Articles by Ian Farmer
A new study commissioned by Nokia suggests that as much as 25% of entertainment will be created and consumed within peer communities. Coined “Circular Entertainment” by Nokia, the research interviewed 9000 trend-setting consumers in 17 countries about their digital behaviors. The study entitled ‘A Glimpse of the Next Episode’ was conducted by The Future Laboratory.
Tom Savigar, Trends Director at The Future Laboratory suggests
Here’s a video poking fun at fortunes being made in Silicon valley and suggesting that the bubble is about to burst.
I know there are some crazy valuations at the moment in the technology sector, but I do feel that many of the so called web 2.0 companies have solid business plans in comparison to the first dot com boom.
Enjoy the video 
Five Ways to Mix, Rip, and Mash Your Data
The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos
Wikidealz.com: The Best User-Submitted Products, Deals, Reviews and Discussions
Gaming developers Activision (best known for Guitar Hero, Call of Duty and the Tony Hawk series, as well as Spider-Man, Shrek, James Bond and Transformers) and Blizzard (developers of World of Warcraft) are merging in a deal worth $18.8 billion to be known as Activision Blizzard.
According to BBC News, they are promoting the merger as the”world’s most profitable games business”.
The new business will be hoping to benefit from both the rise in availability of gaming consoles as well as the emergence of advertising in games.
As mobile phones and internet access from these devices gets faster, it’s no surprise that advertisers and consumers will start to interact more using them.
Perhaps this example in Japan is what we can expect in the near future. Called Chipuya Town (note site in Japanese), and modelled on the Shibuya shopping district of Tokyo, consumers earn currency by adding friends. This currency is known as Grooves and can be used to purchase accessories for your avatar, apartments and furniture etc.
Web 2.0 Company Name Generator
Word of Mouth: 7 Insights about this ‘Ultimate Selling Tool’ | Small Planet Partners
Online Consumer-Generated Reviews Have Significant Impact on Offline Purchase Behavior | Reuters
Open Directory – Business: Marketing and Advertising: Internet Marketing: Marketing Services
Commuispace has released a study titled Meeting Business Needs by Meeting Social Needs, which examines the 6 social needs that people seek in social networks.
1. Expressing personal identity: online social networks provide people with the ultimate tool for defining and redefining themselves, as evidenced in profile pages on Facebook and MySpace.
2. Status and self-esteem: the need for autonomy, recognition and achievement are essential to our sense of self-worth and are fulfilled in online communities, blogs, and social networks that provide a way to develop and manage a virtual reputation.
I like to listen to visual communications, and I am most comfortable talking while drawing images and diagrams. So the idea of a visual search engine appeals to me.
Quintura is just that. You start by typing in a search string, and then navigate across a visual cloud map to zoom into the accurate definition or meaning you are after.
Here’s the result when you search on Frontiering.
Word of Mouth Measurement | Andiamo Systems
I have just installed another cool widget to this blog from Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site. This gives you the opportunity to see a small snap shot of the destination link as well as interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.
If you don’t like it, it’s easy to disable, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.
