Monday, October 06, 2008

Socialmedian Brings A New Take On News Filtering

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/351264509/

There is no shortage of social news aggregators looking to help users cut through the noise on the web. Digg is by far the most popular, with similar offerings from Reddit, Newsvine, and a host of others. Today, Socialmedian (not to be confused with SocialMedia, the ad network) is launching its own take on social news. The site has just launched in public beta, and can best be compared to Digg, with some elements of Twitter and FriendFeed thrown in.

At first glance, Socialmedian bears more than a slight resemblance to Digg. Each story is ranked according to the number of votes (called Clips) that it has received, with an expanding tab for comments and sharing. Even the color scheme is very Digg-like.

Founder Jason Goldberg acknowledges that Socialmedian does share some features in common with Digg, but says that its focus is on helping you find stories that you’ll be interested in, rather than finding stories that are popular and appeal to the masses. To do this, the site allows users to create their own personalized networks, or chose from over 1000 existing networks. Each network monitors certain keywords for stories submitted across the entire site, and generates a list of related stories. Users can also specify RSS feeds they’d like to automatically pull stories from, and they can use a sliding “Noise” meter to limit the number of stories displayed.

Socialmedian also uses a Twitter-like follow system to help generate relevant results. Whenever you come across a story submitter than you particularly like, you can flag them as a “Newsmaker”. From then on, their stories will receive a higher ranking, and are more likely to appear on your main news feed.

Because the site is so young, it’s hard to get a feel for how well these filters work (the vast majority of the stories on my front page have fewer than 10 votes). The site has far more customization than Digg, but its ultimate success will lie in its ability to cut out the noise - something we won’t know until it has to deal with thousands of stories at once. The site will also see competition from other social news sites like Reddit, which mimics Socialmedian’s network function by allowing you to “roll” your own customized feeds.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Flickr Co-Founder Caterina Fake Joins New Startup, Hunch

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/351240598/

Caterina Fake, who co-founded Flickr along with her husband Stewart Butterfield in 2004, has announced her plans to join a fledgling new startup called Hunch. Flickr is one of the web’s most popular photo-sharing sites, and was acquired by Yahoo in 2005 for $35 million. Since then, Flickr has been one of Yahoo’s most successful properties, but Fake left the company in June as part of the executive exodus from the struggling search giant.

In her blog post on the matter, Fake says that she will be joining Hunch as Chief Product Officer. Details about the New York-based startup are very slim at this point, and Fake’s description doesn’t shed much light on the matter:

“What is Hunch? Well, as you might assume, it is a consumer internet application, it will have a lot of user participation, and it is more than a little fun. Beyond that, we’re still making it up.”

Beyond that nebulous description, Fake offers few details beyond stating that Butterfield won’t be involved with the project.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

How to draw an apple in Photoshop

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/410590607/how-to-draw-an-apple.html

Eren Göksel provides a step-by-step for drawing this apple. How to Create a Delicious Green Apple Illustration

word of mouth, social content, peer reviews, purchase and loyalty

There have been a number of studies spotlighting the latest in word of mouth.

Power of Word Of Mouth

Trust in "a person like me" has tripled, from 20% to 68% from 2004 to 2006. (Edelman Trust Barometer)
"Person like themselves" still most trusted source for information about a company and, therefore, products. (Edelman Trust Barometer, November 2007)
Recommendations from family and friends trump all other consumer touchpoints when it comes to influencing purchases, according to new data from Publicis media network ZenithOptimedia. (AdAge, April, 2008)
According to a global Nielsen survey of 26,486 Internet users in 47 markets, consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising among 78% of the study's respondents. (Nielsen, "Word-of-Mouth the Most Powerful Selling Tool")
Most word of mouth is positive. Across all of Bazaarvoice US clients, 80% of product ratings are 4 or 5 stars out of 5. Across all of Bazaarvoice UK clients, 88% of product ratings are 4 or 5 stars out of 5. ("J Curve," Bazaarvoice and Keller Fay)
Online social network users were three times more likely to trust their peers' opinionsover advertising when making purchase decisions. ("Social Networking Sites: Defining Advertising Opportunities in a Competitive Landscape," JupiterResearch, March 2007)
The two leading reasons people contribute content to social shopping sites are theneed to feel part of a community (31%) and recognition from peers (28%). (IBM Institute for Business Value, August 2007)
A consumer survey by the JC Williams Group ranked consumer content as the #1 aid to a buying decision, cited by 91% of respondents. (JC Williams Group, 2006)
Consumers trust friends above experts when it comes to product recommendations (65% trust friends, 27% trust experts, 8% trust celebrities). (Yankelovich)
91% of moms prefer brands that other moms have recommended. (Marketing VOX, October 2006)
86.9% of respondents said they would trust a friend's recommendation over a review by a critic, while 83.8% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. (Marketing Sherpa, July 2007)
When asked what sources of information they are "very likely" to consult before making a decision about their entertainment options, 62% named Web sites with user reviews as their top choice, even beating out a knowledgeable friend (59%). (Marketing Sherpa, July 2007)
91% of US adults regularly or occasionally seek advice about products or services.(BIGresearch)
Adult Internet users surveyed chose recommendations from friends as the one type of promotion they consider most worthwhile. (DoubleClick)
Review users noted that reviews generated by fellow consumers had a greater influence than those generated by professionals. (comScore/The Kelsey Group, October 2007)
Two thirds of UK social networkers (66%) are more likely to buy a product as a result of a recommendation, compared to 52 per cent of non-social networkers. (Royal Mail's Home Shopping Tracker Study 2007)
Recommendation is the number one reason for choosing a particular site. (Royal Mail's Home Shopping Tracker Study 2007)

Consumer Demand for Ratings and Reviews

Consumer Product Reviews Foster Purchase, Loyalty: Consumer product reviews improve satisfaction, although retailers have yet to realise their full potential. Satisfaction for those who recalled customer reviews on the retailers' site is 10% higher than those who said there were no reviews offered. Loyalty is also increased, as evidenced by 7% higher likelihood to purchase online, 8% greater likelihood to purchase from the retailer next time they're buying similar merchandise and 11% greater likelihood to recommend the site to others. (Customer Satisfaction: Key to Online Sales and Loyalty: Analysis from the Top 30 UK Online Retail Satisfaction Index, January 2008, ForeSee Results)
A whopping eighty-three percent of respondents polled indicated that online product evaluations and reviews had at least some level of influence on their purchasing decisions. Seventy percent of respondents said they seek out information online for a particular brand of goods and services, with travel, recreation and leisure at the top of list of services most researched. Though the majority of consumers surveyed said they sought out online reviews, only 32 percent reported posting their own online feedback on product or service experiences. (Opinion Research Corporation, an infoGROUP company, July 2008)
74% agree—including 14% who strongly agree—that they choose companies and brands based on what others say online about their customer service experiences, the survey shows. (Society for New Communications Research, May 2008)
77% of online shoppers use reviews and ratings when purchasing. (Jupiter Research, August 2006)
58.7% of shoppers said they used product reviews to make decisions. Reviews rated higher than clearance sale pages (56.4%) and featured sale pages (51.3%). (Shop.org, November 2007)
Compared to a base group that didn't read or contribute product reviews at all, people who read a review were 30% more likely to purchase a product and visitors who wrote a review were 80% more likely to convert, based on analysis across several Coremetrics clients. (Coremetrics, reported in BtoB, March 2007)
In an online survey of 4,000 consumers, 70% said they had done internet research on "everyday grocery products," and 63% said they had done so for health and beauty products. (Prospectiv, 2007)
Among the 46% of respondents who had posted or planned to post reviews about their online shopping experience, 88% said those reviews either were, or would be positive.(Nielson, 2007)
Almost two-thirds (62%) of consumers read consumer-written product reviews on the Internet. (Deloitte & Touche)
Seven in 10 (69%) consumers who read reviews share them with friends, family or colleagues, thus amplifying their impact. (Deloitte & Touche)
More than eight in 10 (82%) of those who read reviews said that their purchasing decisions have been directly influenced by those reviews. (Deloitte & Touche)
55% of surveyed Internet users consulted other people's opinions online, makingreviews the #1 resource for product research. (Avenue A/Razorfish "Digital Consumer Behavior Study," October 2007)
In a study of 2,000 shoppers, 92% deemed customer reviews as "extremely" or "very" helpful. (eTailing Group)
59% of their users considered customer reviews to be more valuable than expert reviews. (Bizrate)
63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews. (Major consumer electronics retailer/iPerceptions study)
81% consider the availability of customer reviews to be "very important" (33%)"somewhat important" (48%). (Major consumer electronics retailer/iPerceptions study)
86.9% of respondents said they would trust a friend's recommendation over a review by a critic, while 83.8% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. (MarketingSherpa)
When asked to note their most trusted information source, 60% of Canadian online buyers said consumer reviews compared to 31% who said newspapers or magazines.
(J.C. Williams Group)
84% of consumers earning more than $150,000 annually visit sites where customers review and rate products and services including restaurants. (The Luxury Institute)
71% of UK online shoppers seek out ratings and reviews. (NetExtract, 2007)
39% of those who bought from sites with reviews cite the reviews as the primary factor influencing the purchase decision. (Foresee Results Study, 2006)
70% of online consumers said they use the Internet to research everyday grocery products. (Prospectiv, 2008)
67% of UK consumers research products via the Internet before shopping in a store. (Accenture, 2008)

Marketer Demand for Ratings and Reviews

79% of online UK retailers surveyed reported that the main benefit of consumer-generated rating and reviews was that they improved site conversion rates. (eMarketer, 2007)
The Shop.org State of Retailing Online study, conducted by Forrester Research, found only 26% of the 137 top retailers surveyed offered customer ratings and reviews, but 96% of them ranked customer ratings and reviews as an effective or very effective tacticat driving conversion. (Forrester)
68% of online marketers believe "media is in big trouble and will lose dollars to user-generated content." (iMedia Connection, February 2008)
Of merchants who adopt customer reviews, 58% said improving customer experiencewas the most important reason for adding reviews to their sites, followed by building customer loyalty (47%), driving sales (42%), and maintaining a competitive advantage (37%). (eTailing Group, 2008)
By 2020, 84% of marketers agree that building customer trust will become marketing's primary objective, and 82% agree that collaboration with customers will prevail over marketing. (1to1 Media survey of the 1to1 Xchange panel, April, 2008)
11% of retailers reported a 20% or more overall increase in conversions as a result of adding reviews to their sites, 21% reported an 11% to 20% increase and 5% reported a 1% to 10% increase. (eTailing Group, 2008)
81% of marketers surveyed say that their social media spending will meet or exceed their traditional advertising spending within the next 5 years. (TWI Surveys/Society for New Communications Research, November 2007)
Dave Seifert of Bass Pro Shops noted at a Shop.org round table discussion that Top Rated Products were "the #1 merchandising technique ever utilized on their site." (Bass Pro Shops)
After their order, PETCO asked customers, "What online tool most influenced your purchase decision?" The #1 answer was product ratings and reviews, with site search coming in a distant second. (PETCO)
43% of retailers have reviews – double in one year. (Marketing Sherpa, February 2007)
Ratings and reviews is the second most important site feature behind search and online buyers who cite ratings and reviews most useful site feature has more than doubledfrom '05 to '06. "Retail Marketing: Driving Sales Through Consumer-Created Content" says retailers who adopt ratings and reviews as a differentiator and retention strategy will gain market share. (Jupiter)

Consumer Demand for Ask & Answer™

76% of online shoppers surveyed report that content is insufficient to complete research or purchase online "always, most often or some of the time." (eTailing Group, 2007)
Online businesses lose as many as 67% of consumers due to a lack of online product information. (Allurent)
83% of online shoppers would make purchases if sites offered increased interactive elements. (Allurent)
One in four (24.5%) shoppers said they left a store because of a lack of assistance.(Shop.org, November 2007)
90% of UK shoppers surveyed said they wish they could communicate directly with businesses – using live chat, forums or call-me-back facilities – via their websites; one in three require it from the UK businesses they currently use. (1&1, October 2007)
42% of consumers said they prefer being able to find the answers they need online on their own if they had a question or wanted help while shopping online. (Harris Interactive, May 2007)
The share of traffic to question-and-answer Web sites has more than doubled from 2007 to 2008 (HitWise, 2008)
Yahoo Answers had 25.3 million visits in February 2008 (comScore Media Metrix, March 2008)
68% of consumers trust "people like me" first for product advice. (Edelman Trust Barometer)
42% of 1,179 online consumers surveyed have left a site without purchasing multiple products because they couldn't get a question answered about one of the products in their shopping cart; 41% decided not to make a planned purchase because they couldn't readily find a piece of information about the product or service. (JupiterResearch, September 2007)

Conversion Results

Online shoppers who look at TripAdvisor reviews on the Hayes & Jarvis site book trips at double the rate of online shoppers who have not seen the TripAdvisor reviews, based on first four months after launch. (TripAdvisor, 2008)
79% of online UK retailers surveyed reported that the main benefit of consumer-generated rating and reviews was that they improved site conversion rates. (eMarketer, 2007)
Shoppers who browsed the site's new "Top Rated Products" page, which features products rated most highly by customers, had a 59% higher conversion rate than the site average and spent 16% more per order than other browsers of products. (Bass Pro Shops)
Shoppers who browsed the site's "Top Rated Products" page, which features products rated most highly by customers, had a 49% higher conversion rate than the site average and 63% more per order than other site shoppers. (PETCO)
Giving shoppers the ability to sort products within a category by customer rating led to asales increase of 41% per unique visitor. (PETCO)
A large apparel retailer saw site-wide conversion rates increase by 90% (Q1 07 vs. Q1 06) just months after launching Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews. (Bazaarvoice customer case study)
MarketingExperiments tested product conversion with and without product ratings by customers. Conversion nearly doubled, going from .44% to 1.04% after the same product displayed its five-star rating. (MarketingExperiments Journal)
Conversion rates are higher on products with less than perfect reviews (less than 5 stars) than those without reviews at all, indicating that the customer feels that the product has been properly reviewed by other customers. (Burpee)

Average Order Value Results

Consumers were willing to pay between 20 to 99% more for a 5-star rated product than for a 4-star rated product, depending on the product category. (comScore/Kelsey, October 2007)
Top-rated products site navigation path featuring 4- and 5-star products in each category delivered 35% higher conversion and 40% higher average order value.(Bazaarvoice)
Reviews usage drives higher spending: 27% of users report an increase of 5-10%; almost 7% report an increase of 20%+. (Avenue A/Razorfish "Digital Consumer Behavior Study," October 2007)

User-generated Content Beyond the Web

64% of Social Researchers (those who refer to user-generated content when shopping)research products online more than half the time, no matter where they ultimately buy the product (store, Web, catalog, etc.). (eTailing Group, 2007)
Online consumers are becoming precision shoppers. For every $1 in online sales, the Internet influenced $3.45 of store sales. (eMarketer, 2007)
Nearly one out of every four Internet users (24%) reported using online reviews prior to paying for a service delivered offline. (comScore/The Kelsey Group, October 2007)
More than three-quarters of review users in nearly every category reported that thereview had a significant influence on their purchase, with hotels ranking the highest (87%). (comScore/The Kelsey Group, October 2007)
97% of those surveyed who said they made a purchase based on an online review said they found the review to have been accurate. (comScore/The Kelsey Group, October 2007)
Nine of 10 local shopping trips made by multi-channel consumers for products researched online resulted in purchases worth $125 more than the products researched online—up 25% from the prior year. (Dieringer Research Group, 2006)
Consumers who shop online for digital cameras and TVs spend 10% more on in-store purchases than consumers who do not search online. (ChannelForce for Yahoo Search Marketing)
90% of those surveyed say they have a better overall shopping experience when they research products online before shopping in-store. (Harris Interactive, October 2007)
92.5% of adults said they regularly or occasionally research products online before buying them in a store. (BIGresearch)

Email Campaign Results

Email study: PETCO realized a 5X increase in email click-through rates by including relevant ratings and reviews content in the campaign promotion. (PETCO)
Top rated product email drive 46% higher revenue per email in A/B test. (Golfsmith)

Search Engine Optimization Results

In a study of a major electronics retailer site of 30,000 monthly natural language search visitors, converted 60% more often, spent 50% more, and viewed 82% more pagesthan search visitors to other pages. (Bazaarvoice case study with major electronics retailer)
In a study of online UK retailers, 59% reported that the consumer-generated activity leads to better search engine optimization. (eMarketer, 2007)

Return Rates and Customer Satisfaction

During the 2007 holiday season, consumers who recalled seeing customer reviews on a Web site reported 9% higher customer satisfaction levels, were 9% more likely to make a purchase and 8% more likely to purchase the next time they came to that site. (ForeSee Results, 2008)
Reviews drive 21% higher purchase satisfaction and 18% higher loyalty. (Foresee Results Study, January 2007)
Online UK retailers reported improved customer retention and loyalty by 73% once they implemented consumer-generated rating and reviews. (eMarketer, 2007)
Products with reviews have a 17% lower return rate than those without reviews.(Bazaarvoice PETCO Case Study, 2007)
Products with 50+ reviews have a return rate that is half of those with fewer than five reviews. (Bazaarvoice PETCO Case Study, 2007)
One study from IBM Institute for Business Management shows that while those adults in the UK who use social networking do so to attain a feeling of community, 17% of the adults surveyed say they do so because they like to participate with brands they favor. (IBM, August 2007)

Evolution of Advertising and Media

The average 1970s city dweller was exposed to 500 to 2,000 ad messages a day. Now it's 3,000 to 5,000. (USA Today)
In 2005, MTV viewers had to put up with 21% more prime-time commercials per hour than in 2004, says TNS Media Intelligence and media firm MindShare. (USA Today)
75% of people don't believe that companies tell the truth in advertisements.(Yankelovich)
67% of moms would rather talk to a peer than hear from a celebrity about products.(Marketing VOX, October 2006)
Just 20% of mothers say advertisers connect with them. (Marketing VOX, October 2006)
Advertising is so ubiquitous that it's turning people off, it's desensitizing people to the message, says Rance Crain, Editor-in-Chief of Ad Age. (USA Today)

Search

26% of search results link to user-generated content. (Nielsen BuzzMetrics)
SearchVoice study: of 30,000 monthly SearchVoice visitors, they convert 60% higher, spend 50% more and viewed 82% more pages. (Major electronics retailer case study)
The ability to refine site search results by customer rating led to 22% more sales per unique visitor on a same-session basis and 41% more sales per visitor on a multi-session basis. (Bazaarvoice)

Syndication

RSS study: Burpee measured a 43% higher click-through on RSS feeds with reviews than without. (Burpee)

Make Skype Calls with Fring on Your iPhone [Featured IPhone Application]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/411223942/make-skype-calls-with-fring-on-your-iphone

iPhone 2.0 only: Free application Fring puts popular chat applications on your iPhone, including Skype—and the ability to make Skype voice over IP calls when your phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network. Fring puts all your chat buddies from AIM, MSN, Google Talk, Yahoo, ICQ, Twitter, and Skype on your iPhone, and lets you know who's online when. Chat your buddies whether you're connected via data or Wi-Fi, and make Skype calls (or Skype Out calls) when you're on a local network. Fring is a free download for iPhones running the 2.0 software.

Fring (iTunes Store link) [via MobileCrunch]

Create a Secret Data Stash with a Fake Phonejack [Weekend Project]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/411956349/create-a-secret-data-stash-with-a-fake-phonejack

While not as grandiose as having your own secret bookshelf door, constructing a hidden USB data stash won't take a whole weekend and involve a table saw. At the DIY website Instructables there is a step by step tutorial on hiding your data behind a phone jack plate. By wiring a USB cord to the phone plate and making a USB cord with a phone jack terminal at one end, you'll be able to access your secret data stash. If you're not up for a bit of wire splicing and soldering, check out our top 10 USB thumb drive tricks.

Hidden USB Storage [Instructables]

Five Best Media Converters [Hive Five]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/411983365/five-best-media-converters

We've all been there: you've downloaded an episode of your favorite TV show to watch on your commute or stream to your living room, but the file you downloaded isn't supported on the device you want to use it with. Once a significant obstacle to enjoying your media anywhere, this problem is easily solved by any number of free media converters. On Wednesday we asked you to share your favorite media converters, and today we're back with the five most popular answers. Keep reading for a closer look at the most powerful and easiest to use media converters, then cast a vote for the one you like best.

Super (Windows)

Super is a free media converter that acts as a graphical front end to several of the most powerful command line tools like FFmpeg, MEncoder, and MPlayer. The application boasts extensive options for customizing your preferences with virtually any aspect of your conversion. The downside to that control is that Super's interface is cluttered and intimidating for first-time users. Luckily for most purposes, converting a file to the right format with Super is as simple as selecting your output format (e.g., Apple iPod) and just sticking with the defaults.

FormatFactory (Windows)

Format Factory is a free media converter for Windows that converts video, audio, and even images between formats. With a nice icon-drive! n interf ace for helping you choose the kind of conversion you're looking for, FormatFactory is one of the friendliest batch media converters you'll find.

MediaCoder (All Platforms)

MediaCoder is a batch media transcoder that converts video and audio from and to most popular formats through a powerful graphical interface. Like Super, MediaCoder is a front-end for a number of command line media tools, allowing you to get as simple or complex as you want with your conversions. MediaCoder is available on all platforms, but its best supported on Windows. MediaCoder is also available in device-specific flavors for the iPhone and iPod touch, PSP, and more.

HandBrake (All Platforms)

HandBrake is a popular open-source media converter that encodes video from DVDs to many popular output formats. Available in both graphical and command line flavors, HandBrake can't convert the range of formats the rest can—it's limited to MPEG video (that includes DVD video). HandBrake easily earns its place as one of the five best DVD ripping tools, but it doesn't have the versatility of many of the other applications featured in this Hive.

FFmpeg (All Platforms)

FFmpeg is free, cross platform command-line encoding tool that powers many of the more popular graphical applicatio! ns in th is Hive Five. While FFmpeg has more of a learning curve than the rest, it's also undeniably powerful and flexible. If converting your media from the command line with FFmpeg appeals to you, check out how to FFmpeg your way to media conversion bliss.

You've seen the best; now it's time to vote for your favorite.
Which Is the Best Media Converter?
( surveys)

This week's big honorable mention goes to VisualHub, a Mac OS X conversion tool that lost its place in the top five because it mysteriously closed its doors between the time we put out the Hive Five Call and now.

Whether or not your favorite made the short list, let's hear more about it in the comments.

World Markets are Hurting Today

Linux Netbooks Are Returned 4X More Than Win XP Versions, Says MSI [Linux]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/410708615/linux-netbooks-are-returned-4x-more-than-win-xp-versions-says-msi

Netbooks were supposed to be this great inroad for Linux development, but it turns out that the XP side of the netbook business is doing a lot better in the area of customer satisfaction: MSI today told Laptop that, according to internal studies, "The return rate is at least four times higher for Linux netbooks than Windows XP netbooks."

Lest you think I've somehow chopped this figure and embedded it out of context, here's what MSI's US sales director Andy Tung told our friend Joanna at Laptop when she asked about high return rates:

We have done a lot of studies on the return rates and haven't really talked about it much until now. Our internal research has shown that the return of netbooks is higher than regular notebooks, but the main cause of that is Linux. People would love to pay $299 or $399 but they don't know what they get until they open the box. They start playing around with Linux and start realizing that it's not what they are used to. They don't want to spend time to learn it so they bring it back to the store. The return rate is at least four times higher for Linux netbooks than Windows XP netbooks.

Check out Laptop for more of the interview. [Laptop]

G1 Pre-Sale Madness: T-Mobile Triples Production, Sells Them All [Android]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/410707327/g1-pre+sale-madness-t+mobile-triples-production-sells-them-all

According to a T-Mobile spokesperson, pre-sale demand on the Android G1 is so big that they have already sold all their units. She says that this is specially impressive because it happened after they tripled the amount of available G1 cellphones. Of course, this could mean anything without knowing actual shipping numbers, but it seems there's plenty of interest despite its many shortcomings. If you want to pre-order yours, however, you can pre-order now through October 21 to get it at a later date:

Given the great anticipation and the heavy pre-sale demand for the T-Mobile G1 with Google, we nearly tripled the number of phones initially available for delivery on our Oct. 22 launch date, and have sold through them all. However, to accommodate additional T-Mobile customers who want to pre-order a device, they now have the opportunity to place a pre-order through Oct. 21, for delivery at a later date. Also, people can still pre-register on the T-Mobile G1 Web site to be notified prior to launch where they can purchase the device beginning Oct. 22.

[T-Mobile G1 Site]

Amazon's Kindle 2 Suddenly Appears [Kindle]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/410737351/amazons-kindle-2-suddenly-appears

Boy Genius just unveiled shots of what is very likely the Kindle 2. Notice the follow-up to the snowspeeder-like original Amazon e-book reader is more rounded, more early-iPod in its proportions, but still white with the same basic screen. The cool sparkly LCD status bar seems to be gone, a joystick has replaced the clickwheel, and the other buttons are smaller for fewer accidental page turns. No word on the availability of this baby, of course. As you might expect, Boy Genius has quite a few more pictures, and more details too, so feel free to drop on over there to have a look. We'll be here when you're ready to comment. [BGR]

HiPER Laser Fusion Project "Starts" Tomorrow, Could Save Earth [Fusion]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/412057890/hiper-laser-fusion-project-starts-tomorrow-could-save-earth

The $1.7-billion HiPER facility—High Power laser Energy Research—will kick off with a party this monday. Yes, the project that will hopefully give us a way to produce limitless clean energy and save humanity from self-destruction (or pull out an LHC and destroy half the planet), starts up with a hydrogen pellet and alcoholic cocktails, which, if you ask me, is the perfect way to begin saving the planet. Here is how it works:

• HiPER is being designed to demonstrate the feasibility of laser driven fusion as a future energy source. It will also enable the investigation of the science of truly extreme conditions – accessing regimes which cannot be produced elsewhere on Earth (temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees, billion atmosphere pressures, and enormous electric and magnetic fields).

• HiPER will require major developments in technology, building on the highly successful European capability in this area. In particular, the PETAL laser, located in the Aquitaine region of France, will be a fore-runner to the HiPER facility to address physics and technology issues of strategic relevance for HiPER

Hopefully it will work out and we all would be able to party and have canapes and maki rolls to celebrate we can send oil to hell. [Telegraph]

Chelsea Football Club Owner Building $400 Million Mega-Yacht with Submarine, Missile Defenses [What Bailout?]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/412308349/chelsea-football-club-owner-building-400-million-mega+yacht-with-submarine-missile-defenses

Russian billionaire and Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich is building a $400 million mega-yacht. Yawn, you say? You have two? OK, well, this yacht has its own submarine. And armor plating with bulletproof glass. And little boats that fit inside the bigger boat. And a frickin' missile defense system that will alert he and his crew of 70 former SAS soldiers that there be pirates in those waters. It should be noted that Abramovich's other yachts—the 377 ft. Pelorus, 282ft Ecstasea and 160ft Sussurro—all pale in comparison to the 550 ft. Eclipse, and do not include missile detection systems. You can never be too safe, right?

The Eclipse, so named because Abramovich desires that it overshadow all other boats at sea, also includes an escape submarine, just in case pirates or other rapscallions make it on board. The submarine seats two, so Abramovich and his gorgeous girlfriend Daria Zhukova, 26, can make a hasty flight to safer waters (or go down to 160 ft. deep) while his hired guns secure the decks.

Abramovich's Eclipse will also have room for 24 guests, a cinema, aquarium, disco and a hospital. But no weapons—under maritime law, private vessels are banned from carrying them. Hence, the yellow submarine action and missile defenses that border on paranoia. [The Daily Mail]

Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, October 06, 2008

Socialmedian Brings A New Take On News Filtering

Flickr Co-Founder Caterina Fake Joins New Startup, Hunch

How to draw an apple in Photoshop

word of mouth, social content, peer reviews, purchase and loyalty

There have been a number of studies spotlighting the latest in word of mouth.

Power of Word Of Mouth

Consumer Demand for Ratings and Reviews

Marketer Demand for Ratings and Reviews

Consumer Demand for Ask & Answer™

Conversion Results

Average Order Value Results

User-generated Content Beyond the Web

Email Campaign Results

Search Engine Optimization Results

Return Rates and Customer Satisfaction

Evolution of Advertising and Media

Search

Syndication

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