For my last post of September 06, a link to an article on Vertical Search creating a challenge to Google down the line.

I understand there will be a free webinar on the ROI of Blogging that anyone can sign up for - I’ll try to attend and looks like something many people would benefit from.

Next Tuesday, October 3rd, from 1:00pm-2:00pm EST we will be hosting a webinar on the ROI of Blogging with Charlene Li of Forrester Research.  This webinar will help you gain an understanding about the benefits, costs, and most importantly, the risks of blogging.   Sign up now

Lee Odden has been testing a new product called FeedAdvertising.  I looked at the 5 minute tutorial and it’s really cool.  You do need a WordPress blog to use it though…that would work well for my www.ArtNewYorkCity.com blog which is on the Syntagma Web Magazine network and would work for Howard Rheingold ’s www.smartmobs.com site but would not work for KMM’s blogs, like Webmetricsguru.com because WMG is running on Moveable Type.  It also would not work for Blogger blogs like Amy Crehore’s but I wish it would work on all the major blog platforms.  Maybe it will in the future.

"This is a service that allows you to monetize your RSS feeds with ads. Text Link Ads will sell the ads for you, or in my case, I just put in ads for some things I’m doing with Marketing Sherpa. You can do it either way or both."

Just watch the tutorial and you’ll get the idea.  I think the point of using FeedAdvertising is that many people read RSS feeds in their Feed Readers, like Bloglines - these people will never go to your site and see your AdSense ads, or similar types of ads from other services because they don’t go to your site.  Great Idea!

Mike Love, a fellow writer (and one of the newest members) at Smartmobs.com has come up with an interesting way to use Wikipedia to create a Genealogy of Influence map using Google TouchGraph browser.

I had no idea that Mike Love was a programmer - this is great!   I mean, I’d love to see something like this applied in a couple of different ways.

1 - I’d like to be able to put in any person or search term and see the touchgraph of relationships in the same way it’s shown above.   Something like this, were in a search engine - could greatly improve search.

2- I’d like to see visitor segmentation in Web Analytics viewed this way (perhaps Visual Sciences already does this …I’ll have to check with Eric Peterson when I get ot the Emetrics Summit in two weeks).

While it’s mainly an informational project now - I think Mike Love has touched onto something much bigger - probably beyond what he can do with it - but search engines ought to take this approach and run with it.  I know Kartoo tries to do this, but a Kartoo map is not the same thing as what Mike Love did.

For one thing, Kartoo’s map is based on website and then ideas; I’m more interested in the relationship of people and ideas, not so much websites.  See what I mean. 

The technology exists to do what I’m talking about - it just takes vision - insight.

I actually missed one of the most exciting events in New York City this week, Wired NextFest, but I can go on Sunday to see the end of the show - I may do that.  Look at what I missed.  Well, I can take my son with me and spend the day there on Sunday….maybe I’ll do it.  If so, I’ll write about it here and in ArtNewYorkCity.com, and possibly, in Smartmobs.com too.

Exhibitors
WIRED NextFest 2006

The Future of Communication

Accenture Technology Labs

Interactive Wall

ekgaon

CAM

Intellext

Watson

Inveneo

Solar-Powered Communication

Ishikawa-Namiki-Komuro Lab, University of Tokyo

Smart Laser Scanner

Jose Hernandez-Rebollar

AcceleGlove

Kamida

Socialight

Microsoft Research India

Text-Free User Interface

Northwestern University

Buzz

Northwestern University

Imagination Environment

Sennep

Dandelion

Tactical Language Training, LLC

Tactical Iraqi Language and Culture Trainer

The Future of Design

CuteCircuit

F&R Hug Shirt

Daniel Rozin

Circles Mirror

Eness

Pixile

Ishikawa-Namiki-Komuro Lab, University of Tokyo

Khronos Projector

James Clar, FedEx Institute of Technology

3D Display Cube

Jefferson Y. Han

Media Mirror

Kennedy & Violich Architecture

Portable Light

KickStart International

MoneyMaker Irrigation Pump

MIT Media Lab

considerateThings

MIT Media Lab

Revolver

Norene Leddy and Andrew Milmoe

The Aphrodite Project: Platforms

Pioneer Corporation

3D Floating Vision Haruka

rAndom International

PixelRoller

Rosanna Kilfedder

Sun Trap Handbag

Society for Arts and Technology

Panoscope LAN

Tanaka Seisakusho

E-TAF Automatic Door

The Future of Entertainment

FeedTank

Full Body Games

Fog Screen, Inc.

Fog Screen

Interactive Institute

Brainball

Jen Lewin, Blue Ink Studio

Laser Harp

Jin-Yo Mok

SoniColumn

Limiteazero

Laptop Orchestra

Miyako Dub Squall

Color Frequency Video Turntable

Sato&Koike Lab, Tokyo Institute of Technology

Virtual Canoe

University of Tsukuba

Haptic Karate Trainer

VirtuSphere, Inc.

VirtuSphere

The Future of Exploration

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT; NASA

Bio-Suit

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT; NASA

Knowledge Station

Hirose Robotics Lab, Tokyo Institute of Technology

SMC Rover

IBM Almaden Research Center

Atomoscope

Nuytco Research

Deepworker and Exosuit

Virgin Galactic

SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo

The Future of Green

AeroVironment, Inc.

Architectural Wind

FuseProject

Leaf LED Lighting

iD-L

Ragbag

Interactive Institute

Element

Interactive Institute

Energy Curtain

Interactive Institute

Erratic Radio

Interactive Institute

Flower Lamp

Interactive Institute

Power Aware Cord

Novomer

Polymers from Green Materials

Stellaris Corporation

ClearPower

The Power of One

Xof1 Solar Car

XCO2

Quiet Revolution Wind Turbine

The Future of Health

AnthroTronix

CosmoBot
Mission Control

Genetic Savings & Clone

Cloned Animals

Kanagawa Institute Of Technology

Power Assist Suit

Luminetx

VeinViewer

Otto Bock HealthCare

C-Leg

Otto Bock HealthCare

Computer-Aided Design

Otto Bock HealthCare

DynamicArm

Otto Bock HealthCare

SensorHand Speed

Telbotics, Inc.

Pebbles

The Growing Connection

EarthBox

University of Texas at Austin

Bacterial Photographs

Vestergaard Frandsen SA

LifeStraw

Vestergaard Frandsen SA

ZeroFly

The Future of Play

Animaatiokone Industries

Animaatiokone

Animaatiokone Industries

Kick Ass Kung-Fu

Dirk Eijsbouts

Interface #4, TFT Tennis V180

Human-Computer Interaction Lab, University of Maryland

International Children’s Digital Library

Inami Lab, University Of Electro-Communications

Conspiratio

Interactive Institute

DigiWall

PlayMotion! LLC

PlayMotion!

Satoko Moroi

Sound Flakes

School of Cinema-Television, University of Southern California

MobZombies

The Future of Security

Aurora Flight Sciences

GoldenEye

Moteiv Corporation

Moteiv Wireless Sensor System

Office of Naval Research; SPAWAR; and Torrey Pines Logic, Inc.

LightSpeed

US Army Natick Soldier Center

Future Force Warrior

The Future of Transportation

Carter Aviation Technologies

Carter Personal Air Vehicle

NoLand Corporation

Bionic Dolphin

Ohio State University

Buckeye Bullet

University of California, Berkeley

Ghost Rider Robot

Wheelsurf Inc.

Wheelsurf

Robot Row

Christine Southworth

Ensemble Robot

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology

FIRST Robotics Competition

Hanson Robotics, Inc.

Humanlike Conversational Robots

Intelligent Robot Lab, University of Tsukuba

Robotic Hand

Kokoro Company, Ltd

Actroid DER

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

KHR-3 HUBO

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan

Paro

Robo Garage, Kyoto University

Chroino

RobotLab

Juke Bots

Shadow Robot Company Ltd.

Shadow Dexterous Hand

Tohoku University

Partner Ballroom Dance Robot

There was also a bunch of events that I missed earlier this week.  I knew about the show beforehand just had not focused on it. 

Monday, September 25

Next Art
Reentry: New York City - Bill Dolson
Synthetic meteor showers fill the Manhattan skyline in these HD computer simulations, envisioning a daring public art project.
Reentry was created during Dolson’s residency at Eyebeam, an art and technology center that provides a fertile context and state-of-the-art tools for digital experimentation.

EYEBEAM
540 West 21st (between 10th and 11th Avenues)
6:30 - 8:30 PM

learn more

Tuesday, September 26

Next Music
An evening of new music curated by

learn more

SOLD OUT

 

Wednesday, September 27

Next Film
Special Screening: The Fountain
Starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz
Spanning over one thousand years, and three parallel stories, The Fountain is a story of love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence in this world.
9:00 PM

IFC Center
323 6th Avenue
Admission is free. Capacity is limited.
LEARN MORE

Thursday, September 28

Education Day
Free to tri-state area school groups. Registration is full.
9:00 AM - 2:00 PM | Javits Center, Hall 3B

learn more

The Long Tail: The Rise and Fall of the Blockbuster
Chris Anderson WIRED editor in chief in conversation with Lawrence Lessig, Stanford law School professor and WIRED columnist.
7:00 PM | New York Public Library

learn more

SOLD OUT

 

Friday, September 29

WIRED NextFest
Open to the public.
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM | Javits Center, Hall 3B

buy tickets

Robots: Here we are Now, Entertain Us
Panel Discussion
10:00 - 10:45 AM | Main Stage, Javits Center, Hall 3B

Learn More

Virgin Galactic, Cleared for Take-off
Panel Discussion
12:00 - 12:45 PM | Main Stage, Javits Center, Hall 3B

Learn More

Green is the New Black
Panel Discussion
2:00 - 2:45 PM | Main Stage, Javits Center, Hall 3B

Learn More

Robots: Almost Human
Panel Discussion
4:00 - 4:45 PM | Main Stage, Javits Center, Hall 3B

Learn More

WIRED + Flavorpill present:
Next Music
Featuring

learn more

SOLD OUT

 

Saturday, September 30

WIRED NextFest
Open to the public.
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM | Javits Center, Hall 3B

buy tickets

The New Vacationauts
Panel Discussion
10:00 - 10:45 AM | Main Stage, Javits Center, Hall 3B

Learn More

Robots: Almost Human
Panel Discussion
12:00 - 12:45 PM | Main Stage, Javits Center, Hall 3B

Learn More

Let’s Go Already - The Future of Exploration
Panel Discussion
2:00 - 2:45 PM | Main Stage, Javits Center, Hall 3B

Learn More

Robots: Here We are Now, Entertain Us
Panel Discussion
4:00 - 4:45 PM | Main Stage, Javits Center, Hall 3B

Learn More

Sunday, October 1

WIRED NextFest
Open to the public.
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM | Javits Center, Hall 3B

buy tickets

Just looked an online video on YouTube that explains the power of mistakes.

 "People make mistakes in life all the time. It could be putting your shirt on backwards, mistaking a woman for a man or even kissing someone and then finding out that they are related to you. By taking these mistakes that happen in life and integrating them into commercials, you can create something that is both funny and memorable"

Can’t say there’s a direct tie in with Web Metrics and this video - but there is an indirect one - maybe we find things other than what we were searching for, or tracking.  I’ve seen that in some of my client work, and I’ve also found that’s true for painting.  I don’t cover up mistakes because I’m not sure anything really is a mistake (when I’m painting, that is); you can read more about art in ArtNewYorkCity.com, my art blog.

Just found out about AdCenter’s new Video Tutorials that are very good -and explain how to set up campaigns and choose keywords.   I think this was a missing element of AdCenter last year - when people started using AdCenter - it was difficult to set up a campaign and the interface was buggy.  Now it’s gotten better.  

I still did not see them to a good video on Keyword Research or explain the Geo Demographic Cluster that are used in the Lifestyle charts - I’m sure they’ll eventually come forward with that information.  I like the improvements and the Tutorials.  

Jason Calacanis points out there are factors that no one can fully gague that may take the housing market to a hard landing sooner than we think.

"My intuition tells me that there are two X-factors waiting in the wings that will turn the soft-landing into something harder:

1. I think there might be *ramped* mortgage fraud going on. Like people buying five houses on bogus mortgages that say their living in a house.

2. "creative" mortgage options in California coming home to roost. Check out the infographic below from Marketwatch.

The Marketwatch article is actually much scarier than what Jason is saying:

"….About one-third of the mortgages sold in the last year were devised to minimize the initial monthly payment to make it seem as if buyers could afford a more expensive home.

The cost of that Mephistophelian bargain comes later, when the monthly payment is reset to cover all the deferred interest charges, plus, in some cases, the extra principal. "

"On Friday, in a jointly crafted message on so-called exotic mortgages, multiple government agencies warned banks in strong terms to make sure borrowers can pay back the full amount of what they borrow and that homeowners know that a low monthly payment today could be shockingly high later.

America’s real-estate boom may be over now, but millions of homeowners who thought they were borrowing their way into wealth find themselves instead holding a ticking time bomb, a toxic mortgage with a potential payment far larger than they can afford.

 

……Bank regulators knew more than a year ago that lenders were aggressively marketing interest-only and payment-option adjustable-rate mortgages to consumers who didn’t fully understand what they were buying. In July 2005, several government agencies teamed up to write guidelines intended to set lenders straight.

 

In the meantime, the runaway writing of these mortgages went on unchecked, and the fact that nobody in government stood in the way highlights the fact that a patchwork of government bureaucracies was ill-equipped to bring the practice under control, lawmakers and regulators say."

GlobalEconomicAnalysis has a further brakedown on the what’s triggering the housing bubble care of Catholicsinglegirl.  BTW, it seems that there is about double the amount of BUZZ today as there was 6 months ago about a housing bubble.  I’d told all of this really can be described as exhaustion.

• After years of price runups, people started buying homes not to live in but for investment purposes. In 2004 and 2005 a whopping 40% of all homes sold were for second homes or for investment purposes.
• The above happened in spite of the fact that home prices to wages relationships, and home prices to rental prices had both risen 4 standard deviations above norm.
• Credit standards steadily declined to rock bottom levels such that anyone who could fog a mirror could get a loan
• Lenders passed on risk to hedge funds, pension plans, etc who could not get enough of what eventually will become toxic waste, but at the time seemed like a good idea. Risk yield spreads collapsed as people started assuming prices of houses would never decline.
• Fannie Mae lost trillions in derivative hedging as interest rates gyrated but no one really cared.
• Homebuilders provided down payments via charities to those who could not afford to buy a house. The IRS has been looking into this practice and it may be illegal.
• Magazine covers, books, and financial wizards of all sort were touting “Buy now before prices rise further”.
• All sorts of creative financial products were unleashed on the unwary.
• As the pool of eligible and willing buyers shrank, subprime loans, pay option arms, and stated income loans soared as a percentage of all loans. Anything and everything was done to keep the bubble expanding.
• The masses embraced the trend just as it was ending.
• Panic buying reached a peak in the Summer of 2005 with people camping out overnight in Florida to buy condos for ridiculous prices hoping to flip them. No one bothered to figure out there was no one to flip them to.
• David Lereah, chief propagandist for the National Association of Realtors, published the same book twice. His book “Are You Missing the Real Estate Boom?”was published in February 2005 about 6 months before the peak. One year later in February 2006 (about 6 months after the peak) Lereah retitled his book “Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bust—And How You Can Profit from It.”
• Pent up demand collapsed and home sales plunged. The pool of greater fools, reached its pinnacle, depending on location, somewhere between Summer of 2005 and Winter of 2005.
• The unwinding process has really just started.
• Given that the housing boom lasted for close to 20 years and sustained panic buying happened over a 3-5 year period, selling capitulation and inventory work off can easily take 7 years or more. We are nowhere close to selling exhaustion.
• Global wage arbitrage, outsourcing, rising bankruptcies, and rising unemployment will ensure this process will take a long time to fully unwind.
• Prices will continue to fall until bankruptcies and selling exhaustion are in.

I don’t think this bodes well for my Architect clients, both current and former as they are part of the food chain of housing.  Let’s hope for the best.

I interviewed Robbin Steif of LunaMetrics today; Robbin will be speaking at the Emetrics Summit, in a couple of weeks, and my interview with Robbin Steif is the first that I’m doing before the summit. 

Where do I begin….how about a picture of Robbin Steif.

Robbin is CEO of LunaMetrics, a Web Analytics firm that is located in Pittsburgh where her firm is busy handling the Analytics and SEO/SEM needs of many clients.

Robbin got started in the IT Industry working for IBM in the Direct Response group (she recalls the telephone number  of IBM Direct as 1-800-IBM-2468); IBM Direct took phone orders based on Direct Response advertising before the IBM.com website was created in 1993-1994 (this is something I actually know about).  Here’s some information about Robbin Steif that describes Robbin’s background..

"In a former life, Robbin was CFO for MAYA Design, a high-tech firm that specializes in usability for complex technical issues, including websites. She has also owned and sold a national e-tailer, Send Me No Flowers, which sells gifts by direct mail and e-commerce/e-marketing. Her career began in IBM’s Direct Response division.

Robbin is a graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Business School. She is a PA Best 50 Women in Business winner, co-chairman of the Web Analytics Association’s marketing committee, and is a frequent speaker on the topic of website merchandising and e-marketing.

Robbin sees Web Analytics as a 4 pronged stool with Finance and Math as 2 of the 4 prongs (I don’t remember what the other two prongs are).  She sees her self on having most of the prongs of the stool, but still growing, evolving into it.  

I asked Robbin what Web Analytics packages she uses on her own sites.  Turns out she uses both Net Tracker (Internet provider provides) and  Google Analytics.  Since many of Lunametrics clients use Google Analytics it made sense to use for the Lunametrics blog.

One thing I found unusual about the Lunametrics site was the money back guarantee on most of the pages and a free 1 hour site assessment for conversion rates and overall site performance.  I don’t know that one hour is enough time to find out all the major problems, but it’s a generous offer and does generate some business for Lunametrics.    Robbin also plans to update her Lunametrics site and blog at one time in the near future.

Robbin Steif’s presentation at the Emetric Summit will be about Marketers are from Mercury and Programmers are from Pluto - or how to market to IT Professionals and will take place at the end of the conference on Wednesday afternoon, October 18th.

Data Capture & Integration 7
Marketers are from Mercury and Programmers are from
Pluto: Marketing for Technologists
Robbin Steif, CEO, LunaMetrics

You spent six months evaluating packages.You’ve got it installed and pages tagged, events created, eVars established.You’re up and running — except that now, management wants decisions based on the data, and you don’t know where to start. In addition to a brief tour of KPIs, this will include a guide to marketing analysis you should do on a regular or ad-hoc basis to understand who your best customers are, what kind of loyalty you have, where you should invest more marketing dollars and where you should pull back, and how to turn your analytics into actionable data.

Robbin is also be moderating the Data Capture & Integration Track at the Emetrics Summit; here’s the overview:

Data Capture & Integration Track

Data capture, cleansing, integration, reporting–there’s a great deal of technical ground to cover before you even start to realize website ROI. And did we mention cookies, proxies, firewalls and CRM systems?

Data capture, cleansing, integration - there’s a lot to know about those kind of issues in Web Analytics, esp cleaning the data - a lot of times you have to get rid of a lot of garbage data to get just what you want - clearly Robbin Steif is an expert which is why you should attend her session(s) if your going to the Emetrics Summit and check out her Lunametrics site and blog when you get a chance.  

There’s a lot of depth about Robbin Steif and I could not cover it all here - I do interviews mostly from memory with some notes - but if I conveyed that Robbin is an Web Analytics expert who who is continuing to grow along with the Web Analytics / Web Metrics field, I’ve done a good interview.

We closed by talking about the future of Web Analytics (I asked her about this - it’s one of my questions) and she thought Web Analytics is still in it’s infancy - that we need to make Web Analytics something that is built into applications where most people can access the power of it rather than the small number of businesses that do so now.  In fact, Robbin felt that we have barely touched the surface of how many sites need Web Analytics.

I brought up that while I’d like to see Web Analytics become more integrated with websites and the web creation process - I don’t wish to see our work become a commodity, much as Unix Systems Admin became a commodity for me around 2000-2001.  Robbin added, we don’t have to worry about that as there’s so many other facets to Web Analytics that we can go into - that even if what we do now becomes a commodity in the future - we’ll move on to something higher in the food chain - because there’s so many things to work on and improve.  Good point and with that, my interview with Robbin Steif is over.

Interesting …. Robert Downey Jr. picked to play Iron Man , not a bad choice for an actor to play Tony Stark.  Of Course, for the movie role, Robert Downey Jr will need to have a mustashe as Tony Stark is always drawn with one.  I will definaely go see the movie when it comes out ….I liked reading Iron Man comics in the old days (there days I don’t read many comics).

"Marvel Entertainment will finance the entire project - the first time they’ve done that. 

Downey reportedly fought hard to get the role, getting physically in shape and growing a goatee in the style of the title character Tony Stark (Iron Man).

Kevin Feige, Marvel’s president of production, commented: "In every casting announcement we’ve done, people in their mind’s eye have their own view of it and let us know about it. We’re used to it, the point is, we looked at everybody, and we found the best person for the role. It’s as confident a casting move as we’ve ever done. The proof will be in the pudding, but he is Tony Stark."

Marvel is going to sink $100 million into the film, a little risky for a first-time outing. Jon Favreau has been picked to direct the film while it will be produced by Feige and Avi Arad."

I don’t think it’s that risky…Movies about Comic Book Heros have made at least 100 million -so at worse, Marvel will break even.   It’s not a risk - they will probably do something really fantastic for their first movie, as a movie studio.

BTW, is there any Buzz around IRON MAN, or Robert Downey Jr?  Let’s see.

Looks like a lot of BUZZ for Robert Downey Jr and IRON MAN and it started on September 25th.