Andy Boyer

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Category: Media (Page 10 of 12)

The Eventual Death of the Airport Magazine Stand

July 24, 2007 /

Maybe I’m not the average consumer, but I find about 85% of my purchases of magazines and books come during the hour I’m kicking my heels at the airport waiting to get on a plane.  Especially if I know it’s going to be a long flight, I know my laptop will be of limited use, and I won’t have internet anyway. 

Now, this glaring market inefficiency is being solved by Qantas, and one can only assume it will be the first in a long line of dominos to fall.

From Slashdot:

"Australian international airline Qantas has just announced in-flight broadband will be available across all classes in its new fleet of A380s. Also on offer will be laptop power in economy and internet access in the seat-back entertainment system. They are retrofitting existing 747s with elements of the technology, and providing several ports for passengers with more expensive tickets. It would also allow recharging of USB-powered devices. The Ethernet port is for laptops that don’t have wireless, or for people who simply prefer an Ethernet connection over WiFi.

No word yet on whethere any sites will be deemed "inappropriate" for viewing.  But the ability to plug in and read anything pretty much eliminates your need to buy magazines, portable DVD players, books, or other heavy items that add to your carry-on bag. So, sell your Hudeson News and W.H. Smith stock…

Launch of MyElectionChoices.com

July 9, 2007 /

MyElectionChoices.com%20logo.gifAfter a few weeks of tinkering, we’ve launched the 1.0 version of MyElectionChoices.com.  The site will continue to evolve, but in its current form, visitors get to choose topics they care about in regards to the 2008 Presidential Election, then select positions they agree with from various candidates. 

At the end of answering a few topics, visitors then find out which Presidential Candidates they share political views with.  Since we have statements from 17 candidates, there’s bound to be a couple people that you’ve never heard of.

There are still plenty of improvements to be made, but give it a whirl and let me know what you think.  There’s a Groups option at the end to make it easy to invite others and compare how certain groups compare aggregately to National Averages.  And there’s a survey at the end as well that will help us shape the constant revisions.

Inspiration from an Unlikely Millionaire

June 28, 2007 /

If you had an Internet connection at work in 2000 or 2001, one of your colleagues forwarded you a link to HotorNot.com.  You played with it for somewhere between 5 minutes and 8 hours, helplessly clicking on the neverending stream of pictures of people who wanted you to judge how good looking they were.

About 1% of this crowd probably wondered if the founders were making any money, or if they simply launched the site for fun.  Well it turns out they were making GOBS of money.  Giant trucks were backing up and dumping bars of platinum into their backyard.  In a nutshell, it proved that a simple idea, at the right time, with the right people, was infinitely more powerful, satisfying and worthwile than simply attending weekly staff meetings.

Well, if you read techCrunch you probably already wandered over to this blog post from the CEO of HotorNot. If you have ever considered running off and starting your own idea, here are some wise words to help get you moving in that direction.

TixMob Launches in UK – New Way to Buy Tickets for Events

June 19, 2007 /

An old friend from Manchester sent me news about his company, Tixmob, this morning. Here’s a synopsis:

http://www.tixmob.com/ Is a new concert ticket agent, just like Ticketmaster and Seetickets we work directly with concert promoters and event organizers to sell tickets on their behalf.   Unlike Ticketmaster, Seetickets etc.. A Tixmob ticket is paperless. Upon purchase it is sent to your mobile phone in the form of an sms message with a bar code. When you get to the event the ticket taker will scan the ticket with our scanner to prove it’s valid and it hasn’t already been used. So ticket touting/scalping is more difficult, you’ll probably get in faster since, for a while at least, we’ll usually have our own que.   A big complaint people have about ticket agents like Ticketmaster is all the crazy fees they stick on top of the ticket price. Generally Tixmob will have a booking of 10% of the tickets face value. As some extra incentive for people to try the product, we’ve reduced booking fees on our first few events to as low as 2%.

While it appers to be UK based for now, the US possibilities seem far reaching as well.  I would assume sports teams would love the anti-scalping features.  Anyway, something to keep an eye on.

Lumosity – Something to Play With

June 14, 2007 /

I will take the leap and say that a small company called Lumosity falls into the world of Marketing.  For, positioned one way, Lumosity would simply be entry #3.2 billion in the category of "Ways to kill time online when you should be productive."

But instead, starting with the tagline of "Reclaim Your Brain" and extending through the core messaging, Lumosity is much more than a nice looking version of any casual games portal.  According to their literature, I will actually get SMARTER by spending time on their site. The multi-layered exercises and puzzles are designed to actively stimulate regions of my brain that have gone neglected, enriching my overall intellectual capabilities. 

So far, I don’t feel smarter, but it has kicked my paranoia level to an all-time high, as I wonder if I am simply a pawn in someone’s giant marketing copywriting experiment.  But, I have succumbed to sucker status, and the exercises are fun, so we’ll see where this gets me. 

When You Start to Believe We Are Not Surrounded By Lunatics, Please Refer Back Here

June 10, 2007 /

I’ve been doing some political research for a little project that I hope will launch very soon.

But it’s given be the opportuity to read blogs written by supporters of particular candidates.  And every once in a while, I run across someone so out of touch with reality, you have to think they could bring down an entire campaign just by being a loud, lunatic supporter.  If you were a Brownback campiagn strategist, how do you approach this nut job and say, "Look, we appreciate the support, but Shut the Hell up!  You’re killing us!"

Here’s the loony in question.  Never have a I seen such a well thought-out and researched blog post that contains such ridiculous conclusions from the data in question.

News from Prison – no not that prison

June 8, 2007 /

I have no interest in adding any comment on the Paris Hilton fiasco.  I feel bad for anyone that is that scared and upset.

So instead of talking about a celebrity that wants to avoid her sentence, I want to introduce you to an imate that wants to use his sentence to become a celebrity.

Meet Patrick Knight, a death row inmate in Texas who is quickly giving those who favor capital punishment a poster child to point to.  Knight is taking his punishment with such contempt, that his friend has set up a web site asking people to email him jokes.  The friend will bring him all the jokes, and then Knight will use his last breath to "leave them laughing" as KLTV puts it.

None of this is illegal.  But what a statement about how easy it is to become a celebrity these days, if only for a minute.  Had Knight put togther a tearful, remorseful apology to the family, no one would know.  But instead he decides that his last act will be one which gets him a little national attention.  It’s a final selfish act for someone who has already taken a loved one away from someone else.  Some things just amaze me.

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