Week of May 7, 2007

IPhone To Launch June 14?

Friday, May 11, 2007

Here are a couple of iPhone notes from the Apple 2.0 blog:

Presales are extremely strong, with current bids ranging from $615 to $1025 on Ebay.

The release date looks to be June 14.

CBS Signs Internet Star To $5 million deal

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Last year videoblogger Amanda Congden moved to television, becoming the first Internet "star" to sign a contract based on her tremendous web popularity. CBS has just announced they they have done the same thing with the wildly popular videoblog "Wallstrip." Wallstrip is basically the frontpiece for hostess Lindsay Campbell, and the $5 million deal was based on locking Campbell in to a deal.

If you ever wondered if Internet content would ever be worth anything, that $5 million should open your eyes.

Google Print Now Part Of AdWords

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

A major milestone was reached this week as for the first time Google has integrated a traditional mass media advertising option into its AdWords program. AdWords, Google's incredibly successful online text advertising program, now gives its millions of users the option of advertising in newspapers across the country. Preveiously the Google Print program was separate and something a much smaller base of advertisers had access to.

Google has beta programs in radio and television, and it is likely only a matter of time before these smaller programs are opened up to the entire AdWords base of advertisers. When that happens, Google will become a one-stop shop for advertising, with its advertisers able to put together comprehensive campaigns across the Internet, newspapers, radio, and television--all from the comfort of their office computer.

Is the TV the new PC?

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Entrepreneur Mark Cuban blogged several weeks ago that televisions will soon be the new PC: Not only will we focus our video entertainment content around them in ever more sophisticated ways, but our upgrade patterns will mirror PCs. In his mind, people will upgrade their televisions much more often than their PCs, as capabilities and new technologies are developed.

Now comes word from tech strategist firm Cowan & Company that they predict the same. As he wrote to tech blog GigaOm: "In the past, consumers replaced their PC's every 3 years and their televisions roughly every decade. Is this trend poised to reverse? Hint: Yes."

Web 2.0 usage among US adults studied

Monday, May 7, 2007

This past weekend, The Pew Internet & American Life Project released a study on people's "evolving relationships to cyberspace." You can read an overview here on CNET. Or you can download the study itself from Pew. The study covered adults; significantly, teens were not a part of this study.

The findings in the study indicate that although large numbers of adults are connected with ever more sophisticated devices, few take the opportunity to use the most advanced features. In fact, the CNET article is entitled, "Wired but not Web 2.0?" Web 2.0 is defined as the most interactive means of expression, through blogs, personal web sites or sharing new media. Only 8% of adults were what they called, "deep users," the ones who take full advantage of many of the web 2.0 features.