Just what we've been waiting for. Aggregation site for global maps. Now you can look at one world through the eyes of Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Maps, NASA, Ask and Yahoo.
I wander if one of them is planning on putting in a Santa tracker for Dec 24th?
Small but apt comment to make considering this time next week we'll be sat around a table having a battle of wills across a Monopoly board. The introduction of downloads into the singles charts is having a largely positive effect, with any song out there eligible to re-enter the charts without so much as a CD press being turned on. So, inspite of the inevitability of the X Factor winner who dare not speak his name taking top spot next week, a cursory glance around the rest of the charts sees some genuinely festive favourites returning. I never thought I'd welcome Mariah Carey back into the top 10, but god bless her she's in at number 4 with "All I Want For Christmas", whilst the Pogues featuring Kirsty Maccoll are in at number 9 with the ever brilliant "Fairytale of New York" (ok, it's not technically a christmas song, but then Die Hard isnt technically a Christmas film).
Take a look at positions outside of the Top 10 and things get even more interesting with Slade, Wizzard, Wham, Shakey and Band Aid all coming back for a sing song. Lummee, I've seen Chris Rea and John & Yoko peeking in the edges of the Top 40.
This is all good. We're starting to get a chart driven by demand and not by smart distribution and poor retail sales. All we need now is something like Scrobble to publish most played tracks from users computers and we have a truly representative picture of what the world is rocking and a boppin' to.
This blog was started following a conversation about how marketing was getting everywhere, and I wanted to know if anyone had started selling media space on toilet roll (they had). This is kind of an anniversary post, I guess, as I've come across a post on Consumerist about the trend in "premiumization" of everything and Renova's launch of a new upmarket toilet paper.
I already put premium unleaded in my car, and I'm sure at some point I'll be able to inflate my tyres with air from a plethora of mountain ranges (Himalayan breeze / Alpine pump). I reiterate a favourite quote from a long lost friend I grew up with (he's not dead, he went to Australia and got very rich fixing posh peoples cars). "Hurry up man, all you're going to do is wipe your arse on it. Pick the cheapest and we can go."
A leading manufacturers of drill bits hired a new CEO. During his introduction to the company, top managers from across the company presented how well their specific drill bit divisions were doing. After hearing all the presentations, the CEO gathered the top managers together and dropped a bomb-shell. “There is no market for drill bits,” he said. “The only market is for holes and as soon as somebody invents a better way to create a hole, we’re out of business.”
I'll go through this later on, but in summary it's about ROI from companies R&D budgets requiring not only close alignment with overarching corporate strategy, but a good dialogue (a conversation even!) with it's customers to find out what it is they actually need.
Nice piece about the role Facebook plays in certifying reationships. How official is it when you post your relationship status to your Facebook profile, and is it set to become the pre-amble to an engagement (or the beginning of the end).
Sure it will come in use at some point (for work purposes, naturally).
I knew there was a reason why I liked driving up and down the motorway at stupid o'clock twice a week. It was down to sterling programming from the BBC wireless service, such as this. An hour long look at online communities and how they compare to real friends and loved ones (remember them?). Don't know why it was being broadcast via Radio 3, but it was a good 80 miles worth of discussion and study as to the impact of the internet in building new types of human experiences.
Details of the program can be found here
The series has been inspired by the learned work of Zygmunt Bauman "Liquid Life" which you can buy from here.