digital axle

Jobs Rocks Out at 'Rock On', and PS He's Still Alive

NBC and Apple have kissed and made up, reports Mediapost, and the whole world knows about it - because the whole world was watching Steve Jobs at "Rock On" earlier this week.

Gossip-hungry viewers may have tuned into Jobs' speech in front of that now-oh-so-familiar black backdrop (via Engadget) more to see if he was still alive than to know more new Apple products. Bloomberg, in updating its 17-page obituary for the famed CEO accidentally published it, prompting Jobs to quote Mark Twain: "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

But, as always, reports of Apple's "genius" products were also greatly exaggerated. The ultra-slim, oval-shaped, 8GB/16GB Nano - which is receiving less verbal applause from bloggers than they gave it at the event - may be nicely innovated, sure. But the iPod Touch as the best handheld gaming device? Apple iTunes as the only platform with recommendation features? (Have you heard of Pandora, Steve?)

The most newsworthy news, therefore was the truce with NBC. The battle of the two titans was over pricing flexibility for NBC shows sold on iTunes, and the broadcaster emerged as the clear winner, as now some shows will be priced differently.

No, I take it back. Apple is the clear winner. Why? Because it always is, because it has to be. The triumph of the hip nerd over the corporate chunk. He'll take three-quarters of the music and TV show download market - but wouldn't dream of stealing your lunch.

mtvU Answers the Time-Honored Question: 'Where's the Party At?'

Seek no more: mtvU, a division of MTV - the rich panderer of guilty pop culture pleasures since the mid-80's - is launching an online network of campus guides, a la Citysearch, that will list "everything from local night life to bus and dining room schedules," Reuters reports.

The network, which broadcasts on 750 U.S. college campuses, wants the network to be a "one-stop shop" for college students. It will aggregate content from college newspapers and Zvents, a local Internet search and advertising network. Northwestern, UT Austin and U Penn are among the 25 colleges for which it will have guides available this week - a total of 50 are planned to launch by the end of the year.

"We're simplifying students' experience and providing national, regional and local advertisers a powerful connection to this hard to reach audience," said Stephen Friedman, general manager of mtvU.

Ahh, that's what we were looking for - advertisements. Talk about targeting...! Events listings are some of the easiest, most obvious kinds of contextual advertising, yes? And college kids are always on the lookout for something new - and hot - to do. On a quest for fun, their eyes may stray mischievously to a banner, or two - or four.

Widget, Wadget, Go-Go Gadget -- SFBIG Panel This Thursday

Have you read The Ugly Little Boy and The Widget, the Wadget, and the Boff? I didn't think so. It's an Isaac Asimov tale, further described as

the depiction of 21st-century society rounded out and the history of the Neanderthal tribe from which the eponymous boy was abducted more fully given. When the woebegone waif, now named Timmie, was snatched from his epoch, he was brought into a pool of no-time, which exists coincident with the present.

Since Timmie is condemned to living within that pool forever, his presence raises moral questions: Is it abusive to leave him alone in this limbo for eternity? Would it be equally cruel to send him back to the Ice Age?

These are questions that not even I, in full working mode, can attempt to tackle. In fact, it makes me a little teary to even think about it. Why not let someone else explore not these issues, but those with the same terminology (wadgets, limbo, and woebegone waifs) and casually observe the discussion, all while less-casually drinking?

SFBIG is sponsoring a panel tomorrow -- Thursday the 24th of January -- in which some clever people will talk about "The Wadget Revolution." Let's be clear: I have no idea what a wadget is. (I do, however, know what a woebegone waif is, having seen Oliver! the musical upwards of 18 times.) But if SFBIG thinks it is important enough to have an event centered around it, and would even go so far as to call it a revolution, then by god, you should attend.

When: 6-10pm (panel begins at 7:00pm)
Where: St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco
What to Wear: your best business SF-casual. trendy riding boots optional.
What to Bring: a flask full of JW Black. what a way to make new friends!

SFBIG Gets into the Giving Spirit with Auction for OLPC

SFBIG has made national news - via MarketingVOX. Not yet on their website, but okay, it's the holidays.

Turns out their Yahoo-sponsored party at the Hotel Nikko on the 20th of December raised some serious moolah for the One Laptop Per Child Initiative. They got some $16,000 from an auction held that night, with prizes like an Xbox 360 and restaurant gift certificates. With the money they will purchase 80 laptops, half of which will go to children in developing countries and the other half to kids in the Bay Area.

Ok wait. Let me do the math here. Sixteen grand divided by 80 is...um...$200. Wait, ah, stammer, cough, what? How did they do that? Since when are laptops two hundred bucks? Oh yes, this one does. And it's such a lovely green color. And as it was designed for children all over the world, with no national or cultural boundaries, it is truly a "PC" PC. Ha. Read more about how they are making an impact in this NYT article.

Last note about the gathering - You may not feel you missed much soc-ially, what with all the other fun stuff going on. It certainly could not have matched last month's event in which those 4 key questions were answered, so cleverly, so cleverly. But there was a panel on Influencers that may or may not have been worthwhile. (I cannot judge, for I-did-not attend.) But for a taste of what you missed in-tel-lect-ually, see BuzzLogic's post on the event.

Automotive Category Driving Increase in Local Ad Spend

A report on NewsFactor predicts that local online ad spending will grow an incredible 48 percent in 2008 to $12.6 billion. Driving this trend are the new favored horses outta the block - paid search and video advertising. But pay attention to this - the Big 3 advertising segments for 2008 are going to be the categories of automotive, recruitment, and real estate, and of course Election '08 adding a few extra bucks. 

From ReadWriteWeb: 

Automobile ads are an especially prime area for growth in the local market, according to researchers. In fact, The Kelsey Group expects that by 2010 nearly 40% auto advertising will be done via local online and directional media -- an estimated $10.8 billion piece of the pie.

Now that big automotive companies like GM are allowing their regional dealerships to select their own creative and media agencies, allowing them more flexibility in their individual markets. This is especially important in an area where local advertising is so important. And taking $500 million in billings out of the hands of the people in Detroit? That's cause enough for celebration.

And with powerful issues in the automotive industry like customer retention and other aspects of a so-called upscale product pushing change, this is sure to be, shall we say, the dawning of a new era? ValueClick has put out a white paper with a few tips n' tricks for effective online advertising in the automotive category, like "planning across a wide range of lifestyle sites" and making sure to optimize. Lesson here being, don't assume that the Palo Alto mom wants a Hybrid Escape. Prove it first. Then tell her about the promotion at her local dealership -- and don't expect Detroit to pay for it.

Anthropologists Amazed at Email and Social Network Mashup

Fourscore minus seventy years ago, in high school, my English/History class - you know, the interdisciplinary college prep class that was supposed to turn us into 'critical thinkers' before we ever set foot inside a college lecture hall - had us do an exercise in the field of anthropology. We were given an essay on the Nacirema people and told to analyze them using Edward T. Hall's Primary Message Systems.

I dove right into the ethnography, summarizing here, extropolating there, and proudly turned in my essay (which probably looked something like this) only to walk out into the hallway and have some smart-aleck class-ditcher say, "Dude. Did you get it?" Meaning, the whole thing was a joke - Nacirema is American spelled backward, and every cultural oddity that we had just analyzed was in fact, our own.

Ten years later, I'm flashing back to that moment because of one word I just read: Xobni.

Now that's just silly.

There's been talk about the ridiculous names that web entrepreneurs were coming up for their new babies: Zing, Bebo, Etsy. "...the naming trend has also drawn considerable eye-rolling among Web denizens, inspiring tongue-in-cheek pages like Web 2.0 Name Generator and the quiz “Web 2.0 or Star Wars Character?"

And Xobni is no different. At least they actually tell you that it is "inbox spelled backwards". Thanks guys. With a mission of "taking back the email inbox" for its users, Xobni (and Xoopit - another name that would be torn apart at recess) offers an integration of social networking and email - GigaOm calls it a relationship and interaction manager.

In other words, the relationship buckets (and the level of intimacy) are already predefined and have relevance. From there, all communication-related information — mobile numbers, geo-location data, instant messaging identities and of course, email addresses — are just a click away. So what’s missing? Discovery and presence, and synchronicity.

Will we find all these - and more! - these two San Francisco based startups? That remains to be seen. Xobni is not yet in Beta (someone please explain to me what that means! or better yet, tell me to get off my lazy ass and look it up!) and Yahoo is getting on their horse, or rather, their Zimbra, to compete.

On your mark, get set, GO.

Contenders from TV, Print, Radio, & Web Square Off for Local Ad Dollars

They must have been giving out free donuts again in the conference room hallway during Jump Ball: TV, Print, Radio and Web Hustle for Local Ad Dollars. The mean count (taking into consideration the trickling in and out of misdirected expo hall salespeeps) was 42 conference-goers – and that is including the panelists and moderator David Hutchinson of Program Partners, Inc. Maybe the 2-day hangover had finally set in for 90% of conference attendees, or maybe, just maybe, nobody wanted to hear about how local ad dollars are being spread across multiple media platforms.

I certainly hope that this is not the case. If so: shame, shame, shame on you, ad:tech attendees. Don’t cha know that local is the way of the future? Seriously, folks. We talk about demographic targeting and direct marketing, but often ignore the fact that where the consumer lives and works Is a major factor in their buying decisions.

Geographically relevant content surely has promise. LA Times Sales and Marketing Managing Director Juliana Jaoudi pointed out that the popularity and higher click-through rates of portals like Yahoo! Local shows that there are major potential revenue buckets available for those prepared to focus on regional commerce, catching consumers “at the end of the buying funnel” and more importantly, before the big guns have a chance to get in there. (Oops, CBS has already “jumped the ball” on that one.)

Interesting that she should mention the “big guns,” because she’s one of them – as were the rest of the panelists. Dan Rodrigues, Director of Sales at CBS-Affiliate KPIX-TV, for example, spoke with the confidence that one best finds in television sales departments. He also had a commanding stage presence, front and center on the midnight-blue couch. Was that thing mad comfortable? Sean Cummings of Ask.com definitely looked like he was sinking in nicely. Cummings was the black sheep of the panelist family, surrounded by major media: TV, newspaper, and radio (KFOG 104.5 FM Sales Manager Omari Patterson). He had nothing but nice things to say about the quality and scope of the content that his comrades provide, but asked an important question: “How are you going to build a revenue model for online advertising?” It’s a young industry – 30% of media consumption is online, yet ad spending is still in the single digits. Dan the Man jumped in, noting that a problem may be that local online outlets can be so fragmented that they lack the critical mass necessary for focused advertisers.

The master plan for local media, therefore, is to slowly develop online extensions of trusted local brands and leverage their community relationships with new media. Online is no longer a side note to traditional platforms, they agreed, as the fear of computer generation is being (partially) overcome. “It’s going to be a while before it changes,” said Ms. Jaoudi, as she explained that economics dictate the attitude of the advertiser. For example, as long as print is still the more expensive buy it will be deemed the more effective medium. However, as personnel are trained in how to effectively sell new media, we will see a faster and more complete transition, particularly in the local ad sphere. “We need to be on the forefront – at the local level – of how people are consuming media so that they don’t go somewhere else,” said Rodrigues.

The last question that arose was measurements of their success. I particularly enjoyed Sean Cummings’ statement that “the Internet suffers from over-measurability.” This, coming from the sole online guy? But it was all about relevance: You can't ask for click-through rates on a highway billboard. You know what else you can't do?  Roller-skate in a buffalo herd.

It's beginning to look a lot like ad:tech

It’s that time of year again, when rabble rousers in the digital media sphere gather round the Moscone Center for three days of keynotes, sessions, and schmoozing. Yes, it's ad:tech San Francisco 2007, back and badder than ever. It promises - in fact, pinky-swears - to be a doozy.

Stay tuned to the blog for updates on the conference happenings, both on and off the floor. And, in some cases, on and off the table. Perhaps even under.

Web 2.0 Expo: 30,000 Square Feet of Good, Clean Fun

Hot action from the Web 2.0 Expo live in San Francisco: an attempted square-off between an angels and VCs. David Hornik reports on VentureBlog:

Mike (Arrington) tried hard to get the traditional VCs (me included) to fight with the angel guys (Josh Kopelman and Jeff Clavier). His thesis was that angel investors will ultimately get all of the returns because there is so little money required to build a big internet business these days. While it isn't an unreasonable assertion, I obviously disagree wholeheartedly. As I've said before, while it is certainly the case that it takes less money for a web startup to demonstrate traction, I believe it still takes significant capital for a successful internet startup to scale.

Nonetheless, the entertainment value was high (which was likely Mike's real intention). And we had a great time agreeing with each other and disagreeing with Mike.

This is what conferences are all about, aren't they? Agreeing and disagreeing, sharing a theory and an ironic chuckle, and going home even more assured of your own expertise. I mostly just love the controversial nature of the title of the sessions, that last one for example was called Venture Capital 2.0: Bright Future or Broken Forever. C'mon, that’s just asking for a fight!

Other session titles that I find just plain ballsy in their ability to provoke:

Web 2.0: Show Me the Money
How to Make 27 Million People Hate You
PR 2.0: Dead as a Doornail, or Still Alive & Kicking?
Social Networking Winners & Losers: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Built to Last or Built to Sell: Is There a Difference?

and my fave:
Ten Ways to Run a Startup Like Genghis Khan  Great. Just what we need. More Mongols.

But perhaps all is saved by the Moscone Center’s proximity to the Japanese sweets at Beard Papa. There’s nothing like sharing in a scrumptious vanilla bean cream puff to soothe a soured tongue and restore a battered friendship.

Ignoring the Obvious

The Big News of the day is undoubtedly Google’s $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick. After all, you can read about here…and here…and here. Oh, and here. And then of course there is the news of the reaction from AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, and all their pals as they cry, “Hey! No fair!” You can read that here – and here. In fact, I think it is safe to say that this deal is dominating the news today like a 5^th grade bully. Or, for a closer metaphor, like the State of the Union – even when it’s a whole lot about nothing.

But it’s not as if nothing else is happening in the world – online or off. What happens to all the little bits of news that fall by the wayside? They might have otherwise had a chance at the big time, but tragically were overshadowed by this acquisition. I mean, on the day that Reagan died, the Berlin wall fell, or Britney shaved her head, scientists in the Amazon may have discovered a new species of toad, or other offbeat news might have occurred that was subsequently pushed to the bottom of the page. “Rats!” they thought. If only we’d been a day earlier – or later. It’s all about the timing.

Let’s go one step further: what about personal news? The Internet has enabled each of us to be our own beat reporter, hot on the story of our lives. For example, yesterday I tried matcha tea for the first time. It was marvelous. I could also report that there is something obscene written in Flemish with a purple Sharpie on my left forearm and that I am having difficulties removing it. Finally, my breaking news of the day: I am closing a deal that involves the $3.10 acquisition of a new Uniballer pen.

So, forget Google, forget DoubleClick – heck, forget Sallie Mae, al-Sadr, and the Boston Marathon.

What’s your news?