I give an enthusiastic thumbs up to www.Geni.com.
Remarkably easy to use geneology tool with some social networking aspects built in. Better seen than described.
Something like this will not compete with a major social network but is a great example of a superb niche application and the value of a great GUI, even in a well-established category (geneology).
Michael Eisner's online venture has launched its first series: Prom Queen
Short, snappy, professional episodes. Supposedly cost $100K to produce the whole series.
Episodes will be released here: http://www.promqueen.tv/episodes
This is the beginning of the professionalization of online video content and what will be a complete explosion of online video models as the cost of production and distribution falls through the floor...
I of course just love it because it is on a .tv domain!
Henry Blodget at Internet Outsider has some great figures about how online advertising in the UK has now exceeded newspaper advertising and there is no reason to expect that the same won't happen here too...
According to IAB, online advertising spending in the UK in 2006 exceeded newspaper advertising spending. This amazing fact received less attention in the U.S. than it should have.
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According to Morgan Stanley figures for 2005, U.S. newspapers still generate about $49 billion in advertising revenue (including classifieds). This compares to about $16 billion last year for Internet, $45 billion for broadcast television, and another $19 billion for cable TV.
Unless there is something structurally different about the UK market--please weigh in on this if you know--the UK statistic suggests that 1) the US online advertising market still has massive growth ahead of it, and 2) U.S. newspapers have not yet begun to feel the pain.
Gaming will remain a growth industry for a long time... Full article from the New York Times.
CHATAWA, Miss. — For 133 years the School Sisters of Notre Dame have lived here in a thick forest just up the hill from the Tangipahoa River. In a modest but stately compound called St. Mary of the Pines, 52 retired members of this Roman Catholic order spend much of their time as the order’s members have since the 19th century. They read and garden, fish and sew. They pray five times a day.
But many also have a new hobby, one they credit for keeping their hands steady and minds sharp. They play video games. Every day residents go to the seven-terminal “Computer Cove†to click furiously on colorful, nonviolent, relatively simple games like Bejeweled, Bookworm and Chuzzle.
Though they live in a remote grove, the women of St. Mary are actually part of a vast and growing community of video-game-playing baby boomers and their parents, especially women.
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It turns out that older users not only play video games more often than their younger counterparts but also spend more time playing per session. Pogo.com is a Web site that offers “casual†games, easy to play and generally less complicated than the war, sports and strategy games favored by hard-core gamers. According to Electronic Arts, the game publisher that runs the site, people 50 and older were 28 percent of the visitors in February but accounted for more than 40 percent of total time spent on the site. On average women spent 35 percent longer on the site each day than men.
“Baby boomers and up are definitely our fastest-growing demographic, and it is because the fear factor is diminishing,†said Beatrice Spaine, the Pogo.com marketing director. “Women come for the games, but they stay for the community. Women like to chat, and these games online are a way to do that. It’s kind of a MySpace for seniors.â€