WWF Augmented Reality

This is so cool, and for such a good cause. I wish we saw more of this type of application being developed.

Wolfram Alpha Unveiled

Back at the end of March I posted about Wolfram Alpha. Last week Dr. Stephen Wolfram, the inventor and creator of Wolfram Alpha, unveiled the first working demo of what is being heralded as possibly the most important technological invention of the the last decade.

At the Harvard University showcase, the renowned Particle Physicist showed the scientific community what is refereed to as an "answer engine" or "knowledge engine", rather than a search engine. It provides users with the function of typing a question and being given an answer. Bare in mind, that's an answer and not a list of websites. As such Wolfram Alpha is not what is being termed a Google-killer. It really isn't in direct competition with Google at all.

Part of the demonstration saw Dr. Wolfram enter various questions or queries, each to complete success. For example, when he entered 'Weather Oakland, California' the knowledge engine immediately came back with a full breakdown of weather patterns for the region over the previous 10 years.



After the showcase Tom Simpson, noted Digital Marketer, said: "What are the wider implications exactly? A new paradigm for using computers and the web? Probably. Emerging artificial intelligence and a step towards a self-organising internet? Possibly... I think this could be big."

Wolfram Alpha is perched on the crest of a wave with the potential to wash across the world changing the way we access and search information. Foremost the system's potential is its ability to compute answers "on the fly" (according to Dr. Wolfram), giving it the ability to tackle new questions that it has never seen before. This in turn gives it the ability to 'learn', producing faster results the next time that question, or one similar, is asked. The knock-on effect of how Wolfram Alpha 'learns' could be the first real steps towards artificial intelligence.

A key differentiator between the way in which Wolfram Alpha accesses information, how Google does it and how Wikipedia does it, is in the way the information is managed. Wikipedia is based on a user generated system that is moderated, edited and compiled by the public itself. In theory the information is correct due to collective input, however on niche topics it is not always the most reliable source. Google on the other hand uses bots and spiders to crawl the web and determine what it is that is on a webpage. This system is limited in that any information stored in exotic formats or within images is inaccessible to Google and it relies heavily on what the creator has 'tagged' the information as. Wolfram Alpha on the other hand will operate as a 'curated' system. It will rely on a team of up to 1,000 experts to assess if the information Wolfram Alpha is drawing on is indeed correct. Beyond this, the system is heavily based on Dr. Wolfram's award-winning Mathematica software, which is used everyday by scientists, engineers and mathematicians around the world.

Interestingly, Dr. Wolfram hasn't however ruled out any strategic alliances with these or other internet businesses, saying, "We're working to partner with all possible organisations that make sense; Search, narrative, news are complementary to what we have. Hopefully there will be some great synergies." He also confirmed that the system will utilise Wikipedia's popularity index to determine what users are likely to be referring to, when it comes to pop culture based questions.

Aussies Ban Sexist Ad (Shocker)

Don't get me wrong - I love Australia. I loved the time I spent out there (I presume there's a wiki article somewhere about how every Irish person must spend a year in Oz??) and I enjoy so much about Australian culture - beers, surf, the vast and expansive countryside, the skyscraper dotted cities, and the people.

But I'm not going to pretend that the Aussies are the most PC people I've ever spent time around.

So when I read that a Coke Zero ad had been pulled because it was deemed too sexist by their Advertising Standards Bureau, I was interested to say the least. Funny thing is, I don't think it's all that bad. Is this really any more demeaning to women then the Diet Coke Man was to men? Well, judge for yourself...

500 Posts

Having just realised that I had posted 499 posts I couldn't help myself from dropping in something fun for the 500th.

11 Essential Skills for Digital Marketing

I was sent a link to Ian Lurie's post, 11 Internet Marketing Skills That Must Be Second Nature, yesterday by a friend. Not only do I agree with everything Ian says, but he made me laugh. So I thought that I should share his insights with you.

1. XHTML and CSS. You don't have to be a god(dess) of web programming. But so help me God the next 'internet marketer' who gives me a blank stare when I mention CSS gets an atomic wedgie. And by the way, web standards have nothing to do with the metric system.
2. Search engine optimization. Search engine results are the starting point for at least 70% of all online behavior. How on earth will you help someone market themselves online if you don't even know what moves a site up and down in the rankings? Quick hint: Saying "SEO? Oh, we optimize your meta tags" is the same as saying "I am a severely impaired nubwit".
3. Pay per click marketing. Nothing sucks money out of a marketing budget faster than undisciplined PPC marketing. Assuming you care about your clients, you need to know a lot about PPC. Knowing where PPC ads show up doesn't count, by the way. You need to know and understand concepts like negative keywords, quality scoring, dynamic keywords and content networks. Another hint: "Negative keyword" doesn't mean "Keywords that make you feel bad".
4. Analysis. Let me make this clear: A bar chart is not analytics. If I ask for analysis and you e-mail me a bar chart I will so kick your behind. Analysis/analytics is the practice of turning data (the bar chart) into action steps and conclusions like "Wow, our ROI on this keyword is great. We need to build a landing page."
5. Usability. Please, please read Don't Make Me Think. Just for starters. Then start keeping an eye on Jakob Nielsen's site and other resources. Usability is a non-stop learning process. So get going.
6. Complete sentences. Write every day. Every day. I don't care what you write about. But you need to be able to write a post like this in 30-40 minutes, and it needs to be readable.
   
7. RSS and feeds. I shouldn't even have to say this. But you do know how to use Google Reader, right? Right?!
8. Blogging and social media. Write at least one blog. See 'Complete Sentences', above. And know what people mean when they say 'social media'. They really mean media. Understand what makes it all tick, and how you can help someone interact with their audience in a meaningful way.
9. E-mail marketing. Learn to build a house e-mail list. Learn why most rental e-mail lists suck eggs. Know what makes an e-mail work or fail.
10. Statistics 101. If you don't know what a rolling average is, don't even talk to me.
11. Marketing. Oh, did I mention? You need to be good at, you know, making people understand why something is The Product For Them.

The House That Ogilvy Built

Great document by Kennth Roman, about David Ogilvy and his timeless understanding of business and advertising. Worth a read by anyone who has ever worked a job!

Male Copywriter

There are very few people not effected by the current global economic situation. Whatever sector you work in, you probably know people who have been laid off. But what if you are one of those people. What if, following 15 years of hard grift, you find yourself 'let go'?

Hope and pray that it all gets better? Pretend you know anything about coffee other then how to drink it and become a barista in the local Starbucks?

As Carlsberg would have us think, it's not always A or B, there's probably a C. And sure enough, if you're Lawson Clarke, there definitely is. It might be a little 'out there' but at the very least, it's a way to get known.

After his 15 years of copywriting for clients like Ocean Spray, Carnival and Strongbow, Lawson was another casualty of 'uncertain times' and found himself without work. Not willing to let his unemployment stop him, he created his site: Male Copywriter.

This is essential viewing.

In some sort of crazy cross between Ron Burgandy and Dirk Diggler, Lawson demonstrates him impressive work profile against a backdrop of 70's style porn shoot, with Lawson atop a bear skin rug, hair cheast cascading down his front, and the Star Spangled Banner belting through your speakers. Hopefully the tongue is firmly in the cheek, as if this is anything other then SNL style humour we should all be very scared. None-the-less, this is still must see digital and a potential 'how-to' for anyone else out of work with a bit of creative ability.