Customer 2.0--Social Networking Sites The New Business Tool According to a recent survey by Gartner and other analysts, the majority of users of social networking sites are motivated mainly by “personal needs and a desire for entertainment, rather than business and practical objectives”. However some have seen the potential of such sites for business.
Will Yahoo-Microsoft Deal Mean The End Of Ninemsn? Two months ago, Microsoft was so desperate to buy up Yahoo!, it offered to buy the entire company for $US33 a share, or a total of $US47.5 billion. Although this was deemed not enough for Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang.
Channel 7 Wins On News But Loses On Sport According to Channel 7, Seven News is up 337,000 viewers on Nine News, a 27 per cent audience advantage, with the its news program the most-watched program on television on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
GE Money Looking To Make Wizard Disappear According to a report in Bloomberg.com, GE Money is assessing a sale of Wizard Home Loans, which GE Money bought in 2004, whose sale may fetch more than $500 million for GE.
Viacoms Anti-Google Lawsuit Has Huge Implications Be afraid, be very, very afraid, for if a lawsuit by Viacom against Google is successful, it will potentially have far-reaching and massive implications for internet users everywhere, including Australia.
Sevens Suicide Story Complaints Stifled Says ACMA The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has found that Channel Seven in Melbourne Seven, breached the complaints handling provisions of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice in relation to a segment on Seven News about the suicides of two teenagers.
Poor Ratings Tipped For New LG Scarlet TV Series COMMENT: The decision by LG to spend over $100 million dollars promoting an LCD TV called Scarlet is an interesting move. But to tease consumers into believing that there is a new TV series called Scarlet in an effort to sell a red backed LCD TV is a big risk that I doubt is going to work for the struggling Korean brand.
Comment: Is Online Content Working? Recently, the entertainment and technology media have been abuzz over the implications of the significant announcement by Apple that iTunes would now offer day and date releases of movie titles in conjunction with their regular release on DVD. The deal involves most of the major studios in Hollywood, and marks the first time that a single online or broadband-enabled source of paid movie content has had both broad studio support as well as day and date releases.
Microsoft Woos Yahoo Shareholders With Cash According to the New York Times, the on again, off again Microsoft-Yahoo takeover bid is on again with Microsoft said to be willing to raise its offer for Yahoo, in an attempt to appease shareholders and break the stalemate between the companies.
Another Radio Station Cops A Serve It must be silly season in community radio-land. In the space of two days, another community radio station gets caught with its fingers in the advertising till, which as a community broadcaster is not allowed to touch.
Dell Offers $25,000 To SMBs Dell has asked for Australian small businesses to enter the 2008 Small Business Excellence award and is offering $US25, 000 worth of prizes to the national winner and $US50, 000 to the international first place.
MasterCard Takes Credit For Income Surge According to a report in Bloomberg.com, credit card provider MasterCards first-quarter profit rose 85 per cent as purchase revenue increased.
Who Will Win The Flat Panel TV War? If I read the numbers correctly, TV makers plan to sell 29% more 32” and 37” LCD TV sets this year than last year. Sounds good, but what about notebook PC and LCD monitor makers’ plans to sell 11% more units? Don’t PC and monitor makers depend on some of the same Gen 5½ and Gen 6 LCD capacity used for 32” and 37” TV panels?
ACMA Pushes Interactive Approach For Broadcasters The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is pushing a new approach in its initiative to improve its interactions with the community broadcasting sector.
Foxtel Crushed By Sevens Gladiators According to the latest figures from Seven Network Research, some 1.579 million people watched the premier of Gladiators last week, along with 1.082 million for My Name is Earl, 1.084 million watched Grey’s Anatomy, some 1.077 million watching All Saints with 1.799 million for Border Security and another 1.232 million watching Desperate Housewives.
Are Online Privacy Changes PM Rudds First Blunder? During John Howards reign, the Coalition government turned each and every Australian into a tax collector thanks to the GST. Now the new Prime Minister, Labors Kevin Rudd it seems, wants every Australian to become a potential frontline soldier in the so-called War on Terror.
The Race To The Bottom In The Mini Camcorder War According to a report in the New York Times, Sony, Sanyo and Panasonic keep trying to outdo each other in making their handheld camcorders smaller, faster, and of course, cheaper.
Visa Says Clicks And Bricks To Coexist According to new research commissioned by Visa Europe and announced at the World Retail Congress yesterday, clicks and bricks are likely to coexist and perform complementary roles for some time.
EU Goes To War With Search Engines Search engine and other IT companies seem to be heading on a collision course with the EU over a proposed new law requiring them to dispose of their stored-up personal data.
Google It, Then Buy It- Shopping In The 21st Century In a report released by Google Australia it was revealed that 50 per cent of Australian shoppers research their purchases online before going to the store to buy- a phenomenon that is happening across the developed world.
Panasonic Says TV Screens In Phones Story Is “A Hoax” It seems Aprils Fools Day is getting a bit of an extension this year. Last week, a number of online sites (except for channelnews.com.au) reported that Panasonic was going to start putting tiny LCD TV screens into mobile phones this year.
Windows XP To Remain For Cheapie PCs According to reports from the US, Microsoft says it will keep Windows XP available for ultra-low-cost PCs like the Asus Eee PC which comes with Linux. But Microsoft is sticking to its June 08 cut-off date for Windows XP on all new PCs other than ULCPCs.
Government Moves To Control Facebook, MySpace & Bebo New international guidelines for safer use of social networking services, such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo were released in the UK today, in a move some say is a harbinger of things to come in Australia.
Microsoft Users Refusing To Give Up XP Microsoft is having problems with companies refusing to give up Internet Explorer 6 and Windows XP for IE7 and Vista, according to a survey by Forrester.
Research Shows Australians Buying Gadgets They Dont Use In a new report titled The gizmo Household Technology Study by Galaxy Research and services provider gizmo, Australians seem to be happy to spend their hard earned cash on technology they don’t know how to use.
$5 Billion Spent on Digital Technology In 2007 According to the latest Canon Digital Lifestyle Index (CDLI), during the second half of last year alone, Australians splurged $2.89 billion on digital technology resulting in the highest half year result since the CDLI commenced in 2003.
Which Is The Most Important Brand In Your Life? In a recent poll by online magazine brandchannel.com, readers were asked to identify which brands had the greatest impact on their lives, and how these brands affected their behaviour and overall view of the world.
Where Did The Razr Magic Go? COMMENT:In the past couple of years, as Motorola has floundered about trying unsuccessfully to recapture the magic of the Razr, excuses have grown harder to come by. But now, should today's decision to split the company fail to get the numbers pointing upward, management will have a built-in excuse: that rabble-rouser Carl Icahn and his merry band of dissidents made us do it (see "Frankly, sir, I think a Fifth Amendment response would send the wrong message in this case").
Jobs Changes His Mind On Subscription Music In his public pronouncements, at least, Apple's Steve Jobs has consistently pooh-pooh the idea of subscription music services. "Never say never, but customers don't seem to be interested in it," Jobs said in an interview almost a year ago. "The subscription model has failed so far. ... People want to own their music." That final declaration was widely quoted, but the more significant part of the quote may have been "never say never."
SmartHouse Hacked An investigation by 4Square Media has revealed that over a period of more than 24 months the content engine used to supply stories to web sites such as SmartHouse, SmartHouse News, ChannelNews and Smart Office has been illegally accessed and in several cases content changed. Code has also been hacked.
Why Hitachi & Fujitsu Failed, Marketing Tips & Hints The failure of Hitachi and Fujitsu, two massive global brands in the plasma TV market, is a lesson for every marketing and sales executive working in the consumer technology market. So what went wrong? Here are some basic tips and hints which we believe were not applied at either Hitachi or Fujitsu.
Why BigPond Service Is Really Lousy COMMENT: They may be Australia’s largest ISP but one has to seriously question BigPond’s systems and their commitment to customer service. After signing up for their so called fast BigPond Extreme service I found that what they promise and what one gets is a million kilometres away from a “good” customer experience.
PC-Based Audio A Waste Of Energy COMMENT: In these eco-friendly times, the amount of energy sucked by a home-entertainment PC is a really scary thought. Is PC-based audio to blame for the power drain?
Will Quickflix Survive A Content War? COMMENT: Web-based DVD rental service Quickflix, which this week cut a marketing deal with Harvey Norman is set to face a tough future as the content delivery market hots up and new big brand players enter the market.
Is Belkin Wrapping Great Design Around Average Products? COMMENT: In the technology business, there are a lot of opportunistic companies that over the years have been very good at taking made-in-Asia junk, dressing it up in smart packaging and then on selling it to mass retailers and the specialist IT channel.
Hitachi & Fujitsu Set To Bleed As Plasma Battle Heats Up COMMENT: As major vendors spend millions launching a new generation of LCD and plasma TV screens, vendors like Hitachi and Fujitsu are being left behind as retailers dump them for brands that are backed by major advertising campaigns.
C Bus Or C Minus Automation Market Heats Up COMMENT: The automation market is changing. It is now being driven by new technology, new players and consumers who are demanding more than an entry level system.
Why Plasma Will Lose The TV War COMMENT: What is best; LCD TV or plasma? If marketing by plasma vendors is anything to go by the war has already been won by the LCD TV vendors who week after week are pumping out LCD TV marketing at the expense of plasma.
When No-Fi Is Better Than Hi-Fi COMMENT: Without downplaying my serious passion for hi-fi, making a no-fi choice from time to time is very rewarding.
When Tech Needs To Take A Back Seat COMMENT: While many of us have our technological gripes about living in Australia – we are backwards in broadband, we miss out on gadgets that are released in Europe and the states, or we do get them but they’re over-priced. But sometimes, a bit of technological backwardness can be a highly appealing proposition.
Naim, IP And The Future COMMENT: Malcolm Steward gets excited about the the potential of high quality multiroom music from Naim.
Who Will Win The Flatscreen TV Race? COMMENT: This year we will see LCD TV technology come of age with the introduction of new technology that delivers a better, sharper picture than previous models.
Why Senator Bill Heffernan Is A Broadband Idiot COMMENT: Liberal senator Bill Heffernan is an idiot. Last week, like a stupid school kid, he gatecrashed a press conference by Labor senator Stephen Conroy who was explaining Labor’s plan to take $2.7 billion out of the Future Fund to help pay for its $4.7 billion broadband plan. Waving his hands in the air like the demented soul he is, he also admitted that he had never sent an email in his life.
Is Listening To MP3s Worth It? COMMENT: Compressed audio might be a popular way of listening to your tunes but is it worth the compromise in sound quality?
Dumb Australian Builders Missing Out On Millions In Profits COMMENT: Builders and Architects in Australia are missing out on millions in profits are they don't have a clue about home automation. In fact most are so dumb about technology that they struggle to understand a computer.
Castel Now Faces Big Problems COMMENT: When SmartHouse News first reported 14 months ago that Castel was set to be dumped as the distributor of the Toshiba brand Castel, Managing Director Michael Kwong accused us of lying.
Why Choice Is Now Irrelevant COMMENT: A cheap publicity stunt coupled with questionable methodology has left the Australian Consumer Association exposed as they desperately try to re invent themselves in light of online competition.
Does Foxtel Measure Up? COMMENT: When you compare Foxtel to the likes of Sky TV in the UK or the many pay TV services in the US or Canada, consumers are being right royally screwed by an organisation that is failing to deliver the most basic of services.
HDMI The Good And The Bad Right now HDMI is hot. Screen vendors to Hi Fi vendors to the guys who flog the cables the perception is that HDMI is the next big thing in cables. But is it?
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