CaseCamp 7

If you haven't been to a CaseCamp in Toronto yet I suggest you get to one soon. A great mix of the next generation of digital media marketing and content types. Eli Singer (Segal/Facebook) lead a packed house at Circa Night Club last night with more than 500 people in attendance (they started a few years back in a basement pub with 75 people). The event is free. Just let them know you are coming via the Facebook Group then show up and pay $4.50 for bottle water and $7.50 for bottled beer (hey, it's free but not THAT free). Eli said they printed 420 name tags and they blew through those by 6:40pm. Over 500 people responded to the Facebook Group.

I was only able to stay for one of the 15 minute 'cases' Red Flag Deals. I encourage you to check out their site for uber Canadian bargins on everything. They are doing millions of impressions a week and transfered $8 million in sales in 2007. However, their site seems to lock up the tab function on my Firefox when I go it -- shrug. Maybe they don't want you to navigate away from the site ;-) For details on the other presenters go to the Facebook group.

Eli says needs to catch his breath but expect the next one in a couple of months. Once he names the date I will post it here. If you don't live in Toronto maybe you should start a Casecamp in your hood. They are the future of conferences IMO.

iPhone coming to Canada FINALLY

It will probably cost $200 a month to run but still...iPhoooone.

Here is the post from Engadget

Thinking of IPOing in Canada

Here is the site you need to go to.

Go Public In Canada

Microsoft Live Meeting

As you know, I'm not big on Microsoft products. Their UI (user interfaces) seem to be getting more complex and less user friendly. I have been struggling with a Vista machine for the last year and I keep having to migrate back to my Mac.

However, Mark Greenspan from Next Media just told me about this today. He said he had used it for a conference call with a group of people in cities all over the world and it was a great experience.

If you give it a try could you let me know how it was to use by leaving a comment on the blog under this post.

From the MS Live Meeting Website

Find out more about how the 2007 release of Office Live Meeting lets you host real-time web-based meetings and collaboration sessions online.

See how easy it is to schedule meetings, invite attendees, and host fully interactive sessions in just minutes.

You can host your web-based meetings and collaboration sessions online with up to 1250 simultaneous participants.

Bell In Hot Water Over Throttling

April 29, 2008 - Ottawa, ON - Canada's largest Internet association has submitted its reply to Bell Canada's response to a regulatory complaint filed with the CRTC by the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP). CAIP's reply states that Bell's response confirms that the association's arguments of wrong-doing by the country's largest phone company in what has become known as "traffic shaping" or "throttling" were well-founded.

Full article link

CIX - Canadian Innovation Exchange

I'm at CIX blogging live.

CIX is a conference bringing venture capital and angel funds together with entrepreneurs. For old school TV producers this may be the 'new' way of building and financing cross platform projects.

At the moment I'm listening to a panel session on 'What do VC's and Angels Want?'

Interesting points:

-don't take the money just cause it is there -- it can hurt your company
-take the smart money: watch milestones
-public venture capital: taking your company public too soon is irresponsible
-be careful of 'cramming'
-pitching is one of the most important things and if done improperly can lose you your money
-bootstrapping your company is the most important thing
-protect the farm team
-best person to hire is someone who lost in the dotboom


-Turn offs:
don't tell the VC how much they will make
don't tell the VC that this is the best deal they will see all year,
need a fire in the belly entrepreneur leading the team
don't like solo entrepreneurs

Youtube Warp

An interesting new way to watch and discover Youtube videos. Go to YT and under What's New click on Warp. Visually fly through YouTube videos in the Fullscreen player.

ASOS = As Seen On Screen

Note from G: ASOS is a UK fashion etailer I have been following for the last couple of years (I met with them once about a project). They troll the red carpets and celeb hangouts with camera in hand. See what the lastest 'expensive' fashion is then, in 6 weeks, knock off a similar type of outfit for all the cool girls (and it is mostly women) to buy for next to nothing. Make sure you click on the 'catwalk' button. They have models walk each dress down a catwalk. Great idea for showing clothing on the web IMO.

ASOS sees annual sales almost double to £81m
Full article from NMA link here

Pure-play fashion etailer ASOS has seen annual sales almost double, with profits set to beat forecasts. ASOS saw sales up by 90% year-on-year to £81m for the 12 months to 31 March, and the company claims strong sales continued in the first four weeks of the current financial year.

Nick Robertson, ASOS co-founder and CEO, said he anticipated profits to exceed expectations and that he expected the growth to continue.

"Despite the uncertain economic conditions, I remain optimistic about the prospects for ASOS," he said. "We continue to benefit from the increasing popularity of online shopping and we have made considerable investments in management, infrastructure, product ranges and marketing to support and sustain future growth.

The site includes 8,300 fashion lines, including its own range, and says it attracts over 2.9m unique visitors a month.

Google Pricing System Plagues Players Like P&G

Note from G: As you know I am tracking the ad agencies and their big clients in the integrated media space. I'm still scratching my head as to why it is taking so long for them to get online but the shift is happening...slowly. This story below shows some of the challenges advertisers are facing with Google.

Full article from Ad Age

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- For years, consumer-package-goods marketers saw search advertising as mainly for direct response, not branding. But now that more are heeding data showing search's potential as a branding vehicle, they're running into a new problem: The pricing model wasn't really set up to serve them, and in some respects it thwarts them.

2.0 Expo 2008: Clay Shirky

A very good overview of how TV producers need to be thinking about the media space delivered in a compelling short lecture by Clay Shirky author of 'Here Comes Everybody'

Are independent online video services dead?

Without the option of public markets, and with big media companies finally getting the hang of things on their own, will the online video backers stick around for the long haul? This question has big implications for companies like Metacafe, Veoh and Dailymotion, which continue to do well, but not well enough. What do you think?

Full NewTeeVee article

Great App for Your Blackberry

I've been using Viigo for a week now and I love it. Quick install on your BB and you are slurping feeds like a 7/11 Super Gulp fiend. I was warned that it might suck battery life but I have noticed no difference. I was able to add feeds quickly and easily. The UI (user interface) is clean and simple to navigate not to mention blazing fast.





Viigo is a way to access content and services on your mobile device that's better than anything you've ever experienced. For more about Viigo click here

Google Cheat Sheet

This two page Google Cheat Sheet lists all Google services and tools as well as background information. The Cheat Sheet offers a great reference to grasp of basic to advance Google query building concepts and ideas.

Google Cheat Sheet

DivX moves towards web TV on TV

I think we are going to see much more of this in the future. G

C21 Media - Jonathan Webdale
The convergence of television sets and internet TV has moved a step closer after digital media company DivX certified over 80 models from manufacturers including LG and Hewlett-Packard.

Full article

Graffiti Research Lab Project

Some great technology in this short doc.

Great way to organize content

http://www.getback.com

From Cynthia Cynopsis -- Betting nostalgia will attract users and ultimately dollars, a new digital storefront called GetBack.com launched in beta yesterday, organizing streaming radio and video content as it relates to iconic moments in history. Click on one of the thumbnails at the top of the page to be taken back to a moment in time such as 1982 when Kareem's Lakers beat Dr. J's Sixers and Pat Benatar & Loverboy topped the charts. Songs can be sampled before purchasing single tracks or full albums.

P2P Not Clogging the Web

From Cynthia Cynopsis - Digital

Here are some interesting facts about broadband consumption attributed to IP network management firm Arbor Networks, courtesy of GigaOM. On fixed and mobile consumer-focused broadband networks:

* 10 percent of subscribers consume 80% of bandwidth
* 0.5% of subscribers consume about 40 percent of total bandwidth
* 80% of subscribers use less than 10 % of bandwidth

This supports ISP's argument that only a few heavy users are taxing the network for everyone. But it turns out peer-to-peer networks aren't the real culprit. According to Arbor:

* Only 20% of traffic is P2P applications
* During peak-load times, 70% of subscribers use http, while 20% use P2P
* Http still makes up the majority of the total traffic, of which 45% is conventional text & images
* Streaming video and audio content from services like YouTube accounts for nearly 50% of the http traffic

Human Powered Search Engines

This is a trend that is rising and I have heard about a few of these now. Search engines that use humans to make links relevant. Give Mahalo a try and see what you think. They claim to be the first.

What is Mahalo?

* Mahalo is a human-powered search engine that creates organized, comprehensive, and spam free search results for the most popular search terms. Our search results only include great links.

Hot Docs Panel - Toronto

The problem with panels at conferences is you are never really sure who you are talking to. A quick scan of the room and I could see the intelligence staring back. These were people who looked skeptical and curious. However, there was little Blackberry use so I am assuming we had something interesting to say.

Here is the link to the panel details

Notes:
-discussed Youtube Insight
-how much video costs to serve on the web (see other posts on my blog)
-marketing opportunities - Search Engine Optimization, seeding blogs, etc
-geo targeting
-rights issues and how to ensure broadcasters don't take them all

Google Video Redesign

Google Video has given itself a redesign, adding some nice search tweaks and a fresh new look. Now when you search for a video, results can be viewed through a regular list, a grid, or a TV view that lets you watch a video while you scan through other results.

Full article from NewTeeVee

TV-eh?

Well, well, a site about Canadian television shows. I was unaware there was such a thing as we watch so much American rebroadcast. Quite a good site.


This is from their FAQ:
"TV, Eh? is your source of information on Canadian television shows, with links to articles plus scheduling information and network media releases."

Click here to link

CBS: March Madness Eyeballs Worth More On Web Than TV

Silicon Valley Insider -- Michael Learmonth | April 17, 2008 1:40 PM

The numbers are in for CBS's March Madness: 4.8 million viewers online vs. 132 million on TV. TV ratings were slightly down for the tourney this year, enough that we asked whether the availability of free online games were to blame.

Answer: who cares? CBS (CBS) made $4.83 in advertising per online viewer vs. $4.12 for each of its TV viewers, according to the Washington Post, citing data from CBS and ad research firm TNS.

Full Article Here

the big pipe

I wrote the above subject line in lower case so as not to scare you. Yesterday, I got the new Rogers Extreme Plus high speed broadband.

I had been struggling with Bell's portable 3Mbps WiMax service. Recently, Bell had serious problems with the service in my area and were shocked when I called and said I was blazing with 162kbps down and 112 kbps up. I tried for two weeks to fix the problem with endless calls to call centre in India and Markham before I finally got to a tech who said that they were having big problems with too much traffic. Gavin strokes chin - interesting. So I bailed.

Back to Rogers. I had Extreme a few months ago but took it back cause it was always less than extreme -- I was supposed to get 10Mbps I regularly got 7 but mostly 5. Sad.

However, with Extreme Plus I am consistently getting 10Mbps when I am supposed to have 18 but I'm on an Apple Express wifi system and there is some over the air loss. I bought an Apple Airport Extreme with n frequency. I will let you know if that helps.

Overall, it is blazing with the Extreme Plus compared to my WiMax. Begrudgingly I say I love it. Ack. However, I work faster, I type faster, I am just faster all round...and a better person for it. Should you pay $50 extra per month for all this speed? If you can afford it yes. If not, well, there is always petty crime to pay for your broadband addiction.

Extreme Plus

* Our fastest residential service for those who want the ultimate in speed. Music, video streaming, downloading large files and playing games. 18 Mbps 9 $1.25/GB 95 GB $99.95 (includes modem charge of $3 per month)

Extreme
* Blistering speed, for sharing large files and much more. Music, video streaming, downloading and playing games. 10.0 Mbps 9 $1.50/GB 95 GB $54.95

MID - Mobile Internet Device

This guy says he has a world exclusive. I think not but I still love his zeal.

World Exclusive Article

Peter Gabriel launches recommendation site The Filter

Writer: Christina Hansen
News, Published online on 16 Apr 2008

Peter Gabriel has launched a new website dedicated to helping users find music and movies to fit their taste.

The Filter is described as a discovery service: tell it the movies, music and web videos that you enjoy, and it will make daily recommendations of new material you might like. The site will not go public until next month, but users can register with the site right now to participate in its private beta testing phase.

Full article link here

Drug appreciation groups land Facebook in trouble

Source: nma.co.uk | Published: 17.04.08

The unregulated nature of Facebook groups has again landed the social network in controversy this morning.

Following an investigation, The Sun has revealed details of drug appreciation groups and drug-dealers on the site.

Groups such as Cocaine is the Ruler of the Brain and Make Poverty History - Cheap Cocaine for Everyone have landed the social network in trouble with anti-drug groups.

Citizen Journalist Widgets

Cynthia Cynopsis -- WorldNow announced it is offering customizable citizen journalists widgets from white label provider KickApps to its local station partners. The applications enable sites to add photo and video sharing, blogging, message boards and content syndication features to increase traffic, engagement and ad revenue via contextual ad inventory.

The New Box Office Hits - Games

From Cynthia Cynopsis

Take-Two Interactive's hotly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV, driving off the lot on April 29, will sell 6 million units and break $400 million in sales during its first week, predicts Variety. This would best Xbox exclusive Halo 3's $300 million first week take to make it the biggest entertainment release of all time. A first-ever multiplayer option is one of the features that has gamers salivating.

Writers Guild of Canada Presentation

Yesterday the Writers Guild of Canada was kind enough to invite me along to their national forum to give my perspective about emerging trends online. As usual I ran over the allotted time and was able to take only one question at the end.

Link to Presentation

Microsoft Surface Parody

Digg Labs

Canadians are NOT happy

Well, it's happened. Here in Canada the net neutrality debate has exploded over the last couple of days as the two big 'last mile' providers Bell and Rogers have introduced capped monthly usage amounts ranging from 60 to 100 gig depending on the plan. Further, they are now openly saying they will 'shape' peer to peer traffic (read Skype, Joost, Bittorrent) among other things. They are focusing on these services to protect their TV assets. There was no mention of 'shaping' spam which is a huge bandwidth hog. No question they are focusing on content provides that compete wit them. However, video services are not the only casualties as online gaming will take a big hit as well apparently.

Some good articles:

michael geist - From Toronto Star -- Bell's 'Throttling' Plan a Threat to a Competitive Net

Article from Ars Technica - Canadian ISPs furious over traffic throttling

Google Map of Bandwidth Throttling in Ontario