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The shrinking brand: marketing in a small world

Here's another trend for 2008: From micro-loans to micro-vacations, micro-celebrities to micro-trends, speed dating to speed cooking: the "long tail" world of consumers is becoming smaller and shorter. Products, services, and experiences are being deconstructed in easier-to-digest, easier-to-afford bits, allowing consumers to collect even more experiences, as often as possible, in an even shorter time frame. Shrinking attention spans have prompted the rise of what Wired Magazine calls "snack-size media," and the hyper-personalization of online communication has led to new formats (micro-blogs, widgets, feeds, texting, etc.) that challenge long-held marketing conventions.

The emerging "economy … Read more

One-third of the people reading this are thieves

At least, that's what a recent study from Digital Music News and BigChampagne suggests. Why? Because 36.4% of the 1.66 million computers survey had LimeWire, a popular peer-to-peer (P2P) program installed. Guilty by association?

I have LimeWire installed on my Mac. This doesn't make me a thief. In fact, I've bought a wide range of music through iTunes over the past year. I think I've downloaded one or two songs and a few goal compilations using LimeWire in the past year when I couldn't find them on iTunes. The songs in question - by Led Zeppelin - I ended up buying (again, as I'd already bought them once or twice on CD and cassette tape) when they became available on iTunes.

So, 99.999% of the music I've listened to in the past year was happily bought through legitimate means. .001% was not. At least, not originally. Am I a thief? I suppose so. But not by any devious plan. I imagine that I'm not alone in how I consume music.

But maybe as a 30-something geezer, I'm atypical. Maybe everyone does want to steal music, as the music industry seems to believe. If this is the case, as Ars Technica writes, charging more per song does not sound like a winning resolution to the problem:… Read more

10 start-ups that show promise for '08

If it's done nothing else, the Internet has turned countless piles of straw into gold.

The latest Rumpelstiltskin-eque ideas include a site that will use your DNA to tell you which diseases and other health risks you face, a GPS device that gathers info from you such as traffic problems and beams the data to other users, a social-networking site for businesspeople and other professionals, and a site that lets you find out what the Internet reveals about you.

These start-ups and six others are the ones that Wired expects to break into the Internet's spotlight next year. … Read more

In between years: Trends and snippets

Soccer and innovation: I blogged about " what Ronaldinho and FC Barcelona can teach you about innovation" before "el cl?sico" on Sunday, and, well, there was a certain risk that my bold claim would backfire. Madrid slammed Barca in its own backyard 1-0, and while I'm flattered that my favorite Fox soccer analyst Bobby McMahon is linking to my post, his comment still stings a little...

Monarchy 2.0: Queen Elizabeth has launched a new channel on YouTube--the Royal Channel--that will broadcast her traditional Christmas address, at 7 a.m. PST Tuesday. According to … Read more

IE 8 to be standards-compliant: Good for devs and users

Standards, standards, standards.

That's the general theme of a video about the next version of Internet Explorer, which will unsurprisingly be called IE 8. Details thus far have been scarce, but in a half-hour video with IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch and Architect Chris Wilson produced by Microsoft's Channel 9, the two discuss the importance of standards, compatibility, and interoperability with the upcoming browser.

We also get a (faraway) sneak peak at a development build of the new hush-hush browser. The key takeaway? IE will finally be able to render the Acid 2 test correctly, which has historically … Read more

Click and order: Webware gifts roundup

Innovative gifts that can be ordered on the Internet can help to avoid shopping and dropping from the stress of loud, crowded stores. Plus, Web 2.0 presents can be tailored to individuals' tastes. Here's an assortment of some of the brightest gift ideas from Webware's writers.

Personal touch

This collection of gifts for Internet addicts, such as goodies for Second Life avatars or a year's worth of Web hosting, can enrich both virtual and offline worlds. These 20 sites crank out customized T-shirts, so friends and family can wear your heart on their chests. Feeling crafty? … Read more

DNA dating site predicts chemical romance

The first dating service to use lab-based genetic profiling launched online last week. Scientific Match promises to pair up people who will be physically attracted to each other because their DNA is different.

Well-matched couples will like each others' natural scents, have more fun in bed, and bear healthier children than those who are genetically similar, the company claims.

The service, available only in the Boston area, charges $1,995 for a year-long subscription.

"I strongly believe this will dominate the future of dating services," said founder Eric Holzle, a mechanical engineer.

Members swab their cheeks and send … Read more

Episode 625: Whither StarTrek.com?

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Attention profiling: How radical do you want radical transparency to be?

Michael Pick of Particls has written the perhaps most comprehensive overview of attention profiling and APML (attention profiling mark-up language) to date. APML is a proposed standard that allows users to share their own personal attention profile and compress all forms of attention data into one portable file format that can be traded between attention seekers and givers:

"We have reached the point of information hyper-saturation. It can become quite a chore to find relevant content online, when there is so much other information competing for your attention. But by implementing attention profiling, it becomes possible to have the … Read more