Netbooks + other news

Netbooks

Microsoft Executive: Netbooks Risk Cannibalizing Windows – netbooks are considered to be part of a wider consumer trend on downshifting technology. Consequently netbooks affects a business that relies on the consumer believing that continual innovation is a good thing. ASUS’ iconic eeePC netbooks even ran a Linux desktop application. Netbooks were a realisation that a lot of people use the web to check their email and create basic content. I don’t think that Google’s thin client Chromebooks are the antidote to netbooks either due to patchy networks.

Business

Understanding Google’s Strategy– nice piece of analysis

Consumer behaviour

End of The Pepsi Generation – Now you must earn youth trust

trendwatching.com’s December 2008 Trend Briefing, covering half a dozen consumer trends for 2009 – loving these ideas from the peeps at trendwatching

Youth Marketing Statistics: Influence in User Reviews – How important are consumer opinions when making purchases?

Gadget

SanDisk Cruzer Enterprise Becomes First Secure USB Flash Drive to Fully Support Apple Macintosh Users

How to

Social Media Monitoring and Analysis with SM2 from Techrigy – recommended by the guys at e-Consultancy for me to have a look at

stock.xchng – the leading free stock photography site

Legal

Groklaw – Apple Tells Court It Believes Someone Is Behind Psystar – something worth keeping an eye on. This could blow up as big and as dirty as the SCO case if Apple is correct

Marketing

ElfYourself by OfficeMax – Powered by JibJab – viral from OfficeMax for Xmas 2008. Interesting the way they went with the same concept. This isn’t as sophisticated (from a technical perspective) as their previous viral

New York Times Finds Success with Facebook Campaign – ClickZ – reading this is a bit meta: media company which makes its money by advertising, uses Facebook advertising to successfully market itself (presumably offsetting the amount it spent in acquiring traffic by advertising on Facebook with selling advertising on its own site)

Youth Marketing Statistics: Has your organization made specific changes to the marketing budget in response to the economy?

The downturn’s new rules for marketers – The McKinsey Quarterly (registration required) – interesting article by McKinsey. I like the concept of micro markets

Calm Christmas – nice advent calendar

Media

UK media set for thousands more job cuts-analysts By Kate Holton LONDON (Reuters) – British media companies could cut tens of thousands more jobs in the coming years as the economic downturn hits an industry already ravaged by the Internet revolution. British newspaper groups and broadcasters have…

The Independent launches readers’ blogs – a bit behind the Telegraph on this

Google Turns To Hard Alcohol, Will Relax Ad Rules In January | paidContent:UK – Google becoming more evil to ensure continued revenue growth in the UK.

Online

Changing landscape in China’s e-commerce and social networking services  |  December 4, 2008  |  Telecommunications Online

Video: Good Ideas in 2009 in Social Media | PSFK – Trends, Ideas & Inspiration

#hashtags.org – making sense of the #events on Twitter

storytlr | your life online – really nice way of doing ‘digital storytelling’ for next-to-no money

Shopping

ENDLESS MUSIC – MUSIC, TV & FILM MEMORABILIA

Diggers Guide Update! – Manchester and North West. Some of these places were new to me

Technology

TG Daily – Windows market share drops to 15-year low

Wireless

MacDailyNews: iPhone market share surges