Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Boopsie Gives Mobile Search a Speed Boost

from GigaOM by Om Malik

Mobile search, despite the presence of giants such as Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO), Microsoft (MSFT) and AOL (TWX), is wide open. Any startup has as good a chance as any of the the big boys, just as long as they have cutting-edge technology and enough business acumen to capitalize on it. One such startup that is getting a lot of buzz is Boopsie -– yes, you read that right — Boopsie.

The company quietly launched at the recent Mobile 2.0 conference, but went largely unnoticed. And that's a shame, for I ended up downloading Boopsie's mobile search application to my Nokia N95, and I was impressed. The app supports all platforms, including the iPhone. After talking to the company — I am typing this while sitting in the airport in Las Vegas, waiting to get home — I like their approach. (It is not clear where the company is based, and their website offers no information.) They've basically created channels of content that might be useful.

The search query on Boopsie gets rolling with a "smart prefix" — which means that instead of typing out the whole word, you only need to type the word's first few letters. Start typing "Caltrain," for example, and you get a list of options to choose from, including the Caltrain schedule. I will get more details about Boopsie when I get back, but I am told that their technology has impressed many — Yahoo wanted to buy them, apparently — but right now the company is looking to raise Series A funding.

If the team is smart, they should try and position it as a solution for the wireless carriers, who I am sure aren't too thrilled about Google's mobile plans.

Folks if you try it out, please let me know what you think about this little mobile app.

Related:

Missing Link Marketing™

Author: Dr. Augustine Fou, Marketing Science Consulting Group, Inc.

In the "age of too much information" marketers need to focus on the information that customers need to get from "considering to buy" to actually buying. These missing links force a re-focusing of marketing messages and methodologies from pushing a benefit message out to allowing the customer to pull the information they need during their own research process.

Missing Link Defined

What's the missing link?

- works for any product or service - reveals consumers' actions during the purchase decision - deliver practical information efficiently - give consumers what they want rather than what advertisers want to give Assumption

- the next evolution of marketing exists in a landscape where users reach out when they need something and ignore EVERY SINGLE marketing message that is "shouted at them" through traditional one-way channels such as TV, print, and radio. Instead at the moment they want something, who can better and more efficiently deliver the exact info they need (and no more) to help fill that "missing link" that gets the customer to the purchase. How missing link marketing works

continue reading...

Create an HTML Email Signature to Showcase Your Web Presence

from Digital Inspiration by Amit

MyBlogLog has just added a very convenient feature that allows members to create rich text HTML signatures for use in email programs like Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express.

If your web presence is spread across lot of sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Digg, Del.icio.us and more, you can put links to all those social profiles in the email signature as in the sample below:

html email signature

Visit your Personal Profile page on MyBlogLog and click the Edit Signature link to generate your custom email signature.

You also place this signature in Gmail and Yahoo! Mail using the simple drag-n-drop method described in a previous article - Add HTML Signatures with Images In Gmail.

Create MyBlogLog Signature (requires MyBlogLog account) Thanks Robyn

SanDisk has begun shipping its 8GB microSDHC ... [Now Shipping]

from Gizmodo by Sean Fallon

SanDisk has begun shipping its 8GB microSDHC and M2 flash memory cards. The company hopes that they will find a market among users of memory-card-ready mobile phones. Available now for $140 and $150, respectively. [Electronista]

Outspark Launch Adds Weight to Micro-Transactions Trend

from GigaOM by Jane Pinckard

Outspark, a San Francisco-based casual games publisher with offices in Seoul, South Korea, launched its North American games portal yesterday. Like Nexon's South Korean-developed MapleStory, Outspark games will be free to play — in addition to advertising built into the games and the portal, the company will rely on micro-transactions of virtual goods sales to generate revenue.

Their first game, Fiesta, published by OnsOn Soft in Asia, is an MMO currently in open beta. Outspark, which secured $4 million in funding earlier this spring from Altos Ventures and Doll Capital Management, plans to work with other developers to publish community-oriented multiplayer casual games as well.

I put a few questions to CEO Susan Choe and Chief Studio Officer Nick Foster yesterday to get a better sense of the company's plans.

The micro-transaction model has been shown to be very successful in South Korea, where Outspark also has experience, but has been slow to take off in North America. Why do you think that is and why do you think it's time to launch this revenue model here?

SUSAN: The micro-transaction model was slow to gain traction in North America due to a lack of payment solutions like those readily available in Asia. The response of North American gamers, however, to this type of game and item sales model has been tremendous and forms the basis of Outspark's initial releases. Our expertise in running global portals like Yahoo (YHOO) and leading game product management at companies including EA (ERTS), Nexon, Blizzard and NHN will help us continue to deliver great results.

What demographic do you see as your primary target and how will you reach it?

NICK: Outspark's initial target demographic is the youth market, specifically those between the ages of 13 and 24. Friendly, socially driven games appeal to all ages, however, and we're attracting a diverse community of people looking for a different style of play than can be found in conventional console or hardcore games.

Your competition, in my view, is not necessarily World of Warcraft but socially rich Web 2.0 apps like Facebook and YouTube (GOOG). How will your products compete — or integrate — in that space?

SUSAN: Outspark's goal is to provide a socially active virtual playground for online gamers. By providing games that players genuinely want to spend time in and building a community around that shared experience, Outspark can be a good partner for socially rich Web 2.0 companies by providing their communities with additional engaging activities.

You talked [in the release] about Outspark as a "platform." Can you tell us more about that?

NICK: Outspark understands online gaming and the human drivers that make game communities successful. We're combining our expertise in global entertainment with an understanding of virtual item sales and good game design. Outspark's goal is to find media partners and work with them to apply this holistic "platform" approach to help build additional channels for their IP, around which online communities can grow.

Epson Joins Sprint: They Suck And Their New Website Is Stupid

from TechCrunch by Michael Arrington

I'm pretty sure there are some consultants out there who are telling big, clueless companies that the way to engage with their audience is to engage with them on an interactive, emotional level. I imagine them saying "let's bolt a few social features onto the product and engage with the MySpace generation." Those consultants convinced Sprint to launch possibly the dumbest website I've seen all year: users fill out a survey and are told which cell phone fits their lifestyle the best.

And now those consultants have conned Epson into doing the same thing on a new site called Epsonality. They ask questions like "You come across a bear in the woods, what do you do?" and "you find $199.99 lying on the ground, what do you do?" and use your answers to somehow determine the right printer for you. All in a sick, highly personalized Flash interface.

My perfect emotional printer partner is, apparently, the Epson C120:

You're an intense, type A-plus with lower-than-average printer patience and a "go, go, go, come one, come on, come on" attitude toward everything from your Internet connection to your microwave oven. You value one thing above all else and the C120 delivers it: blazing speed.

Wow Epson. You nailed me, and I'm a customer for life. Except that I'm not, and never will be. You win the lamest website of the week award and join Sprint as a brand that I will never purchase. The reason? The last time I bought one of your printers the software screwed it up so badly I had to reformat the hard drive just to get it to work again. Since then, I've stuck with HP's.

Fire the consultants, stop trying to be a conversational marketer and just get back to the basics.

Or build a Facebook application. Now that would be cool.

Do The Right Thing: Save An Alien (and this startup)

from TechCrunch by Michael Arrington

If a Facebook application supporting Stephen Colbert can get 1 million members in nine days, then perhaps Save An Alien, an Israeli Facebook-only startup, can reach their goal of 10 million users in six months.

I sure hope they do, anyway. Otherwise a bunch of cute little aliens are going to die.

The plot line is straightforward: a meteor is going to strike an alien planet in six months and kill the entire population (10 million aliens, each uniquely generated by an algorithm). We're asked to adopt these aliens. When you've selected the one you like, you adopt it and the alien is transported to safety in Antarctica. You can then do a few other things - download images of it, use a tool to add images of your alien into your own photos, etc.

And if you really like your alien you can buy a tshirt with it on it. I imagine other revenue generating merchandising opportunities may be thought up later, too.

Good idea. We'll see if people's altruistic tendencies extend to fictional aliens. If they do, this company could make a few dollars along the way. 14,000 aliens have been saved so far, so go do your part (or perhaps donate your time and money to a real charity instead)

Friday, October 26, 2007

DIY balloon sent up 30km

from Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder

Picture 4-46

Alexei Karpenko put together a system consisting of GPS, camera, sensors and communications, sent it to an altitude of 30km, and retrieved it on the ground after a parachute landing. The photos and videos he took are stunning.

High altitude ballooning is an emerging hobby, since price of GPS and communications equipment has gotten quite low. It is an excellent hobby for people fascinated by space flight and telerobotics and has many learning aspects — from systems design to electronics design to software engineering. There is also an exciting risk factor, namely, that you could lose your precious electronics if something malfunctions. In this project, many of my interest and knowledge areas came together. Also, I have verified that the Earth is indeed round and that space is black.

Bre Pettis of MAKE also built and launched a near-space balloon, but never found it. See his videos (part 1 and 2).

Fuzzy Math That Seems To Work? TrialPay Says They Can Make Money From Free

from TechCrunch by Nick Gonzalez

Maybe you want to try Skype-out, but don't want to be saddled with paying for unused minutes if the "VOIP revolution in telephony" isn't your thing. Well, Mountain View-based TrialPay will let you get a 3 month trial of free minutes by buying something on eBay or participating in any of 129 other partner offers.

The Skype deal is just one example of TrialPlay's ongoing promotions to help services make some money, while hooking new users and advertisers gain customers from trying something new, while paying for something familiar. The company is working with over 1,500 businesses to let users "pay" for their products by participating in an advertisers program, which range from buying the Economist, to trying out anti-wrinkle cream.

While TrialPay CEO Alex Rampell can't say how much Skype is making off their offers, he did say that "for most of our merchants, we are yielding between 10-100% in incremental revenue. A company like Skype might make $80 on a consumer not willing to buy their $8.85 calling plan". He went on to say "Skype now yields significant revenue for Staples.com, because people shop at Staples.com in order to get Skype credits for free". Conceivably, users not willing to buy Skype may be willing to buy enough from Staples to actually generate more revenue than Skype's purchase price. He made no qualifications about how commonly the over-achieving offers occur, though.

Nokia's 5 megapixel N82 with WiFi and GPS spotted?

from Engadget by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

There it is, the first spy shot of Nokia's N82. Don't remember this Espoo candybar? No worries, the last update was way back in May when news was first leaked. Back then, the N82 was rumored to pack quad-band GSM, 2100MHz HSDPA, a 2.4-inch 240x320 display, WiFi, GPS, FM Tuner and biggie 5 megapixel camera with Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss lens. So until we hear otherwise, that's what we'll assume until the supposed announcement on November 2nd. Right, that's just 1 week from today.

[Via Unwired View]

Brando Adapts eSATA Drives to USB with a Simple Adapter [Easy Attachment]

from Gizmodo by Charlie White

We've already seen a clever way to conveniently adapt eSATA hard drives to USB, and now here's an even easier and cheaper way to do that from Brando. It's a $15 adapter, and sure, you'll have to add $10 to that ticket to get a power supply to fire up that drive, but the money saved by using a bare drive instead of buying an enclosure will make up for that. So do the math: You get one of these and a power supply for $25, a Hitachi Deskstar 1TB drive for $300, and you have a TB for $325. Good deal. Or you can get a slower but arguably prettier Western Digital My Book 1TB external drive for around $350. Either way, that's a heap of storage, ain't it? [ Brando]

First image of Fisker's plug-in luxury hybrid released?

from Engadget by Darren Murph

You can't be too careful these days, but if the above image isn't just the work of some overzealous fanboy (or girl), that's what Fisker's forthcoming luxury plug-in hybrid will look like. The vehicle itself will be developed in conjunction with Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies, which reportedly hopes to aid Fisker in developing an entire line of "environmentally friendly premium cars." If all goes well, the whip could make its North American entrance at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show, but as you can probably imagine, owning such a svelte looking ride won't run you cheap. The company plans to crank out some 15,000 of these creations initially and fetch around $100,000 for each, but until we actually get the word that people are taking delivery, we won't get too attached.

[Via Autoblog]

Elle MacPherson: The Interactive Storefront

from CubeMe by Hans

For New York Fashion Week, Elle MacPherson Intimates launched an interactive storefront, allowing users to reveal the video footage of the models on the windows through their movements on the street. This is by no means a new medium but it has been executed very well and has received a lot of positive WOM.

Popout

Via [TrendHunter]

Babel TV set-top-box weds Freeview, PVR, and internet

from Engadget by Darren Murph

We've never been much for using one's television as their primary web surfing display -- after all, how do you expect to get any work done with last week's episode of The Office drawing your attention away from that oh-so-critical PowerPoint -- but for those who'd enjoy access every now and then without having to attach a dedicated computer, Babel TV could be just the thing. Available solely in the UK, this multifaceted set-top-box enables users to tune into and record Freeview broadcasts, stream video clips / programming from the web and even make VoIP calls. Furthermore, the box is "managed remotely by Babel TV's technical team," and copies of all your files can be automatically stored at a secure location (for a price, we presume). Reportedly, the unit should be available early next month for £295 ($602), and yes, that does include a wireless keyboard and pointer to keep you firmly planted on the sofa.

Internet to Remain Tax-Free For At Least Four More Years

from TechCrunch by Erick Schonfeld

The tax moratorium on the Internet runs out on November 1, but the Senate just passed an extension. It just has to agree with the House on how long it will be (the Senate wants 7 more years, the House wants four), before sending it the President. You kind of take the tax-free thing for granted when it comes to e-commerce. But it is not going to last forever. E-commerce is all grown up, and no longer needs the coddling that the original legislation provided. Although, it makes you wonder how much slower Internet sales would be growing (compared to being up 23 percent last quarter) if you had to pay sales tax.

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