All Posts By

Jeromy Stallings

DevelopmentMarketing

Product Trends and Napsterization: Consumers Want Their Online Music Free

Digital music consumers have demonstrated interest in several "free" selling points since the launch of Napster ten years ago and the trends don't bode well for other media, notes a new report from the The Pew Internet & American Life Project. "Media analysts now broadly use the term, ‘Napsterization' to refer to a massive shift in a given industry where networked consumers armed with technology and high-speed connectivity disrupt traditional institutions, hierarchies and distribution systems," writes researcher Mary Madden... (more…)
June 16, 2009
DevelopmentMarketing

Beaming in the Flo, Yo

Qualcomm's linear mobile Flo TV service will expand from 68 to 84 markets this coming week, following the digital transition; the service is keen on grabbing 100 market by year end, reaching several large markets including Boston and Miami. Flo has purchased big swaths of soon-to-be freed up spectrum in markets like San Francisco, Boston and Houston.  The service, offered through AT&T and Verizon, delivers about 20 national broadcast and cable programming services, costing consumers about $15/month in extra fees. The next…
June 14, 2009
Design

The Gamble of Micro-lending

A fascinaing economic application lately developed on the internets: the concept and practice of microlending, that is:  extending very small loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries who have no access to traditional credit. San Francisco-based Kiva.org has been facilitating bets on small business peeps in more than 185 countries since 2005. The site just announced it is opening up its services to benefit cash strapped idea people right here on the home front. Loans can be placed in increments as small…
June 14, 2009
DesignDevelopment

Get Your Brand or Trademark into Facebook Now

Facebook's vanity URL launch  is at 12:01 ET tomorrow or 9:01 PT tonight. The change will replace cumbersome geeky URL codes with place names that follow the facebook.com address; the place to stake your claim is facebook.com/username.  It is admonished  that users will want to choose their handles carefully because they will be difficult to undue. "Think of it as a cyber tattoo," says a nameless Facebook employee.  Generic names like "baseball" aren't being allowed. Also, given the increasing importance of…
June 12, 2009
DesignDevelopment

True/Slant Provides New Avenue for Infotainment

An alternate news site coined True/Slant launched in beta yesterday with $3 million in funding from Forbes Media and Fuse Capital. Led by veteran journalist/web guru and former AOL exec,  Lewis Dvorkin, True/Slant is providing a platform for more than 100 "Entrepreneurial Journalists" who desire to utilize the web to reach readers directly in exchange for a modest stipend, a share of the ad revenue the site generates or, in some cases, an equity stake in the company. (more…)
June 9, 2009