lots of interesting insights and data points about google exist but i want to focus for now on part of an article in wired magazine. 

hal varian, who among other things is google's chief economist, talks about adwords and reveals a bit more about how it works.  everytime someone clicks search on google a silent real time auction takes place to decide who gets one of the 11 sponsored slots on the results page.  one blog described it as 'the world’s biggest, fastest auction, a never-ending, automated, self-service version of Tokyo’s boisterous Tsukiji fish market'

the article also discusses the reasons behind why google gives away its products- its browser, its apps, and most recently the operating system android for mobile phones. 

go and take a read here

Looking through Paper magazine this week I came across an article called 'Rebranding America'.  Some of the top visual communicators were asked to submit their designs- among them Saatchi, Crispin, and Wieden submitted entries. Here are my three favourites from those submitted:

George Lois

Wieden + Kennedy

Crispin

ps: i think this is the one for me

I hadn't heard of this term before we launched our new website.  Then someone noticed a Brian Morrissey story over on AdFreak that was debating whether agencies like McKinney, BBH, and Leo Burnett were guilty of flashturbation on their websites.  The article itself is rather short but probably more interesting are the comments in reply to the story.  

Personally I think of flash when an idea needs a tool capable of supporting a specific experience- but equally I think of other tools at the same time and choose the one that fits best with the requirements.  I am sure it is the same in other lines of work...when a builder starts out on a new home they follow the blueprints that the architect has created and use tools and materials that best fit the circumstances, that's what we do.

Take a look and have your say on the subject - 'Flashturbation'

TV news is a lot like Britney Spears. It goes through a lot of makeovers but always sings the same song. Anderson Cooper has a believable honesty and Katie Couric spouts a bouncy persona, but they really just report the news. And by that I mean the “big news.” The stuff that’s making headlines from here to Kabul.

On either end of these traditional newscasts are the Fox-esque news stations that wear their political affiliations proudly and comedy shows that tell the day’s main stories with a wink and a smile. All have their place, after all I’m a member of the Colbert Nation myself, but Current TV does what no others do—they tell the stories that aren’t told anywhere else.

Some are serious (Islam in the NYPD or the Uninsured in America), some are purely for entertainment (The Rotten Tomatoes Movie Review or Lessons in Romantic Dining from Current Cuisine), but all fill in the obvious gaps everywhere else. And you can get it on your laptop or in your living room.

‘Tis a thing of beauty.

the new skype iphone app is launching...i for one will be downloading and installing it as soon as it becomes available

on launch it will be restricted to making calls via wi-fi hotspots only- surely it won't be long before calls will work via the 3g network too as this is a feature available on t-mobile / skype enabled phones

chat works, but there is no video, voicemail or sms support yet- that's all coming in v2

it doesn't seem all that far fetched to me, i mean really some of this stuff is already here

everything is or can be connected, everything is measurable

no more carrying an ipod, a phone, a blackberry, a laptop, now it's a 'single' digital device that we carry for everything

the 'digital wallet' is cool, one card we carry that replaces the multitude of cards we currently have on our person, built in RFID tags that enable the tracking of individuals as we move inside retail locations.  content networks automatically push content that is relevant and highly targeted to screens and mobile devices

the single page digital newspaper that we touch to select the stories we want to read more about

digital shelf tags that update wireless store wide at the touch of a button

augmented reality mixing with the real world

digital whiteboards and windows everywhere, virtual classrooms

the internet as we know it now is a smidge over 5000 days old, 5000 days equates to just over 13 years.  my mind buzzes about what we have seen develop on the internet in the last 13 years, we have set an unbelievable pace for ourselves.  i have a feeling the next 13 years will be even faster.....

it's an interesting technology- think about NFL games you watch on TV where they render the yellow 1st down line on top of the pitch or all that advertising on the pitch that almost looks 3d.  basically taking a live video stream and adding graphics into it dynamically in real time.  it's pretty cool stuff.  an agency in europe did a campaign for mini using this technology- they printed a full sized ad on the back page of a popular magazine that invited people to hold the printed ad in front of their web camera and watch the magic.  and now that  it works on the iphone things get really interesting- put a symbol on anything, hold your iphone camera in front of the symbol and watch the content that appears. 

make it interactive so that the user can actually interact with the content using the touch screen on the iphone, make it a game that multiple people can play with their friends or even strangers in a retail location- ok i am sold on this as a really cool way to get people interacting with a brand, let me stop talking and figure out the best way to integrate this. here is the video for the mini campaign. cheers.

'Pandora'

Personalized.

Free.

Listen. 

Nuff said.

I am a big fan of anything on the web that breaks conventional rules.  That's why I love this cool menu on the 'Screenvader website.' 

Is it simple to use, probably not, does it follow UI best practices, no way - so why do I like it?  The answer is - because it's different, yes it's a menu but it is drastically different than any other I have come across.  It makes me want to interact, play, and discover. 

I say hats off to the boys and girls that created this site.  It's a delight to play with and is a new experience for me on the web.  It is a challenge when creating something new and different but given all the tools at our disposal, more fool us if we make everything in the digital space look, feel, and work the same way.

Having spent a couple of minutes perusing one of my favorite places on the interweb, I happened upon an interesting article that discusses how digital communication is killing the art of face-to-face conversation.  Hmmmm- think about it, how many times do you email or IM people who sit in the same office as you when you could easily get up and walk over to them and convey the same message personally?  I do it all the time, have I just become extremely lazy or have I just found a way to communicate that fits me better?

But seriously will behavior like this really lead to the death of face-to-face conversations?  My parents have stuck with their tried and tested methods of communication- snail mail, the phone, and in person conversations to communicate with people in their lives.  Me on the other hand- I use Facebook, text, email, my mobile, IM, and yes face-to-face in my conversations nearly every day but ask me where to get a stamp and mail a letter and there is a fair chance I will glaze over.  So maybe it's not face-to-face conversation that's in danger but other legacy forms of communication.  It always shocks me when someone pulls out a pager- I mean, how does one even send a message to someone on a pager?

There is a nice article over at 'The Marketing Student' that compares the communication methods of boomers vs Gen X-ers vs Gen Y-ers which is worth a look even if only to confirm what we thought we already knew...It goes as far as to suggest that Gen Y-ers consider only the most urgent situations require face-to-face communication.  

I'd like to think that I will always retain the art of face-to-face conversation and will from time to time make use tools that suit the situation better.  But I think I remember feeling the same way about the art of writing letters, and look where that got me.