Hagai Fleiman
Hagai Fleiman is a research analyst at new paradigm. Hagai has previously held co-op work terms at ACNielsen BASES, Goodwill and Kellogg’s specializing in market research and data analysis. Hagai holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing Management from the University of Guelph and is currently pursuing his MBA at Wilfrid Laurier University.
 |
|
April 25th, 2008, 09:57am
|
A cool new mashup at Dilbert.com allows users to create their own punchline for the famous Dilbert comic strip. Focusing on interactivity, the site plans to eventually let users rewrite entire strips. This is a great example of an innovative way to engage consumers in a way that traditional newspapers are not able to do. When asked whether he expects to see funny suggestions, the original creator Scott Adams replied:
I think 99.9 percent of the submitted punch lines will be less funny than my original. After all, I’ve had a lot of practice. But with volume, that still leaves room for lots of comics that are better than the original. But we’ll see. This new model makes mocking your co-workers and boss a competitive sport, so it should be lots of fun. I submitted two alternative punch lines today myself, trying to top my original. It’s addicting.
Our very own Danny Williamson is part of the funnier 0.1% remashing the comic strip below: Read More »
|
|
April 18th, 2008, 11:26am
|
A few weeks ago, Danny wrote a post about the lack of concern in divulging personal information online. In it he worried that,
One thing that continues to amaze me is how little we value the privacy of our personal information online. The amount of information we are willing to provide to use services online is immense and our concern over divulging it seems to be almost non-existant.
Although the Federal Trade Commission proposed that companies involved in online advertising create a self-regulatory code to limit the use of sensitive information in their use of ‘behavioral targeting’ - where ads are targeted based on a user’s web browsing behavior, a recent article in the New York Times describes the measures taken by the newspaper industry in response. Read More »
|
|
April 4th, 2008, 10:51am
|
As I was grabbing some items at the corner deli this week, a man approached me to proclaim that his wife had heard my ringtone minutes earlier and desperately wanted to make it her own. The man requested i beam him the ringtone via bluetooth to which i kindly obliged. the only problem was, this was a rather large file and the transmission was taking an unusually long time. the effective range of bluetooth is approximately 32 feet and 13% into the transmission, the man acknowledged the awkardness of the situation and suggested i continue my normal shopping routine to which i again obliged. Read More »
|
|
March 28th, 2008, 11:31am
|
An interesting Businessweek article describes how researchers are tapping into mobile phone usage patterns to analyze the behavior of individuals. The article describes plenty of beneficial ways in which mobile usage data could be used such as identifying traffic congestion, tracking and preventing contagious illnesses and even helping event planners manage high budget conventions. Also known as ‘reality mining’, this practice provides an innovative way of collecting and analyzing data to more effectively predict and manage future outcomes.
Similarly, many entities are looking to use the collective intelligence of internet users and are finding innovative ways to harness this power. A good example is Google’s Image labeller game which pairs users against each other in a competition to label images thereby helping to improve the quality of google image results. Read More »
|
|
March 13th, 2008, 12:17pm
|
A recent article in the LA Times describes Wikipedia’s impending need for more funding to meet its annual budget of $4.6 million. Contributions from the roughly 45,000 individuals who contribute annually an average of $33 each only amounts to one third of Wikipedia’s requirements and the rest must be met from donors such as U2’s Bono.
The most obvious solution that comes to mind is introducing ads into the site, however, this issue is definitely a hot button within the Wikipedia community with concerns being raised that the introduction of ads would jeapordize Wikipedia’s Neutral point of view - a fundamental Wikipedia principle - that has played a major role in the site’s success. Read More »
|
|
March 5th, 2008, 11:12pm
|
Organizing the rapidly growing information available on the web has been dramatically eased through the use of tagging where individuals label and organize digital data to their own preference rather than relying on pre determined classification systems.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a way to bring this classification system into the physical world. The best part is - the tagging is done automatically. By attaching a tiny camera and LCD screen to a pair of oversized glasses, researchers have created the ‘cyber goggles’ that automatically scan what the user sees and identify objects in real time.
Read More »
|
|
February 29th, 2008, 12:36pm
|
In what Tim O’Reilly refers to as a kind of augmented reality, the first ever Passively Multiplayer Online Game has recently been launched in closed beta. Created by startup company Gamelayers and backed by $500,000 of funding, this new venture aims to turn ordinary web surfing into perpetual online play - as if surfing the net wasn’t addicting enough.
Players earn ‘datapoints’ by simply surfing the web and can use these points to plant mines at various popular websites for other players to find. Less violent players can choose to leave gifts instead. Players can create quests for other players that involve following paths and finding missions along the way.
The potential to draw users to various websites through these quests creates plenty of opportunities for monetization, however, an article in Gigaom notes that the developers are currently not thinking of monetization options but instead focusing on finding new ways to turn surfing the web from “a mostly random activity into goal-directed fun.”
This development brings us one step closer to the idea of the internet browser being the ultimate social networking platform as PMOG might eventually provide IM, photo sharing, event planning and other typical social networking services.
The recently launched Flock Browser has attempted to be the leader in this space by providing an open source browser with enhanced social networking functionality.
While some may view PMOG as another inconsequential passing fad, Tim O’Reilly points out that this provides a glimpse into the future of the next level of “electronic augmentation of the world in which we live.” If the rapid adoption of Massively Multiplayer Online Games such as World of Warcraft, which as of January 22, 2008, has surpassed 10 million subscribers worldwide, has shown us anything, its that the potential for these types of games is massive.
It will be very interesting to see what new features PMOG adopts as the road ahead will provide plenty of opportunities as Gamelayers developers ponder: “How do you design a game where all of human data is the playfield?”
|
|
February 22nd, 2008, 11:08am
|
With the increasing use of mobile comes increasingly innovative applications. As we have seen in the past, community driven applications offer the most potential and Trapster is no exception. Trapster is a mobile application that works across a wide range of mobile platforms that alerts users as they approach a speed trap. The service depends on its users either pressing a button or calling a toll free number whenever they encounter a speed trap. Trapster can be used with any kind of phone, but is optimized for phones that support GPS or WiFi (using skyhook wireless technology). Not only is trapster free to use, it saves you money by avoiding hefty speeding charges and increased insurance premiums.
Read More »
|
|
February 14th, 2008, 08:54pm
|
Set to launch in August of this year, Flexbooks is a new open source model of textbook creation that will allow schools, teachers, parents and even students to create custom textbooks in a way that is faster and cheaper than the traditional method. Using open source tools such as Wikipedia, Wikibooks, and WikiUniversity to create content, Flexbooks allows users to drag articles and images into an easy to use user inerface to create various standards based learning materials.
The project is in its infancy right now but its future prospects seem very promising. The first step will be to pool together a large collection of educational assets mainly through a combination of licensing activities, incentives for community-based authorship, and university collaborations. Following that, Flexbooks will continue expanding its knowledge base and team up with various print companies to provide paper-based materials in addition to its core set of online offerings.
Why do we need Flexbooks? the makers of Flexbooks CK-12 explain:
“Today, textbooks that are used in K-12 system are limiting, expensive and are difficult to update. Because of this, K-12 teachers find it hard to introduce new concepts and cater to different needs. What we need is a more flexible and less expensive system to create and distribute books and online content. FlexBooks, by their very nature, satisfies this need. They contain high quality online content, and are easy to create, update and print. They provide a new system that will follow an open source philosophy to place content on-line that can be “mixed, modified and printed.”
|
|
February 8th, 2008, 12:39am
|
A new Facebook application called Greenbook allows users to reduce CO2 output by simply installing the application. In fact, since its launch Greenbook users have reduced CO2 emissions by 483,771.57 lbs. -that is the equivalent of CO2 output produced from 1, 291, 154 kilometers of driving.
The way it works is simple. Greenbook uses funds generated through sponsorship and advertising to purchase renewable energy certificates from its provider 3degrees who sources these certificates from various providers of renewable energy. Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) are a way for producers of renewable energy to seperate commodity electricity & environmental benefit into 2 seperate components in order to more easily facilitate the production and distribution of renewable energy. When a REC of a given unit of energy is purchased, that unit of renewable energy is inputted into the power grid and therefore displaces the same amount of fossil fuel energy as the American federal law mandates that those who manage the power grid purchase renewable energy whenever it is available. Every month Greenbook purchases a certain amount of RECs/CO2 reduction through sponsorship and advertising and distributes it among current users*.
As Greenbook relies on sponsorhsip and advertising to generate revenue the more users that join - the more money raised and the more CO2 emmissions reduced. It doesnt stop there. Greenbook is using a wide array of offerings and fully leveraging community involvement to help save the environment. The application provides a forum where users share environment saving tips with each other combined with a rating system that pushes the most popular tips to the top of the list. Tips range from keeping your tired inflated properly for improved gas mileage to buying your food from local producers which reduces transportation pollution. Although some tips are not as useful as others,
the large supply of helpful suggestions provides an effective platform to collaborate and inspire others to live their lives in a ‘greener’ way. Greenbook even provides a shopping service with an array of pre approved ‘green’ products (powered by Amazon). In the near future, Greenbook plans to launch a suit of games that users can play to win credits to purchase more RECs and further reduce CO2 emissions.
Greenbook is effective not only because of its direct positive impact on the environment but also because of the large amount of environmental awareness it creates. One issue to wonder about is whether geographical boundaries will play a role in the popularity of this service. Since the unit of renewable energy that is inputted into the power grid is sourced from various regions that most likely will not be close to a user’s location, might users turn away from this method of CO2 reduction? Surely, global warming is a global cause for concern but won’t people prefer to minimize ommissions closer to home?
*for those who really want to make a difference 3degrees offers a footprint calculator on its website that allows users to instantly purchase renewable energy certificates equal to their carbon footprint.
|
|
February 1st, 2008, 12:20am
|
The music industry’s latest example of not understanding consumer preference has recently launched. Its called Qtrax and some have called it ‘Digital music’s latest non-threat to iTunes.’ Qtrax is an ad supported peer-to-peer software program similar to Kazaa that allows users to download songs legally but with so many restrictions its hard to imagine seeing this venture take off. The songs will carry DRM software and can only be played using Qtrax’s not so flattering interface meaning they cannot be transferred to ipods, mp3 players or burned onto CD’s - rendering them virtually useless. Does Qtrax really think that most people prefer to listen to music in front of their computer?
After installing the software I was surprised to discover there were no songs available to download. Despite claiming to have deals in place, it turns out that Qtrax has not even closed a deal with one major record label although claiming to have signed up at least 4.
With all of these negative features its hard to believe the venture has recieved $30 M in funding and recieves 1,464,000 unique users per day since its launch 3 days ago. Furthermore, the launch of such an out of date and unappealing program has even raised concerns that there may be a stock scam involved.
This business model is not entirely flawed, however, as the idea of ad supported free music holds great potential if executed properly. The way video game producers are changing their business models provides a great example. Electronic Arts has recently announced it will be releasing its latest game Battlefied Heroes for FREE. The game will be distributed online only and will be supported through advertising and micro sales (players can purchase upgrades for their characters). Although 95% of players dont buy anything, this model has worked for EA in the Asian market and they hope to bring that success to North America.
It seems the music industry still has a lot to learn but with so many great examples around its hard to understand why the pace of change is so slow.
|
|
January 24th, 2008, 01:50am
|
Last week in this post I described how the owner of Plenty of Fish.com is able to earn $10 M per year by leveraging the sites users to perform the tedious labor required to operate such a site. This posed the question of how much profit can be made before donators demand a piece of the pie: Quite a bit it seems as Facebook has recently announced its intention of leveraging its users – without compensation – to translate its site into various languages.
The ‘translation’ application has already been downloaded by several thousand users from networks such as “Madrid” or “Berlin” who will work alongside professional translators hired by Facebook. Users of this application can translate words and phrases from a list that Facebook provides or may choose to search through the site and translate the words Facebook has highlighted.
This example provides some insight into how great of profits such a crowdsourced effort can bring in before donators demand compensation. Although Facebook doesn’t report its annual earnings, this approximation estimates its annual net income to be roughly $50 M. What’s more perplexing is that this ‘translation’ application doesn’t seem to be very entertaining and yet it is still attracting thousands of users. Imagine what an application that was fun and served an underlying purpose at the same time could do. In fact, that is exactly what Google did with Google Image Labeler that lets players compete with each other to label and tag images to improve the quality of Google’s image search results.
The possibilities would only be limited by creativity but one thing is certain – there will not be a shortage of eager volunteers ready to put in the hours. However, this begs the question – why are these users performing such tedious work for free? Do they really see Facebook as a worthy social cause? Or are they simply that bored?
|
|
January 17th, 2008, 02:33pm
|
An interesting article in the New York Times describes how Markus Frind, founder of PlentyofFish.com, is able to run a $10,000,000/year business on his own out of his apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia, while putting in only 10 hours of work per week. How does he do it? Frind has created new software that allows him to offload the majority of the work onto his customers, who do it – believe it or not - free of charge, with some volunteers evaluating more than 100,000 images in a year.
The eagerness of consumers to get involved provides a large opportunity for social networking sites such as Facebook. For example, to reap the benefits of complimentary consumer involvement, new Facebook applications targeting selected individuals (based on their profile information) can get consumers more involved in the product development process. The already available demographic information can save companies an enormous amount of time that would have otherwise been spent surveying consumers to find the right demographic, provided these users are willing to make their information available. Given the willingness of many Facebook users to allow various applications access to their personal information, it seems these companies should not have a hard time finding eager and willing consumers to contribute their thoughts and opinions. In fact, MySpace is currently in talks with market research firm Passenger regarding the creation of private communities within MySpace that will foster market research.
The great opportunities that Web 2.0 offers , such as harnessing the collective manpower of satisfied and willing consumer volunteers, does have an ugly flip side, however. For as many delighted customers that exist out there, there are always a few disgruntled ones who are not afraid of making their voices heard. Dell found out the hard way when a frustrated customer posted his negative customer service experience on his daily blog which started a downward spiral that involved many other dissatisfied Dell customers and eventually led to Dell’s stock plummeting 45%.
Frind suggests that his customers are willing to put in the hours, free of charge, because “Lots of people feel like they want to give back to the site because it’s free.” Thus, in order for firm’s to take advantage of this trend, they must give off a positive image in that their product/service should be perceived as beneficial for the community. Whether the quality of this ‘free’ labor is up to par may be questionable, however, companies should not overlook this potential source of complimentary work.
|
|
January 9th, 2008, 04:04pm
|
A new service called My Loki provides its users with the ability to share their location anytime they connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot. This service uses Skyhooks Wi-Fi positioning technology to locate users and can transmit their locations to various platforms such as facebook and various feed aggregators.
The best part of this new service is that users will have fully customizable privacy control settings so that they are able to set permissions to various degrees on who is able to see their location and to what detail. This concept is not new, AIM offered its users a location sharing feature last year but My Loki will make this feature accessible to many new platforms.
It seems the goal is to provide users with a quick way of updating their networks on their whereabouts in order to better facilitate potential get-togethers with friends in close proximity, although the users who will likely most benefit are frequent travelers. The potential for this service to really take off might also depend on the rate of adaption of Wi-Fi capabilities into mobile phones (the company plans to extend to windows mobile and symbian platforms) and the availability of Wi-Fi networks.
MyLoki provides a great example of placing more oil into the gears of social networking facilitation. Making it easier to track friend’s activities will surely increase networking efficiency but whether the potential benefits of location sharing outweigh the drawbacks - mainly the lack of privacy - remains to be seen.
del.icio.us
Digg it
Furl
reddit
