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Outsourcing My Life Part 3 - The RunCast

Here's the 3rd episode of Outsourcing my life. This time in RunCast formate. Very shaky but not stirred. Unfortunately the battery died halfway through in parallel with me reaching 90% of my heart capacity. Now I'm off to Rhodes and the greek island called Symi to focus and get things done. I'll be back with a new episode (GreekCast ?) later this week and some more thoughts about global entrepreneurship & ideas for Loic's Le Web 3.1.

Technorati Tags: Outsourcing, loiclemeur, netaneljacobsson, runcast, leweb3

Outsourcing My Life 2 - Loic's RunCast Comments

This is becoming funnier and funnier. Loic just posted his RunCast with comments and and a new challenge to me as a follow-up from my previous Outsourcing My Life 2. Now I have been challenged to comment on Le Web 3 in RunCast format too! Don't worry. A RunCast with Outsourcing My Life 3 will come too now with comments on Le Web 3. And Loic, what about turning peoples VideoCast on Le Web 3 into an actual Advisory Cast Board? Stay tuned to the RunCast, SwimCast and PoolCast too.. Technorati Tags: loiclemeur , leweb3 , netanel , outsourcing, entrepreneurs, video

Traditional Media Dead? Not Yet - 10 New Uses For Newspaper

With the advent of citizen journalism, blogging, twitters, youtubers and the overall fragmentation of news, traditional media is trying hard to find new ways or not being irrelevant. Here are 10 new uses for newspaper:

1. Deodorize food containers. Stuff a balled-up piece of newspaper into a lunch box or thermos, seal it, and let sit overnight.
2. Ripen tomatoes. Wrap them individually and leave them out at room temperature.
3. Pack delicate items. Wrap frames and figurines with several pieces of newspaper, then crumple the remaining sections to fill extra space in the box.
4. Wipe away tough streaks on glass. Use newspaper with cleaning fluid to clean mirrors and windows.
5. Preserve antique glass. Some older frames have finishes on the glass that can be damaged by cleaning solutions. Remove smudges by rubbing with newspaper dipped in a solution of one part white vinegar and one part warm water. Let air-dry.
6. Dry shoes. Place crumpled paper in them overnight.
7. Wrap gifts. Use the comics to wrap a child’s birthday gift, or try the wedding announcements for an engagement gift.
8. Create a home for slushy snow boots. During the winter, keep a pile of newspaper near the entryway. When your little snowmen and -women come home, they can toss their winter wear onto the newspaper instead of creating puddles on the floor.
9. Prepare a garden. In the fall, mow a patch of lawn to make room for a dedicated bed. Cover it with four layers of newspaper, then a four-inch layer of shredded leaves or bark mulch. Hose it down. Come spring, the compost blanket will have smothered the grass roots, and the bed will be primed for planting.
10. Keep the refrigerator vegetable drawer dry and free of smells. Line the bottom with newspaper.

Who said that newspapers are dead? The above proves that they can be really useful in daily life. Soon coming : 10 New users for TV and Radio.

The above 10 points were found here but in a totally different context...

Technorati Tags: Lifehacks, Media, New Media, Newspaper, 10 new uses, puppy, TV

New Research:The User Revolution

Piper Jaffray just published a fat report called "The User Revolution: The New Advertising Ecosystem and The Rise of the Internet as a Mass Medium". Here are some of its key findings:

• We expect global online advertising revenue to reach $81.1 billion by 2011, representing a 21% CAGR (2006-2011).

• The User Revolution. The advertising world is going through a revolution, one that we call the "User Revolution" as it is happening primarily with the consumers, who are taking control of content consumption and branding. We believe this trend will cause a significant rise in prominence of the Internet as a major content consumption and marketing medium.

• "Communitainment." The Internet has increasingly become a principal medium for community, communication, and entertainment--three areas that have collided together and are impacting each other's growth--generating a new type of activity that we call communitainment.

• The Internet Is Mainstream. The Internet has become a mainstream media outlet that now rivals traditional media for reach and advertising dollars.

• Media Fragmentation. The proliferation of online and offline media outlets has resulted in shrinking television audiences and an increasingly fragmented media landscape.

• The Golden Search. We believe search continues to gain ground, driven by the rise of search as the New Portal, the increasing use of search in branding campaigns, and the local search opportunity.

• We believe Google's wide variety of non-search-related products creates a virtuous cycle of brand affinity that drives incremental search volume.

• Video Ads Could Drive The Next Wave. We believe Internet video ads could become a game changer for large brand advertisers, who are used to the 15- or 30-second TV commercial

• Internet Usage Patterns Are Changing. Portals maintain the highest reach, but the fastest growing category of destinations is communitainment sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

• Ad networks are experiencing increased demand due to increasing Internet fragmentation, desire for more targeted inventory, increasing usage of networks for branding, and increased site visibility.

• Agencies are rapidly evolving into more sophisticated, technology-savvy entities that combine best of breed offerings.

• Companies to watch: Google (and YouTube), Yahoo!, Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, Microsoft, InterActive, Facebook, Craigslist, Brightcove, Yelp, SINA Corp., Baidu, aQuantive, ValueClick, 24/7 Media, Netflix, Wikipedia, MobiTV, Digg, and Hakia to be the most important players to watch.

Like my good friend Kaiser Kuo, Group Director for Digital Strategy, for Ogilvy China, mentions in this new (and great) blog " Ich bin ein Beijinger" : none of this should come as a surprise, but the report is full of eye-opening finding regarding the decline of TV viewing, changing viewing and decline of broadcast TV ad as percentage of total ad spend.

Kaiser who has a unique insight to China (and was very much responsible for Maxthon getting discovered and funded..) is confident that advertisers will flock to video ads and all the opportunities that are opening up for digital media advertising in China .However, he wonders how ready people really are for pre-roll commercials stuffed in to things they want to watch.

I tend to agree with Kaiser, although there is a fantastic opportunity for advertisers, the Internet savvy users might very well prefer to block ads if possible. This is something we have learned at Maxthon and seems to be especially true for Chinese Internet users. Al the sophisticated ad-blockers and filters that come pre-installed in Maxthon has definitely been one of the key driving factors for Maxthon success in China.

Anyway, next week I am flying down to Beijing again to talk on Piper Jaffrays Annual China Growth Conference on behalf of Maxthon. I will then have a chance not only to meet up with Safa and rest of the Piper Jaffray gang, but also to meet with Kaiser again and plot how we can deliver some interesting advertising opportunities together in China.

 

Thanks to Mark Pols for sending me this fat report!

Bonus: Video Interview with Kaiser I made just before he left the Red Herring.

On Media NYC Wrap Up

I am sitting on the plane between JFK and San Francisco after having attended On Media NYC and am trying to summerize my thoughts about the conference. My overall impression is that its was a great event in terms of networking, speaker line ups and of course the reception. I had a chance to re-connect with old friends, business partners and make new contacts.

Having said that, I felt like in many other conferences: "heard it before, been there, said that and know that". Most of the panelist were all too predictive and didn't really contribute with anything new and refreshing. However, Tony Perkins and Bill Cleary and did a great job setting it all up and with the fantastic backdrop of Central Park and Colombia Circle ! Tony & Bill also showcased their home made videos that triggered many laughs.

A few speakers and panelist sticked out though:

• Peter Hirshberg, Technorati's Chairman did a great and entertaining presentation.

• Can Brands Get Away with "Buzz Marketing" in the Blogosphere? With Jeff Jarvis, David Weinberger, Rich Murray, Gordon Gould and  Barry Reicherter. Funny enough the only thing I can remember from this panel was Davids' attach on Pay Per Post, and the word "lubricant..".

• Workshop: Venture and Angel Financing for Private Companies with Sam Angus, partner Fenwick & West, Ron Conway, Angel Investors, Garry Kitchen, CEO Skyworks,  Howard Morgan Idealab (very funny guy) and Mark Stevens, partner, Fenwick & West. It was the first time I attended a workshop at a conference and really felt that I learned something new and useful. Compared to other lame workshops (especially the one on how to become a power blogger - most bloggers are better Online than Offline..). This workshop was well prepared, provided the audience with a great hands on advice, very helpful hand outs out and really offered some very valueable advice to start ups about raising angel/seed or venture capital and what a kind of template for how a well balanced deal should look like.. What I didn't understand is why Mark Steves several times ditched CRV's Quick  Start program. Do I sense some kind of fear of loosing fees...?

  Oh, and there were some great CEO Showcase presentations as well. Anyway, it was a great event in terms of networking I will definatly come next time too.

Technorati Tags: Alwayson, Media, OnMedia

Off to New York & San Francisco

I am off to AlwaysOn Media New York, 28-31 to meet with the disrupters of marketing, advertising, branding and PR. Will definitely be fun.  Not that I expect to hear anything new, but it looks like a great event and and a good place to catch up with friends, acquaintances and potential Maxthon partners. After that I continue to Palo Alto for partner meetings and some potential hires @ CRV. Finally finishing off with Tomas Wiesel Venture partners Tech2007 conference in San Francisco Feb 6-7. If you want to meet up please feel free to drop me a line or call me on my US cell 650 862 46 56.

Technorati Tags: AlwaysOn, AlwaysOn Media, CRV, Maxthon, Maxthon, Events, puppy, puppy, TWVP

911 & 311 Lines To Accept Digital Images

The New York Times have a good story today about how emergency numbers 911 and non-emergency number 311 will start accepting digital photos and images from callers. Mayor Bloomberg calls it 'a revolutionary innovation in crime fighting" and I couldn't agree more. Pictures definately speaks louder than words.

The question is just how 911 and other services will be able to process all the images? The need for a very smart image and video search engine just keeps growing stronger..


Technorati Tags: 911, 311, emergency numbers, digital images, images, crime prevention, technolgy

Person of the Year Is YOU! Me?

Love this take on the person of the year after Time Magazine chose YOU as the person of the year (something we all already knew...)

Via Rogel Love the Daily Show!

Technorati Tags: person of the year, Comedy, puppy, The Daily Show, Time, Time Magazine, You

What I Will Not Post About in 2007

In order to reduce the noise, clutter and meaningless posts, I have decided not cover or post anything in 2007 related to:

• Google
• Yahoo
• YouTube
• MySpace
• Facebook
• Digg
• Microsoft
• Apple
• News Corp
• Any newly launched services already discussed else where in BlogLand

The reason for this is that I am getting so tired so read the same old story over and over again all over the blogoshpere. Really. How interesting is it to read that Google launched a new service 50 times the same day? Or about which company will acquire Facebook. Vista this and Vista that. Zune here and Ipod there. Alexa this and Digg that? Put a couple of these companies to John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance" and you''ll get the spirit in which I am writing this ;)

Although I do not believe in New Year resolutions (I'm Jewish) I will try to be more selective about what I am writing from now on, less clutter and try to be more original rather that mirroring all the noise out there.

Disclaimer. I will only write about any of the above if the have anything directly to do with my business or changed something dramatically in my or other peoples life...

Digg it?

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Digg, Facebook, Google, MySpace, Microsoft, Yahoo, YouTube

Bloggers for a Better World?

A few weeks ago at the closing note of  Le Web 3 , Yossi Vardi and Loic called for the creation of a new movement, "bloggers for a better world". The idea was that every blogger that joined this new movement would commit themselves to write at least one post on social responsibility and change per week. David Sifry bought the domain and it would be tagged bfbw or b4bw. Every blog part of  this Bloggers for a better world movement, would carry a special badge. Shimon Peres also accepted to be on the Board for this movement which obviously added extra weight to it.

Now, I am all for everything that is positive and that would make this world a better place for us all. However, the following questions come to my mind:

• Is Yossi Vardi blogging?
• Is Shimon Peres blogging?
• Doesn't that say something?
• Will writing a post on social responsibility lead to that you take social responsibility?
• Isn't the real issue to work for a better world in general regardless of "platform" ?
• Are bloggers who badmouth, lynch, attach each other and wash their dirty laundry in public up for the challenge?
• In the light of the mob-like blog lynch of Loic in true Medieval spirit after Le Web 3, are bloggers mature enough to be a part of bloggers for a better world?
• Is this the blog version of "We are the world" and Live Aid?" were money for charity has been replaced by blog posts and rock stars with A-list bloggers?

I just say like Michael Jackson sings in "The Man in the Mirror":

"If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change" (nana na naa...;)

Technorati Tags: b4bw, bfbw, bloggers for a better world, Leweb3, Loic lemeur, Social responsibiliy, Shimon Peres, Yossi Vardi