blending the mix

I have spent the day in Holland talking communities with a big old boy of a business and in doing some research for the meeting came across this little beauty:

Slowly cross your eyes and watch as a third image appears in the middle in 3D.

Wow.

So EA are to launch their first free online game with integrated ads.

But is this a sustainable business model? With games that make it big now costing several tens of millions (normally dollars), can a game contain so many ads and the advertiser achieve so much appropriate gamer engagement as to create value for each other?

TV learned very quickly that there is only so much you can cram into a small 1m 30sec ad break. As a result, there is only a finite level of revenue you can generate from any one show. Whilst technology (TiVo et al.) was a big driver for show sponsorship, this again shows that conventional ad revenue alone is not enough.

So how can games provide sufficient APPROPRIATE ad opportunities so as to ensure it does not a) interfere with the game itself and b) provide value to the advertiser?

I can totally see how product placement could work. Cans of drink and foodstuffs would be visible within domestic environments. Billboard ads would be nothing more than digitised versions of their printed big brothers when outside, but how many billboards exist in space? How can a fee-paying model be carried across so many different scenarios?

Is the target market for WW2 shoot-’em up Brothers in Arms likely to appreciate an in-game ad for deodorant? Don’t think so.

What about Halo? What earthly brands would fit into that environment…come with me on a journey…

Over the speaker: "Master Chief…this is a warning message brought to you in association with Ford Motors - Driving you to Halo and back. You are surrounded by aliens, why not use your Rentokill rocket launcher which kills so much more than weeds".

…suddenly…

Marine: Master Chief, Sgt. Honda Civic has been hit in the shoulder. We have tried using standard military issue bandages to heal the wound but nothing beats the soothing effects of Elastoplast with its new thermal strip to keep injuries warm.

Master Chief: Soldiers, be brave, be men…be. Try the new fragrance by Tom Ford - Be Man.

Marine 2: But Master Chief, working in such difficult conditions does not call for an avantgarde, masculine, yet sensitive fragrance. You need Axe for men. Apparently it keeps you cool under all sorts of pressure.

OK, so this is just a bit of fun, but if nothing else, it makes one wonder how it is going to be possible to transfer over this ad-based model to all games.

This has got to be a niche market unless someone can shed some light on it for me?

Guardian posts Yahoo’s top UK web sites of 2007.

Looks like I had better keep trying…:-)

Dear Reader

I would like to announce the closure of Facebook.

Robert Scoble has been banned from Facebook for running a script that would allow him to access all his personal information which is strictly against their Terms of Use.

As a result, his account has been suspended and Facebook is now considering closing their doors for good in light of the great evangelist no longer being able to promote the networking site. (ok, that last bit might be a little exaggerated but it has become a bit pants of late!).

The blogosphere is awash with commentary and articles about the debacle and I am doing my bit to add to the furore. I hope you find this article as useless as the other tosh out there.

Best regards

Paul Fabretti

I have one question though: WTF was he trying to do? Yes, the data is his but he cannot expect to try and break in to Facebook to get it back.

As Rodney says, it is quite reassuring to see that Facebook can detect this type of activity, but just because my car may be at a garage under repair, does not mean I can break into the bloody garage to get a CD from the radio.

Damien Mulley posted a great competition from Science Week where entrants can win a Nintendo Wii if you post your answer and you are lucky enough to be drawn at the end of the day.

So, in answer to today’s question, "What was MY favourite invention from my childhood?":

The Acorn Alectron.

The WHAT I hear you say?

From what I remember, it was the poor relation to the BBC Micro and only had 32K of RAM but also had BBC Basic in its ROM meaning I could play the "cooler and better" BBC Micro games on it.

But more than anything, like the Commodore 64 a few months later, it set my imagination alight. Never before did I have a tool which allowed me to both PLAY programs as well as code programs.

At aged just 9, I was buying books about computing and teaching myself how to write something that would allow a computer to "speak to me" and provide answers to questions I ask of it, or allow me to guide a submarine away from depth charges…

For the first time ever, at just 9, I had the capability to not only take control of the future, but to design it too.

Tags: tags, science week, mulley, acorn electron

Proof, if proof were ever required, that Robert Scoble has a bigger brain than the rest of us:

Previous research has suggested that a person’s conventional friendship group consists of around 150 people, with five very close friends but larger numbers of people who we keep in touch with less regularly. This figure is so consistent that scientists have suggested it is determined by the cognitive constraints of keeping up with large numbers of people. Larger numbers just require too much brain effort to keep track of.

source:
(Guardianonline)
With 4,999 facebook friends, it is obvious that Robert is able to process many more relationships that most normal human beings. Robert, I salute you! On a more sensible note, I find it interesting how important this 150:5 ratio is when you consider that Facebook adapts your friend list according to the frequency of contact and similarities between, groups of friends. Does this enhance or reduce our ability to carry out relationships with a greater number of people? Is it better to have fleeting relationships with more people or closer relationships with fewer people? I don’t think Facebook necessarily solves this problem, but with its adaptive friendship algorithm (where you see less news from people you don’t contact regularly), it certainly helps meaning we can all be a bit more like Robert!

Update 129/07/: Robert has published that Facebook now helps him decide which friends are worth adding by indicating how many friends he already has in common withe the person looking to be added! Cool. More reason again for Robert to be able to manage more contacts than anyh other human being!

So, having spent a few minutes playing with Asterpix, I have created the following (using aaron grider’s original movie) and embedded some links in there to amazon. I have only done the first 30 seconds to give you an idea of what it could look like.

And look where it takes you - from preview to purchase in one easy step!

Technorati Tags: Asterpix, amazon

Tags: ces

Both of my subscribers (!) and other people who stumble here by accident will at least now have some witty and insightful content to read when they see my new gapingvoid widget!

It displays a cartoon a day (I believe) - and you know what they say “A cartoon a day helps you work, rest and play”.

I hope you enjoy it. Hugh, many, many thanks for your great idea.

Which leads me onto another great idea. Why could gapingvoid cartoons not be put onto an iPod? A silent slideshow of Hugh’s cartoons, downloaded daily via RSS to your iPod? Maybe it could be a screensaver on the iPod if such a thing were to exist? Harold Lloyd move over - Hugh McLeod is here!
Or how about video podcasts using the cartoons to break the show, lead into ads, or even provide a visual “full screen presentation” of the topic they are discussing?

Technorati Tags: gapingvoid, iPod

My Sony laptop is on the verge of packing in, after years and years of (ab)use it is at death’s door.

The CD drive does not allow me to burn back-up discs anymore and it is pot luck as to whether or not it will work from one day to the next.

So, I am offering a unique opportunity to sponsor ME.

Apple, Microsoft, Dell, or indeed any company willing to provide me with a half-decent laptop will have their name mentioned as part of my email signature.

In ALL communications in which I participate and which requires me to use the laptop (pretty much all the time!), I will apply the following signature text for a full 12 months (and I WILL provide weekly evidence of this):

Paul Fabretti

Director

Written on an Apple Macbook Pro by Company X.

Or

"Written using the latest Dell Precision M90"

or whatever suits the company providing it! You get the picture!

I may even think about something that sounds good too!

I am a minimum 3-times a day, 3-blog blogger with a (growing) average 800 unique visitors per month (ok, not a lot but growing all the time!). I am an active member of linked-in, openbc, ecademy as well as the pinkomarketing wiki and google group.

I am also an eBay (UK) Gold Power seller. A link to the company providing my laptop will also be included in ALL my eBay auctions.

Some will no doubt snigger at the visitor numbers (and advertisers may balk at the numbers!) but I am an extremely active member of the communities in which I mix, and present you with an opportunity to touch business professionals deeper than any banner ad would.

If this is of interest to you and you would be able to provide me with a laptop, I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Tags: ebay, Dell, Apple, Macbook Pro, laptop, pinko marketing