There has been a war on the US Patent system, financed by companies such as Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft. So far, the diffuse opponents, fighting for the rights of inventors, have had a rough go of it.
Today a blow was struck for inventors. In DDR Holdings, LLC vs. Hotels.com et al, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of DDR, the patent holder, specifically awarding a victory on the challenging "Section 101" issue governing patentability of subject matter. Until now, no patent holder has prevailed in a Section 101 case. With today's ruling, it becomes harder for large corporations to use the inventions of others without permission.
Finally, a result in favor of the little guy.
Friday, December 05, 2014
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Scientists used to be our heroes
There is nothing wrong with "The Real Housewives of New Jersey." Of course, I don't mean that these people don't have problems, but I mean there is nothing wrong with the show itself and the fact that it is popular. I lament, however, that such entertainment is the source of our society's heroes. Why are people whose lives are real, who celebrate shallowness, sarcasm, elitism, and crass idiocy the idols against whom we measure ourselves?
This was not always the case.
Read Neal Stephenson's series, The Baroque Cycle, historical fiction about the original Royal Society of Natural Philosophers from the late 17th and early 18th century. These men, including Sir Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Denis Papin, and many others, developed a method and approach to understanding the world and made discoveries which still influence the way the world work. They also operated near the pinnacle of society despite often lacking great wealth or lineage.
As recently as the 1950s in America, the post-war boom was accompanied by a passion for science, engineering and discovery that permeated every part of our society. Our superheroes' alter-egos were scientists, inventors, or at least brainy nerd-types. Popular fiction for kids featured kids like Danny Dunn, son of a phyisicist, Encyclopedia Brown, and The Three Investigators' brainy if big Jupiter Jones. Television series like The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone nearly always featured scientists as the protagonists, gurus, or otherwise focal point of each episode.
Today, while popular movies often involve a science fiction theme, the hero is typically the big, strong Luddite-type and the scientists are even more typically the bad guys. Sometimes, in a darker mood, I wonder if there is a war on cultivation of intelligence. Forceful ignorance is celebrated, determined idiocy equated with hip, and academic achievement the refuge of the unpopular.
Take a moment to watch this excerpt from the opening scene from HBO's The Newsroom - herein lies the rub.
This was not always the case.
Read Neal Stephenson's series, The Baroque Cycle, historical fiction about the original Royal Society of Natural Philosophers from the late 17th and early 18th century. These men, including Sir Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Denis Papin, and many others, developed a method and approach to understanding the world and made discoveries which still influence the way the world work. They also operated near the pinnacle of society despite often lacking great wealth or lineage.
As recently as the 1950s in America, the post-war boom was accompanied by a passion for science, engineering and discovery that permeated every part of our society. Our superheroes' alter-egos were scientists, inventors, or at least brainy nerd-types. Popular fiction for kids featured kids like Danny Dunn, son of a phyisicist, Encyclopedia Brown, and The Three Investigators' brainy if big Jupiter Jones. Television series like The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone nearly always featured scientists as the protagonists, gurus, or otherwise focal point of each episode.
Today, while popular movies often involve a science fiction theme, the hero is typically the big, strong Luddite-type and the scientists are even more typically the bad guys. Sometimes, in a darker mood, I wonder if there is a war on cultivation of intelligence. Forceful ignorance is celebrated, determined idiocy equated with hip, and academic achievement the refuge of the unpopular.
Take a moment to watch this excerpt from the opening scene from HBO's The Newsroom - herein lies the rub.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
New blog - let me know what you think
Marketing Innovation: Audentes Fortuna Iuuat - Why You Should Never Punt...: Kevin Kelley, varsity football coach of the Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas, never punts and always goes for the onside kick . His...
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Life is crazy, life is good
After a ridiculously travel-intensive summer, we've returned to the normal hectic pace of the school year. At times, stress levels at Noctober Productions can be a bit high, but I keep thinking of the Trace Atkins song, "You're Gonna Miss This" and am pretty sure he is right.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Shout-down politics
This weekend's inane interview of AFL-CIO economist and pundit Ron Blackwell by Fox News' Neil Cavuto was remarkable only for the crude language that managed to sneak onto the air during the host's bullying diatribe. I don't watch the show and this reinforces that decision. My reason? If I want to see party hackery in action I can just look up talking points on the Internet.
Will we ever return to an era where real, earnest debate is again an acceptable format? Does logic and a well-reasoned argument that stands its own ground without the support of statistical doublespeak have any place in our society today? Somehow it seems that the Jerry Springer audience now is THE audience catered to by all.
What a shame.
Will we ever return to an era where real, earnest debate is again an acceptable format? Does logic and a well-reasoned argument that stands its own ground without the support of statistical doublespeak have any place in our society today? Somehow it seems that the Jerry Springer audience now is THE audience catered to by all.
What a shame.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Sometimes I hate being right all the time.
Nearly 13 years ago, I described an inevitable shift in advertising model pricing on the web (see earlier post on advertising equilibrium). In this scenario, ad prices would be determined as a function of risk & timing to the two parties involved. Performance based ads would be the most expensive (from an advertisers perspective) because of low risk and slow payment terms, while impression based deals (and fixed sponsorships) would be the cheapest for the opposite reason. I also wrote and talked about how a shrewd advertiser could exploit disequilibrium because it was commonplace for the actual price curve to be inverted, with performance-based deals being super cheap and CPM grossly overpriced.
Google's shift from CPM ads to CPC in 2003 was the first big indicator that equilibrium was on its way. Facebook's policy shift this week is another major step. In his blog article, Chris Trayhorn writes about the recent recommendation from Facebook to its advertisers that "if you want Facebook traffic, you’d better be buying CPC".
There will always be pockets of disequilibrium, and of course situations where a buyer or seller of ads will add more weight to things like payment timing than the market might ascribe for reasons of their own. However, the general availability of buyer surplus that has enabled really good web marketers to look like heroes to their employers will soon be drawing to a close. Bummer.
The bright side is that with each new medium that comes on scene and survives the evolutionary cycle (more on this another day), the possibility that a new disequilibrium may emerge to be exploited. Interestingly enough, I think the next exploitable curve is likely to come in the "traditional" media channels of print, broadcast, and out of home. We've still got some work to do to assess the true value of these media to marketers (e.g., "what is awareness worth?"), but it is coming fast. So take heart, smart marketers - and you online gurus? Well, your next frontier may be to go back to the old frontier, break out your jackhammers, and peel up some pavement for the untapped gold mines long ago overlooked but still out there.
Nearly 13 years ago, I described an inevitable shift in advertising model pricing on the web (see earlier post on advertising equilibrium). In this scenario, ad prices would be determined as a function of risk & timing to the two parties involved. Performance based ads would be the most expensive (from an advertisers perspective) because of low risk and slow payment terms, while impression based deals (and fixed sponsorships) would be the cheapest for the opposite reason. I also wrote and talked about how a shrewd advertiser could exploit disequilibrium because it was commonplace for the actual price curve to be inverted, with performance-based deals being super cheap and CPM grossly overpriced.
Google's shift from CPM ads to CPC in 2003 was the first big indicator that equilibrium was on its way. Facebook's policy shift this week is another major step. In his blog article, Chris Trayhorn writes about the recent recommendation from Facebook to its advertisers that "if you want Facebook traffic, you’d better be buying CPC".
There will always be pockets of disequilibrium, and of course situations where a buyer or seller of ads will add more weight to things like payment timing than the market might ascribe for reasons of their own. However, the general availability of buyer surplus that has enabled really good web marketers to look like heroes to their employers will soon be drawing to a close. Bummer.
The bright side is that with each new medium that comes on scene and survives the evolutionary cycle (more on this another day), the possibility that a new disequilibrium may emerge to be exploited. Interestingly enough, I think the next exploitable curve is likely to come in the "traditional" media channels of print, broadcast, and out of home. We've still got some work to do to assess the true value of these media to marketers (e.g., "what is awareness worth?"), but it is coming fast. So take heart, smart marketers - and you online gurus? Well, your next frontier may be to go back to the old frontier, break out your jackhammers, and peel up some pavement for the untapped gold mines long ago overlooked but still out there.
Monday, May 03, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Friday, March 05, 2010
Does the world really need another online video contest?
Sometimes I wonder if they are doing it on purpose. Agencies, I mean. Every single agency seems to have the exact same set of proposals (and media plans - that's for another day) and ideas that they pitch to every client they meet. Or is it just my company?
Yesterday, I saw, for what seems like the 100th time in the past 5 years, a recommendation that we pursue an online video contest for an upcoming campaign. Keep in mind, we are not a video company. We don't entertain people - we want to reach them and influence them and get them to choose us when it comes down to decision time. I'm just not sure how video contests are supposed to help with this.
Anyway, a quick glance at http://www.youtube.com/contests_main yields a lot of good info:
1) There are a ton of contests going on all the time.
2) There have been a ton of them that are now over.
3) Most of the submissions really suck.
4) In general, a good contest generates about 100,000-200,000 video views - hardly any exposure at all when you think about it as an advertiser.
I also think that many of the submissions come from the same people who really like submitting videos to contests. Most of these seem to have been shot with the built-in webcam and involve screen-lit faces rambling about nothing while looking at the screen just under the camera. Not a lot of them are good-looking people either. Are these really the people we want to market to? Or have marketing us? Seems maybe no.
Here's a thought - instead of trying to advertise on TV by developing a network, fan base, original programming, and slots in the program to insert advertising into maybe we could just buy ads on popular shows? Or product placements? Just sayin'.
If you have to do a contest, probably the best approach is to get people who are actually good at online video - Nalts, for example (www.willvideoforfood.com) and who have an audience to be the contestants. That way you get lots of exposure, better quality video, and way less cost.
Another idea is to do something really, really cool (like the new State Farm "This Too Shall Pass" ad - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w) and promote it so that it takes on a life of its own. Very costly but the results can be amazing.
What do you think?
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Sex, Pranks and Reality - Forbes.com
Sex, Pranks and Reality - Forbes.com
This is a good article, but I think the author misses the point somewhat. In fact, I am pretty sure she inadvertently plagiarized a bunch of articles that were written in 1994-1995 about the then-newborn World Wide Web. Is "being is Second Life" worthwhile for companies per se? No, not any more than using electricity within ones business is a competitive differentiator. As with the Web (or any other medium/business platform), the platform itself is not the point - it is what you do with it. VirtualAloft got shuttered because it had nothing to offer. Nissan Island, on the other hand, provides a place to drive your virtual car (which is actually somewhat worthwhile if you like that sort of thing.) IBM provides product seminars and demonstrations. Numerous universities have virtual classrooms. These are real business endeavors, not merely cool billboards.
...And You Press This Button To Fly
Steve McGookin has a much different take on the commercial possibilities of virtual worlds. He seems to imply that things like winged avatars and idealized body types will eventually go the way of cute signature lines, effusive smileys, and "kewl" email addresses (when is the last time you got a business card that had "cutie507@aol.com" printed on it?)
This is a good article, but I think the author misses the point somewhat. In fact, I am pretty sure she inadvertently plagiarized a bunch of articles that were written in 1994-1995 about the then-newborn World Wide Web. Is "being is Second Life" worthwhile for companies per se? No, not any more than using electricity within ones business is a competitive differentiator. As with the Web (or any other medium/business platform), the platform itself is not the point - it is what you do with it. VirtualAloft got shuttered because it had nothing to offer. Nissan Island, on the other hand, provides a place to drive your virtual car (which is actually somewhat worthwhile if you like that sort of thing.) IBM provides product seminars and demonstrations. Numerous universities have virtual classrooms. These are real business endeavors, not merely cool billboards.
...And You Press This Button To Fly
Steve McGookin has a much different take on the commercial possibilities of virtual worlds. He seems to imply that things like winged avatars and idealized body types will eventually go the way of cute signature lines, effusive smileys, and "kewl" email addresses (when is the last time you got a business card that had "cutie507@aol.com" printed on it?)
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Real Men Love The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Real Men Love The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Perhaps the greatest movie of all time - and you probably have not seen it. This review, discovered recently, says it all. If you have not yet seen this cult classic (and your head has not exploded as a result), run, don't walk to half.com or netflix and get it.
Disclaimer - the acting is weak, the story line is ridiculous, special effects were cheap even for the time period, and the sound track is campy at best. BUT if you keep all of this in mind when you see it, you will love this movie more than you love... some other things that you love a little.
Perhaps the greatest movie of all time - and you probably have not seen it. This review, discovered recently, says it all. If you have not yet seen this cult classic (and your head has not exploded as a result), run, don't walk to half.com or netflix and get it.
Disclaimer - the acting is weak, the story line is ridiculous, special effects were cheap even for the time period, and the sound track is campy at best. BUT if you keep all of this in mind when you see it, you will love this movie more than you love... some other things that you love a little.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Corps: New doubts about N.O. pumps - Yahoo! News
Corps: New doubts about N.O. pumps - Yahoo! News
It has been forever since I last posted, but the good news (note the sarcasm dripping from your screen) is that nothing has changed. The exodus from New Orleans continues, city still isn't fixed, pumps don't work, and nothing looks to be improving.
I simply don't understand.
It has been forever since I last posted, but the good news (note the sarcasm dripping from your screen) is that nothing has changed. The exodus from New Orleans continues, city still isn't fixed, pumps don't work, and nothing looks to be improving.
I simply don't understand.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
We Are Sinking
| Funny video and good viral spread. Does this confirm that good viral marketing must equal humorous? | |
Monday, December 18, 2006
Why I'm rooting for the Saints this year
Take a look at this article - New Orleans Brain Drain
Take a look at this article - New Orleans Brain Drain
We've talked about it, and now the media is waking up to it. There are clearly more than a few ways for a city to die - losing its doctors, educators, and administrators is a particularly painful one. The late Milton Friedman would probably argue that any deficit created by the departure of the young and talented will be filled by the market, but the market may well adjust for this through attenuated demand. In other words, other folks will leave, too.
I wish I had the solution - maybe all of the construction firms and land speculators should start thinking about this.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Second Life: Your World. Your Imagination.
I bought an island yesterday. It is about 16 acres in size, sort of rhombus-shaped, with a lagoon in the middle. I'm not exactly sure where it is, but that's OK since I can move it later on if I need to.
If you don't know what I am talking about, visit SecondLife.com and download their application. This thing is the latest online fad and is growing like a weed (from about 200k members this past Spring to over 2 million today), and like a weed it may well die once the seasons change. Somehow, however, I think this might just have legs.
The way this virtual world has been created is much more true to the "parallel digital universe" (my own term) described in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash from 1993. It has an economy, the design and function of objects and places are controlled by the users, and there actually seems to be stuff going on there that does not involve cybersex and porn. (gasp!)
Perhaps this is the next manifestation of a mainstream web? The way this works is that you can just visit SecondLife's world (insiders just call it "SL" not to be confused with "RL" in which we are all actually breathing air right now), you can build up your own little piece of it on somebody else's "island," or you can actually have an island of your own built just for you on which you can pretty much do as you please. This sounds very geeky and gamey - but replace the words "visit," "little piece of it," and "island" with "surf," "website," and "web server" and you start to understand that what this really is just a 3D version of the mainstream Internet! It is worth noting that at its outset, a huge amount of the bandwidth consumed by the Web was also driven by sex and porn-related activity.
So I bought an island. It is for my company, and we're planning at least one interesting experiment with it, but I am being very cautious about whether or not it really will mean anything in the future.
Those of you who read this (Alex) can really load up on your social currency in advance of holiday parties to come by getting this set up now and dropping mention of it in discrete circles. Sure, they'll think you are a big geek, but at our ages (and since we're all pretty much married now), let's face facts - we are big geeks.
See you in Second Life!
- Chime Bellman
I bought an island yesterday. It is about 16 acres in size, sort of rhombus-shaped, with a lagoon in the middle. I'm not exactly sure where it is, but that's OK since I can move it later on if I need to.
If you don't know what I am talking about, visit SecondLife.com and download their application. This thing is the latest online fad and is growing like a weed (from about 200k members this past Spring to over 2 million today), and like a weed it may well die once the seasons change. Somehow, however, I think this might just have legs.
The way this virtual world has been created is much more true to the "parallel digital universe" (my own term) described in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash from 1993. It has an economy, the design and function of objects and places are controlled by the users, and there actually seems to be stuff going on there that does not involve cybersex and porn. (gasp!)
Perhaps this is the next manifestation of a mainstream web? The way this works is that you can just visit SecondLife's world (insiders just call it "SL" not to be confused with "RL" in which we are all actually breathing air right now), you can build up your own little piece of it on somebody else's "island," or you can actually have an island of your own built just for you on which you can pretty much do as you please. This sounds very geeky and gamey - but replace the words "visit," "little piece of it," and "island" with "surf," "website," and "web server" and you start to understand that what this really is just a 3D version of the mainstream Internet! It is worth noting that at its outset, a huge amount of the bandwidth consumed by the Web was also driven by sex and porn-related activity.
So I bought an island. It is for my company, and we're planning at least one interesting experiment with it, but I am being very cautious about whether or not it really will mean anything in the future.
Those of you who read this (Alex) can really load up on your social currency in advance of holiday parties to come by getting this set up now and dropping mention of it in discrete circles. Sure, they'll think you are a big geek, but at our ages (and since we're all pretty much married now), let's face facts - we are big geeks.
See you in Second Life!
- Chime Bellman
Monday, July 10, 2006
1st Katrina insurance lawsuit opens today - Yahoo! News
All eyes on this case, most certainly. I wonder how many people have not filed a flood insurance claim because they don't want to invalidate their homeowner's claim? What about people outside the flood area - have they experienced problems getting their claims paid out?
Obviously money - flowing to the actual homeowners with a personal vested interest in their property - is critical to the rebirth of the city. Will it come?
All eyes on this case, most certainly. I wonder how many people have not filed a flood insurance claim because they don't want to invalidate their homeowner's claim? What about people outside the flood area - have they experienced problems getting their claims paid out?
Obviously money - flowing to the actual homeowners with a personal vested interest in their property - is critical to the rebirth of the city. Will it come?
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Muddy "Katrina cars" take final ride - Yahoo! News
When Alex took me and some work colleagues around New Orleans, a repeated theme was the sheer intimidation presented by the number of things that needed to be done. In response to a question about the danger of black mold, Alex showed us a typical flooded home in which mold of every shade, color, and variety had taken over where the residents had left off, creating their own unique (and foul) culture. "Black mold is probably the least of our problems now," he said.
Same went for the marina, where 6- and 7-figure yachts and cruisers were tossed around the parking lot and in the water like old soda cans in a dump and decades-old restaurants had been literally ripped from their foundations and dragged out to sea. Same went for the city's gardens in many areas.
I remember, shuddering, each time Jamie and I had to pack to move to a new home. The mass of possessions, taking on the temporary mental label of "crap," overwhelmed us at the outset of each move. Just getting started took a concentration of willpower that far surpassed what one might expect. To me, the recovery of New Orleans is like that same challenge multiplied by 20 million raised to the power of the number of elements of the task that could potentially kill you.
It will be nice to get rid of the cars stacked under the highways. Unfortunately this will only reveal something equally ugly, annoying, or dangerous that was sitting underneath them for the past 10 months.
When Alex took me and some work colleagues around New Orleans, a repeated theme was the sheer intimidation presented by the number of things that needed to be done. In response to a question about the danger of black mold, Alex showed us a typical flooded home in which mold of every shade, color, and variety had taken over where the residents had left off, creating their own unique (and foul) culture. "Black mold is probably the least of our problems now," he said.
Same went for the marina, where 6- and 7-figure yachts and cruisers were tossed around the parking lot and in the water like old soda cans in a dump and decades-old restaurants had been literally ripped from their foundations and dragged out to sea. Same went for the city's gardens in many areas.
I remember, shuddering, each time Jamie and I had to pack to move to a new home. The mass of possessions, taking on the temporary mental label of "crap," overwhelmed us at the outset of each move. Just getting started took a concentration of willpower that far surpassed what one might expect. To me, the recovery of New Orleans is like that same challenge multiplied by 20 million raised to the power of the number of elements of the task that could potentially kill you.
It will be nice to get rid of the cars stacked under the highways. Unfortunately this will only reveal something equally ugly, annoying, or dangerous that was sitting underneath them for the past 10 months.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Hotel offers BlackBerry detox - Yahoo! News
If my company starts to explore this in our hotels, I may have to quit. The very thought of not having my Blackberry buzzing happily at my waist gives me the DTs.
Yes, this is very sad.
If my company starts to explore this in our hotels, I may have to quit. The very thought of not having my Blackberry buzzing happily at my waist gives me the DTs.
Yes, this is very sad.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Duck X-ray reveals 'alien head' - Yahoo! News
Sorry for the slow-post season. This news story is a bit off-topic, even for this eclectic blog, but if you are looking for a conversation starter background image for your PC, consider this lovely photo. Does anyone have Agent Mulder's latest contact info, by the way?
Sorry for the slow-post season. This news story is a bit off-topic, even for this eclectic blog, but if you are looking for a conversation starter background image for your PC, consider this lovely photo. Does anyone have Agent Mulder's latest contact info, by the way?
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