Time To Pownce

Kevin Rose of digg.com fame has launched a new service called Pownce. Pownce is a way to share messages, files, events, and links with your friends.

Desktop apps are making it so easy to create really cool stuff on your computer like movies, music etc - but the file sharing/email world hasnt ever been up to speed. Anything over 20MB and a client will always overnight a CD to us. We have been using Yousendit.com because not all clients know how to access FTP.

So, I think superusers will be drawn to this really quickly. It is only open to people who have been invited so far, but here is a link to Kevin's profile and here is a link to a discussion on his profile about whether Pownce is the new Napster.

I would love a world where sharing a file is an easy click away.. no matter the size. Time to Pownce kids... Get on and support.

How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life

So someone has figured it out and has said it.

Wired:
Wired: How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life

GIgaOM
Virtual World Marketing, Lots of Companies But Few Visitors So Far


One of the most enlightening meetings I ever went to was in California last year. I am sitting in a room with marketing people who had budgets of about $150m combined. We were, of course, talking about social networks. And of course, we were talking about MySpace.

All the theories started. 'its just horny young boys', 'its a dating site', 'its only girls and dirty old men', 'its the future of media'... yada yada yada... It was almost like it needed to be solved. I thought it may have been a fit because they were looking to connect with a very particular community of people and social networking sites can be a good way to target defined groups of people like that.

Anyway, so we get to the part where I start asking them how they know so much about it. And I asked a stupid question to try and get a percentage of people who had a MySpace account. None of them did. So here we were. 9 people discussing MySpace for 2 hours and none of them had accounts so therefore could not click further into people's pages past their profile page. And here they are making decisions based on what.. hype.

How many people involved in making decisions on Second Life do you think actually downloaded the 50MB+ application and spent time in world ?

How could this investment be based on anything but hype when there isnt a robust measurement system in place ? When we were looking at Second Life we asked how we measure time with the brand and the answer was that there wasnt a stats package available at the time.

JASON BOURNE IS COMING HOME

Variety says If they could bottle what gives "The Bourne Ultimatum" its rush, it would probably be illegal.

When Supremacy came out in New York you couldnt get a ticket anywhere in the city. This movie is going to kill at the box office - the past 2 movies have pulled down $500m in box office alone.

The brands involved with this movie are Volkswagen, Mastercard and Symantec (story here) who have committed $40m to promote the movie release.

Get set. Go.

Want To Learn Online Marketing ? Two Words: Secondhand Serenade

If you are a MySpace kid, right now you are saying... der.

We could all learn a lot from John Veesly. He is someone I have watched for 2 years build a following - and a business I am sure - using self publishing tools like MySpace, Yahoo Music and good ole fashion "help me out" calls via blog posts.

He has built a music presence and following on MySpace that has led him to dominate the unsigned artist charts on that site for a long time. He has sinced moved over to the Indie chart where he is at 12. All I hear from a lot of marketers these days is talk talk talk.. reminds me a lot of the dot com era of '99 and 2000 which I was a part of in California and Europe. Talk, talk, talk.. back then it was "portal", "hits" and "fulfillment" and today its "web 2.0", "social networks" and "user generated content". Back then it was all a good idea one day and literally around April 19th, 2000 - all of a sudden it wasnt.

The difference with John is that he can say he did it.

Just on MySpace alone, he has had 24.7 million plays of his music. His hit song Vulnerable has been played 6.01 million times itself.

Secondhand Serenade On MySpace

Even more impressive is how he has quickly built real channels to market. Uploading and selling his music via Yahoo Music, merchandise, ringtones and doing gigs all over the country. This isnt just about how many friends he can get.

Congratulations John. I have been following your progress and learning from you for a long time and I think newbies and CEO's of Viacom and Time Warner alike could all do a lot worse than having a chat to you about how you do it.

Great Article On One Of Our Fave Online Products: Google Maps

A great piece from Wired on Google Maps.

Heads Up: Bionic Woman

NBC are hoping that this girl is stronger than Steve Austin. Remember when "The $6 Million Dollar Man" made him sound like he worth a lot of money. Now we would think, oh, maybe he coudl afford a 2 bedder in Manhattan and a summer share.

So anyway, NBC have put out a trailer and it looks awesome. Plenty of angles and story lines. Check it out:

G.O.A.T. Animations Go Live

We have been pretty into what goes into the G.O.A.T. product since we were brought on to work on this website for Muhammad Ali, Masterfoods and The Arnell Group.

In the past, we have been briefed on new products who are hoping to provide healthy choices for young people. They end up tasting some where between wood and grass. Mr. Ali and the teams at The Arnell Group and Masterfoods have always been equally obsessed with the rich productr benefits AND taste. G.O.A.T. is right there with the best tasting 'bad' food.

So, we naturally wanted to show off what is inside each piece in the G.O.A.T. packs.

Today we have launched an animation series which aims to give you a real visual insight into what makes up each piece of G.O.A.T. We wanted to make sure you were able to see what most other products would not want you to see- 'what's inside'.

To view the new animations please click here and click on SHUFFLE and then click to see each flavor unfold before your eyes.

Facebook Applications At Reindeer

We are currently building a number of Facebook Applications for two reasons.

1. Getting ourselves up to speed on how to get the most of out the platform and the FBML Facebook programming laguage.
2. Learn about what works within the community.

Facebook is a community with it's own tone and nuances. There isnt a textbook on how to do build a leading application on Facebook. You have to be in it and learn everyday so that is what we are doing.

If anyone wants to have a look into what we are doing, we have a few clients and execs following along with our development to get themselves up to speed as well. Email us at info at reindeercompany dot com.

Web 2.0 is a 'buzzword'. Not a 'type of business'.

I have worked in the internet world since 1998 and therefore have seen all the buzzwords come and go a million times. I have also caught myself using them more than a few times.

But enough is enough. I have just heard so many people say "its very web 2.0". Then look at me like I know what that means. The three things I could probably tell is that it has a lower case, soft colored logo, that it had removed a vowel from the name like flikr and that it was eternally in that cool beta stage.

And now thank god, someone who is seen as a heavyweight in the industry has come out and said it.

Marc Andreessen Talks: Why there's no such thing as Web 2.0.

If I hear "its very web 2.0" again I am going to spill my Dr Pepper on their shoes.

A New Keyboard Invention We Are Peacefully Excited About

So every once in a while a new invention strikes a chord. These keyboards have just gone on sale and we hear that the symbol is about to integrated into emoticon packages as well as character sets so you can type the symbol in emails and instant messages. It could be a great way of getting a certain message across.

Perhaps a few people around the world could do with keyboards like this..

Two Reasons Why I Have Not Bought An iPhone From A Mac Lover

For those that know me, they know I am a gadget-a- holic. I need to buy everything the day it comes out. Xbox, Wii, etc.

I am also a massive Mac fan. Everything from the HD 30 inch screen, Mac Pro, multiple Airports to the iPod Shuffles I don't use. I cannot walk into an Apple store without buying something. That was until now. I spoke to 2 Apple guys and wasnt comvinced. By the way, all the Apple guys have the same comebacks - 1. "Things are changing" 2."The iPhone is software based so updates will come." Dont you feel dirty Apple guys ?

So it pains me that Apple screwed me to a point that I just walked out of the Apple store in Soho, New York without buying one. I have been such a fan and for some stupid reason they have left out the following 2 things. So it sucks and has really pissed me off that I can't buy one.

I have a Treo and am sticking with it for time being.

Reason 1: Can't Transfer Files from Mac to iPhone.

So if I am out of office and working on a document on my Mac and have no web access I usually transfer it via bluetooth to my Treo, attach to email and send.

This allows me to be out of office but still fully functional.

You cannot do this with an iPhone. You can only 'read' docs in an email. So I could be stuck on a train with the perfect document to send in a timely fashion with a Mac and iPhone and I would be paralyzed. Aint going to
happen.

Reason 2: No Instant Messaging.

I am connected to people I work with, friends and family all the time on instant message.

What REALLY pisses me off about the IM is that it is a political decision. AT&T want people buying more text messages. You only get 200 with all the plans and its an extra 40 for unlimited. This sucks and is a blatant F You
from Apple/AT&T to suck money out of big web/data users. Well F You back guys. I have just opened another browser to donate money to the all hackers looking for ways to hack and unlock the iPhone.

UPDATE: quick thought.. perhaps they are waiting for

You've changed Steve. Not cool.