So the thought process could have gone something like this:

Hey let’s sell t-shirts?
Yo
You hear me?
Yo
Let’s get other people to design them
Yo
Then mash it up with Pop Idol
Yo
So people vote on designs
Hmm… yo
And buy them, buy them by the million
Another Oreo?

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 2 Minute Critique, New Business Model | No Comments »      

Who said that developing isn’t hard work?

You’d better watch this Apple “Safari Technologies Evangelist” running into humid trouble after her presentation about Key Practices for iPhone Application Development…. Quite funny and weird to see that online, they could have recorded it again, no?

Watch out this fun one and other great iPhone SDK presentation videos here: http://developer.apple.com

Posted in Design, Mobile, New Business Model, Uncategorized, Video, Web Apps, iPhone | No Comments »      

Josh Catone adds succor to an idea I’ve been touting for a while about releasing a movie simultaneously via a BitTorrent client, on DVD and in the cinemas.

Current movie distribution divides movie watchers into two categories:

Cinema Goers

DVD Buyers/Renters

When in the fact there is a third, much maligned, much neglected but far larger audience mass:

The Digital User

Like the ex-Talent Agent Tech Zealot that I am, I’ve spent the past 4 years researching patterns and distribution volumes in online pirate movie distribution and the era of DVD-Rips.

This is a potential audience conservatively estimated at 80 million, give them an authorised film rather than a recorded cinema rip, give them additional content and charge them a nominal sum, say $5 per download and sit back and let them talk up your movie to their friends, the same friends who will be either Cinema Goers, DVDers, or Digital Users.

As Hulu and the BBC iPlayer record downloads north of 75 million so movie distribution must also face up to the fact ‘event users’ those who make a night of a trip to the cinema and look forward to a Nandos after the main feature, are a distinct user, not the totality.

UPDATE: Mininova will shortly record 5 billion downloads. That’s a big audience.

Posted in Bittorrent, Movies, New Business Model | No Comments »      

newteevee has a story about 2008 being the year of VOD:

‘For all of you too lazy to drive to the video store or too impatient to wait for your DVDs in the mail, 2008 is shaping up to be a banner year for you. The video-on-demand (VOD) space is heating up, which means you have one less reason to pry yourself off the couch.’

Now I don’t know what a banner year is, but I hope it means someone will be kind enough to make me a banner that I can stick in my window, perhaps VOD could make it himself?

What it and the Wall Street Journal article it references don’t mention is the opportunity to release a film in the cinema and online simultaneously, let me choose to watch it as nature intended on the big screen with my atomized Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 2 Minute Critique, New Business Model | 1 Comment »      

I love the word douchebag, which I think roughly means ’shower bag’ in Franglais… it has no relevance to this item, I just like the word.

Share This the creators of one singular widget, which is green and looks like a tuning fork have raised a staggering $21m, based on no business model and the goodwill of the people installing the widget who will no doubt revolt at first sign of advertising.

I love my lil’ widgets, but these guys give widgets a bad name, like they’re ‘bidgets’ or something. Reading the write up on Techcrunch I was drawn to one particularly acerbic comment, which has prompted me to make ‘oddball comments’ a regular feature at the Fat Canteen, so gather round and chow down douchebags.

Nasty little douchebag… now good VC kindly bring me my shower bag.

Posted in New Business Model, Widget Marketing | No Comments »      

Twas Paul Hardcastle as I recall, way back in the murky 80’s singing about ‘all those who remember the war’ and the ‘average age of a soldier in the Vietnam War being nnnnnn…19′.

Well that’s barely relevant, but 19 is the age of tech entrepreneur Jared Kim who just raised $3m for WeGame - a media sharing platform for gamers. You download a screen capture/video uploader which enables you to record your virtual persona, warlock, dwarf a.n.other mythical freak beating up other… er freaks.

It’s all a bit Bill & Ted’s for me, as I was reared on the Sinclair 48k Spectrum, but credit where credit is due, it’s a very simple, very clever idea.

When I was 19 I was waking up in other people’s caravans and smoking cigarettes with gloves on.

Posted in New Business Model | No Comments »      

Duh! We’re designers, we use Macs, duh, yeah… of course we’d say that. Duh, hang on a minute, Alex Iskold over at RWW is going further than that, he’s saying Why Apple Will Dominate Next Gen Computing. Alex is probably the 16th cleverest person on the web, his posts always feature charts which make little or no sense to me, being as I am, an ‘overview’ rather than a ‘nuts n’bolts’ kind of a guy.

A choice quote:

“No matter how cool the exchange support and the enterprise play is, that news is dwarfed by the other, much more important announcement - the iPhone SDK. The powerful platform that Apple uses to create beautiful applications for MacOS and iPhone is now completely open. Over a decade in making, this Objective-C based stack is complete with interfaces for operating system Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Mobile, New Business Model | 1 Comment »      

More wise words from today’s bestfriend Brian:

‘Supposedly, Cal told Matt Biddulph last summer something to the effect of: APIs are old hat; it’s all about hackable hardware now. For me, it’s increasingly about the implications of that: the Web everywhere powered by flowing data. We have much to think through, privacy, usability, identity, collaboration, quiet time, how much auto discovery we actually want in our lives, how we manage and redefine sociality in light of what is possible. I don’t even have good pointers or the semblance of an idea for you yet, but I just wanted to prod us all into thinking about more than browsers (even those on phones) and start thinking more about connective tissues and experiences enabled between people, places & things.’

Posted in Data Visualization, New Business Model | No Comments »      

I’ve got a 2 year old daughter, ever since we went on the train to Grandma’s house she’s become hooked on You Tube and already has clear ideas about what she will and will not watch, in no particular order:

1. Big Bird (featuring Diana Ross)

2. Miss Piggy (featuring Big Bird)

3. Spider Man speed painting.

Absolutely positively none of the Teletubbies remixes, no sir, nor any of the Bob The Builder remixes littered with profanities (hilarious!).

As a web zealot I’m torn, to let her watch You Tube and take a risk everytime I click on ‘Bob The Builder’ that it’ll be an original rendering (it’s often not clear) or just concrete up this creative spring a la Jean de Florette?

Never one to let a problem get me down I thought about a You Tube for kids, a safe area online where children up to 10, before they become tweens or Gen Tweenies or Gen Thumbsuckers or I don’t know what, can view video. No, they wouldn’t be uploading their own content which would mostly feature small boys talking to camera and saying ‘girls don’t like farts’, rather it would aggregate the astounding range of video out there, from design studio animations to gunless Manga.

It could even feature my favourite ye olde business plan stalwart, ‘a subscription model’!!!! Kids don’t want ads, I don’t want my kids to consume ads, ad peeps don’t want to be seen to be aiding and abetting kids in consuming ads.

I’d use it, it may even come with a fluffy toy, I may even ask Bob and his butch lady friend Wendy to build it.

Posted in New Business Model, Video | No Comments »      

So says 50 Cent (via TorrentFreak):

Q: “How are G-Unit Records doing in these times of file-sharing?

“Not so good….The advances in technology impacts everyone, and we all must adapt. Most of all hip-hop, a style of music dependent upon a youthful audience. This market consists of individuals embracing innovations faster than the fans of classical and jazz music.”

“What is important for the music industry to understand is that this really doesn’t hurt the artists.”

“A young fan may be just as devout and dedicated no matter if he bought it or stole it.”

“The concerts are crowded and the industry must understand that they have to manage all the 360 degrees around an artist. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Bittorrent, Music, New Business Model | No Comments »