.com

BubbleGuru is in beta like most of The Valley. You can test drive it for free. Kick back one night this week with a glass of Chardonnay and have some fun.

I just recently posted Geni as the Brand of the Week, a social collaboration platform for the building of a family tree. But Kincafe (a fun relevant name) is Geni on steroids. It is very intuitive as it is very visual, using icons, images, and less text (text is sequential and slow to the brain). But what is great is that it takes collaboration a relevant step further with photo album building, blog, stories, shared between family members and friends.

I began to muse the opportunities that Kincafe could evolve into. The problem with Web 2.0 is that the hosted services are fragmented–and there is only so much time any of us have to spend sitting at a keyboard. And more user IDs and passwords than we can maintain. This is where the battle will be won, aggregated functionality.

So Kincafe could become a substantive “inner circle” network adding features like auto-prompted birthday greetings or birth announcements, videos, audios–as it is Kincafe is a fabulous way to keep in touch and add meaning to “family” or a group of friends.

I’ve heard musings about Kincafe taking longer than Flash based Geni but I think these are small glitches, easy to overcome. The depth of the service is to be noted. My personal preference is the zoom tool at Kincafe rather than the tedious scrolling at Geni–but hey, “one man’s meat is another man’s poison”.

I expect like Geni you can use Kincafe free up to a point. How to monetize this for the founders is a question I am sure I will get an answer to shortly.

Apparently I am one of the blessed ones to get this letter from Google AdSense in response to my complaint about abuse of my writings (this is how some pretentious bloggers create content to fool AdSense into paying up). Advertisers should know this practice is rampant.

Hello Marie,

Thank you for your note. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged
infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the
text of which can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office website:
http://www.copyright.gov/) and other applicable intellectual property
laws. In this case, this means that if we receive proper notice of
infringement, we will forward that notice to the responsible web site
publisher.

To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written
communication (by fax or regular mail, not by email) that sets forth the
items specified below. Please note that pursuant to that Act, you may be
liable to the alleged infringer for damages (including costs and
attorneys’ fees) if you materially misrepresent that you own an item when
you in fact do not. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether you have the
right to request removal from our service, we suggest that you first
contact an attorney.

To expedite our ability to process your request, please use the following
format (including section numbers):

1. Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has
been infringed upon. For example, “The copyrighted work at issue is the
text that appears on http://www.legal.com/legal_page.html.”

2. Identify the material that you claim is infringing upon the copyrighted
work listed in item #1 above. You must identify each page that allegedly
contains infringing material by providing its URL.

3. Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Google to contact
you (email address is preferred).

4. Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use
of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing
web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the
law.”

5. Include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury,
that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the
copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an
exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”

6. Sign the paper.

7. Send the written communication to the following address:

Google, Inc.
Attn: AdSense Support, DMCA complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043

OR Fax to:

(650) 618-8507, Attn: AdSense Support, DMCA complaints

Regards,
The Google AdSense Team

Until the victim goes through this red tape, the thieves continue. Even though the thief has violated Google AdSense’s terms, there is no sign of action on Google’s part. I will go through the process but c’mon Google–get real! Get human beings on this without delay, not automated responses, robots and inaction in the face of uncontroverted evidence.

I might add that I provided all the evidence already, WHO IS info, images of the theft. Google has enough to proceed. Google must know that this letter frustrates the victims, slows the process and both Google continue to collect from unaware advertisers and the thieves from Google. What a sideshow.

The question to be asked is, “Is Google complicit in the theft by getting revenue on stolen property?” Yes, especially when they are made aware. Their lawyers are way to busy fighting Viacom on their claims (which by the way I think is flimsy compared to this one); but the theft of bloggers’ content to extract dollars from Google AdSense is much more widepread.

“Don’t be evil” is Google’s mantra. We’ll see.

Read my earlier post about the theft.

Jobs says Microsoft have “no taste”, “they make really third rate products”. Ouch!

Who’s giving the KO punch?

Indeed copyright law imparts a great deal of rights to creators and Viacom will cause perspiration to YouTubers and the entire web community. Will the $billion claim dropped on Google Monday (Reuters) change content sharing on the web? The final verdict will set a dearly needed precedent for those who abuse on the web. As one who has had her posts ripped by opportunists I can relate.

But! let’s be honest the entire entertainment industry knew their content was being shared for a long time. Surely Viacom was no exception.  Getting evidence of this will be important. Perhaps they did not realize how the digital age and a connected world community would change the way they do business. They were either asleep at wheel, or planned to launch an enormous law suit as a new source of revenue. It Viacom tolerated use of their properties over the years (the numbers being quoted in the media range from 100,000 to 160,000 clips for over a billion views) and were in contact with YouTube and its assigns (Google) and made no objection at the time, this is a “constructive trust ” in law. Note, that Google removed the content when asked. That South Park clip of Tom Cruise in the closet is now gone. It took me under a day to send a Cease and Desist demand to the thief who took my content. Why so long, Viacom?

Now Viacom is putting a value on losses comparing their negative growth vs YouTube’s growth, co-incidental with the use of their materials? This is a real long shot. And it certainly is not $1 billion dollars (that sounds like $1 a clip–a far cry from what they would make in TV advertising revenue for this exposure)–a newsworthy amount surely pulled out of their lawyers’ hat. After all, an $850,000 suit would not make as juicy a headline. Viacom’s website is certainly well detailed and poised to receive the incremental traffic from the publicity. In fact, they claim increased traffic; but I assure the resulting publicity in this action is the catalyst– not clips removed. The lawyers arguing for this will be loathe to ignore the publicity effect.

There is no doubt that many of us in technology have an affection for the Google and YouTube brands–both underdogs who redefined the way the world becomes informed and entertained. But my cooler brain prevails. I also have an affection for productions by Paramount (a Viacom subsidiary).

With all due respect to YouTube I don’t believe viewers are by nature inclined to watch long, small template/browser based videos often low quality for hours on end. YouTube is invariably the domain of shorts. And certainly an ideal place to promote one’s creative properties. YouTube must bring into its defense team an excellent valuator that can put a value on the promotion it has imparted gratis to Viacom. Viacom have allowed this to endure for years and benefitted from this. YouTube is not necessarily on the defensive here. I’m just sayin’…..

Yes there is the thorny issue of creative works but how complicit is Viacom in YouTube airing their material. Check the phone records, emails, visits to YouTube, conversations. How long did Viacom folks know before they asked YouTube to remove them? The burden is on the copyright owner to pursue.

I’m just saying again….

One splogger pasted my post to four different blogs that are irrelevant, just in the past few days–blogs that are mindless junk. Having my post and name there is an embarassement!

Imagine how easy it is for a nubile programmer to download WP open source platform, set-up a pile of URLs with a registrar that offers free URLs like Tucows, troll the internet for content to steal, all so he can make AdSense dollars. This is a violation of Google AdSense terms–I have reported it to Google. This is a violation of his ISP agreement– I have reported it to his ISP. It is a violation of Automattic, WP‘s creators– I have reported to both. I have given this thief a chance to act and remove my content first. I was received with vitriol all through the day and denials–even though I have the complete WHOIS record sent to me by a WP related programmer and screen shots of 4 of his “blogs”.

A lot of bloggers are fed up with characters like this and they need to be prosecuted. It is plagiarism in a civil action; but i suspect it is also a theft in the criminal code. EULA must be inclusive of this. Copyright law must be enforced. It is a creation that belongs to me. This poor sod may be the poster boy for what I and the throngs have endured. His response takes away my guilt and fuels my cause.

What’s most damaging to the splogger is that he spent the whole day denying and then tried to mitigate his right to use my content by ripping Automattic’s TOS for justification. Little does he realize that the rights published are for themselves and do not extend to anyone else.

I quote a programmer who assisted me: “He’s completely off his rocker.”

There is a program that catches sploggers in advance, Sentinel by iwerx. I may be a candidate. But in the meantime, I will follow through this process and await Google AdSense’s, WP’s, Automattic’s and his ISP’s (DouglasFast in Oregon) actions.

One honest programmer removed the plug-in he created which the splogger ripped from his site enabling him to troll and steal this way. That is admirable. Now I await further action from the bigger players.

The next move is to call law enforcement in Oregon. And starting a file at Jones, Jones and Jones. I am not fooling around anymore.

We can no longer ignore issues of enrichment at someone else’s expense. Just last night my son told me he noted 30 million downloads of the movie 300 at a pirate site. Creatives are being abused everywhere every second.

Fair warning to those who copy my content without prior written consent, I will be like a dog on a bone.

Here is an awesome blog by Lorelle at WordPress to help victims take immediate action against plagiarists and sploggers. And yet another great post by Brad.

Before I get into this let’s do a little backtracking. Traditional 1D bar codes hold limited data; however, it is expected they will continue to co-exist alongside the new data-hefty 2D barcode. The first 2D bar code was invented in 1988; but since then, it has been re-designed many times. In fact, the 2D has egressed from the  “stacked ” design to the more familiar matrix design (above). The Aztec code  invented by Andy Longacre of Welch Allyn in 1995 has entered our cultural lexicon; it is seen on t-shirts and construction clap-boards among others. You will see it more.

There are over 20 2D symbologies available today. What’s nifty about them is that they can carry so much information that they do not have to be checked against databases–all the data necessary is on the bar code.

OK now for a look at the players. Motorola has recently acquired Symbol Technologies, reknown for their bar code readers; this will give Motorola a clear advantage. One of the most active spaces for bar code software is its application in the mobile phone sector. Among the major players are Scanbuy (which signed a global partnership with Nokia in 2004), Mediaseek, Mediastick (Japanese player), Nokia (who seems to be going direct according to their end user agreement)  and Neomedia (USA). Have I missed some?

Camera cell phones are the common rudiment enabling this technology. So now consumers can point, scan and get coupons on the spot.  That’s better than Googling a brand on your phone browser and waiting for information that probably won’t be relevant. It’s just not practical.

In the meantime, companies have joined together in Europe(HP Labs, Gavitec (owned by Neomedia) , Publicis (an ad agency?) and Neomedia), to develop a Mobile Codes Standard standard, MC2 (that MC two D). Who knows if in this dog-eats-dog world the group will grow.

So if I seem to be making a case for bar code phones, it’s because I am. Guess what else a souped up camera-phone with bar code software can do? Gavitec has gone a step further to inspire marketers in the mobile market. (Don’t miss Gavitec’s excellent on-site videos if you want to “get it” fast). It features Neomedia’s capabilities with ticketing, couponing, payment, loyalty, transport ticketing wherever you are– the possibilities astound. Here are some projects already in play with Gavitec:

1. McDonald’s Portugal
2. Bus tickets in Spain
3. H&M promotional campaign in Germany
4. Movie premiere tickets in Turkey
5. Payment in Switzerland
6. See the video below to get a broader perspective!

Gavitec has made great headway as the leader in mobile ticketing.This provides Neomedia a marketing engine for its patented software. Imagine, no more waiting at ticket booths or purchasing locations. More time to live.

Look for omniscience of the matrix bar code in our society–on everything from ads, through outdoors posters to products. Unlike RFID (which is being met with much criticism for privacy matters) it is not conceived to follow you but rather to enable you with information, access and opportunity. However! these bar codes’ data effectively travel in the SMS network; perhaps scrutiny as to the security of the information is due. After all we are talking about cell phones where conversations can be heard by other parties. Remember what Prince Charles said to Camilla in the privacy of their SMS network?

The big question that remains unanswered is how will retailers repond to this soon to be ubiquitous application? Will they fear encroachment on their house brands or slotting revenue tactics? Retailers are control freaks.

Anyway this is my take so far. I am engaged. This is truly a fantastic space to watch.

Footnote: I can only hope Neomedia will be smart enough to demo at Plexus 2007 : The Marketing Conference & Demo this fall in Toronto, an international event for business and marketers. If they can go to Spain and Turkey, they come here too. US needs to pay more attention to its good neighbor.

The tragedy is that these hand-held brands have little outstanding meaning–how can you if you don’t have a name? This is a critical aspect missing from this busy segment. Rim have the Blackberry and Pearl, LG has Chocolate and Motorola offer KRZR; these brands have a life of their own in consumers’ minds–regardless of carrier deals.

It’s a chicken or egg thing. 

Some of the carriers have begun naming their house brands (putting their names on devices). I keep saying that manufacturers must build their brands–build deep meaning around them–not just names. But a corporate brand name that stands for many things, stands for nothing. Their devices are not restricted to their circuitry–they have user context and can have deep psychological meaning to their users.

As for the innovators that add functionality to these devices, getting the users to demand your tools and services by brand name is invaluable. (This is still referred to as “pull” in marketing.)

Set a marketing budget that allows you to do this. You cannot achieve anything on a threadbare investment here. You don’t need network TV. The internet and experiential tactics like events can achieve this. But first probe the minds of customers for naming and representational meaning. Then you can unveil a brand (not necessarily named after a fruit!) with meaning that transcends its physical attributes, ones that resonate in the powerful emotional brain of customers.

If you dare think you can get away without this, think about the fact that the N.A. market is beginning to plateau (number of handsets) and settle into the smartphone segment rather than cellphones or PDAs. The cost of finding new customers globally is greater. It’s Darwin time!

Hey you can always sell your technology to carriers who will be more than happy to pocket the premium for that meaning. You’ll be known as a feature or Plan 1 or Plan 2. That’s sounds a bit like Brand X or Brand Y.

Or be eaten by another player. They say when markets are at maturity the “circle of life” begins.

This hosted app in beta is something everyone can use. More than a tech innovation, Geni is about every human being’s need for meaning and yearning for immortality. It is a user-generated, hosted genealogy application. It operates somewhat like LinkedIn where you invite family members into the community and in turn they do same. The net result should be a detailed at-a-glance picture of family history.

The application gives you a chance to set-up your immediate genealogy for free. After setting-up my children, sisters and brothers, parents, grandparents and aunts/uncles, I am going to have to pull out the VISA card. After setting-up approx. a dozen members, Geni advised me that I used up 30%. Immediately, Geni sent me an email with my temp password.

The app is intuitive in that girls are pink, boys are blue. And an on-screen scroll tool allows you to move around and add to your family tree visually. And I did not have to go in and set a password!–this in itself is a task no one likes when they are just testing the waters. Again intuitive.

What’s nice about this is that family can participate in adding their information about the tree. What I don’t like is that aging members are not on the web–and much of the knowledge is lost to the dearly departed. But hey, family will have to dig (no pun). Geni is to genealogy what Flickr is to family photo albums-live. Perhaps one day Geni will link to databases to help us add that knowledge. It would also be nice if we could skip generations adding ancestors which we happen to know about while we fill in the gaps with family Members. Perhaps Geni will become so robust that it could fill in the blanks. Why not ask for the moon? But one thing is for sure, I’d like to be able to print the tree on a large poster once we have it as complete as possible. Makes a great Xmas present. Add that to the Flickr photo album.

Geni was founded by former executives and early employees of PayPal, Yahoo! Groups, Ebay, and Tribe; so, we can expect this application will just get better and endure. Right now its fun, worthwhile and I’m getting drawn in!

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