Samsung: Samsung's Unleashes World's Densest Flash Memory

from Gizmodo by Haroon Malik

Samsung has just rolled out a 30nm 64Gb NAND flash memory chip, which happens to be the world's densest. By packing together the maximum of 16 of the multi level cells, a memory card containing 128GB of storage space can conceivably be created.

Samsung has managed this feat by developing a new process they are calling self-aligned double patterning technology (SaDPT). SaDPT involves a more efficient pattern transfer than used in Samsung's (older) charge trap flash (CTF) procedure, and if we get any more technical we may implode spontaneously. Both procedures are cost effective and we can expect to see higher capacity flash based drives at a reasonable price. Although a 128GB memory card at a realistic price point is optimistic, the general price of flash memory should fall as a consequence of the new development. The devices are planned to begin mass production in 2009 and an estimated market value, in a three year period, is projected to be as high as $20 billion for the new class of memory chips. [Via Press Release]

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Research Note: Open Pricing and Revolutionizing Value Creation

from BGSL by umair

I've been going on for a while about how open pricing is the most revolutionary innovation to hit the economy for a long time; how it will absolutely eviscerate massconomy business models; etc.

Read this - especially the numbers.

And if you're a decision-maker in any consumer industry, spend a few hours today thinking about this and talking about it with your colleagues.

Forget about all the noise - there's a lot of it, but it's largely strategically irrelevant (ie, it's trivial that NBC's Hulu move is a wash, because it vaporizes its own marginal benefits).

Focus on this for a while - because it's a really big deal.

I cannot stress enough the potential of open pricing as an innovation that the tiniest, poorest, most unexpected radical innovators can use to warp and reshape the fabric of entire industries.

That doesn't just mean the music industry - the economics driving open pricing are the same across many, many consumer markets.

I know, I know - it sounds wack if you're a beancounter. But it's not a "marketing stunt", although most journos still think it is.

That's because the economics are unstoppable, inexorable, as inevitable as the tide.

If you don't learn to leverage it - make no mistake, radical innovators will utilize it to drive you deeply and perhaps fatally into a value chasm.

If you ignore it, you are being driven squarely into strategy decay in realtime.

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Displays: Sharp Announces Micro LCD...Thanks?

from Gizmodo by Mark Wilson

Hitachi may have the thinnest production LCD but it's a lard butt compared to Sharp's 2.2-inch mobile LCD that's a mere .68mm thick. For an LCD the stats aren't even horrible. You get a 2000:1 contrast ratio, 8ms response time and 176-degree viewing angle in this 240x320 display. Intended for use in one-seg terrestrial broadcast, we're just a bit confused. Why even challenge OLED in the mobile market? (Other than price, maybe?)

OLED has lightning response times (reports of < 0.01ms), viewing angles with nearly no color fallout and contrast ratios as high as the eye can see (Sony's new 11-incher claims 1000000:1). I mean, LCD, it's not that we don't appreciate the gesture. And if Sharp could make a .68mm-thin 60" TV, we'd be all over you. But...uhh...we sorta already agreed to go to the prom with OLED...and his dad's renting a limo and everything. [avwatch]

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BzzAgent is a great way to test products and services and get immediate feedback

IPG Links Up With BzzAgent
October 23, 2007
By Brian Morrissey

Bant Breen

NEW YORK Interpublic Group said it has entered a partnership with BzzAgent for its agencies to use that firm's word-of-mouth services and conduct research in the area.

Several IPG shops, including Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, DraftFCB and Universal McCann, already use BzzAgent for various clients. The Boston-based company has more than 300,000 "agents" who are given product samples, asked for feedback and encouraged to talk about them with their friends.

Marketers are reawakening to the power of word of mouth in product decisions. Several studies have shown that recommendations from others rank higher than traditional ad messages in swaying consumer preferences. The rise of social media has led to the development of several buzz-monitoring services for brands to determine what is being said about them.

The next step, according to Bant Breen, president of IPG's Futures Marketing Group, is turning insights into action.

"There are a variety of ways to get involved in the conversation," he said. "BzzAgent has one of the interesting ways. I don't know if we can say one company has cracked the code."

Yet at the same time, many consumers are wary of commercial interests distorting recommendations. A Burson-Marsteller survey released this week found nearly 30 percent of influential consumers felt commercial activity on opinion sites is a big problem.

The IPG-BzzAgent partnership is similar to agreements struck with TiVo and Joost. The Futures Marketing Group has also made a small investment in Facebook and Spot Runner, and houses search marketing shop Reprise Media, which IPG bought in April. IPG has not invested in BzzAgent. The agreement will give IPG preferential pricing, the companies said, and will be managed through IPG's Emerging Media Lab.

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I want my iStockphoto fix

from Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch

I visited with Lesa King, editor of the Graphic Reporter, author the Lynda.com training series - Graphic Secrets for Business Professionals and chief evangelist for iStockphoto for a recent edition of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast.

Lesa gave the Duct Tape Marketing Coach network a guided tour of iStockphoto at my annual gathering of coaches. For those of you who may not know about iStockphoto, you simply must. If you use images, illustrations and video clips in your marketing, this is a gold mine. Great, royalty free stock photos, that are easy to find and inexpensive.

Some of my favorite tips and tricks Lesa shared had to do with ways to find great photos.
• Do a search and look deeper into the results to find great photos that might not be used by as many folks
• Search by color to find photos that possess a great deal of a color that better compliments your designs
• Search by CopySpace to find photos that are composed in a way that lets you add type to certain areas
• Filter search for shots with people, for orientation and price.

iStockphoto is also a big supporter of Duct Tape Marketing and is offering my readers 10 free credits (good for 5-10 stock photos)

Just send Lesa an email at lesa@iStockphoto.com and ask her for the special Duct Tape 10 code.

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