Things we do and things we like.

DesignDevelopment

Award-Winning Documentary “talhotblond” Uses Multi-Platform Approach

The Seattle International Film Festival awarded Barbara Schroeder's cautionary internet tale talhotblond with the Grand Jury Prize in its documentary competition last Sunday. The true crime tale, which made its world premiere at Seatlle, narrates the bizarre murder of a young man in upstate New York -- and a direct result of an ongoing false performance and hookwink of an assumed online identity. The strange events leasding to homicide unfold after Tom, a 47-year-old ex-Marine, meets whom he is duped into believing is…
June 16, 2009
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