Is a 'remnant' radio advertisement worth 4 x an online ad?

So i read in Fred Wilson's blog post post that one of his portfolio companies http://www.targetspot.com/ was looking for a SEO and i thought hmmm i wonder how much it does cost to advertise on radio?

So I found out the answer....... "Lots".

Basically for a basic 15 second advertisement, running in the 'sports' genres radio stations with no ability to choose 'what stations' it ran on (in otherwords bottom of the barrel remnant including aol radio) it costs a minimum of $3.74 PCM.

I'm not sure how the 'stations' are estimating their listeners at 3-6pm each afternoon but i wasn't able to actually select what days it could be run on either - just what timeslot (i would really want sat/sun afternoons to target sports listeners for http://www.livefootballchat.com/ and http://www.livebaseballchat.com/ ).

This $3.74PCM amount also didn't seem to go up or down based on total budget either. In fact the flash demo about 'tweaking' your campaign showed a lot of functionality that wasn't possible when it came to setting up the ad spot.

So I'm putting the question to you - is it worth 4-5 X to advertise on radio compared to online?

Do you pay anymore attention to radio ads than online ads?


Cheers,
Dean
P.S. Something that confused me about their 'close the order' page was it automatically selected was even though i put in $500 as my monthly budget....they auto selected $50. I think they might not be taken seriously for this amount alone.

Toyota Yaris

A friend of mine in Australia Laurel Papworth really castigated Toyota and their Yaris social media innitiatives .
http://laurelpapworth.com/australia-toyota-yaris-social-media-campaign-downfall/
Toyota have chosen 5 or 6 agencies and have asked them to spend $15,000 each on a “social media marketing campaign”. Think “stunt” and you have a better idea of what they are talking about.. And while traditional media pitches means war to get content into banner ads, on TV and radio, when it comes to using the same tactics in online communities, there’s damage done. What happened to engagement, respect, conversation, collaboration, dialogue?


Here is a video she created showing her displeasure;



My comments are;
Hey Laurel, first you castigate companies for not 'experimenting' and then when Toyota only throws $100,000 at a test project you castigate them for doing it wrong........

I think it's cool that Toyota are trying something innovative, and sure i think Yaris cars suck and nothing would make me buy one..... doesn't mean something cool isn't going to happen from one of them.

Personally i love the One Green Bean concept, i think it should be run for more than just one night....maybe something like you find the car via a mobile web app and you get to keep the keys as long as you are driving it, once you "drop the keys" someone else gets to take the car to where they want.....would be a great example of Toyota reliability having the car on the road for 24x7x30 days etc. you could have a dashboard where it tracks how many kilometers per day, how fast it was traveling on average and a map showing the trip route etc.

What do you think? is $100k a joke or a reasonable 'experiement'?

Cheers,
Dean

Is the time right to bring back something like Mogi Mogi to the USA?

I was reading an interesting article on Techcrunch about FourSquare and although i've never been a user it's been curious to me how viral the concept got (and what are the elements needed so I can replicate that success for LiveChatConcepts) and how long the 'checkin process' was going to interest people.


Over the last six months just about all of my tech friends have started using Foursquare, a geolocation-based game that was built by the creators of Google-acquired Dodgeball. Some of them will literally pull out their phones as soon as they enter any restaurant, event or even TechCrunch HQ and check in just so they can be named ‘mayor’ of that establishment (whoever checks into any particular location the most times becomes mayor of that location). It’s fascinating and a bit bizarre to watch, and it clearly shows that Foursquare has tapped into something powerful.


But all this time I’ve had a nagging feeling that Foursquare, at least in its current form, is not going to be the next Twitter, as some people have concluded. Because as good as Foursquare is at figuring out where and what your friends are up to, they can’t hope to compete with Facebook. That is, if Facebook does Geo right.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/28/facebook-foursquare/

So I'm wondring, if 'checking in' isn't enough to keep Foursquare going (and i'm not sure i agree with that statement anyway), Do you think the timing and technology is right to introduce something more complex like Mogi Mogi?
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2006/07/do-you-mogi-mogi.html

Something that introduces gaming/competition points and real time elements to the location based 'check in process'. Or are the FourSqaure guys onto a good thing and there is no need to mess with the success considering they only just launched their '50 city' major push?

What features would you want to add to Foursquare if you are a user?

And if you aren't a user what would convince you to become a user?

Cheers,
Dean

Windows 7 overtakes OSX already

ha ha -

Windows 7 passed the 5% market share milestone of OS X last weekend.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/183325/windows_7_sales_beat_mac_os_x_market_share.html?tk=rss_news

lol already? hasn't it only been out for a month or so?

Wonder how long before it overtakes the entire Apple market share?


Cheers,
Dean

PPV Tweets?

Would you pay to read my tweets? http://bit.ly/PPV_Tweets - i probably wouldn't.


Cheers,
Dean

Android apps dominated by small developers

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing but interesting article http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2009/11/27/big-developers-on-android-who-needs-em about how lots of android apps are being driven by smaller developers.

I've been saying for a while the reason why Palm took off, and iPhone, and now Android is because it was dead easy to develop apps for it.

When palm first launched it's dev kit for $35 (or thereabouts) this was a significant change from the 'pro charges' that were being levied before then (windows ce etc was a $1200 dev license).

When iPhone lowered the 'language' bar and made it easier this stimulated growth (albeit they are choking development with the iStore approval process).

So with android immediate deployment and an even simpler coding environment what does this mean?
Is there still a place for the large dev shop for Android?

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?


Cheers.
Dean

Associated Content

Interesting interview about Associated Content - what caught me was the comment at the 2.15 mark about how associated content has 300,000 'content providers', wtf?

So basically 300,000 people are creating this content that results in 27m unique users per month. (number 38 site in the USA).



So if you look at this page; http://www.associatedcontent.com/faq.html#B1 it appears they are paying $1.50 PPM, so for every thousand pages views you make $1.50, and it scales up from there.

So is anyone making any real money from this?

And at $1.50 PPM is associated content making any real money? with remnant advertising paying less than that how much are they making in arbitrage and is anyone advertising on associated content sites seeing any real ROI on their direct add purchases?


Cheers,
Dean

SVN SUCKS!!

SVN Sucks and it shouldn't be this difficult.

I'm going to bed......and not coming back for a long long time.

TouchDown exchange client for Android

i just downloaded the app - works great, well worth the $10.

be aware however that when you install it you need to slide the icons on the left to see the configuration icon.....lol took me 3 mins to find it until i closed the keyboard and shut out of landscape mode.

not sure how long the application will be $10 but grab it now. Althought there are several minor things that need to be corrected they have a healthy and fast support team turning around feature requests quickly.

There is a great installation guide here

Cheers,
Dean

All the cool kids use Droid

I guarantee Droid users have already overtaken the iPhone users when considering how much mobile content they consume/how heavily they use their device.


All the hard core hackers are now Droid users (or will be within 6 months).

If my mother asked what phone she should use i'd say an iPhone but for anyone thats relatively nerd/tech - Droid is the only choice.


Cheers,
Dean

Chumby One

Chumby One has the ability to be a 3g to wifi router - http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=611 (and board can be retrofitted to classic) hmmm soft and cuddly PAN  (Personal Area Network).

What i really want is the 'next version' (Chumby Two :) ?  basically all the chumby functionality but in a 'digital photo frame size.


Cheers,
Dean

Trademark 'Tacking' court case O'Neal V's One Industries decided

Really interesting article on Trademark and derivative trademarks, (known as 'tacking').

Motorcycle Apparel Company’s Efforts to “Tack” Prior Use of “O” Mark Not Sufficient, Ninth Circuit Rules
“We venture into the world of motocross racing to determine whether federal trademark law protects a motorcycle apparel company’s use of a stylized ‘O’ on its products.”


So begins the Ninth Circuit’s August 24, 2009, opinion in One Industries, LLC v. O’Neal Distributing, Inc., 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 18967 (9th Cir. August 24, 2009), in which the Court would answer this question in the negative. This case is significant for two reasons: (1) it serves as an example of how issues of “tacking” – the act of trying to prove earlier use of a mark in order to achieve priority over an intervening user – can play a crucial role early in a case before discovery has commenced; and (2) it reminds trademark owners of the high standard that courts apply when considering issues of tacking, and of the risks associated with such issues.........  http://www.manatt.com/NewsEmail.aspx?id=10624


I know most startups have enough to worry about already but this shows how basic 'on retainer' continuous legal advice can really help.


Cheers,
Dean

Tim Tams in the USA

Oh No..... this is going to be bad, very very bad. It seems Pepperidge Farm have licensed the rights to make Tim Tams in the USA from Arnotts.

.....and yes they taste perfectly and exactly the same.... YUM!!    I'm in so much trouble.

Cheers,
Dean

Bettie Serveet - Log 22

I've been listening to Bettie Serveert "Log 22" on my Droid headset almost nonstop for the last 2 days.

There is something about this track thats hypnotic.


(sorry i couldn't find a studio version of this song, so the one below is live)


Cheers,
Dean

Blogger iFrame screwup

As you can see there is a major problem with google blogger at the moment.

eg my blog isn't accessible via www.collins.net.pr/blog anymore
only http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/

They broke iFrame compatibility about 3 days ago and still haven't fixed it. If it's not fixed by this weekend I'm dumping blogger and moving to wordpress.


I think they need to turn this off until you find a work around rather than keeping us offline.


Cheers,
Dean
#Blogger #Fail

Matrox Octal Graphics Card

I just came in my pants;


http://hothardware.com/News/Matrox-Announces-Worlds-First-SingleSlot-Octal-Graphics-Card-/


Do you think Jodie would notice if i plugged one of these into my computer? :)

Cheers,
Dean

@ShitMyDadSays

"Oh please, you practically invented lazy. People should have to call you and ask for the rights to lazy before they use it."

lol - http://twitter.com/shitmydadsays


(and yes i know there is a team behind this with a tv series etc.... still doesn't make it any less funny).

PGA East

Lol the Producers Guild of America really know how to run a "tech" event.....they have wine and waiters :)

Google to buy Admob

Wow, talk about buying an overpriced pup.

It’s funny I was just commenting last week how mobile cpm’s must be in the toilet with the flood of mobile content.

http://www.admob.com/google



Cheers,
Dean

Yelp application on Android

Do you want to see a dedicated Yelp application on Adroid?

Send them an email like i did :)


Cheers,
Dean

Bought a Droid

Well I bought a Droid.

I'll update 'this post' as i find out things about it for at least the next few days otherwise there would be 50+ posts.

I've also been reading and commenting a lot at DroidForums


First thoughts....bye bye ATT - the download speed on the Droid leaves my 8525 and iPhones in the dust.

Second thoughts.... hmmm i really miss my 8525 keyboard. I can see myself ditching this for a 'Android based HTC Touch pro 2 style device' sometime in the future (and as i bought the droid on a 1 year contract.... probably in 12 months - so the clock is ticking Motorola/Verizon).

I really do believe the future of mobile is Android, there are so many free apps and hack capabilities (eg, i dont think 3 home pages is enough...no probs, hack it to 5 etc).

Without doubt there are some crappy setup issues, and Verizon/Google leave a lot to be desired as far as usability BUT being able to do anything and everything is far more satifying than any 'perfect handcuffs' Apple can design....dont like your music player...go right ahead and change it (lol or have 3 multi-tasking at once).

Anyway more later.



Wow holy crap, i just played the YouTube video from The Motels - Only the Lonely on my blog - i cant believe how good the audio speaker sounds!! (oh and a mjor negative - whats the deal Verizon not providing any headphones with this phone - I mean i did pay $269.99 for it.....).



I actually keep reaching for a stylus, because the pixel size of the screen is sooooo amazingly good the size of the fonts you can read are tiny....too tiny for my beefy fingers and a stylus would be great.

The screen really is amazing, have i said that enough yet?

My other comment...and this wouldn't be for suitable for everyone, is the handset feel so light and small that i wouldn't mind if they increased the screen at least 1" all around. It would probably make the handset too big for most people but for me i think it would be perfect.



You have to have an app just to kill other apps, tons of apps stay open, no way to close them upon exiting like on Windows Mobile. Ends up eating memory and killing performance and battery.



Selecting and copying text is one of the negatives about the Droid. It's turning out to be a painful experience.



Google Maps navigation is slow..... I think people shorted Garmin stocks for nothing. (BTW I also think the downfall of Verizon will be that you cant talk and use data at the same time like you can on GSM networks....but when data is so slow on ATT anyway....then i would call it a draw at the moment).



I'm a little concerned how much piracy there is on the android app store, basically looks like as soon as someone comes up with a good idea...everyone duplicates it for free. What does this mean for the lifecycle ans sustainability for application development (lol also considering how many are ad supported...admob cpm's must have fallen through the floor).



Re: Yelp application on Android
Do you want to see a dedicated Yelp application on Adroid?
http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/yelp-application-on-android.html



I cant believe how crappy the email client for Android is when connecting to exchange - putting aside sync issues etc, where is the multi-folder support, where is the nice looking visuals you get with WinMo etc.

I know google want people to use Gmail but it just inat going to happen for commercial people.

This has nothing to do with $29.99 plans and $44.99 plans, it's just the email client in android sucks. This is possibly a deal breaker for me unless i find another email client.



BTW there is a GSM versions (for everywhere else in the world apart from the USA) and the Verizon CDMA version. If i had my preference i would get a GSM version (because you can use voice and data at the same time which you cant do with CDMA technology) but i dont want to get a GSM version for use here in NY as ATT and Tmobile have less throuput than Verizon. I've had it with ATT.



Love Love Love voice driven search. I'm really hoping there are quite a few voice driven functions implemented by google over the coming months.



Re: Installing Apps onto SD cards - this is another misinformation about how Android works and I totally blame this on Verizon/Google/Motorola (in that order) as to not explaining this clearly enough, or addressing this issue.

It is NOT that the apps don’t install to SD. The standard installation for all apps 'drops' app data into the sd card folders.

What does happen though is that 'some' of the data while the app is running is being written into the 256mb ram.

Yes you 'can' hack Android so that 'all' of the data is only running on the SD card 'but' this isn't necessary.

Think of the 16gb SD card as being L2 ram and the 256mb being L1 ram. Does that make sense?

(oh and the advantage is that just by buying a bigger SD card you can increase your data storeage from 16gb to 32gb (to 64gb when they are cost effective etc etc) - try doing that with an iPhone.



I Love Love Love that you can 'auto create' a QR code for a contact. Basically if i meet someone at a conference and i talk to them about a friend who i think they should meet i can just 'auto create' a QR code for that contact on the fly for the other person to upload to their phone.

Of course you can also auto create 'your own details' on a QR code to pass along to someone but I've been doing this with a static JPG forever, being able to create a code for every contact is the new unique.

BTW - if you're asking whats a QR code? dont worry I have a QR dummies guide at www.Cognation.net/QR



Cheers,
Dean
BTW - XKCD voted Droid as well :) - http://xkcd.com/662/

Verizon International Rates

I'm thinking of buying the Motorola Droid this weekend so have been spending some time checking out plans and rates etc.

Accidentally stumbled across this gem of information.

LOL - yep you read that right $1.49 and $1.79 per minute to call Australia from the USA.

And you wonder why people hate mobile carriers.

Welcome to the new world fuckers - Skype calls cost me sub 5c per minute using your unlimited data plan.

You're greedy actions are what cause me to treat you like nothing more than a dumb fat pipe.



Cheers,
Dean

mmmm Cinabonns for breakfast

mmmm fresh from the can "Cinabonns" for breakfast..... this is the perfect example of everything that is right with living in the USA and dichotomously everything that is wrong at the same time.




and yeh they did taste surprisingly good for something that 15 mins ago was vacuum sealed in a can from the fridge.


Cheers,
Dean

The Motels

I really have to stop buying cd's - it's becoming an addiction, but when you come across a classic cd like The Motels you just cant help but to go back and search on Amazon and Ebay for more.

I've added 5 of the tracks in the "Mood Music of the Day" play box on the bottom right, hope you enjoy.



This isn't the official version of the music video - that can be found here but EMI banned embedding.


Cheers,
Dean

New Droid Advertisement

lol - love it.

Bye Bye ATT - I'm off to Verizon sometime this weekend (i'll skip the lines on Friday thanks).




Cheers,
Dean

Trump Real Estate Marketing Messages

Lol - do you think these Trump Property envelopes were left over from 2 years ago pre property collapse?

If you are going to buy a Droid get it before the 15th of November !!

It appears as if Verizon is going to be changing their ETF for for advanced devices on the 15th of November from $175 to $350.

If you are planning on buying a Droid make sure you do it before the 15th of November.

Basically if you buy your droid after the 15th of November if you leave Verizon BEFORE the end of 2 years they want to charge you a higher early termination fee.

So basically if you left after 1 year (to go back to ATT for the "iPhone V5" for example) then they will charge you $230 ($350 - ($10 per month x 12 months completed = $120).

If you buy before the 15th of november the amount they charge you is $175 - $5 per month completed any purchases before the 15th of November it would be $115 early termination fee ($175 - ($5 per month x 12=$60).

Hey Verizon looks like all the suckyness of you hasn't quite left yet.


Cheers,
Dean




P.S. For all those people hitting this site today - Wednesday the 4th of November

Come join us tonight for live chat during Game 6 - "Back in the Bronx" - at 8pm, http://www.livebaseballchat.com/CHUrl/2009-11-02/2830/713


Yankees in 6 baby !!!

Game 6 Phillies at Yankees is confimred

The www.LiveBaseballChat.com CHurl for Wednesday night -Game 6 is back in the Bronx - http://www.livebaseballchat.com/CHUrl/2009-11-02/2830/713


Cheers,
Dean