SUBWAYS ARE FOR ....?

It comes as no surprise that printed newspaper and magazine circulation continues to drop as electronic delivery moves in to take up some of the slack. My daily commuting observations over the past two months, however, reveals a slower shift than I might have otherwise thought.

The Morning Rush
Look around. In a relatively packed car the majority occupied with either paper or electronics are reading printed material. Force of habit moves us to pick up the morning paper and revert to the 90s way of catching up on the news. Evidence of freebees, in the form of AM New York or Metro NY, are everywhere and account for a good number of readers. But they ARE reading more than “e-doing”.

The Afternoon Rush
The story changes. In almost a complete reversal, electronic gadgets are the order of the day with the minority reading printed matter in the form of books or magazines (rarely newspapers). Chances are that one gets caught up with the news during the day as the freebees are distributed only in the morning.

Demographic Chasms
Would it surprise you to know that the young adult is rarely buried in a book or newspaper? Watch as young execs are tethered to Angry Birds and plugged in to iPod tunes (often together) acting as if shaken by a seizure.
A more “seasoned” group is still browsing a magazine or reading a book …. But there are far fewer of them doing so.

So What?
If you can take targeted advantage of these dynamics it would suggest the use of morning freebees for the older crowd while focusing on a working e-platform for young adults. It would be wise to remember that underground e-connections do not yet exist.

TO THE CRAZY ONES

Steve Jobs .... The crazy SOB that changed the world and the way we live.

NIKE: ARE YOU LISTENING?

Human gait could soon power portable electronics.

A new energy-harvesting technology that could capture the energy of human motion to power portable electronics has been developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The “reverse electrowetting” technology promises to reduce our dependence on batteries. It converts mechanical energy to electrical energy using a microfluidic device consisting of thousands of liquid micro-droplets interacting with a novel nano-structured substrate.

This technology could capture energy produced by humans during walking that is normally lost as heat and convert it into up to 20 watts of electrical power that can be used to power mobile electronic devices, the researchers said. Unlike a traditional battery, the energy harvester never needs to be recharged, since the new energy is constantly generated during the normal walking process.

The energy generated by the harvester can be used to power a broad range of devices, from smartphones and laptops to radios, GPS units, night-vision goggles, and flashlights.

Shoe power (credit: Krupenkin, T. & Taylor, J. A.)

WOULD YOU? THINK TWICE.

The Fund for American Studies recently surveyed people to see if they would give up the internet for $1MM. Make that $10MM and vote below. Then take a few minutes to watch the video.

3D TV-- A MASSIVE JOKE

Manufacturers of 3D TV sets are about to suffer a loss. As the hype of 3D moved from the movie screen into the home, its potential was poorly judged and ill timed. This blog has commented on the looming disaster since inception only to fall on deaf ears .... or in this case blinded marketers. The 3D lemmings are approaching the cliff and will undoubtedly go over.

It was a novelty. A fad. They come and go as did the 3D craze in the 1950s. History will repeat itself .... this time in spades.

What follows is a partial lift from an article by TV Predictions.com focusing on 10 (just 10?) reasons why 3D TV will not make it. For a full read, follow this link.

1. 3D TV Interrupts Your Viewing Experience
You can't watch 3D TV for more than a minute without finding your eye focusing on individual elements of the screen rather than the picture as a whole. For example, if you're watching a 3D presentation of a college football game, you find yourself watching the player whose display best showcases the 3D effect. It's natural; you know you're watching 3D so your mind and eye tend to focus exclusively on the strongest 3D elements of the picture.

That makes for an interesting minute or two, but it's not why people watch television. They want to take in the entire picture; to be absorbed by it; to let it take over their entire thinking process so they can relax and lose themselves in what they are watching. 3D doesn't allow for that; it constantly interrupts you to check out some 3D effect. After awhile, you almost forget what's happening on the field or in a movie. If you're a Chicago Cubs fan, that could be a plus. But for most viewers, it's a strong negative.

2. It Makes You Sick
Doctors have estimated that up to 20 percent of the population will get headaches, dizziness or even nausea while watching 3D.

Steven Nusinowitz, an associate professor of ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute in Los Angeles, tells CNN that 3D glasses have a polarized filter that separate two images, thereby enabling the 3D effect. However, the doctor adds that the separation occurs so quickly that your brain may have difficulty accepting it.

"The movie is telling you 'Hey, I'm moving around in this scene,' but your vestibular system is telling you, 'I'm not moving anywhere,' and that disconnect will make you feel sick, for some people," Nusinowitz said.

TV makers even warn consumers in their 3D TV manuals that they could get sick while watching 3D; they advise that you should take off the glasses every 15 minutes or so.

How many consumer products have ever been successful with the masses if their makers had to tell you they might make you sick?

3. Millions of People Just Bought New TVs
Because of the federally mandated Digital TV transition in 2009, millions of Americans bought a new TV to ensure they could continue watching when their local stations switched from analog to digital. Even in good times, people tend not to buy a new TV every few years or so; they buy one with the intention of keeping it for years.

And we're now in an economic morass; will people sacrifice the rent money for a 3D TV? When they probably have a TV in their living rooms that's not even three years old?

4. People Hate the 3D Glasses
Just about every objective consumer study has found that people hate wearing those 3D goggles while watching 3D TV. It's an uncomfortable experience, particularly if you wear prescription glasses or contact lenses with different prescriptions for each eye. The 3D apologists say that 3D sans the glasses is in the works, but most analysts say it will take years before the technology is ready

5. 3D TV Is Not HDTV
The 3D apologists like to say that High-Definition TV had a slow ramp-up to success. Well, that's true. But people didn't buy HDTVs in the early days because the sets were cost-prohibitive, with some medium-sized ones costing up to $10,000.

In contrast, the cost of a 3D TVs is just slightly more than a comparably-sized 2D HDTV. People aren't buying them because they cost too much; they aren't buying them because they don't want them.

In addition, when someone saw a HDTV in person, he wanted it, at least eventually when the price came down. The picture added to your viewing enjoyment because it made you feel like you're were there; the picture was that realistic. But 3D is the antithesis of realism; it's a tech trick designed to jolt a response from the viewer. But the response doesn't last long and it's ultimately unsatisfying. Unlike HDTV, watching 3D TV is not relaxing; it's jarring.

As for the "No Glasses Required" sets due to launch .... don't buy the hype. A small 20" set will run you back about $2800 and you will need to "learn" how to watch TV.

No thanks.

A FACT TO ASTOUND THE DIGERATI

The post that follows is clipped from my favorite wordsmith and blogger, Bob Hoffman at Hoffman Lewis. Great work Bob!
Anyone In Advertising Still Interested In Facts?

Here at The Ad Contrarian World Headquarters, our commitment to our readers is so
intense that we actually pore through media research studies to provide you with the most up-to-date, relevant, information available.

Sometimes we even do it with our clothes on (I don't know what that means, but it seemed funny.)

I have just finished reading Nielsen's "Cross-Platform Report" for the 1st quarter of 2011 and, let me tell you, it was no Great Gatsby.

Besides suffering from Melted Brain Syndrome, I am sitting here in shock and awe. I am amazed at two things.

First, I am amazed at the resilience of television.

Second, I'm amazed at how the media world continues to ignore this story.

Over the past decade, if there is one story that is absolutely astounding, unexpected, and in complete disjunction with the opinion of experts, it is the incredible resilience of television.

Yes, web usage has grown. Yes, social media is an interesting and important social phenomenon. Yes, DVR's have become commonplace. But with all the new media and all the new technology no one expected TV viewership to behave as it has.

And yet, the trade media and media research companies continue to ignore this story, and instead report on the sexier, trendier new media stories.

As I have commented before, traditional TV viewing is at its highest point ever in history. People are watching, on average, over 35 1/2 hours a week. How much more stupid TV can these nitwits watch? Five hours a day isn't enough?

And it's continuing to grow! Over the last year, TV viewership grew another 22 minutes a month, on average.

Meanwhile, with all the hysteria about TiVo, and YouTube, and mobile, no other video medium even comes close to live TV. Here are the numbers:

The average person in America watches 38.7 total hours of video a week

•92% of that is real-time television
•6% is time-shifted television (TiVo, etc)
•1.5% is online video
•Less that 1/2 of 1% is mobile video
(And, by the way, the average person spends 6 times as much time on television as he does on line.)

As a service to all of you who are under the thumb of web maniacs, here is a simple chart I've created that you can click on and print out and stick up their...well, on their desks, anyway.

TECHNOLOGY ON STEROIDS

This is 1956 photo of an IBM hard drive.

The drive weighed about a ton and could store about 5 megabytes of data. By comparison it would take 1000 of these monsters to store what a thumb drive can store today.
An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense “intuitive linear” view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate).

The “returns,” such as chip speed and cost-effectiveness, also increase exponentially. There’s even exponential growth in the rate of exponential growth. Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history.

The implications include the merger of biological and non biological intelligence, immortal software-based humans, and ultra-high levels of intelligence that expand outward in the universe at the speed of light.

And advertising fits into this picture, how?

With thanks to Business Insider for the photo and Ray Kurzweil's Accelerating Intelligence.

WARNING! ADVANCED PERSISTENT THREAT

Think you're safe? Think again.

APTs refer to a group of well-funded, highly capable hackers pursing a specific agenda. It can be to bring down a site, hack government intelligence, steal personal banking information or disable infrastructures of whole countries.

The threats are real. Secure your information.

The most significant hacks in the first few months of 2011 affected millions of individuals resulting in millions of dollars in losses. They include . . . .

Epsilon (the largest breach of personal e-mail data), RSA (hacked security keys to highly sensitive governemt intelligence), SONY (70 million playstation account compromised), Google (government e-mail accounts hacked), Michaels ( PIN pads hacked and credit cards compromised), CITI (200,000 accounts stolen, credit cards reissued), IMF (sophisticated attack over several months to gain access to government information as "political dynamite).

And in 2010 "Payback Attacks" alone numbered 33 . . . .

1. ACS:Law acs-law.org.uk 10/03/2010
2. RIAA riaa.org 10/29/2010
3. Motion Picture Association of America mpaa.org
4. Aiplex Software aiplex.com
5. Davenport Lyons davenportlyons.com
6. TMG Image Over Networks tmg.eu
7. Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) afact.org.au
8. DG Legal dglegal.com
9. Gallant Macmillan gmlegal.co.uk 10/12/2010
10. Ministry of Sound ministryofsound.com 10/03/2010
11. Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE) sgae.es 10/06/2010
12. Ministerio de Cultura mcu.es 10/06/2010
13. promusicae promusicae.es 10/06/2010
14. Federation of the Italian Music Industry (FIMI) fimi.it 10/09/2010
15. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) ifpi.it 10/09/2010
16. pro-music.it 10/09/2010
17. United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office ipo.gov.uk 10/16/2010
    
18. Associação do Comércio Audiovisual de Portugal acapor.pt 10/18/2010
19. Gene Simmons genesimmons.com 10/19/2010
20. Satel Film satelfilm.at 10/22/2010
21. Hustler hustler.com 10/22/2010
22. FACT fact-uk.org.uk 10/24/2010 10:00 PM GMT
23. antipiracy.fi antipiracy.fi 10/26/2010
24. United States Copyright Office copyright.gov 11/03/2010 15:00 GMT
25. Irish National Federation Against Copyright Theft infact.ie 11/06/2010
    
26. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry ifpi.org 11/26/10
27. Warner Bros. warnerbros.com 12/1/10 6:00 PM GMT
28. PostFinance postfinance.ch 12/6/10
29. Aklagarmyndigheten Aklagare.se 12/7/10
30. EveryDNS everydns.com 12/7/10
31. Joseph Lieberman lieberman.senate.gov 12/8/10
32. MasterCard mastercard.com 12/8/10 10:30 AM GMT
33. Borgstrom and Bostrom advbyra.se 12/8/10

3D ... INVESTMENT GAMBLE FOLLY

Just over a year ago I commented on the folly of 3D as a viable business. That post can be read here.

Fast forward to today's Business Insider article "3D Movies Are A Bust".
The outcome was so very obvious but Hollywood and TV set manufacturers hopped on the bandwagon, spending billions to rush to market with the new technology. They stand to lose their investments.

The single biggest advantage for 3D remains in gaming on small mobile tablets and PCs, shifting away from Hollywood and 3D sets.

3D .... So-o-o yesterday.

TO BE TRASHED

Beyond belief. That someone actually spent time and money developing a desktop application that allows anyone and everyone with the app to search your trash bin for files you thought you might want to share is unbelieveable.

Justin Blinder, a Brooklyn self proclaimed programmer, creative technologist and hacker would like you to sign up for a "Dumpster Drive". Here's an explanation of the product and a video that follows.

"When we throw out physical trash, we know, at least on a subconscious level, that it often has the potential to be repurposed. Someone might rescue an abandoned book from a dumpster, or fall in love with the musical tastes of another through a discarded CD they find on the sidewalk. However, the drag-drop-delete process of deleting data from our computers prevents them from ever reaching others. Dumpster Drive makes your trash social within the context of your desktop, allowing you to dumpster dive through the discarded files of others."

Mac users can download the Dumpster Drive here.

I double dare you! Sorry PCs ...not yet available.