Archive for March, 2011
Amazon.com lets you play with an Android virtual machine, try apps before you buy them
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/27/amazon-com-lets-you-play-with-an-android-virtual-machine-try-ap/
When Amazon’s Appstore rolled out last week, we glossed over one detail that merely seemed neat. Today, we’re inclined to say that Test Drive may be the most significant part of Amazon’s announcement that day. Basically, Test Drive allows US customers to take apps for a spin at Amazon.com, with all the comfort that their tried-and-true desktop web browser brings — but rather than sit you down with a Flash-based mockup of the app, Amazon is giving you a taste of bona fide cloud computing with an Android virtual machine.
In other words, what you’re looking at in the screenshot above isn’t just a single program, but an entire virtual Android smartphone with working mouse controls, where you can not only try out Paper Toss, but also delete it, browse through the device’s photo gallery, listen to a few tunes, or even surf the web from the working Android browser — as difficult as that may be without keyboard input. Amazon explains:
Clicking the “Test drive now” button launches a copy of this app on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), a web service that provides on-demand compute capacity in the cloud for developers. When you click on the simulated phone using your mouse, we send those inputs over the Internet to the app running on Amazon EC2 – just like your mobile device would send a finger tap to the app. Our servers then send the video and audio output from the app back to your computer. All this happens in real time, allowing you to explore the features of the app as if it were running on your mobile device.
Today, Amazon’s Test Drive is basically just Gaikai for mobile phones — its purpose is simply to sell apps, nothing more. But imagine this for a sec: what if you could access your own smartphone data, instead of the mostly blank slate that Amazon provides here?
Gallery: Amazon Appstore Test Drive hands-on
[Thanks, Ryan]
Amazon.com lets you play with an Android virtual machine, try apps before you buy them originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Amazon | Email this | Comments
Search Ads versus Display Ads
UPDATED: April 10, 2012
AdSafe study shows that a quarter of display ads are never in view on publishers’ websites. And it gets worse from there — 41% never in view for content networks and 46% never in view for ad exchanges. Users are there to view content, not ads. And they are conditioned to avoid the top, right side, and bottoms of web pages (see eye tracking at the bottom of this post).
Image Source: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1008965
ORIGINAL POST: March 25, 2011
Hands down, search ads beat display ads in click through rates (CTRs). In every one of the examples below and the several dozen more that I did not screen shot, search is more effective than display because the ads are brought up when the user types in the search term and are looking for something, vs display which is served up alongside content.
Facebook display advertising click through rates are even sadder (i.e. worse) as you can see from the chart below — like an order of magnitude
lower (0.024%)
digital display vs search ads
Eye tracking studies show that most users are already conditioned to avoid looking at the top and right side of web pages because they know that is where banner ads or display ads go.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/#!5785739/intern-at-marc-jacobs-international-lets-loose-on-their-twitter
Being a fashion intern must be brutal. At least, that’s the impression one illustrious Marc Jacobs International intern left on the MarcJacobsIntl twitter last night. Sapped of all energy, he celebrated his last day on the job by calling out Marc Jacobs CEO Robert Duffy, describing him as a “tyrant” and “tough” with plenty of exclamations. He also wished some serious luck for the fresh interns coming in after him. The official twitter currently reads, “All is well here at MJ. Twitter is a crazy place. Protect your passwords.” Well, even if you never work in this town again, good luck to you! [Business Insider]
BrandFinance declares Google the most valuable brand in the world
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/25/brandfinance-declares-google-the-most-valuable-brand-in-the-worl/
Continue reading BrandFinance declares Google the most valuable brand in the world
BrandFinance declares Google the most valuable brand in the world originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 04:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Did Groupon Have A Terrible February?
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-did-groupon-us-sales-2011-3
 |
|
 |
 |
Groupon’s U.S. sales collapsed in February according to data gathered by a TechCrunch source.
The source ran a program that collected data off Groupon’s site to tabulate sales. The data might not be dollar for dollar accurate, but it could easily be accurate from a direction perspective.
Maybe this is part of the reason Groupon’s president Rob Solomon just left the company?
Don’t Miss: The TRUTH About Groupon: Results From Our Reader Survey
Follow the Chart Of The Day on Twitter: @chartoftheday
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
Government says it’s got i4i’s back in Word patent dispute
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/22/government-says-its-got-i4is-back-in-word-patent-dispute/
As the US Supreme Court prepares to hear yet another appeal in the seemingly unending patent dispute between Microsoft and XML specialists i4i next month, some pretty influential folks are starting to take sides — officially. Perhaps most notably, Acting Solicitor General Neal Kumar Katyal filed an amicus brief backing i4i and a previous US Court of Appeals decision to uphold the $290 million judgement against the software giant. Other big guns backing i4i with amicus briefs include DuPont, 3M, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and GE. Of course, Microsoft’s getting a little help from its friends with official I-got-you-bro statements coming from Google, Apple, Toyota, and Walmart. The appeal is expected to hit the Supreme Court in April and has big implications for patent litigation — specifically, it could give tech giants like Microsoft more guts to go after patents held by little guys like i4i.
Government says it’s got i4i’s back in Word patent dispute originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:38:00 EDT.
Amazon block Lendle eBook Sharing Service
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/22/amazon-blocks-lendle-e-book-sharing-service/
Whether via public library or personal collection, e-books may be getting harder to borrow and loan out — HarperCollins put the squeeze on government-funded rentals last week, and today Amazon has allegedly disabled e-book sharing startup Lendle with one fell stroke. Lendle allows readers to trade e-book rentals, in a fashion, by tapping Amazon’s API to list books they agree to loan out, and in return, gain access to a Lendle database of books available to borrow from readers like themselves. The service allegedly fell under the auspices of Amazon’s existing 14-day, one-time-only loaning policy, but that didn’t stop Amazon from revoking Lendle’s access to the API, effectively shutting the service down. According to the no-reply email Lendle received, the reason is that the service doesn’t “serve the principal purpose of driving sales of products and services on the Amazon site.” Perhaps there’s some deeper reason behind the move, but that explanation certainly sounds pretty narrow-minded.
Update: Well that was quick — Lendle is now reporting that Amazon has reinstated its API access under the condition that Lendle disables its Book Sync tool, which is a non-essential feature anyway. Great, just in time for bedtime stories on the west coast as well.
Amazon blocks Lendle e-book sharing service (update: it’s back!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 23:13:00 EDT.
The New York Times’ Delusional Digital Pricing Scheme (NYT)
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-digital-subscription-prices-2011-3
The New York Times is about to roll out a payfence that charges users $35 every four weeks for all you can eat digital access. That means you can read the Times on your smartphone, tablet, and the web.
How does that compare to other digital media subscription services? Not very well. This chart from Michael DeGusta shows what a massive outlier the New York Times is when it comes to cross platform digital media subscriptions.
DeGusta thinks the Times’ digital plan is “delusional” and notes you could subscribe to the all-in digital plans of the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and The Daily (not listed, but $39 per year) and still have $99 in your pocket instead of buying the all in New York Times digital plan.
Update and correction: The original version of this post said you could get a physical paper for $310 annually. That was based on a 50% introductory rate for home delivery to Brooklyn, which only lasts 12 weeks. The annual sub would actually come to $538, which is slightly more than the digital option.
Follow the Chart Of The Day on Twitter: @chartoftheday
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
- Citi Upgrades New York Times To A Buy!
- Hey Google Investors, Get Ready For An “Even Wilder” Era, With More “Moon Shots”
- Dropbox Could Generate $100 Million In Revenue This Year
This Room Can Reproduce the Sun at Any Time and Point On the Planet
Source: http://gizmodo.com/#!5783967/this-room-can-reproduce-the-sun-at-any-time-and-point-on-the-planet
Ford engineers want to know how your car looks under every imaginable lighting condition. They have something called the Visual Performance Evaluation Lab, which simulates the exact sunlight at any time of the day all year around.
Using motorized lights with 6,000 watts of combined power, the lab allows them to see how every component looks as the day passes. In theory, that means that they can adjust the car to provide with a “very user-friendly, pleasant environment inside”. In practice, it’s just an excuse for them to have a tan all year around.
Why The Newspaper Industry Collapsed
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-newspapers-classified-ads-revenue-2011-3
Want to know why the newspaper business has collapsed? Look at this chart from Marc Cenedella, CEO of TheLadders.com.
He shows ad revenue from help wanted classifieds dropping 92% in last 10 years, hitting $723 million last year, down from $8.7 billion in 2000. Once that easy money left the newspaper industry it was a lot harder to earn as much profit.
Cendella says it didn’t have to be this way: “Newspaper executives knew what had to be done to compete successfully in the future but were afraid to upset the people responsible for the past. It was a lack of courage, not a lack of clarity.”
Digital Consigliere
Dr. Augustine Fou is Digital Consigliere to marketing executives, advising them on digital strategy and Unified Marketing(tm). Dr Fou has over 17 years of in-the-trenches, hands-on experience, which enables him to provide objective, in-depth assessments of their current marketing programs and recommendations for improving business impact and ROI using digital insights.
http://twitter.com/acfou
Send Tips: tips@go-digital.net
Digital Strategy Consulting
Dr. Augustine Fou LinkedIn Bio
Digital Marketing Slideshares
The Grand Unified Theory of Marketing
Tags
Popular Posts
- Netflix vs Blockbuster - Perfect example of an industry replaced by a more efficient version of itself
- Coke vs Pepsi vs Dr Pepper
- Marketing Costs Normalized to CPM Basis for Comparison
- 3G calling, no registration, and totally free
- The Top Endorsement Earners In Each Sport
- AOL's Plan To Steal TV Ad Dollars Is Totally Working
- drag2share: The Most Pinned Brand On Pinterest Doesn't Even Use A Pinterest Account [THE BRIEF]
- Groupon launches Breadcrumb iPad app, vows to not be a typical POS
- HP Mini 311 Nvidia ION Netbook Hackintosh'ed
Published Articles by Dr. Augustine Fou
- #SESNY: Toward a Performance Mindset for All Advertising
- Tips for Marketers Selecting a Digital Agency
- Context Is Not King or Queen; It's Just Necessary
- 2013 New Year's Digital Marketing Resolutions
- The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Online Campaign Ratings and eGRPs
- Why You Should Banish the Net Promoter Score Immediately
- Digital Strategy To-MAY-to vs. To-MAH-to
- The Agency-Client Relationship is Forever Changed
- Targeting vs. Privacy - Who Will Win?
- Digital + Traditional = Unified Marketing
Pages
Archives
- May 2013 (62)
- April 2013 (70)
- March 2013 (114)
- February 2013 (89)
- January 2013 (136)
- December 2012 (96)
- November 2012 (130)
- October 2012 (147)
- September 2012 (94)
- August 2012 (92)
- July 2012 (112)
- June 2012 (71)
- May 2012 (82)
- April 2012 (80)
- March 2012 (122)
- February 2012 (114)
- January 2012 (129)
- December 2011 (60)
- November 2011 (54)
- October 2011 (29)
- September 2011 (17)
- August 2011 (30)
- July 2011 (18)
- June 2011 (19)
- May 2011 (23)
- April 2011 (23)
- March 2011 (52)
- February 2011 (69)
- January 2011 (108)
- December 2010 (82)
- November 2010 (67)
- October 2010 (68)
- September 2010 (44)
- August 2010 (101)
- July 2010 (61)
- June 2010 (28)
- May 2010 (28)
- April 2010 (26)
- March 2010 (33)
- February 2010 (21)
- January 2010 (12)
- December 2009 (4)
- November 2009 (2)
- October 2009 (14)
- September 2009 (6)
- August 2009 (19)
- July 2009 (34)
- June 2009 (11)
- May 2009 (4)
- April 2009 (6)
- March 2009 (13)
- February 2009 (32)
- January 2009 (25)
- December 2008 (1)
- October 2008 (1)
- June 2008 (1)
- November 2007 (1)
Prototype Web Services
- drag2share – quickly share news items by drag and drop on email addresses
- LivePhotoFrame – upload and remotely manage a digital photo frame via unique URL
- MedleyTuner – create a continuous listening experience by uploading mp3s
- MusicSamplr – discover new artists and music, listen to samples
- SharedMost – what links on ANY webpage are shared most?
- Signatory – sign and date a document and verify it hasn't been altered since that exact time.
- WebTeleprompter – just what it says it is
