Facebook Marketing: Truth?

Just watched The Social Network and realise that regardless of effort, my views of Zuck and the pair of oars will be forever skewed.

The movie tells a story, but is it a genuine account of events? Unless an impartial observer documented every conversation, feeling, comment and email transaction, there's no way any of those involved would ever have absolute, objective clarity several years later.

So did Zuck steal the idea? The movie suggests not. The media around the time left me with the impression that the twins were a couple of chancers with what they thought was an amazing idea, but hadn't really committed to developing it.

Told from a different angle, the story might reflect Zuck as a blatant theif, developing the idea on his own and pulling the rug.

The common elements of the product though, were mostly present in other services already. Functionally, there was little difference between it and MySpace and others.

Would the resulting claim and settlement have been different if Zuck had developed their idea AND The Facebook at the same time, I wonder?

One things for sure, Facebook marketing opportunities are far greater than the other proposition.

F1 Pedantry

From BBC's F1 coverage yesterday, I noticed that the HUGE sign over the Shanghai Circuit says; Welocme to Shaghai International Circuit.

Call me pedantic, but surely someone proofed this before releasing this translation gaff on the world?

James Patterson: 4th of July

I've read quite a few of James Patterson's novels recently, although most have been from the Alex Cross Series. This one was a pretty good read and was a clear demonstration of Patterson's ability to keep the reader turning page after page to see what happens next. If you are a fan of the plot twist, you should definitely get this book.

This one follows the trials of Lindsay Boxer as she tries to catch a serial killer who is tantalisingly leaving clues to his identity with each crime. She's getting closer and closer, until the plot takes a nasty twist and plunges the reader in to confusion. You might think you guessed, but you're probably wrong!

Brilliantly done.

A young man is found dead in a seedy hotel room; electrocuted in his bath with a toaster. This is the second electrocution murder Lindsay Boxer has come across and the message left in graffiti on the wall at the scene of the crime is the same: NOBODY CARES ANYMORE. What does it refer to? The one clue Lindsay and her partner Jacobi have is that a black Mercedes was spotted at the scene of both murders. But when they follow a car they think is connected, they get more than they bargained for. Full of the high suspense and fast-moving plotlines for which James Patterson is best known, this promises to be the most exciting Women's Murder Club case yet.

What're You Looking at, Wiseguy? (A review of The Godfather, PS2)

I really must get some control on my addictive personality: I just completed The Godfather after more than one extremely late night of, 'I'll just get this one mission done and then get to bed'.

My default position is that movie tie-ins are generally pretty poor and are generally a lazy marketing exercise that take advantage of a successful run at the box office.

This game is a refreshing exception to the rule though. I was bought it as a gift and thoroughly enjoyed it, actually. If you enjoyed the Grand Theft Auto series, you're likely to enjoy this. It's a little different in that it's set in a time when guys wore smart suits, hats and sharp shoes to murder and maim people as in the film trilogy (I have this too, but have not yet had time to watch these great movies again), but the gameplay is somewhat similar. There's a pretty huge gaming area, although not quite the vast landscape I'm currently encountering in Just Cause; it can take a while to get from place to place to carry out missions and so forth, although I'd argue that this adds to the realism rather than detracts from it.

A thoroughly entertaining diversion from reality in all, and well worth the few quid that you'll probably pay to buy it online in exchange for a considerable number of hours' entertainment.

"Respect me, respect the family"

AOL to sell film and TV downloads

AOL to sell film and TV downloads:

AOL secured deals with 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. Financial details of the deals were not disclosed.

Good for AOL. The article goes on to say:

The new service, available via the AOL portal, will let users download selected titles for $9.99 for back catalogue and $19.99 for new released.

How much? Seriously? That's way too expensive, I might as well go buy the DVD and have extras and a nice box to keep my movie in.

Once purchased, the films can be watched an unlimited number of times, and are compatible with Windows Media Player technology. However, the movies cannot be burned onto DVDs.

Okay, I don't want to burn my movie to a DVD: I can watch it anytime I like, right? According to the AOL site, you download the movie to your hard disk and/or portable device (they let you do both for the price) and then you have 5-7 days to watch it. It's unclear whether or not I have to then pay again if I want to download it in 5 weeks' time. Oh, and you get to choose the quality of the movie but, seeing as it's intended for portable devices and PCs, I guess it's not going to be up to standard for my new plasma TV.

And even if it were, how would I play said movie on it? I can't burn the movie to a DVD and can't currently stream the movie to the TV from my PC.

R U B B I S H

I say to AOL: Innovate or leave well alone. Or at least explain your service fully.

Hollywood backs Blu-ray with 75 movie releases in Japan

Hollywood backs Blu-ray with 75 movie releases in Japan:

Studios such as Disney, Warner Bros, Fox and Sony, as well as many others plan to release movies such as Da Vinci Code and Pirates of the Carribean in what is looking to be a show of force backing the Blu-ray format.
With most of Hollywood on its side, plus a swag of big name electronics and computer companies, Blu-ray appears to have an edge in industry support, although with Microsoft and Toshiba firmly behind HD DVD nothing is cut and dried as to which format will win out.

So: who didn't see this coming? I mean really. Come on, hands up!

The cynic in me has to point out the obvious: Microsoft's XBox competing head to head with the PS3. They're not really going to support the same technology as Sony, are they?

A sequence of really nice articles on the HD-DVD / Blu-Ray war:
http://editorials.teamxbox.com/xbox/1496/The-Blue-Laser-Wars-Episode-I-HD-DVD/p1/
http://editorials.teamxbox.com/xbox/1504/The-Blue-Laser-Wars-Episode-II-Bluray-Disc/p1/

Microsoft gives further details of Live Drive

So, not unexpectedly, Microsoft join the online storage party too, huh?

Will someone just get something usable out there! Sheesh.

Netgear buy SkipJam

iTWire - Netgear to boost home networking with SkipJam buy:

Support for my perpetual media licence, watch on demand theory....

"extended range home network infrastructure solutions such as Netgear's RangeMax Next draft 802.11n wireless and 200 Mbps HD Powerline, streaming multiple HD quality videos simultaneously across the network is now a reality. SkipJam has the unique software technology to become the platform for us to build out our multimedia product portfolio and continue expanding worldwide in the growing category of digital home entertainment and control.'SkipJam's technology will form the basis of future Netgear multimedia products, including media centre, media players, and audio players."

Download Movies Direct

iTWire - Movie downloads to cut DVD retailers out:

It seems that the internet is about to do for movies what is has already down for music. In a historic first, Hollywood studios will allow consumers to download selected movies and burn them to DVD for purchase.

It was only a matter of time before movies took advantage of the web too.

I'm really pleased that Apple didn't get the deal - we have quite enough domination from giants like Apple, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft already.

I'm fairly confident that this will be shortlived. In 5 years I predict we'll be streaming movies rather than downloading them. We'll buy a non-expiring licence to watch some media on demand as many times as we like.

Imagine all those movies you wished you'd seen and never got around to, and now you can't be bothered to buy or rent on DVD. How many times have you missed an episode in the middle of a season of Lost or 24? Won't it be great to just decide to watch when you want to.

On the flip-side, there's HD. There's more data, it requires more bandwidth to stream. Which technology is going to lead, and which will follow?

The Hyperwords Firefox Extension

The Hyperwords Firefox Extension:
Awesome. Seriously. Awesome.

Originally searching for a blogging tool, I stumbled upon this on the Firefox extension pages. It has so much more.

Highlight a bit of text on a web page and then:
Plot a postcode/zip code/placename on a map
Search LinkedIn for a person
Search Google, or a number of other engines for the text
Search resources, IMDb
Blog it, automatically posts the highlighted text in the post and the url in the link field
Tag to del.icio.us or similar

Suggest that the user should be able to add further services on demand though, just like Firefox's nice search bar.

The Individual Revolution

Yesterday, I was privileged enough to enjoy 45 minutes listening to the future of marketing according to the vision of Richard Duvall, described as a revolutionary figure in the creation of 21st century business. With Prudential, he co-founded Egg and is now working his new project, Zopa.

I found Richard inspirational and his vision compelling of what he calls, the individual revolution.

He suggests that technology has created an environment in which the mass market culture is dying. For example: no longer are there a few TV or Radio channels to listen to, there are hundreds. Every individual has their own taste in music, and is able to fulfil that desire through podcasts or radio or a number of television channels.

The Internet has created a culture where every individual can express their own unique personality through the music they listen to, the fashion they create for themselves, the web sites they browse, the hobbies in which they indulge, the businesses they create.

Increasingly, people percieve themselves as individuals, not as consumers.

Seth Godin's work also supports this change in culture, proposing that the Internet is not a mass-marketing medium. It's not a replacement for television. It's just the opposite - it creates a fragmented, splintered culture where every individual, every business can satisfy their own unique needs and requirements. Small communities with common interests communicate through blogs, chat rooms and web sites and perhaps buy from stores specialising in the things in which they are interested.

The age of the individual has arrived.

I consider myself fortunate to work for a company whose strategy and approach reflects this unique culture, it's clients holding dear their individuality and recognising that, for them, it defines their business and more often than not, their competitive advantage.

If you get a chance to catch Richard speaking at an event - I'd recommend it!