Net

Advice to Start-ups : Do Not Sponsor Big Conferences

I am surprised to see how many new web start-ups that are sponsoring big conferences like Web2.0 Exp, Web 2.0 Summit, Digital Hollywood etc you name it.

I have only one advice to these companies:

If your target audience is not conference attendants (and they very seldom are) Do not waste your marketing budget on these events! It's a total waste of money. Your potential users/customers are most likely not early adopters, partially half-converted Internet savvy media people and developers. If I would be an investor I would be very upset to see resources wasted like this.

Believe me, if you as a start-up would instead pay anybody on the street $50 to become a user - I bet that it would be a better return of investment that paying outrageous sponsorship fees for web conferences.

Go where your users are. And they are everywhere. The big challenge is to aquire real users - Go and get them!

Technorati Tags: Web2expo, Web2.0expo, Marketing, Advertising, Start-ups, Web2expo

Maxthon Music Video By Chinese Fans

Talking about passionate users! Just got this in from Tony Gang, one of the new guys at Maxthon who posted this on the Maxthon Blog. This music video is made by LinQi and GuangChen ,students of Northwest Polytechnical University of China.

It's in Chinese but Tony have promised to supply one with English subtitles over the next couple of days. Since I know that I have many Chinese readers, why don't we run a competition? The one who sends me an English translation first, will get a U3 key with Maxthon :)

Love it! Keep sending me more.

"All Marketers are Liars" - Seth Godin speaks at Google

                 

Here is a very good and entertaining video wih Seth Godin, the author of six bestsellers, most recently, All Marketers are Liars. The video is a part of the Authors@Google series. The bottomline: Be personal & relevant and most of all: Tell a story - don't sell blue boxes! It's amazing how  many companies and advertisers that still don't understand that.

BandWagon - Free Backup of iTunes Library

Hyper Happen is letting us know that Bandwagon is about to launch (February 22). Bandwagon offers online iTunes backup (something I have long been waiting for). An in a smart marketing move to get bloggers onboard to spread the message, bandwagon is offering all bloggers who link to them a free one-year account! Very smart. And judging from the comments their blog has generated,  they will have to give away quite some number of free accounts.

I think this is an excellent marketing strategy that others should follow. The key thing of course, is to really offer something of value for free with no strings attached. The upside for bandwagon except all the buzz it will create, is that once you have backed up your iTunes library, you are probably very willing to pay the subscription fee ;).

Oh, and bandwagon is currently only available for Mac.

Technorati Tags: backup, backup, bandwagon, hyperhappen, iTunes, mac, marketing, blogmarketing, puppy, puppy, puppy

Exclusive Launch : The Passenger by Nokia

Since I have been working together with the London-based interactive agency Hyper Happen on a number of projects, and been loosely involved as an advisor on this one, I've got an exclusive preview of Nokia's new ground-breaking piece of marketing.

In the passenger, Nokia shows a new way for users to control video on the web. To support its push to be part of the growing in-car communications market, Nokia has released a super cool site which has been developed to take interactive video to the next level.

The story:

A mysterious woman is in need of your services. She needs to reach three addresses in Paris in a short amount of time.  It is going to take all your driving talents to get her to her destinations.

‘The Passenger’ experience sets the viewer in the murky ‘film noir’ world of night time Paris. The video is superb, fun and coupled with great interaction.

 
Along the way, you have to utilise the functions of the Nokia Multimedia Car Kit CK-20W in order to reach the destination and get the pay-off of the final scene. And if you drive the wrong way, you'll find yourself insulted by the the rude Femme Fatal in your back seat. Who reminds me of Meryl Streep in the Devil wears Prada..

 
Background:

The driving footage was shot with a car-mounted camera in all the streets of the iIle de St. Louis over 3 nights in November 2006, with additional scenes filmed at the Tour Eiffel, the Arc de Triomphe and the Heliport de Paris.

Daniel Goodall, Digital Marketing Manager for Enhancement Products at Nokia says that “The Passenger’ mixes video and gameplay in a way that we don’t think has happened before. All the driving is real video, real streets and fully controlled by the user”. I find it really a creative way of promoting a mobile GPS device since it puts you in the right context immediately and is fun at the same time.

‘The Passenger’ concept has been developed in conjunction with digital strategy agency Hyper Happen, working with Fuel Industries & Karbon Arc on the game engine build and video production.This is actually the phone I have been waiting for since I all the time find myself renting a Garmin GPS every time I travel to California. With this kit, it's just plug and play :)

Nokia - you know how to reach me...;)

Technorati Tags: Advertising, CK-20W, Fuel Industries, GPS, Hyper Happen, Karbon Arc, Nokia, Paris, Mobile , The Passenger

A Visit To Zecco

Yesterday I swinged by Zecco's new offices in Burlingame and had a chat with Michiel de Boer, Jeroen Veth, CEO and Gabriel Dalporto, CMO. If you haven't heard about them yet it's probably because you're not into trading. This cool company is disrupting a previously unchallenged industry, namely the trading industry. By offering free stock trading they made Charles Schwab & Co choke on their morning muffin and more or less forced Bank of America to offer free trade too (well not really you need to keep $25.000 with them in order to trade for free..)

I actually 'outed' Zecco last year, by posting this scoop on my blog. The story spread faster than fire and was soon picked up everywhere. Soon I had some heavy financial institutions checking out my blog with intensity...

Anway, Zecco move their folked up from LA to the Bay area and are soon rolling out more interesting services to upset the conservative finacial institutions. It's really like Jeroen Veht says, Zecco is like David against Goliath and it's a tuff challenge, but they are definately unto something and I'd definately put my bet on that these guys can make it, they just need to place the stone in sling right and aim for the weakest point ;)

So far the financial world is still very conservative and have been spared from disruption like the media industry. Zecco is well positioned to make a mark here and pave the way for other new web companies into the financial world.Hong Kong based Bullpoo  and Israeli based IncrediTrade funded by my buddie Ouriel (well LgiLab) are two other companies to watch out for in this space..

The Peanut Butter Manifesto

Following Brad Garlinghouse’s “leaked” Memo to WSJ also known as “The Peanut Butter Manifesto” a few questions come to my mind:

• Will this trigger a real change in Yahoo?
• Is this just a personal agenda?
• Will his or Semel’s head roll?
• Is this just a storm in a glass, that will eventually fade out accomplishing nothing..?
• How should Yahoo or any other company react to this type of “outing”?

Regardless of the answers, it is an emberresment for Terry Semel and Yahoo’s management team. Anyway, I would not say that the problems pointed out by Brad are unique for Yahoo. They could could just as well be applied to other companies like AOL and probably soon Google as well. It is difficult to grow fast, become big and maintain the passion and innovation. And buying innovative, passionate companies does not mean that you can buy and maintain the passion. It will often fade after the deal. That is just the natural order of things…

Windows Vista Viral Marketing Campaign

Windows Vista is just about to launch their official a viral campaign called Clarification.The focus of the website is the cartoon personification of Demetri Martin (best known from Trendspotting reports in the Comedy Central Show) appearing as a young man with psychological problems who has been send to an institution. It's really funny.

The question is just where Windows Vista comes into the picture...I started something, thinks that the connection is that Windows Vista is going to make the man the you man less crazy.  Regardless of Microsoft's intentions with the site, it looks like it can become very popular with teenagers.

One point that they did miss (unless I missed something) is the possibility do copy & paste the video episodes and spread them through blogs etc. Anyway, very entertaining and very non-typical Microsoft marketing message.

I am more concerned that Windows Vista will drive me crazy when I need to install it....but I guess there might be a fitting institution for guys like me too...


Technorati Tags: windows vista, vista, viral, viral marketing, clearification, microsoft, psychology, demetri martin, daily show, trendspotting, windows vista campagin, advertising, marketing

True Viral Marketing

Hong Kong Start-Up's -Update

A few days ago I called out and tried to connect some interesting entreprenurs and start-ups with each other in Hong Kong. I cannot say how pleased I am to see that all the guys jumped on the call-out and started to chat with each other. It seems that a little Hong Kong get-together might be on the way. Good luck! I must say that this is one of the best ways I have utilized this blog for until now. Connecting good people with each other - can it become better ? :)

I will defintaley join in when ever I come by next time!

Spreading Zecco

Last week I broke the news about Zecco - the finanical community that is going head-to-head with brokerage industry giants like E*trade and Charles Schwab by offering zero commission trading.

It created quite a buzz and according to my tools I could see that the financial guys really did pay attention and it sparked quite a debate. It' got picked up by Om , Techcrunch (see what some thought about Techcrunch first not covering the story , to finally cover it with quite a dry/negative review)  Market Watch and many others.

Stay tuned for some more interesting coverage ahead (and not only from Zecco ;).

David Winer, Maxthon & Gnomedex06!

This is awesome! Chris Pirillo a.k.a known as "Lockergnome" probably our biggest, pro-active and most passionate evangelists out there, and organiser of the the famous Gnomedex, was using Maxthon as the default browser for all the presentations at Gnomedex06!

Now some of them are available at Podtech.net. Watch them here at PodTech.net . Or what do you say about seeing David Winer talking about " How to make money on the Internet" with a huge projection of Maxthon in the background.

I especially like the one with Farecast, where they guys got a bit confused at the set up and Chris comes in and says " BTW, I use Maxthon as my browser so it opens up as a background Tab.."

This is marketing at it’s best:

1. A real usage in the right context
2. A natural part of the presentations
3. In front of a highly demanding tech, nerd and geek audience (where the majority is probably Firefox users)

We love you forever Chris! There is nothing more passionate than this...

Scoop: Zecco Head-to-head with E*trade & Charles Schwab

My good friend & Maxthon partner in crime, Morten Lund (early Skype investor) just announced that his latest venture Zecco.com (that I wrote about earlier this month) is going head-to-head with brokerage industry giants like E*trade and Charles Schwab by offering zero commission trading.

Jacob Langemark, head of Hello Group (another LundKenner investment) says on his blog:

The time is ripe for a disruptive approach aimed at the US brokerage industry. There is absolutely no reason consumers should accept paying anywhere from $10 to $20 for a service that is easy to provide at no charge at all.

So how are Zecco going to do this?

Well, according to Zecco, the actual trade is around $2 but since the big guys has to spend so much on marketing, running old business systems and old style costumer acquisition, they have to charge the consumers much more.

Zecco will run a lean operation and rely totally on word-of-mouth, guerilla marketing and viral campaigns to spread the message.

Zero commission will definitely create a major upheaval for the financial industry – and that is good news. Its on time that the big financial institutions get’s a taste of disruption.

So what then is Zecco?

According to Morten and Soren, you can think of it as the intersection where brokerage meets Yahoo Finance meets MySpace. Zecco is offering:

• Free trading
• Free Blogging
• Free Forums
• Chance to connect and exchange with other investors and netizens.

Zecco is even going so far as to offers to share advertising revenue with users who blog on their site.

Charles Schwab – eat your heart up! Zecco is the true Finance2.0 !

Thanks to Michiel de Boer for the early warning. Press release here.

I really wish Morten, Soren, Zecco and all the LundKenner guys all the best – this is a great shot and will be very interesting to follow.

 

Steve Jurvetson - No Marketing Funds For Startups

Steve Jurvertson, a partner with the legendary Silicon Valley venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson says that there is no reason for start-ups to budget funds for marketing.  According to InformationWeek, he asks start-ups that are doing so - Why?

Jurvertson thinks that businesses should go for "zero cost" marketing, where customers themselves spread the word about the products and services for sale.

Perry Klebahn, a consulting professor at Stanford says in the same article that "Contagiousness takes viral marketing a step further by paying attention to the conversations between people, nurturing them, and using them to develop collaborative communities".Rather than being the flash-in-the-pan that most viral campaigns are, contagious conversations "significantly affect the general customer experience over the long term," he says.

I fully agree. If you have a great product that people like, that users feel passionate about and you develop the converstion with them (Not talking to them), they will happily spread the message for you.

This is how Maxthon became so popular. For this a very small marketing budget is needed since most of the tools are very low cost. What is most important here is to have BIG EARS and keep the conversation going.

Regarding viral campaigns, I think that many advertisers are making a big mistake by launching short term "flash-in-the-pan" campaigns,just like Perry Klebahn says. Instead, they should focus on Long Tail conversational campaigns because that is how you build a passionate and loyal user/consumer base.

French Tomato Telecom

Adrants reports about SFR’s (French Telco) a new viral game where you can throw tomatoes at office colleagues. My French is perhaps a little better than my hand with tomatoes, but this seems too boring for being viral . Ouriel & Loic, please tell this is NOT French humour at its best..

Maxthon In BusinessWeek

And the story just goes on...Now it reached BusinessWeek

Tags: Maxthon Tags: BusinessWeek Tags: China Tags: Browsers Tags: PR Tags: Media Tags: Marketing

Maxthon Is Hotter Than a Finnish Sauna

Two weeks ago I gave an interview to Cnet's Stefanie Olsen at the Global Internet Summit about Maxthon. A few days ago her article was published, with a very different pitch that I expected. The article took off like crazy and was soon published, re-published, cited, Digged and blogged all over.

A few corrections:

• What got Maxthon so popular in China (and start gaining popularity world wide) is it's speed, rich feature set  high level of customization and user interface optimized for Chinese users - nothing else.
• Web proxy's can be used by most browsers and a number of well known software's - but you need to know how to do it and where to get the addresses from (sorry to disappoint you on that).

Sometimes journalists tend to spice up the material in order to create an interesting storyline. Maxthon has a very interesting story, but it has nothing to do with web proxy's.

Tags: Maxthon Tags: Browsers Tags: China Tags: Search Tags: web proxy Tags: IE Tags: Web browser Tags: Web 2.0

Global Internet Summit Wrap up

So the Global Internet Summit is over. Couln't have been held at a better place. Fantastic hotel, great service and most of all Location-location-location! Had the oppertunity to meet a lot of interesting people from companies like MySpace, Facebook, United Online, Google, Mobissimo, Mtones, AOL (yes believe it or not..) Knight Ridder Digtal, Classmates and lots of VC and investment banking guys and girls. One of the hightlights, was the teen panel where teen agers where asked about what they do on the web, how the do it etc. Obviously MySpace was a very popular destination, but my favorite was when one teenage girl said "I just open Maxthon and start searching"! Couldn't get a better endorsement than that! When I asked how she found Maxthon, she replied: "a friend recommended me and I liked it so much so I told all my friend, and now all of us are using it".  This is the first sign that Maxthon starts getting some real tracktion in the US.

Here’s some nice shots I took from the beach.

Tags: Global Internet Summit  Tags: MySpace Tags: Facebook  Tags: Classmates Tags: Maxthon

HBO's Interview With Ari

Rob Krause from Deep Focus, a Brooklyn-based online marketing agency that works with HBO, tells me that Interview With Ari, is the first viral, immensive interactive streaming video application not only designed to promote a TV series but tied into the plot of the upcoming season. The New York times have more on this third season of HBS’s popular “Entourage”.

Interview with Ari, is offering Internet users the chance to undergo a nerv-racking job internview with the cutthroat Hollywood agent Ari Gold, played by Jeremy Piven.

Social Media Press Release

Neville Hobson asks himself if journalists are ready for the social media press release, as suggested by Todd Defren. Todd has posted his debut of how a “Social Media Press Release” shall look like here (PDF).  I must say that this template is a great first step in the right direction. It definitely puts the P (Publish) into PR. One can always ask oneself it all the elements are needed, but as a general guideline I think its great. Todd also points out that PRNewswire (that I have been using several times for Maxthon – and it’s free), have started to integrate some of these elements as a standard in their press releases (e-mail, link, RSS and del.icio.us). See an example. I still run press releases for Maxthon through Business Wire and PRNews wire – but they are not even nearly as effective as my own targeted efforts. Just take the latest press release from Maxthon as an example – Charles River Ventures invest in Maxthon – my own efforts reaching out to fellow bloggers and journalist – created far more publicity than the costly (not worth the money) press release through Business Wire.

But back to Todd’s Social Media Press Release, Neville’s question as to whether journalists are ready for them, I agree with Neville saying that unless the journalists wants it this way, it is going to be difficult to get them to use it. Remember the one of the golden rules of psychology, people will do what they are used to do (or read: use what they are used to use) – a new format is likely to present additional cognitive overload – and journalists (as well as the rest of us) are already drowning in information overflow. However, do I think that should stop us from adopting the social media press release format? No, on the contrary – we should start using our own modified versions of this format, and educate the journalist – but by gradual exposure. Eventually the social media elements and interactive part will become a de facto standard, since the advantages by far out numbers the dead press release format. Business Wire – wake up! Justify your charges by integrating some of these elements into your standard format.

Maxton Investment Creates Buzz

The recent press release from Maxthon managed to create quite some buzz:

• Red Herring
• Techcrunch
• Om Malik
• Zdnet
• Paid Content
• Techrepublic
• Silicon Beat
• Internet News
• Digg
• BizJournals
• China Venture News
• Ouriel Ohayon
• Paul Kedrowsky
• Mark Evans
• China Tech News

and many more: Google Blog Search and Gada.be , it also lead to lots of new downloads and many new users, and we haven’t really got started yet…

Branding 2.0 & Ninjas

Mashable has a good write up about what he calls Branding 2.0 using Ask a Ninja as an example. By utilizing YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, Frappr and Friendster ,  Ask A Ninja creators Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, is reaching out to users with at a very low, if any, cost at all. Really smart usage of social tools! Just another great example of how easy and chep it is today to build a brand (i.e. if it is engaging and fun). While we are already on the subject of Ninjas, allow me as a long time practiciner of Bujinkan Ninpo Taijutu share a great Ninjutsu video with the Soke (Grandmaster) himself, Dr. Maasaki Hatsumi – watch and learn from the real master..

Strange News Flow

Here I am sitting and working as usual in my office in Modiin, Israel, when suddenly I get a phone call from the Swedish Radio. They where wondering if I was in Tel Aviv. I asked them why. They told me that there had been a suicide attac in Tel Aviv. I told them thank you for telling me - I didn't know - guess if they where surprised. Todays news flow is certianly unpredictive. My condolences goes out to all those hurt in the ruthless and coward attach. Some people have a sick view of self-defence...

Technorati Tags: Israel, Tel Aviv, News, Suicide Attach, Middle East

User Created Content

New York Times has a good write up about how user generated content and how it is changing the media landscape. The article's conclusion, is that most amateurs are just happy for having their clips posted on sites for everybody to see. However, more and more media companies are offering prices or even paying for user generated content. Even Yahoo is said to have signalized that it is moving away from creating its on content in favor of user generated material - and are willing to pay for it.

So what is so compelling about user-created material?

1. It is cheap
2. It taps into the social aspect of interactive media

But while user-generated materials can attract a lot of attention and drive a lot of traffic to sites like Myspace , the article points out that so far it has not been regarded as a winning format for major advertisers. Myspace is adding up to a million registered users a week, but has attracted little advertising reveune relative to its audience.

In response to this, Viacom's chief executive, Tom Freston, is qouted saying, "It's like inserting the advertising into a conversation between two people, and there are still a lot of questions about advertisers supporting user-created content."

Still, I believe that there really is a good window of opportunity for user-generated content sites and networks over the coming two years, because at the end of the day, its one of the things that makes people tick'. We are all looking for a stage, for a little fame even if it is not on a American Idol format level, but rather amongs our own little circle of friends and peers.

More Podcast's Playing Malachi

More brave Podcast's that dared to play my songs:

• The Daily Journal Podcast.The Daily Journal is Kankakee County's leading newspaper in Illinois.
• Reaching for Lucidity Podcast - A cool Podcst for great independent artists and music plus often offbeat world views.

Keep up the bravery!

Tags: Podcast Tags: Podcasting Tags: Radion Tags: Malachi Tags: Netanel Jacobsson Tags: Reggae Tags: Podsafe Music Tags: RFP Tags: The Daily Journal Tags: Music

Tags: mp3

Podcasters Pushing The Limits In China

NPR's All things considered , has a very interesting piece on Podcasting in China.

Like everything else Internet-related in China, podcasts are exploding in popularity. From film parodies to pornography, audio and video downloads are pushing the boundaries of the law and decency.

There is any interview with Irishman Ken Carroll started podcasting Chinese lessons just over five months ago. His learn-with-Ken podcasts now attract more than 10,000 visitors a day, making it China's No. 3 most popular podcast show. Quite amazing.

Another interesting story is about the video spoof of an epic film by Chinese director Chen Kaige. His movie, The Promise had a cast of thousands and cost $40 million to make. It took one 32-year-old sound engineer just four days to turn the film into a laughing stock. He re-edited the movie into a 20-minute parody, titled The Bloody Case of the Steamed Bun.

Hu Ge, the spoof creator, said he never intended it to become an Internet phenomenon. The film "was very bad, so I thought it would be fun to parody it. When I finished my video, I gave it to friends. They passed it around and eventually it ended up on the Internet."

A copyright violation or true media democracy ? What ever you say, it sure demonstrates the power of user generated (or should I rather call it "user edited content" ?) content and the power of word of mouth. Now no movie director is safe anymore, if people don't like your movie, they'll just make their own version or it., and who know perhaps even a better one..

Tags: NPRÂ Tags: All things considered Tags: Podcasting Tags: China Tags: Ken Caroll Tags: Chen Kaige Tags: The Promise Tags: The bloody case of the steamed Bun Tags: Hu Ge Tags: Word of mouth Tags: Consuer generated content Tags: Film Tags: Movie Tags: Media

Related posts: China Internet & Techology Key Take Aways, Michael Arrington With The Maxthon U3 Key!, China: Strength in Advertising Suggests A Stable Year Ahead, Ice Age 2 Viral Campaign, Why I Love Podcasts, The Future of Film-making?, The Art of Creating A Community, Me in New Media Age, Maxthon Users Put Yourself On The Map, Call For Action! Create Your Own Maxthon Video!, Today I Become the Offical Anyfilms Blogger For Samsung Mobile, Nice old Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu Video, TooDou - Video & Podcast Sharing From China, Douban - A Chinese Book, Music and Movie Recommendation Thing, How To Fold A T-Shirt, Celebrating One Year As A Blogger, Cartoons, Dane's & Word of Mouth

Case Study on Samsung's Anyfilms' Blog Project

Here's a short case study recently published in New Media Age (02.02.06) on Samsungs "Anyfilms" that I did together with Hyper Happen. A follow-up is expected on the currently running Anyfilms blog that I run on Yahoo360 as well later on this spring.

Tags: Anyfilms Tags: Samsung Tags: Hyper Happen Tags: Blog Marketing Tags: Blog Tags: Blogs Tags: Advertising Tags: Films Tags: Movies Tags: Cell phones Tags: Mobiles Tags: Media

My Old Songs On Podsafe Music Network!

I can't believe it...I uploaded one of my old Reggae songs I recorded way back in 1990 on the Podsafe Music Network, and guess what. Somebody actually played it. The brave show is called Puffcast - very cool, thank you guys!Inspired by this, I just added two more songs for anybody to play on their show (if they dare) and listen to.

• You can listen to my old reggae songs on here.

What do you say should I pick up songwriting again, or should I just forget about it?

Tags: Podcast Tags: Podsafe Tags: Podshow Tags: Podsafe Music Tags: Puffcast Tags: Reggae Tags: Music Tags: Mp3 Tags: Malachi Tags: Reggae

Maxthon All Over

Maxthon is finally getting the right attention it deserves. Techcrunch wrote a very nice piece about it today as did Om Malik. The time has come for people to wake up and see what a great browser it is. As for all ye who mourn about it being based on IE - Eat your heart up! (and your extensions). If you haven't tried it and given it an honest chance - save your opinion for some bartender. At the end of the day its only a browser, but I must say that I am amazed by the emotions the browser debate sets in swing....

Tags: Maxthon Tags: Techcrunch Tags: IE Tags: IE7 Tags: Firefox  Tags: Opera Tags: Tools Tags: Software Tags: Blogging Tags: Blogs

Consumer Generated Ads

I love this! Like Adrant's rightfully points out, this is true brand love! It's all advertising , leads us to a couple of links featuring people performing their love for Nintendo, all without logo, brand name of irritating announcer. Or what do you say about this:

• Chourus singing for Nintendo (with some great moves)
• Group acting out a Nintendo game
• A very talented guy playing Super Mario on a 11-string bass!

Can you get a better brand recognition than this? I really believe this is one of the futures in branding, people naturally engaging and acting out their love for the brand. Furthermore, it's all natural and comes from the heart. A lot of lessons embedded here for advertisers and their agencies...

Tags: Advertising Tags: Nintendo Tags: Super Mario Tags: 11-string bass Tags: Branding Tags: Marketing Tags: PR Tags: Media Tags: Music

Ice Age 2 Viral Campaign

Twentieth Century Fox has created a viral marketing campaign targeting the youth audience ahead of the release of its animated film 'Ice Age 2' on 7 April. On their campaign sie named blingmysid.com fans can dress the main charachter Sid the Sloth, in all kinds of outifts. Users can then nominate the best creation and send it to friends by email. Looks ok but a bit lame in my opinion, but as always its up to the fans to decide if this goes viral or not...Via New Media Age.

Related posts: The Future of Film-making?, Me in New Media Age

The Pen Mightier Than The Sword?

Yaakov Kirschen (a.k.a Dry Bones ) made added yet another great Cartoon to the Cartoon-debate, asking: " is the pen is mightier than the sword ?". Well, I would add that considering that the pen caused worldwide rioting, fire-setting, flag-burning, stone throwing, blood thirsty hysterical mobs - it is pretty mighty...

Tags: Mohammed Cartoon Tags: Cartoons Tags: Denmark  Tags: Jyllands Posten Tags: Freedom of speech Tags: Islam  Tags: Journalism Tags: Media

Tom Cruise On Oprah Mashup

Somone at YouTube made a mashup of Oprah's sofa-busting interview with Tom Cruise with her famous betrayed-lover interrogation of James Frey. Boing boing asks hopes that this will lead to other mashups such as Dick Cheney's neck shot story..

Tags: