A New York City startup called Howcast is launching today that wants to be the YouTube of instructional videos. In fact, the three founders—Jason Liebman, Daniel Blackman and Sanjay Raman—are ex-Google employees who worked on Google Video and YouTube before they left eight months ago. They actually are going for a little more polish than YouTube, trying to bring some production values to the world of Web video.

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Sorry loyal readers. I went from posting anywhere up to 3 threads a day to like one a fortnight. Apologies.

I have been bogged down with work; change of roles at work (yay!) and uni (sarcastic yay!).

As companies make philanthropic efforts many are looked at as trying to make themselves look more ethical than they actually are. We have heard terms like ‘green wash‘ which is where a business presents themselves as eco-friendly when they are actually not. Well, I am quite fond of Google’s efforts in the philanthropic area and here are some examples why:

Google.org has announced five core initiatives that will be the focus of its philanthropic efforts over the next five to ten years. The philanthropic arm of Google announced $25 million in new grants and investments to initial partners as the part of the core initiative roll out.

Google.org’s five initiatives and partners include:

Predict and Prevent: supporting “efforts to empower communities to predict and prevent events before they become local, regional, or global crises, by identifying “hot spots” and enabling a rapid response.” Grants as follows:

• $5 million to InSTEDD (Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters) to improve early detection, preparedness, and response capabilities for global health threats and humanitarian crises.
• $2.5 million to the Global Health and Security Initiative (GHSI), established by the Nuclear Threat Initiative to prevent, detect, and respond to biological threats.
• $600,000 to Clark University, with equal funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, for Clark Labs to develop a system to improve monitoring, analysis and prediction of the impacts of climate variability and change on ecosystems, food and health in Africa and the Amazon.

This information was excerpted from TechCrunch (as usual) so if you would like to read it in its entirety, go here.

Marketing has changed dramatically from what it once was. One current example is social networking. Sites like MySpace and Facebook drive word-of-mouth like never before. The ‘buzz‘ epidemic is here, even for a little while.

What I find particularly fascinating is the Cory Delaney (Worthington) story. Cory is the 16-year-old who posted an invitation to his house party on MySpace. As a result, 500 people showed up; reeked havoc; and vandalised the neighbourhood. Since the event, Cory has become the guy you love to hate. He’s in the headlines day-in day-out and people are really ripping him to shreds. Funny thing is, he is still in the headlines. People love to read about him even though they call him a menace and arrogant.

It seems to be that the cake is on our own face. Cory has been a real entrepreneur about the whole thing. He’s created enough appeal to attract media attention and he’s capitalising on this. Whether it is the money he makes from media interviews or the job offers he has received as a party promoter. People, even only some, love him.

Be Seen Web Design defines buzz marketing as ‘a low or no cost method of marketing associated with people telling other people telling other people about a company’s products or services’. In this instance Cory is the product. He is and the media are creating enough of a spectacle that people are no-stop talking about it. This can be told by the fact that the news has reached overseas.

I think this is a great example of the buzz marketing we hear so much about nowadays. Sure, it’s a bit of an unorthodox variation but it’s buzz nonetheless. Lets see where it takes him.

Here is something fun, slap some sense into Cory. Look at the extremes people are going to with this.

Today is a glorious day in the world of consumer technology for me anyway. Oh, and I am sure others. The new, much anticipated Macbook was announced at Macworld 2008. Branded the Macbook Air it is said to be the worlds thinnest notebook. Lets take a look at what all the popular tech sites had to say:

TechCrunch gave a blow-by-blow run down of the announcement…

10:27am: Macbook Air: it’s “green”. Mercury and Arsenic free LCD and glass, Aluminum frame can be recycled. PVC free on circutry, and packing is less

10:26am: First Air video demoed. The brown envelope is the key to the campaign to emphasize the size

10:24am: price: $1799.

10:23am: 5 hours battery life for Macbook Air, compared with competitors at 1 1/2 hours

10:21am: new feature: “remote disk” that will allow you to install software from another computer

10:20am: no optical drive, but you can buy a special external for $99

10:19am: comes with 802.11n and latest Bluetooth

10:18am: SJ says this is “awesome technology”.

Silicon Alley has the following to say…

As widely anticipated, Steve Jobs announced a sexy, super-thin laptop during his Macworld keynote: MacBook Air. Apple is billing it as “the world’s thinnest notebook.” The catch, at least for Apple’s less affluent customers: The Air is not cheap. Initial retail price will be $1,799.

But back to the gadget porn: The computer has a LED-backlit, 13.3-inch widescreen display, and ranges in thickness from 0.16″ to 0.76″. It has a full-size keyboard and, as rumored, a multi-touch trackpad. To keep things light, Apple did away with the DVD drive. Some more stats: 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo chip, 80-gig standard hard drive or 64-gig Flash storage, 5-hour battery life.

Dvice.com lists four reasons you need a Macbook Air…

1. It’s time to one-up those iPhone pansies. When Dale in the next cubicle got his iPhone on the first day last June, he was promptly mobbed like Jon Bon Jovi everywhere he went for a month straight. That memory still burns, doesn’t it? Well, it’s time you had a stint at BMoC, and the MacBook Air has the goods to elevate your status. If your officemates were impressed by Dale’s Google Maps, just wait till they see you play a DVD in one machine and watch it on another. That’s Air Magic, baby — you rule the day this time!

2. You don’t send enough gifts via interoffice mail. As demonstrated by Steve-O at the keynote, the Air fits comfortably in a typical interoffice envelope. That’s fantastic, since I often send gifts to my colleagues, and those gifts are often laptop computers. Now I can stop wasting all those FedEx boxes… it’s win-win-win, really.

3. Do something about that disc addiction. CDs, DVDs, CD-ROMs, Blu-ray… enough with the optical-disc storage, already. You’ve got tons of those suckers lying around, don’t you? And what’s on them? That’s right: movies, music, and files — who uses any of that? Time to get an Air and turn your back on this primitive era of “data.”

4. Modern décor. Get two. Put them back-to-back on a shelf. Open them so the screens are at right angles to the keyboards. You’ve just created the most minimalist bookends ever. Worth every penny!

More… 

If you want to read more, I’d recommend clicking this link which will take you to Google News and some 2,085 (8:15PM, 16/01/2008) news articles about the Macbook Air.

It was bound to happen; some joker has gotten onto Wikipedia and published a load of fluff about Macworld 2008. Here is an example of some of the so-called ‘leaked notes’:

New MacBooks!

- What would MacWorld be without a new Mac? (sorry about last year)

- Completely redesigned MacBook

- Completely aluminum body like MacBook Pro

- 13″ screen at 1440×900

- Two colors: Black and Silver

- Looks gorgeous at 0.8″ thin

- A major feat of engineering - patents abound

- DVD drive pops open on side when eject button is pressed

- New on all notebooks and iMac: iSight HD (720p)

- New backlit keyboard based on recent Apple Keyboard revisions (keys slightly lighter than that of laptop casing, colorwise)

- New matching MagSafe cable (Aluminum ends, cord color matches that of keyboard)

- New matching Apple Remote (slightly smaller with larger overall buttons)

- Intel GMA X3100 graphics

- 3 models

- Completely phasing out the combo drive on all product lines today

- BTO models can upgrade all the way to 2.6GHz/4GB Memory/320GB hard drive

- 4.5 hours of battery life

- Starting at $1199

Product Refreshes

- Refreshing Mac Pro and Mac mini today

- Mac Pro now with Penryn!

- Base model 2×2.8GHz dual-core/1GB/NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB/250GB(1×250GB)/1×16x double-layer SuperDrive

- Upgradeable to 2×3.2GHz quad-core/16GB/NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB/4TB(4×1TB)/2×16x double-layer SuperDrives

- Starting at $2,499

- Mac mini gets slight speed bumps and double-layer SuperDrive in all models

- Base model 2.0GHz IC2D/1GB/100GB

- BTO Upgradeable to 2.4GHz IC2D/4GB/320GB

- Starting at $599

One More Thing

- Been brewing for a while

- YouTube’s been in Apple TV and iPhone/iPod touch: now it’s in iTunes

- Download YouTube videos straight to iTunes or from iPhone/iPod Touch for later offline viewing (sync back to computer)

- Coming in iTunes 7.6 and iPhone/iPod Touch 1.3 updates

Lets see how accurate these rumours are…

Tomorrow (14th January) marks the start of MacWorld 2008. I wonder what this will bring this time around. Previous MacWorld’s have seen the release of the iPod (many, many models), Apple TV, Macbook, Leopard and iPhone. In fact, all of the products.

This year I hope to see the unveiling of a 3G iPhone suitable for Asia/Pacific and the rumoured ultra-portable 13″ Macbook Pro.

I will provide coverage of any major unveiling’s via Pajago.com as they come to hand.

Please, please, please let the 13″ MBP be real.

I remember reading, some time ago about the $3000 car. The notion behind it was to make four-wheels accessible to India’s fast-growing middle class. Some may ask how producing a vehicle at such a price can be sustainable. Well, profit-margins are thin but by shifting sheer numbers - numbers that are adequately supported by Indian’s population, it is quite a sustainable move; well according to the media reports by these car producers.

The way I see it is India has a demand for this car but I don’t know if they have the infrastructure to support it. How do people currently get around in India? Scooters and motorcycles are very popular due to their fuel efficiency and maneuverability in traffic. I would think they are pretty easy to park and store, also. So how will the country cope with a car that is set to ‘revolutionise the market of 1.1 billion people‘? To me, it seems like a situation of buying the vase first and table later.

Where are these cars meant to be parked? How will the roads cope in terms of both congestion and wear? How will the current refueling stations cope? How will the ports cope with bringing in fuel? Are there adequate service centres? I really could go on…

If the nation has, for so long counted on two-wheels as a primary mode of transport how do they all of a sudden cater for four? This is not to mention the already burgeoning environmental aspects.

[Side Note] It’s interesting what people have to say in the comments of the article, ‘$A2800: World’s Cheapest Car’ over at News.com.au. Concerns of how safe the Tata Nano is seems to be the general consensus. Doesn’t seem to be much thought into the safety of a moped though. Additionally, people seem to be critical of the cars chances in making it to Australian roads. Well that’s ok, as I don’t believe there are intentions. It’s built with a purpose and meeting Australia standards is not one of them.

I like this comment; it sums it all up:

“You nitwits are missing the entire point of the car. It is not meant for Aussies or any other western market. It is meant for third world markets where entire families manage to ride a 2 wheel scooter together. For them it is a step up. Safety wise also, it is far better than the scooter though very poor compared to a standard western auto. THINK, RELATE and stop being so ethnocentric. I can’t but shake my head at those who feel that third world populations should be denied products because they pollute. Why don’t you lot sell your cars and trash your air conditioning before you pass judgment?” - Thanks Andy of the USA…

This is more of an enquiry than claim: is Soundbuzz the backbone of BigPond Music? I just read a post over at TechCrunch claiming that Motorola has acquired Soundbuzz. It mentions that Soundbuzz has partnerships with Hutchison 3, Motorola, Airtel, SingTel, M1, Optus Zoo, Telstra/ BigPond Music and Microsoft.

Yaro yesterday posted a blog on his achievements for the year over at Entrepreneur’s Journey.

Some of the highlights:

- Attending the Strategic Profits event in Florida.

- Attending the World Internet Summit in Melbourne.

- Buying his first house and a new car.

- Selling BetterEdit.com for a low-six figure sum.

- Continuing to enlighten, inspire and teach me more about online business and the opportunities it provides.

If you would like to read the blog post, and I highly recommend you do, click here.

This post is the first of three posts Yaro intends to publish on this topic. So add his blog to your RSS reader so you don’t miss out on the others.

Over and out…

P