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Back in the early days of large-scale computing, Sun founder John Gage first uttered the immortal phrase, “The network is the computer.” This statement has become more and more true over time, as increasingly sophisticated grids have proven to be more powerful and useful than any one computer could be. The power of the collective is starting to trickle down from the giants like Sun and Google to the little guys. This is making it possible for businesses of all sizes to create, store, and deliver quality web-based applications to users without the large-scale investment in computing grids that would ordinarily be required.

Part of this change has come about due to the proliferation of Platform as a Service (Paas) companies like Force.com (a service of Salesforce.com). Force.com offers customers the tools they need to create proprietary web-based applications that can replace the software they would normally use. The platform they provide is specifically geared towards businesses who rely on enterprise tools like those of software vendors Oracle, Microsoft, and SAP. IT departments, instead of spending valuable time on disastrous software upgrades and user training, could actually add value to the company through innovating applications that require only an internet browser to access. This would also allow designers the ability to create a better user overall user experience which is typically impossible since software tends “lock down” the user experience and allows minimal customization. No more installations, no more licensing fees, just a quick and cost-effective way to build customized applications for businesses.

Some industry experts estimate that this PaaS model could reduce the costs associated with traditional software by as much as 75%. No longer would an online retailer need to build or buy an e-commerce software package. They could use the foundation created by Force.com to generate a web-based application specific to their needs. Force.com offers their own development services to businesses without experts on hand, but they also boast an AppExchange section which allows users to share in the tools created by other users for subscription fees. Open source software is also being applied in this model, allowing businesses to combine tools like OpenOffice (an office suite to rival Microsoft Office) and customer service applications to meet the needs of multiple departments.

While the market for web-based applications continues to grow (and software dies a slow, agonizing death), big players in the computer infrastructure world are stepping up to fill a gap in the system. Back in 2006, Sun launched what they called “the world’s first on demand supercomputer,” giving smaller businesses a way to provide applications without the expense of developing their own server farms. The infrastructure was available to any one with a browser and a credit card. As Sun’s official blogger Jonathan Schwartz put it, “We believe the simplicity, accessibility and affordability of this service changes the face of computing for all organizations, large and small, public or private.” This initiative, and others like it, removed the last barrier to the triumph of web-based applications over software.

Now, e-commerce giant Amazon is getting in on the game, with their Web Services division offering server space and computing capacity on a subscription basis. Amazon is courting developers in the hopes of renting out their computing cloud during the off-season. The company’s infrastructure sees the heaviest use in the fourth quarter holiday season, and they’re generating extra (albeit small for them) revenue by hosting applications for developers. They’re specifically reaching out to companies who develop applications for Facebook. In a recent press release, Amazon Web Services details the benefits of their model: “Using these infrastructure web services, your Facebook application is able to reach “web-scale” by scaling up and down seamlessly as demand dictates — with pay-as-you-go pricing and no upfront costs.” In other words, if it’s a hit you pay more, but if it’s a flop you don’t suffer. This allows developers at small companies to reap the rewards of popular applications without taking the risk of buying their own computer infrastructure.

Amazon’s growing list of customers for their cloud rental service includes SanDisk and the New York Times, though it appeals mostly to smaller fish at the moment. They’re up 135,000 customers since 2005, and as their service becomes more reliable, the list will continue to grow. The pay-as-you-go model frees up businesses with big ideas but without bid budgets, and this trend is a perfect parallel to the Platform as a Service industry. Not only will independent or small-scale developers have access to the best tools for building cheap, quality applications, but they’ll also have the ability to store and run their ideas with the big boys. This means reliable, cost-effective, and customized applications for businesses everywhere.

It’s hard to spot a pitfall in these growing trends, and it seems fortuitous that they are emerging and growing together. The only potential downside is for major software outfits like Microsoft, Oracle, or Adobe. My guess is that even these traditionalists will get in on the game, producing more and more tools that can be accessed through the web on a subscription basis. As software breathes its last, we’ll see a major shift in the way programs are developed, stored, delivered, and accessed by end users.

Not too long ago, I was working for a publishing company which relied on an Oracle database and customer service software package to track its vast warehouse of books. When it came time for a software upgrade, an army of our colleagues in IT spent weeks installing and tweaking the new system. It was a logistical nightmare. Aside from the standard retraining (about 200 employees needed help) and a massive laundry list of changes each department needed, our customer service reps spent two days taking orders in notebooks and assuring customers they’d call back as soon as possible with shipping dates and confirmation numbers.

While Oracle was the culprit in this case, horror stories of this nature could be shared about all software-based customer relationship management tools, or even about software upgrades in general. That’s why CIOs at companies of all sizes are gravitating towards internet-based applications to meet their needs. Salesforce.com is one of the innovators in the field of “on-demand” business applications. As their website explains, “On-demand is the antidote to many of the IT headaches associated with the traditional on-premise software model. With no software or hardware to buy, install, maintain, or upgrade, the popularity of on-demand grows with IT organizations that are increasingly asked to do more with less.”

The on-demand model allows businesses to operate in a web-based environment, which means that all their databases and enterprise tools are accessible and upgradable within an internet browser. This not only eliminates the need for massive disruption when changes are made, but it also takes the servers and security off-site, which frees up IT staff to focus on making an business impact.

Salesforce.com’s growing list of customers includes IBM, Microsoft, BEA Systems, Sun, Spherion, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Dow Jones Newswires, Sprint, Kaiser Permanente, and many others. As their client Coral Energy notes, “Salesforce.com allows us to constantly evolve our CRM system.” This is especially easy to do with the introduction of Force.com, a web-based platform which allows Salesforce customers to build and easily manage customized applications using their model.

Force.com is branded, “Platform as a Serivce” (PaaS), and it is another big push towards the death of software. With this new service, enterprise IT groups can not only customize and update CRM tools to suit their business needs, but they can also add more applications such as security technology, manufacturing and order tracking, PR management, and just about anything else you can think of. This on-demand platform is rivaling traditional software platforms like Microsoft’s .NET. Force.com also hosts an “AppExchange” which allows independent vendors to share their PaaS products with businesses around the world.

The Wall Street Journal’s Vauhini Vara recently sat down with Marc Benoiff, CEO of Salesforce.com, and their conversation sheds some light on the future of web-based enterprise applications. Benoiff’s predicts that web-based applications will kill the traditional software model. When asked about Microsoft, Oracle and SAP’s move towards web-based services, his answer is casual and upbeat. He welcomes competition in the field of “software as a service”, saying “They used to say, ‘Big companies will never use software as a service.’ Now, they’re doing an about-face and saying, ‘This is the most important thing.’” He describes Force.com as “an operating system that runs on the Internet,” which allows all your other tasks to run smoothly. This comparison will likely spark a heated debate about the future of web-based applications, both in the business world and in the lives of everyday users.

In addition to his prescribed death sentence for software, Benoiff has a doomsday prediction about the enterprise atmosphere itself: “I think the big news is that there will be no office. The office is becoming more virtual every day, and the technology that’s making that happen is the huge wave of mobility…Whevever I am, I can have a video or audio conference, I can collaborate, I can share information.” Indeed, more and varied web-based services, like Google Apps and Salesforce.com, will enable business to be transacted from anywhere with a WiFi signal. Personally, I can’t wait for the day when “commuting” means opening up your laptop and signing on for a morning meeting.

Salesforce.com is definitely a company to watch, and they represent the future of enterprise tools. As more traditional software companies jump on the web-based bandwagon, everyone from customer service reps to warehouse pickers to CIOs will see a positive change in their daily interactions with technology and their ability to provide value to their customers.

Back in 2000, Forrester Research predicted that the e-book market would hit $251 million in sales in five years. It seemed like a modest estimate at the time, but it hasn’t come to fruition. The industry, which some experts contend has been held back by copyright laws, may get a boost from recent innovations in digital paper.

The undisputed leader in the field of electronic paper is E Ink, a company which begun in a lab at MIT. They’ve developed a display which is made up of microcapsules (about the diameter of a single human hair) which change color when electrically stimulated. This means no backlighting and no eye strain. E Ink’s technology is currently used for top of the line e-book readers, and they’re working to make commercially available flexible displays to give the feel of holding a newspaper. According to their website, “The vision of E Ink is to combine these attributes to create RadioPaperTM, a lightweight, flexible display with the readability of ink on paper but with the added benefit of digital technology to download newspaper headlines or a best-selling novel at the user’s command - providing information to anyone, anywhere.”

Another innovator in the field is Polymer Vision, which has worked with E Ink on flexible display projects. This year they will launch the Readius, a web-enabled cell phone with a flexible digital paper display which unrolls like a scroll. The 5″ screen is huge for a phone, with the added benefit of being able to “stow” when not in use. The Readius is Bluetooth capable, and has access to RSS feeds and email. Eventually, WiFi chips will make it into these devices as well. Polymer Vision expects rollable displays like that in the Readius to boom in coming years: “Our Mission is quite simply to put rollable displays into every mobile device.”

Flexible digital paper is also working towards video displays, and E Ink has released a product called Ink In Motion which moves in that direction. Microsoft used Ink In Motion as a point-of-purchase display technique for an XBOX game release, and the animation effect on the game box lasts for months on batteries. More applications for this technology will be forthcoming as digital paper moves into the mainstream.

The jury is still out on e-books, and we may never see the kind of growth in that sector that Forrester expected eight years ago. However, the technology that has been developed specifically for e-book readers is branching out. The possibilities are endless, and we’re sure to see products from E Ink and Polymer Vision on mobile devices around the globe.

Major ad houses are struggling to keep up with their clients’ demands. Big budget companies want ads that reach beyond traditional television and print advertising and into spaces that have previously been commercial-free. Here are some of the growing markets for advertising that you’ll see in the coming year.

First, we’re all familiar with online advertising, but this 2008 is the first year when major companies are expected to spend more of their ad budgets on the internet than they do on the radio. By 2010, online commercials are expected to surpass the cost of magazine ads. We’ve previously covered the success of commercials on YouTube, but ad houses are beginning to set up portal websites for clients who want their content to be high-quality and properly branded. A good example of this can be seen on Budweiser’s website, which features a section called “Entertainment on Tap” where visitors can watch their best television commercials. They’ve even started a comedy “station” called Bud.TV, which allows viewers to access humor content with Budweiser branding all over the site.

Consumers will also see screens popping up in all sorts of places where they’ve never been before. CBS has launched an initiative to feature their content on small screens in grocery stores across the nation. According to a press release earlier this month, “CBS Outernet will be able to offer national advertisers the opportunity to target consumers via Ripple’s rapidly growing network of screens that feature community-specific and demographically-tailored lifestyle content from CBS, The New York Times, E! Entertainment and Yahoo!, and others.” Don’t be surprised to find yourself watching CSI as you wait in your doctor’s office; the network has also reached a deal to show their programming and advertising to captive audiences in health care facilities. You also might find something interesting to watch as you pump your gas and wash your car windows. Many gas stations are installing video screens which will give you the latest sports news from ESPN.

As the portals through which advertising is distributed begin to shift, ad firms are also devising new strategies to keep their content relevant. While focus groups and random polls used to be the gold standard, companies are now realizing that consumers don’t always give high-level feedback in these settings. Madison Avenue heavyweights are using observational techniques to reach out to consumers. A good example of this is in the research study done by Saatchi & Saatchi for J.C. Penny. The company sent staffers to the homes of more than 50 women, and rather than conducting surveys, they literally shadowed these consumers, helping with daily errands, chores and shopping. The data they gathered was used to make J.C. Penny’s popular “Every Day Matters” campaign, which produced this award-winning spot to better draw in customers.

As the Web 2.0 generation gains more and more purchasing power, these shifts in the advertising agency will become more drastic and more noticeable. Competitive ad agencies won’t stop at gas stations and supermarkets; we’ll be seeing well-made ads on our cell phones, in our cars, at the gym, and wherever else we spend our time. Hopefully others will follow the lead of Saatchi & Saatchi by producing quality content like this little gem, also for J.C. Penny. Then at least we’ll be entertained in addition to being brainwashed.

Following the lead of new legislation in California, utility company Pacific Gas & Electric (PG & E) is aiming to provide much of the current energy it delivers to customers from renewable sources. Under Governor Schwarztenneger, California will require utilities to acquire at least 20 percent of their power from renewable projects by 2010, and a new target of 33 percent by 2020 was recently approved. PG & E has risen to the challenge, and they currently buy 12 percent of their power from environmentally-friendly sources like solar, wind, geothermal, and biogas, with contracts in place for 18 percent. It’s an unlikely move for a power company, but they are preparing for an emerging competitive renewable energy market.

PG & E’s website claims, “On average, more than half of the electricity we deliver to customers comes from sources that emit no CO2 and an increasing amount comes from renewable sources of electricity.” They are working with several Silicon Valley VC-backed energy companies who are pushing solar technology to the next level. They have brokered a 500-megawatt agreement with BrightSource, a company out of Oakland, CA. The deal is enough energy to light up to 700,000 homes at prices competitive with less-environmentally friendly options like natural gas. BrightSource builds massive solar fields in the hottest parts of California’s Mojave Desert, enabling them to maximize the power produced by their innovative solar panel designs. They are just one of a number of companies which PG & E has partnered with to provide clean alternatives to traditional electricity sources.

In addition to buying solar energy from local firms, PG & E also administers a Solar Schools Program, which will provide up to 40 schools a year with a 1 kilowatt solar installation. The program will not only help needy schools control energy costs, but will also provide a hands-on example of how renewable energy technologies work. PG & E is offering training seminars for teachers to help them incorporate the solar project into classroom lessons. Their interest in solar also extends to private businesses, who receive rebates and incentives when they install renewable energy technologies: “Through PG & E’s Self-Generation Incentive Program, nearly 130 customers received incentives of more than $69 million for projects totaling more than 37 MW in 2006.” One of those companies is Google, who installed a solar-paneled carport at their headquarters last year.

The utility giant is also working on an initiative to tap the power of the tides in San Francisco Bay. They’ve teamed up with the City and County of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Energy Company to conduct a study which will assess the technology solutions available to harness tidal energy. This would create a zero-emissions renewal power source for PG & E. The utility hopes that, “future plans could ultimately lead to the development of a full-scale commercial project [in the bay].” Their plans include building two 40-megawatt power plants along the California coast in the next few years.

Why all the interest in renewable energy, especially coming from the largest utility company in California? Peter Darbee, CEO of PG & E, told Business 2.0 magazine, “This is a defining moment for utilities. Are we going to be central players in shaping the new energy economy that is now emerging, or are we going to leave these challenges to others?” His strategy is clearly to embrace the new trend towards renewable energy, and it’s turning out to be a sound business strategy. Darbee has taken the company from bankruptcy in 2001 to profits of $2.8 billion in 2007.

PG & E’s strategy proves that renewable energy is not only the right thing to do anymore, it’s a profitable industry. As other states begin to follow California’s lead in regulating the percentages of clean energy that utilities must distribute, other companies will surely look to PG & E’s business model for inspiration.

Macworld is always an exciting time for the consumer electronics industry, and Apple rarely fails to disappoint analysts and gearheads alike. The annual expo this year was no less thrilling, as Apple announced two major innovations that are sure to impact the technology community in the coming months. CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the MacBook Air, which he described as the world’s thinnest notebook computer. He also announced the launch of a internet movie rental service through iTunes. While not quite as impactful as the iPhone was at Macworld 2007, these two new products have the potential to change the way we interact with technology.

The MacBook Air, which will retail for $1799.99, is just .76 inches at its thickest point. The laptop was purportedly designed to fit inside a standard manila envelope, and Jobs drove this message home by pulling a MacBook Air out of a manila envelope at the show. It features a 13.3 inch widescreen display and a full-size backlit keyboard, and it weighs just 3 pounds. Leopard fans will be pleased to know that it ships with that operating system. The trackpad allows pinching, swiping, rotating, and other touch actions that iPhone users have come to love. It even works within Safari and iPhoto, so one could use a reverse pinch to increase font size on a website or to zoom in on pictures.

MacBook Air seems to be a product geared towards wireless file sharing. The standard unit will not come with a CD/DVD drive (though they’ll sell you an external one for $99), and Apple is suggesting that most users will use iTunes for music and movie playback. The notebook will also wirelessly access external hard drives, so one could download music from another PC or Mac. There would also be no need to back up files on disk, as TimeKeeper will wirelessly keep track of all your file updates. But what about software installation disks? MacBook Air has a feature called Remote Disk which allows you to access the optical drive of another computer in order to install software.

Does it seem to anyone else that Apple is jumping the gun? The era of CDs and DVDs is not over quite yet, and Apple is rushing the demise of these storage media. For example, how useful would Remote Disk be if you didn’t own another computer to use as your optical drive? MacBook Air could not really function unless everyone user had an old computer as well. What if you already own hundreds of DVDs and don’t want to buy them on iTunes? While I applaud the move towards true wireless functionality, Apple might be too far ahead of the curve on this one.

iTunes new movie rental service is likely to make Apple a lot of money. All of Hollywood’s major studios have agreed to participate in the service, which signals a major change from a year ago, when just a few of the movie studios were selling films on iTunes. The rentals will cost $3.99 for new releases and $2.99 for older titles, and subscribers will have 24 hours to finishing watching them after they first begin playback. The announcement also details changes to the beleaguered Apple TV, which saw a price drop from $299 to $229. The product will now let users rent or buy movies directly from Apple TV, without the annoying intermediate step of transferring titles from computers to the set-top box. Both the movie rental service and the improved Apple TV will allow customers to explore new ways of purchasing movies. The iTunes service is expected to rival Netflix, which recently expanded its “Watch Instantly” feature so subscribers could stream movies while waiting for their next DVDs to arrive by mail.

Macworld is an exciting time to technology experts and consumers alike, and this year’s event was no exception. The MacBook Air is one step closer to the touchscreen notebook we all crave from Apple, despite its design shortcomings. Apple TV is now set up to be a money maker for the company, especially if users respond positively to the new iTunes movie rental options. Apple’s innovative designs and cutting edge technology will continue to impress us in Macworld conventions for years to come.

The enterprise IT world is abuzz with the news of Sun Microsystems’ buyout of MySQL. The deal was worth $1 billion to Sun, which will pay $800 million in cash and $200 million in stock for the Swedish open source database company. Industry analysts expressed a mixture of excitement, disbelief, and anxiety following the announcement , but there was one thing upon which all agreed: MySQL is easily worth what Sun will pay, and if they play their cards right, they’ll get far more than $1 billion out of this manoeuvre.

The database market is currently valued at $15 billion, and Sun’s acquisition will enable MySQL’s product line to flourish within the development world. MySQL is a key player in the web application platform LAMP, which consists of Linux, Apache, MySQL database, and PHP /Perl programming languages. The database service they provide is key for developers who create internet-based applications, and sites which use MySQL run the gamut from e-commerce to social networking. Indeed, customers include heavy weights across diverse industries, including Google, Pricegrabber, Craigslist, Linden Lab, NASA, UNICEF, Associated Press, Slashdot, Nokia, and Adobe. Since their database software is open source (meaning developers can modify the source code) and free, MySQL’s revenue comes from subscription support packages.

Sun can offer MySQL a more entrenched place in the enterprise IT world, where their open source database software can be used for everything from inventory tracking to customer relationship management applications. This will put them in direct competition with other database management systems from companies like Oracle and IBM. Oracle was also rumored to be eyeing MySQL, which would have been a more direct threat to their open source foundation. Sun is said to be preserving the revenue model, and they have traditionally support open source projects such as Open Office and Java. As MySQL blogger Kaj Arnö says, “Given Sun’s proven track record as the largest contributor to Open Source, I think MySQL users have plenty of reason to feel happy about the acquisition.”

MySQL will still be operating fairly independently, and there are no rumors of layoffs or shuffling within management circles. Mårten Mickos, the current CEO, will stay at the helm, though Sun may bring some key players over to California. What will really change is how MySQL is able to do business. They will now have access to key companies like Intel, IBM, and Dell because of Sun’s relationships with those vendors. Sun has also said they will move to optimize the LAMP development platform for GNU/Linux, Windows OS, and it’s proprietary OpenSolaris OS.

Though the biggest loser in this deal is clearly Oracle, some industry analysts are hoping to see Sun maximize the reach of Open Office through this acquisition. NetworkWorld’s Mitchell Ashley hopes Sun will, “figure out a way to leverage Open Office and MySQL so you can make a real play at the business IT environment and desktop dominated by Microsoft.” This would be a very interesting strategy for Sun, though it seems their short-term aim is to let the folks at MySQL continue doing what they do best. With every acquisition of this kind the enterprise IT world starts to panic, but at least in this case, it seems we can relax. If Sun keeps to their initial promises, everyone’s favorite database management software will have an even better chance at out-competing the big boys.

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when kids actually played outside. We would organize neighborhood games of tag or hide-and-seek and stay out until dark or dinner, whichever came first. I’d hate to join the ranks of the “fuddy duddies” who constantly long for the good ‘ole days, which is why I’m happy to see a new trend towards full-body, interactive video gaming. With the continued popularity of the Nintendo Wii and the massive appeal of games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, kids and parents alike are starting to get up off the couch when they game. Full-body gaming seems to prove that if exercise is entertaining, more people will do it.

Nintendo Wii comes with a motion-sensing controller which you can literally swing like a tennis racket, wield like a sword, punch like a boxer, and “throw” like a baseball (ideally without actually letting go). While it is possible to make small motions and still play the Wii Sports games, the trend seems to be towards treating the Wii as a chance to exercise and have fun at the same time. One man even conducted an experiment using his Wii as his entire training regimen, and his results are astonishing. In just six weeks he lost 9 pounds and 2% body fat. Interactive games like Wii Sports reject the assumption that video games have to be a sedentary experience, and consumers have responded enthusiastically to these new interfaces.

Guitar Hero and its cousin Rock Band have even spawned communities of players who gather in bars and at private parties to game. Rock Band allows players to choose instruments and play together as a group, making it a hit with adults and children alike. The game features download-able songs to keep content fresh. Some enthusiasts have even formed permanent groups, complete with band names, gigs at local gatherings, and large competitions.

Interactive full-body games aren’t just being used for entertainment, either. Some physical therapists and rehabilitation departments in hospitals are also using the Wii to help stroke patients regain small motor function. Reports are even circulating that injured soldiers at a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany are playing Wii games to regain strength during long recoveries. When the alternative is squeezing a ball of putty or stretching a rubber band, it’s no wonder the Wii is gaining popularity among medical experts. And the games are apparently not just being used by patients, but also by surgeons preparing to operate. A U.S. study shows that certain Wii games are a good warm-up exercise for surgeons. Those who played the games performed 50% better than those who did not.

While some tout the virtues of active gaming, Nintendo’s UK marketing division released a report showing that Wii Sports is no substitute for actual exercise. Unfortunate though this might seem, those who have included the Wii in their physical fitness regimes have seen great results. Perhaps it’s not the games themselves that make the difference, but the motivation to exercise. If all aerobic activities were as entertaining as Wii tennis, it’s safe to assume that we would have more drive to be active. As the popularity of full-body games continues to rise, console manufacturers will have to re-imagine how we want to experience their games, and perhaps even more of us will get up off the couch.

Managing the vast amount of data that we tend to collect in this digital age can be a challenge. Given the tiny shred of spare time that we all seem to have doesn’t help matters much. With the growing popularity of multimedia devices, applications and formats, the number of files that are scattered throughout our hard drives increases daily. So how do we make sense out of all the bits and bytes that seem to just take up space on our hard drives? How can we organize this vast collection of files without making them too difficult to access?

Taking a quick look at my e-mail inbox, the average message size (without attachments) is around 14KB. In contrast, taking a look at my music library, the average file size is around 5.8MB. From here we can deduce that the amount of hard drive space taken up by music files is approximately 415 times greater than that of email files. The irony is that we all have a nice, user-friendly application for organizing our email. We don’t, however, tend to have an easy way of managing our multimedia files.

When thinking about this seemingly daunting task we need to remember that a file is a file is a file; whether it’s an MP3 or an email message, you can use the same strategy to organize your files. Approach the search for a media player the same you would for an email management program or a document management application. There several media players available for download on the internet. Some are free. Some will cost you about four Grande Café Mochas from your favorite coffee shop. Whether you are running Windows Vista, Mac OSX or Ubuntu, you can find a media player that is right for you.

Keep in mind that some media players are simply that, a player. Others give you the ability to access album art and lyrics. More sophisticated media players offer a CD burning functionality as well as the ability for multiple users to access the library over a local-area-network.

Recently, we put together a jukebox using an old PC that had been sitting in the corner collecting dust for the last several months. The computer, coupled with an external USB hard drive, would be the foundation for our 21st century jukebox. To test the capabilities of free software and to push our own technical abilities we downloaded and installed Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop Edition on the computer. Ubuntu is an easy-to-use Linux-based OS. Don’t worry, though, it’s not just for geeks. It has a user-friendly graphical user interface that even my eight-year-old daughter doesn’t have trouble navigating.

For a media player, we decided on Rhythmbox, which was developed by The GNOME Project. This player was orginially inspired by iTunes, and it features a searchable database, internet radio, playlists, and many other desirable features. Rhythmbox delivered as promised. Not only did we have access to album art and song lyrics, but we were also able to burn music to CD and even transfer music to our various MP3 players. With a little extra technical know-how and some spare time, we were able to set up an interface that could control the jukebox over the local-area-network. The only thing that we were missing was the ability to pump this glorious music library to our multiple players simultaneously.

Choosing an application to store and play your music library is like choosing a new car: some people need a Hummer while some need a Honda Civic. If you put in the research, it’s possible to find the jukebox that best suits your wants and needs. The Rhythmbox experiment provided me with a fresh look at some new and exciting developments in the software world. It also pushed me to accomplish a New Year’s resolution aimed at becoming more organized, even if it’s just a few “ones” and “zeros” at a time. Whether it is a media player, as discussed here, an e-mail management application, a CRM tool or even a new accounting package, considering any new piece of technology should have one single goal: making your digital life as user-friendly as possible.

Ken McCoy has been in the IT Industry for the past fifteen years. He holds several industry certifications and is currently working as a Network Consultant in Colorado. Ken has three young daughters, enjoys fly-fishing the various drainages of the Rocky Mountains, and is a self-proclaimed Urban Chicken Farmer.

Three letter acronyms. The technology industry would fall apart if we didn’t have them. “ROI” is a classic that has been around for quite awhile, although it has reached a bigger audience in recent years. For those who avoid buzzwords, it stands for “Return on Investment.” While we can acknowledge that ROI is the essence of business economics (money earned - money spent = profits), it should never take the place of providing a good customer experience.

The concept of ROI, while easy to quantify in a retail establishment or a traditional manufacturer, is more elusive in the IT industry. How to you put a price on saved time or increased satisfaction? For this reason, IT companies are taking the lead in providing a different kind of return on investment, that of great user experience. In the growing world of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), companies are investing in software and web-based applications to facilitate customer service. A recent article in Baseline magazine gives the example of British telecom company BT used Citrix Online’s Go-To-Assist improved their customer satisfaction scores by 97 percent.

BT had a problem with the way their help desk services were delivered to clients. While the issues were eventually resolved, customers disliked being passed from person to person, and each technician was spending too long with each caller. With the implementation of Go-To-Assist, technicians had remote access to clients no matter what their location or connection. Multiple technicians could work on the problem simultaneously, and the resolution was minimally invasive to the caller. Customer satisfaction went from 20 percent to 97 percent, and it’s hard to argue with the ROI of this type of marked improvement.

Another company which is focusing on CRM as a business strategy is Salesforce.com, which has made waves in the IT industry. Salesforce uses a web-based model for delivery, and it offers a “platform as a service” package through Force.com. Clients can customize the platform to meet specific needs, and they can choose to build or buy an application. Salesforce is self-described as “ROI for IT”, and their website argues that traditional CRM software is an unacceptable risk for businesses: “CRM should solve your business problems, not create more headaches.” The message seems to be getting through, and they’ve seen astronomical growth since the company was founded in 1999. They’ve now landed major clients such as IBM, Expedia, Dow Jones Newswire, Microsoft, and Kaiser Permanente.

Both Citrix Online and Salesforce.com are representative of this new trend in ROI. Your customer satisfaction is a factor of business success, and you can make your customer service efforts pay for themselves. While these two players focus on web and software applications, this concept could be applied to many different aspects of business, including product development, marketing, and manufacturing. Instead of viewing all business activities through the cost vs. profit lens, successful businesses have started looking at processes throughout their workflow as a means by which to improve customer satisfaction and user experience. A better manufacturing process means faster delivery of products, a more thorough market research strategy means better-directed advertising, and a fully-vetted design means a slick, intuitive interface for customers.

The maxim, “You get what you pay for” has always been true for customers, but it’s now starting to impact businesses as well. An investment in user experience is an investment which can pay for itself. That is the ultimate ROI, not just another buzzword. With IT projects failing roughly 75% of the time, it is important to set solid goals to work towards a beneficial ROI while mapping metrics to judge your success. If you ignore this important step, you will be “SOL”.

While many advances have been made in recent years to improve wireless devices, the tangle of cords on my desk is a testimony to the empty promises of this technology. Nearly every electronic device we own has to be connected to at least two cables some of the time: one provides power, and other allows you to sync up with other devices. Both of these cables may soon disappear due to new innovations which are expected to put the “wireless” in wireless.

A radio signal technology called ultrawideband (UWB) is expected to eliminate the need for sync cables and the like. It takes advantage of a large portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to move data quickly and wirelessly. It can interfere with other radio signals, though, so it’s potential range is limited to a few feet. Wireless USB technology takes advantage of the UWB signals, and it’s well-positioned to replace traditional USB hubs and ports.

Wireless USB systems are jumping on to the market in a big way, and many new products were unveiled at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. They are usually made up of two parts, a traditional hub and a dongle (gotta love that word) which plugs into a device’s USB ports. These products still require power cords, so the only cable you’re eliminating is the one connecting the hub to the PC. Wireless USB hubs generally have a maximum range of about 30 feet, but since they aren’t meant to penetrate walls, you are still essentially tethered to your hub. Some require specialty software, which is a big minus for most users, though Belkin’s CableFree USB Hub does not use software.

Next-generation PCs (many of which also debuted at the CES) are sporting built-in USB wireless transmitters which allows you to “ditch the dongle”. Industry giants Dell, IBM, and Toshiba all feature laptops with wireless transmitters. Those who support the wireless USB movement hope that this technology will spread to printers, hard drives, set-top boxes, cameras, MP3 players, and mobile phones. In order for this to happen, though, different players within the industry will need to collaborate to ensure compatibility and usefulness. Some analysts believe that wireless USB has taken so long to catch on because hardware such as music players and mobile phones haven’t included internal transmitters in new products. Once it becomes more common, though, we could see digital cameras which could wirelessly download photos to a portable hard drive or display photos on a high-definition TV without plugging it in. Industry experts predict that 2009 and 2010 will be the biggest years for wireless USB technology, and it will eventually become as common as corded USB is today.

One company is working to eliminate the other cable that plagues wireless hopefuls: the AC adapter. WildCharge has released a device which will charge Motorola RAZR handsets just by putting them on a pad. You can modify your phone to work with the WildCharger by replacing the battery cover with their adapter and plugging a short cable from the adapter to your phone’s AC port. As their website states, “any cell phone, music or video player or other mobile device we enable can be charged on any pad, and any pad can charge any enabled mobile device.” The pad currently works only with RAZR phones, but adapters are in the works for iPod Nano and iPod Touch. The pad is surprisingly inexpensive ($59.99), and this just might be the death of power cords. However, sometimes I think electronics companies enjoy confusing us with hundreds of slightly different AC adapters, so it will be up to them to comply with WildCharge’s vision.

As an article in last month’s Businessweek points out, “the idea that you could download pictures from your camera just by bringing it near your computer, then recharge it by setting down on the desk is compelling.” Right on, and I’ll add to that sentiment, “It’s about time.” True wireless is long over-due, and it’s good news indeed that consumer electronics companies are finally meeting our demands.

With the shopping boom of the holidays behind us, both brick-and-mortar and online retailers are looking to technology to better serve their customers. These traditional enemies are using what Baseline Magazine calls a “boomerang strategy,” which draws customers from the web to the stores and back again. This attempt to integrate e-business, catalog, and traditional retail units is difficult because many companies have structures these units as competing elements. Technology seems to be the key to breaking down these barriers, as e-commerce sites merge with showroom floors.

Have you noticed the growing number of computer kiosks at your favorite stores? Retailers are enabling customers to go to their online divisions to search for colors, sizes, promotions, coupons, and additional inventory. This allows you to access the “back room” of the entire chain, not just that of the store nearest your house. If you need a size 12 that the store doesn’t have, you can order through their website right at the store and have it delivered overnight, either to your home or to the store itself. These kiosks are likely to improve functionality in the future by allowing shoppers to scan barcodes of items that bring up customer reviews, inventory levels, and special offers.

Another innovation within retail shopping was profiled in an article on CNN Money. The article describes a product called the “Magic Mirror,” which is being tested at haute-couture giant Bloomingdale’s in New York City. This web-enabled mirror allows friends and family connected to a closed internet site to review your dressing room choices and give advice about the clothes you intent to buy. Digital agency IconNicholson developed the Magic Mirror, and they describe it as an agent of “social retailing,” where consumers can share their shopping adventures with all the contacts on their social networks like Facebook or Friendster. A quick, unscientific survey of the women in my office (all two of us) gives the Magic Mirror a definitive thumbs-down, but as the social networking generation ages and develops more spending power, the concept may catch on.

The wave of new technology in the retail sector isn’t just to help the customer; retail employees are also benefiting from improved communications. Some clothing stores have begun using handheld devices to show realtime inventory levels which enable CSRs to find colors and sizes faster. This could be especially useful in footwear stores, since studies show that 25 to 30 percent of customers walk out of the store while a salesperson is retrieving a size. Another innovation to benefit retailers comes from Intellivid, which has begun installing “smart” CCTV surveillance cameras throughout stores. These cameras are not passive like their predecessors. They can track shopper’s movements and habits while feeding data into analytics software, much as e-commerce websites do. This data can be analyzed to determine shoppers’ traffic patterns, the effectiveness of display techniques, and the distribution of customer service reps. Stores also get a leg-up when it comes to locating missing children (which can lead to store lockdowns during busy shopping seasons) and theft prevention.

Retailers are also reaching out to our cell phones to improve the shopping experience. Rather than direct mail campaigns, special offers and coupons can be delivered by text message, and customers would always have the coupons with them when visiting the store. We may see streaming video of ads for products sold at a particular store, or for a nearby retailer with similar products to the ones you buy. Subway is already testing this form of advertising by sending coupon alerts to current customers when they approach a restaurant location. Cell phones are also in line to replace credit cards as a payment method, since they support RFID chips and have unique identifying numbers that help establish identity. The big barrier to this kind of speedy payment is the fragmentation within the credit card and handset industries. It will take some level of cooperation to make this happen, and these guys aren’t used to working together.

E-commerce will also see revolutionary changes, improving the usability of sites to give a hands-on feel to online shopping. Amazon has made great strides in this area by recommending books similar to those you’re looking at, which replicates the special interest displays in brick-and-mortar stores. They also have a “Read Inside This Book” feature which mimics the experience of flipping through a title in the book store. E-commerce sites are also trying to recreate the “impulse buy”, where shoppers pick up a pack of gum or a funny book they see while waiting in the checkout line or walking through the aisles of a traditional store. They’re reaching out to virtual worlds like Second Life for product placement and casual browsing. Innovative sites might also allow consumers shopping from their computers to electronically bring their home into the online store. For example, a 3-D rendering of your living room might help you decide if a piece of furniture would fit in your space and match your curtains. You also might be able to upload this rendering to a store like Best Buy in order to “test” the new stereos in your acoustical space.

The barriers are already breaking down between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers, and we’ll likely see further radical changes in the future. More and more, retailers are crossing the line between the showroom floor and the online world, and customers will see more options to suit their busy lifestyles and their high expectations.

About a year ago, Google announced its acquisition of DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. Since that time, the deal had been held up by the Federal Trade Commission due to lobbying efforts by Microsoft and privacy advocates. In December the FTC ruled by a margin of 4 to 1 that Google could move forward with the deal. The fight will now shift focus to Europe, where EU agencies will examine whether the deal violates anti-trust laws.

DoubleClick is a digital advertising firm which specializes in distributing web advertisements like banners and videos. Their system has been compared to a stock exchange, with an auction model that allows web advertisers and publishers to bid on ad space regardless of their affiliation. Google’s current system also features an auction, but only partner websites can participate. The sale of Doubleclick ended a bidding war between Google and Microsoft, which has been trying to compete with Google in the online advertising business. Though $3.1 billion is a much higher price than Google was expected to pay, it could be they went forward with the acquisition to prevent Microsoft from achieving a better position in the internet ad industry. Indeed, as one analyst surmised in this New York Times article, “Keeping Microsoft away from DoubleClick is worth billions to Google.”

The move puts Google in a better position to begin relationship-based ad placement with web publishers and advertisers. Up to this point, Google’s vast ad exchange has been algorithm-based. The combined companies may be able to deliver both search and display ads in one place to DoubleClick’s powerful clients. While the increased competition is what bothered Microsoft, privacy lobbyists also opposed the buy-out because it gives Google high-level access to consumer data.

In an open letter to the FTC, consumer-advocacy group The Center for Digital Democracy wrote, “Indeed, the purpose of Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick is to control a major competitor in order to foreclose any serious competition in the interactive advertising market. There are powerful network effects, involving the collection, analysis, and targeted use of consumer and business behavioral data sets that will be compounded if the merger is approved, effectively eliminating whatever competition is currently viable in the marketplace.”

The worry is that Google will have unrestricted access to consumer behavioral data, and it will give them an unfair advantage over competitors. The Center for Digital Democracy believes the FTC ruling is flawed, saying, “U.S. consumers will have to live under the shadow of an even bigger digital giant, with a privacy time bomb ticking in the background.” Privacy concerns are echoed on popular technology blog Slashdot: “When I saw this headline, all I could think was “Google buys up another chunk of the internet.” Seriously — DoubleClick is everywhere. It’s almost like Google’s trying to become the web.”

The EU now plans to investigate the deal to examine whether it would unfairly squash competition. Google has already pledged to the EU to preserve some of the information-sharing restrictions currently in place at DoubleClick. The folks at Google seem optimistic the acquisition will go through. Chariman and CEO Eric Schmidt says, “The FTC’s strong support sends a clear message: this acquisition poses no risk to competition and will benefit consumers. We hope that the European Commission will soon reach the same conclusion, and we are confident that this deal will deliver more relevant ads for consumers, more choices for advertisers, and more opportunities for website publishers” (Google Press Center).

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on not understanding it.”

-Upton Sinclair

The quote above inspired the creation of a website called Greenshopper, which is a self-described, “environmental super store and online community for green shoppers.” Founded in 2006 by Zachary Bouchard, the site aims to provide a one-stop location for those who wish to buy environmentally friendly products. The site fills a growing need in the e-commerce world by allowing users to research and buy green products.

The website links to over 200 companies which manufacture organic or green products. While other smaller sites of this type exist, Greenshopper has successfully negotiated a partnership with Amazon which allows them to offer online ordering and shipping through the retail giant in exchange for a percentage of the profits. Their relationship with Amazon enables customers to use existing Amazon accounts to buy at good prices and Amazon’s reliable shipping to receive products quickly. As Greenshopper’s FAQs point out, Amazon is estimated to have a lower ecological footprint than other retailers because they ship directly from manufacturers to customers without the middleman of a brick-and-mortar store.

Greenshopper’s products are carefully vetted to make sure they meet customers’ expectations. They aim to include products which are pesticide-free, made from recycled materials, and/or organic (i.e. cotton, bamboo, hemp, etc.). They also include products which are designed to reduce energy consumption, like weatherization products and low-energy light bulbs. The website explains, “A light bulb by itself is not necessarily made from sustainable materials, but it reduces our coal burning fossil fuel consumption and is the best current green alternative.” The team at Greenshopper individually selects the products featured on the site to offer the latest technologies that reduce our impact on the environment.

In addition to featuring environmentally friendly products, Greenshopper provides funding for various environmental groups. They currently donate 10% of all profits to environmental groups with different focuses each month. Founder Zachary Bouchard makes it clear that the site has no specific political affiliations: “The environment should not be a partisan political issue, as it doesn’t matter if you are a democrat, republican, independent, green party, etc - we all have to have a habitable planet to even be able to discuss politics in the first place!” As the site continues to succeed, Bouchard plans to donate a larger percentage of the profits to environmental charities.

Greenshopper subscribes to the “vote with your dollars” philosophy, meaning that every choice we make as consumers is means by which to influence policy. If we support businesses who produce sustainable products, we are encouraging other businesses to change their environmental policies. Greenshopper’s website argues, “By buying green, we not only protect these ecosystems with our purchase, we expand the reach of the green movement, pushing it towards the mainstream”. Indeed, the website’s partnership with Amazon does bring green consumerism to the mainstream of online purchasing, and other businesses will follow their lead.

But what about the prices, you might ask? To those who complain that green products are more expensive, Bouchard’s service offers a means by which to trade the financial bottom line for the green bottom line. Besides, by fomenting competition among green products and companies, your purchase will also drive down prices and create a more competitive market where consumers can demand lower cost, more eco-friendly goods.

A few companies and organizations have recently announced that they’re finding new applications for traditional printing presses, inkjet printers and silicon ink. Not since Gutenberg’s famous invention has the printing industry seen such revolutionary changes. These new techniques have the promise of reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and improving the quality of life of many people around the world.

Kovio, a high tech company based in Sunnyvale, CA, has announced a method of using silicon ink with commercial printing equipment to produce electronic chips known as radio frequency ID (RFID) tags . The ink can be applied to flexible surfaces using traditional presses to print circuits in an efficient and cost-effective process. These tiny chips, which are used to help companies track products that they ship, will consume less energy and reduce costs from 15 cents to 5 cents by 2008. Kovio has signed a number of customers including Cubic Transportation, which manufactures fare-collection systems for public transportation.

Another innovator in the field of silicon ink has emerged in Santa Clara, CA. Innovalight is a venture-capital backed firm that has won many awards for its silicon ink process for printing thin-film solar power modules. Their proprietary ink recipe also promises to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of traditional solar cells, which will hopefully allow solar power to become a more viable technology. According to Innovalight’s website, “The high cost of production of solar cells today has been one of the major factors inhibiting the overall growth of solar energy as a market. Innovalight has developed a silicon nanocrystalline ink that holds the promise to bring flexible solar panels to cost that could be as much as ten times cheaper than current solar cell solutions.”

Perhaps the most astounding of the newest printing technologies is in the medical field. Scientists are working on a technique to manufacture human skin cells using a printer similar to an inkjet. This article from Live Science describes the project, which is based in the UK and headed by Brian Derby. The process aims to use the patient’s own skin cells, multiply them, soak them in a nutrient-rich “ink”, feed them through a printer to be joined with a soluble plastic tissue scaffold for stability, then apply the new “skin” to the wound. The new technique could undergo clinical trials in as little as five years, and eventually scientists hope to produce commercial skin printers for use in hospitals. This amazing technology would be a godsend for patients and doctors alike, as it would revolutionize the way doctor’s interact with both patients and technology.

Another aspect of the printing world will be changed beyond recognition if industrial designer Yves Behar has his way. Behar is an award-winning artist and designer for fuseproject, and he works in many mediums and materials. His latest technological feat is something we expect to see in a living room near you. It’s called “The Dream Room”, and it consists of walls impregnated with LCD displays. This chameleon-like “digital wallpaper” can be changed to look like whatever you want. If you want mountain streams, sandy beaches, leopard print, or even plain old white with family pictures, the screens can project whatever your imagination can dream up. This floor-to-ceiling projections can create a trompe l’oeil that extends the landscape beyond the limits of walls. This, coupled with new touchscreen technology, could see you setting the room color, the thermostat, or even your alarm clock just by tapping your LCD walls.

While we aren’t yet calling the printing press dead, we at Talkibie are looking forward to watching how these new techniques affect our energy sources, our medical treatment, and even our interior decorating tastes in the future.

By now, even the most dedicated of Luddites will have noticed a small orange square sporting a radio wave-like pattern on some of their favorite websites. This button, which is often accompanied by the phrase “Subscribe now”, indicates an RSS capability. RSS, which can stand for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication, is a tool which allows individual users to access continual updates to website from an outside page or reader. An RSS reader gives you access to content on your favorite sites without the tedious step of actually visiting them.

Any user can initiate the subscription service by either entering a link into the RSS reader (also called an “aggregator”), or by clicking on the above-mentioned little icon. The reader then crawls your favorite websites to check for new content, and downloads any updates it discovers. The process works by pulling content from XML files (usually supported by blogging/content management tools) into a reader software. The idea was pioneered by Netscape, which wanted to give users the ability to personalize their homepages with links to external websites that they visited frequently. The icon, however, was the design of Mozilla Firefox and was quickly adopted as a universal symbol for RSS by other leaders in the field. RSS feeds go beyond simple bookmarking, though, by offering what amounts to headlines or teasers of new content.

RSS readers are sometimes described as a “personal newspaper”, which give users control of what type of content they want to see. For example, if you’re like me and you skip immediately to the Comics section of the newspaper, you could use an RSS application to limit your online reading to only Dilbert.com, though you’d probably be less-informed as a result. On the other hand, if your investment banking job requires you to closely follow the real estate market, you could set yourself up to receive continual updates on that topic from a variety of news and industry sites. Users are in complete control of the content they view, and they do not have to depend on remembering to check each site in order to stay informed about topics that are important to them.

RSS is one of the most user-friendly technologies to break into the mainstream as of late. People love saving time by having updates at their fingertips; they also love not having to give out their email addresses in order to receive updates like newsletters and press releases. Unlike email subscriptions, RSS feeds are also free from spam. It’s easy to unsubscribe and change your preferences at any time, without the hassle of sending an email or filling out a form.

In addition to pleasing the user, RSS is also making waves among content providers and businesses who advertise on the web. RSS subscriptions can serve as a targeted advertising forum, allowing web businesses to send out product updates, news, and sales/coupon information to users who actually want to hear from them. Ads become targeted and businesses don’t have the uncomfortable task of sending out spam, which is generally dumped directly into junk mail folders anyway. The downside is that RSS subscriptions are difficult to track, and it’s hard to know if subscriptions translate directly into site visitors. This issue is something that either RSS or analytics technology is likely to address.

The benefits of using some form of RSS subscriptions are many. In addition to enticing regular visitors to check back in for new content, your site will have the ability to speak directly to your most interested, valuable users. RSS technology is also starting to reach beyond its traditional stomping ground in the blogosphere to new users within the corporate world. One company which is attempting to fill this gap is KnowNow, which is marketing their product
Enterprise Syndication Solution as an alternative to search and email. Companies could apply this technology for distributing updates to intranet sites, policy manuals, project folders, or company blogs to their employees around the world. Imagine the possibilities of eliminating large email attachments by simply allowing employees to subscribe to feeds which notify them when a component has been uploaded to an ftp site or internal server. RSS could be a key ingredient in improving antiquated corporate communications. I’d be surprised if large companies don’t find the benefits of this technology as compelling as I do.

Web video continues to amaze and amuse users, and the options for watching high quality content continue to expand. Now advertisers are getting in on the game, but not in the conventional (i.e. Google-run) way. Time Warner’s popular website, Very Funny Ads, highlights the best and funniest commercials from around the world. Launched in 2006 to coincide with TBS’s annual World’s Funniest Commercials special, the site gives viewers access to highly entertaining and frequently updated content while showcasing the brightest talent of the advertising world and the companies who use humor to hawk their products.

Advertising firms are well aware of the power of humor. Funny commercials make us stop and actually watch the duration of the ad. They feel more like a short film, and they are often shared around the water cooler or dinner table. Advertisers have long harnessed the power of funny during the biggest ad spectacle of the year, the SuperBowl. Funny commercials aired during the big game often spawn entire campaigns and recurring characters who become the backbone of future ad efforts.

One of the most successful of these funny ads aired during the Superbowl last year and is now featured on Very Funny Ads. This spot shows Kevin Federline, the ex-husband of Britney Spears, daydreaming of his life as a rap star while actually serving up fries in a fast food restaurant. The commercial is for an insurance policy through Nationwide, but the product seems overshadowed by the hilarious situation. The ad was wildly popular, generating thousands of news stories and millions in free publicity for the company, though whether it sold insurance policies is another question entirely. The commercial has had a second life on Very Funny Ads and YouTube, which helps keep Nationwide Insurance’s name in people’s minds. We remember it only because it’s funny, and web allows us to enjoy it again and again.

Another benefit of sites like Very Funny Ads is allowing users from all around the globe to see commercials aired overseas. This ad for Hydro, a Norwegian energy company, features daring and dangerous youngsters rerouting a train for their entertainment. The video is shot documentary style, as though one of the children is filming the incident. The captioning on screen says, “There are many young engineers. We can’t wait till they grow up.” The humor of the ad is universal, and it is a prime example of good content enabling a product to reach a global market.

While many forms of humor are universal (i.e. unexpected endings like in the Federline ad, absurdity like in the train commercial), sometimes companies who try to be funny in their commercials end up issuing formal apologies, pulling ad campaigns, losing customers, and probably firing their advertising firms. A great example of this can be found in this GM spot that was also featured during the SuperBowl last year. The commercial features a lovable yellow robot who makes a mistake on the factory floor, loses his job, and becomes so despondent that he jumps off a bridge. Alert readers will already have spotted the problem with this “funny” ad. Perhaps unemployed, depressed, and suicidal auto workers (be they human or robot) aren’t universally funny. The ad was also criticized for featuring the robot in the first place, since many auto workers have lost their jobs to automation in recent years. GM was forced to change the ending of the commercial so that the bridge jump was only a dream, but they never issued a formal statement.

Very Funny Ads streams videos and supplies links to the commercials they feature, but they do not allow downloads or embedding. Their content is updated frequently, and users are encouraged to suggest ads they would like to see featured on the site, though they cannot directly upload á la YouTube. This forum, and others of its type, give commercials which use humor a second life on the web. Perhaps we’ll see more and more advertisers using humor to give their commercials a longer lifecycle through video sharing and hosting websites. It certainly maximizes those advertising budgets.

Think of all the high-tech cell phone ads you’ve seen lately. They all seem to promote the media capabilities of the handsets, from music downloads and playback to video capabilities. These ads suggest that consumers use these devices primarily for entertainment, but the consumer appears to have a different desire. More and more users are buying GPS-enabled phones, and this has created a rush among the telecom companies to acquire digital mapping and navigational technology.

According to a recent article in BusinessWeek, the number of GPS-enabled phones will reach 162 million this year, far surpassing the number of vehicle-based navigational devices. Nearly every handset manufacturer has either released a GPS phone or has plans to do so very soon, and the market for navigational software and mapping services has reached a fever pitch. This service shows huge potential for profits, as wireless users spend far more on navigation than they do on music downloads.

Consumer access to GPS signals is fairly recent; until 2000, satellite navigation was restricted for military use, to position troops, guide missiles, or locate enemy forces. GPS units have virtually replaced the compass in a soldier’s rucksack in the 1990s, and they are indispensable for locking missiles on target and for search and rescue operations. Up until the new millenium, GPS signals were obscured for security reasons and were of little value to the average suburban mom trying to find the nearest grocery store or the group of Boy Scouts hitting a hiking trail. Clear signals were opened up for general use in 2000, and the car-based GPS unit saw massive growth.

Cell phones are becoming a more and more universal necessity, and the vehicle navigation industry is rightfully shaking in their boots with the inclusion of GPS mapping capabilities on handsets. This has sparked a series of mergers and deals between the major GPS device makers and digital mapping companies. Tom Tom bought out mapping firm Tele Atlas, while Nokia snapped up Navteq, leaving heavy-hitter Garmin out in the cold and facing the possibility of buying its mapping data from a competitor.

The increasing demand for GPS-enabled phones, and the quick response of the industry players, means that mapping services will be higher quality and lower cost than ever before. This also opens up the market to more groups who can benefit from GPS services. Physicians could make cost-effective house calls quickly to house-bound patients. Delivery personnel such as postal workers or UPS drivers will cut down on the time (and fuel) it takes to complete their routes. Even long-haul truck drivers would be able to avoid problematic traffic and construction zones to reach their destinations more quickly, which could potentially reduce the prices of goods and services across the board. As always, when competition heats up in any industry, the consumer is the winner.

Last November, the Nintendo Wii changed the way we play video games. The unusual remote control allows players to interact physically with the console, “throwning” pitches, “hitting” tennis balls, and getting us up off the couch. The game console has attracted a diverse fan base, from the youngest of children to the elderly. The Wii was wildly popular last holiday season, and the demand for it has not yet abated. This year, crowds once again lined up at the crack of dawn outside electronics stores around the country, and Nintendo has been unable to build enough Wiis to satisfy the public.

Nintendo claims that they are producing the Wii at top capacity, but a year after the release, it still sells out almost immediately upon arrival at retailers. Prior to the Christmas holiday, some eager consumers were “stalking” UPS trucks and following them from store to store in the vain hope that they were delivering some of the rare consoles. In a recent New York Times article, Nintendo’s senior vice president of marketing George Harrison was quoted as remarking, “It’s [the shortage] a good problem to have. We do worry about not satisfying consumers and that they will drift to a competitor’s system.” Some might find his comment disingenuous and unsympathetic. Indeed, industry analysts are suspicious that Nintendo is afraid to produce too many of the game console because the public may lose interest.

As for competitors, Sony’s Playstation 3 has not generated the same kind of buzz that the Wii has, selling just 2.4 million units since launch one year ago, compared to the Wii’s 6 million sales. Xbox 360, which was released in November of 2005, has sold some 7 million units, which would make Wii the clear winner in the long term, if they could keep shelves stocked. Retailers and analysts estimate that Nintendo has lost approximately $1 billion in sales this holiday season, which does not include the sale of games that would accompany those unsold units. It would be a mixed blessing to intentionally keep the Wii exclusive; while it may generate more buzz, it definitely hurt the company’s bottom line in 2007.

One solution which Nintendo announced was a certificate system through gaming retailer GameStop. For one day only, Friday Dec. 21, customers were able to prepay for a Wii at GameStop and pick up their units in January when they become available. This program will help Nintendo recoup some of the losses it suffered when some consumers bought PlayStations and XBoxes out of frustration. One blogger, though, remarks on the lousy impression this might have made to children on Christmas morning: “The least they could have done is thrown in a T-Shirt that read: ‘My Parents Waited Too Long to Shop for Me So All I Got for Christmas was this Shirt and a Lot of Empty Promises.’”

While I must admit that I have never had the magical experience of playing a Wii game, I can understand all the buzz surrounding this toy, even if it is due to nefarious marketing techniques or woeful sales estimates. It’s unique interface allows users to interact on a more physical level with the games they play, and that’s a very appealing premise. I love the idea that kids are jumping, swinging, and moving while they play video games. The other remarkable thing about the Wii is that it’s the first console to reach out to the non-adolescent male user. Indeed, my own mother was singing the praises of the Wii, which she plays regularly with friends. The list of games supported by Wii is diverse enough to appeal to a wide variety of age groups, and the interface allows for social interaction. This appeal is not likely to peter out any time soon. Let’s hope Nintendo can improve production for the holiday season next year. Otherwise, I suspect “Wii-mania” will become an annual tradition.

Social networking is all the rage, and new companies keep popping up that focus on a different aspect of user’s lives. Some enable photo sharing with friends, some focus on travel destinations and blogging, and some have reached out to music lovers who want to share their tastes with friends. MOG is one of the more successful of these social networking sites. MOG is a network that was created by a community of self-described music “freaks” who want to find new music, watch music videos, read news and reviews, and blog about their favorite bands.

Like most social networks, MOG allows users to customize profile pages that reflect their personal tastes. The site is built around the “MOG-O-MATIC”, an application which tracks the music you listen to in a variety of media players. By clicking on the “Magic Button”, you download the MOG-O-MATIC app and it scours your hard drive to discover your playlists and preferences. You can also add songs and artists manually to your profile, and the content you see on MOG is based on these two data pools. The Magic Button can be used to personalize content to you preferences throughout the site. Don’t worry, though. If you don’t want your punk rock friends to know about your secret Dolly Parton obsession, you can remove “9 to 5″ from your profile.

Recommendations are then made either based on the music you put on your profile or review or the songs you listen to in iTunes or download from Rhapsody. Your profile will update your music collection, and display the last songs you listened to and your top artists of the week. Other sections of a MOG page can include concerts you plan to or want to attend, your favorite albums or artists of all time, a personal blog, and a customizable RSS feed. The MOG-O-MATIC technology makes it easy for you to find new music that appeals to your tastes, read news about your favorite bands, and review artists for your friends to see. It can also connect you to other users with similar tastes in music.

MOG has also expanded into video, with the MOG TV section. This is essentially a database of all the YouTube videos for a particular artist or band, for a total of over 400,000 videos. The “Magic Button” also comes into play here, using the MOG-O-MATIC to match the videos it shows to your tastes. You can filter which videos you want to access based on your profile. They’ve also incorporated a feedback system into MOG TV, which allows you to easily report if it shows you the wrong video, bad quality, or a video where embedding is not available.

MOG is focusing on building a community of music lovers who can congregate and discuss their ideas through blogging, reviews, and news. Users can review their newest albums, post their thoughts on favorite songs, and discuss their opinions with other fans. The site is also fast becoming a host for bands where they can post their songs for others to enjoy, a la MySpace. This puts fans and bands on the same plane, and allows them to influence each other in a very open way. Though some genres of music are more represented in the reviews than others, it’s an education in diversity to sift through random blog postings looking for the next big thing that catches your ear. And, of course, MOG’s technology embeds the song being discussed right in the post so readers can experience the music for themselves. That’s quite an improvement over the flowery, unfocused descriptions of songs one sometimes reads in Rolling Stone.

Since social networking is all the rage at the moment, it’s highly likely that some of the new contenders in the arena will not survive the ever-changing winds of Web 2.0 technology. MOG, however, is focused and specific enough in its market that it has a bright future.
As noted by Katherine Boehret of the Wall Street Journal, “MOG isn’t trying to be a social-networking site that enables all things… [it] successfully improves the way people discuss, share, and discover music online.” The new and improved site shows their commitment to enhancements that meet the expectations of users, and they’ve successfully generated a lot of buzz surrounding the relaunch.

Back in November, Google announced the launch of OpenSocial, a platform which will aid developers who create applications and widgets for social networking sites. In a highly-anticipated move, Google is positioning themselves and their partners to compete with Facebook by means of more functional and more streamlined applications. With a growing number of social networking options online (and approximately 400 million users accessing these websites) comes an ever-expanding list of applications, most of which must be developed specifically for each site. Google’s platform will significantly reduce the headache involved and open up the social networking industry to more sleek and flexible third party applications.

OpenSocial works by providing a set of three APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, which allow developers to build apps that can be used across multiple websites. Programmers can use standard JavaScript and HTML to create applications which can access a social network user’s friends and update feeds. Common APIs mean that the learning curve is gentler for programmers who build for multiple websites. This will likely mean more quality applications delivered in a shorter timeframe, with functionality across the social networking world. Websites which have already begun implementing OpenSocial include Friendster, MySpace, Orkut (Google-owned), Ning, Tianji, and XING, among others.

According to OpenSocial’s website, “The ultimate goal is for any social website to be able to implement the APIs and host 3rd party social applications.” If they’re successful, users might see applications combining Orkut or MySpace with Google Maps capabilities, which will show where your friends are located. Also, you may see an Orkut widget designed for MySpace or Friendster that will show whether or not your friends are online through other social networking sites. The difference with current social networks is that, as with Facebook, applications are designed for use with just one site, and cannot be seamlessly integrated into the larger context. Facebook has a platform that allows third party developers to build applications on Facebook itself, but OpenSocial is significantly more flexible, allowing third parties to give and take data in and out of Google and non-Google programs. Google will also allow developers to host their applications on their own servers, which Facebook does not permit. These changes will give Orkut and other OpenSocial partners the much needed boost to help them compete with the heavy hitters.

Websites who want to implement OpenSocial can enable their sites as containers and access a support forum. In the long-term, Google seems to be positioning themselves very prudently in the social networking milieu. These mini-applications/widgets/gadgets, instead of being non-matching components, instead take on a similar look and feel, and are easy to integrate into any site with the use of OpenSocial. With Orkut as a site from which to gather data and test ideas, Google seems to be adding a social networking layer to the “Google suite”, which could mean seeing Google Docs or Calendar on your MySpace page, Google Maps on your Facebook profile, or Google Reader pulling news feeds of stories to share with your Friendster friends. This is yet another example of how Google is spreading their influence into diverse corners of our lives. Here’s hoping they continue to use their power for good instead of evil, making every aspect of our web lives just a little easier.

Sometimes, as a society, we won’t believe something until we see it with our own eyes. As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Non-profit groups are using this stubborn sentiment to their advantage by showcasing satellite images of disturbing environmental changes on Google Earth. Green non-profits who are telling their stories on Google Earth include: United Nations Environment Programme, Appalachian Voices, Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging, Jane Goodall Institute, and the Sierra Club.

These savvy environmentalists use Google Earth Outreach to create unique educational slides and photos that appear as a layer on the satellite maps. The Outreach website encourages charity organizations to use this tool to their advantage: “As a non-profit or public benefit group, you can use Google Earth to capture the work you’re doing, the people you’re helping, the challenges you face and the change you’re helping to enable - all in the visual context of the environment in which these stories take place. By downloading your KML files, anyone, anywhere can fly in Google Earth from where they live to where you do your work. This virtual visit to the projects and people you support gets users engaged and passionate about what you’re doing and builds support for your cause.”

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in particular has incorporated some striking images of our planet in their “Atlas of Our Changing Environment” on Google Earth. Before-and-after images of 100 spots that are facing environmental changes appear in the mapping program. Included in the slides are shocking images of the endangered Amazon rainforest region, the dwindling polar ice caps, the explosion of development in both Las Vegas and Shenzen, and the destruction of massive mangrove jungles in Southeast Asia. Google Earth users can zoom in on these regions and see high-quality images that serve as an educational object lesson. Slides also present content that explains the causes of specific environmental changes and the years the different photos were taken.

These Google Earth-hosted campaigns hope to rally support for their projects and reach the ears of government officials who can legislate to protect these areas. For example, Appalachian Voices uses the program to allow users to enter their location by zip code and see local supplies of coal and the damage mines have done in their areas. Dole Food Co. has also employed Google Earth to show consumers where their bananas were grown, the history of farms in the area, and see aerial images of the farm. The Fair Trade Certified organization also has a Google Earth presence which allows users to virtually visit certified farms producing fruit, rice, coffee, cocoa, and tea. This kind of awareness is essential to changing people’s habits, particularly in an era where homegrown or local food consumption is so rare.

Google Earth supports templates in KML format, and you don’t have to be a programmer to create engaging and beautiful slides to promote your cause. Their Outreach branch offers online tutorials to help users learn how to create slides, incorporate the passage of times into their maps, embed videos, and promote the finished product so it reaches their audience. This innovative idea is a great way to reach new advocates, interest potential donors, and add a visual element to the story of any non-profit. Explore Google Earth’s Global Awareness layer to see the unique tools that non-profits are using to give us a much-needed object lesson in environmental responsibility.