Snakes on an influencer plane...

From the MIT Technology Review - this is a great overview of how New Line did a great job of influencer and word-of-mouth marketing for "Snakes on a Plane"...it mentions a partnership they formed with Connector Group partner CafePress.com:

"Soon, there fans were creating parody videos, songs, and movie posters. New Line Cinema went so far as to partner with CafePress.com, a DIY merchandising store online, allowing fans to become officially licensed partners for the movie, and to sell merchandise they've created using New Line's creative."

Stick in in 'yer ear

Playaway is a Connector Group partner who was a huge hit at our first Showcase event. These guys have developed a self-contained audiobook...rather than download an MP3 or buy a book-on-CD, you just buy this little unit that's about the size of a Tic-Tac container and you press "Play". It's a great idea, and their selection of titles is impressive for a young company. They've gotten a lot of press, including a great Walt Mossberg review, and a piece in Forbes. Plus, Christopher Celeste and Blake Squires, the founders, are all-class and know how to make things happen.

Recently, the Miami-Herald had this to say:

What if you could listen to that hot-selling audio book without having to schlep along your CD or cassette player, or download it onto your MP3 player? Enter the Playaway, a battery-powered digital audio device about the size of a deck of cards that comes pre-loaded with an audio book. Buttons on the device control volume, reverse or advance the narration, adjust the speed of the narrator's voice and bookmark favorite passages. The content cannot be copied or added to. The unit comes with mini headphones (or use your own) and a lanyard, and runs on one included AAA battery. In addition to books, Playaways also are available with language lessons and city walking tours. Audio books range from six to 20 hours. The Playaway is pricey, but the convenience factor is seductive.

Om and Mark Cuban want to rule your world

From WOMMA's Womnibus:

Entrepreneur Mark Cuban recently posted a note on his blog asking for new ideas on marketing movies. Noted blogger Om Malik responded with an interesting idea: turn WOM into a sort of currency and make it worth something. Malik's proposal centers on transforming the ticket stub into a form of social currency. Moviegoers would be encouraged to pass their ticket stub on to friends and colleagues, who would then be entitled to a discount if they went and saw the film as well. The discount would actually rise with each passing week following its release, encouraging them to pass and forward their own ticket stubs to others. As Malik noted, "These days, word-of-mouth is the single most influential factor that drives a film's success. And what I am proposing is akin to institutionalizing word-of-mouth into a capital market."

Either that or just don't make shitty movies.

Coke, Sprint think word of mouth is good

From the ad:tech conference in Chicago:

Sprint/Nextel and Coca-Cola Co. are putting their money into word-of-mouth advertising, and they shared strategic details in a panel yesterday at the ad:tech conference in Chicago. One of the greatest challenges in this emerging tactic is tracking exact return on investment. "I don't track ROI," said Mel Clements, a brand manager of Coca-Cola. "We track the old-fashioned way and look at how many people have seen something and passed it to their friends."

"Four year-olds about to rock - we salute you...!"

Did you know that Connector Group partner Wolfgang's Vault is now selling vintage rock-art shirts for kids? These are awesome...I have to admit that our 2 year-old had a pirated Sex Pistols shirt, which I thought was fairly "fight the power" for a suburban kid, but I digress...Wolfgang's Vault has a great collection (and of course, for adults, they've got a huge treasure chest of classic rock art, clothing, videos, music, books, etc) - I'm not sure whether to get a Jimi Hendrix or a Led Zeppelin...or better yet, a George Benson...I'll get the appropriate threads and post some shots.

Business Journal - Top Bloggers

We wrote an article for the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal on the top bloggers in Silicon Valley. Check it out:
Part 1
Part 2

Connector Showcase II - Roundup of recent company media coverage

Recent announcements, press and blog coverage of partner companies who presented at the Connector Showcase II:

CNET - Rafe Needleman
Vyew presentation software undercuts Webex
Don't want to pay the freight for Webex, Breeze, or another remote presentation tool? Try Vyew, a browser-based conferencing system.

eHomeUpgrade
Want Drop Dead Simple Video Effects Creation? Checkout Muvee autoProducer 5
I can't even begin to tell you how amazing Muvee autoProducer 5 appeared to be at The Connector Showcase last night...

Geek.com
Opera and Mobileplay promote mobile browsing
Opera Software and Mobileplay announced that Mobileplay will use Opera Mini to promote and distribute its free mobile services to cellphone users in the U.S. With the latest version of Opera Mini you will see a direct link to Mobileplay in the Bookmarks section.

SmartHouse
Sonos Rules Multi-Room Hi-Fi
Music streaming, internet radio and effortless multi-room playback - Sonos has built possibly the greatest gadget since the PVR.

eHomeUpgrade
Sneak Peek: Pepper Pad V3 Web Player
The biggest selling feature (beside it being a kick-ass wireless Linux-based portable media device) is that it never needs maintenance and is at times more convenient to use than a laptop of desktop computer when shuffling around the house.

TabletPC
Tablet PC Product News - $699 AMD-Powered Pepper Pad Announced
One special feature to note (besides the somewhat enchanting price tag) is the "instant on" capability of the Pepper Pad 3. When you have 2 minutes in line at the bank or need to pull over to double check driving directions, it's never fun to wait 90 seconds or so to boot up.

TravelPost.com Reaches 250,000 User-Generated Hotel Reviews
Less than a year after receiving its seed funding, TravelPost.com, the premier source for personalized hotel ratings and travel advisory services, today announced it now boasts more than 250,000 hotel reviews, all of which have been written and posted solely by travelers themselves. TravelPost.com members now have more resources than ever - all completely relevant to them - to turn to when planning their next trip.

CNET
imeem integrates every expression
CNET's Neha Tiwari speaks with Steven Jang and Jan Jannink of imeem!, a new social media service that brings together instant messaging, social networking and digital media.

ZDNet
Navigating the personal infosphere
"Everybody is going to build social software, Web 2.0 software because it is ultimately the right way to build software better faster, with a better user experience," said Dalton Caldwell, CEO of Imeem.

Sling wants beta testers

Connector Group client Sling Media is looking for beta-testers...who wouldn't want to do this?...it's like asking a frat boy to be a beer taster...or like giving Nicole Richie the keys to the Certs factory and telling her, "Just think of them as 2-calorie donuts"....hmmmm....from Gizmodo:

If you've been looking to be a beta tester for the place-shifting video software/hardware Slingbox, it looks like now's the time. Sling Media is consolidating its beta programs and is looking for a few good test pilots. Here's how Slingbox vice president Jeremy Toeman put it:

"So, if you like the Slingbox and want to get your hands a bit dirty with us on upcoming beta programs, sign up now. As you'll notice in the application, it is open to virtually anyone regardless of race, creed, sex, or operating system. We will use this as an ongoing program, and will pull people from the pool as needed. So you could hear from us next week, next month, or next year, depending on our needs at the time. For those of you who signed up to the Mac beta program, you might want to consider signing up here as well. There won't be any crossover, but it could get you slotted in for some future stuff."

If you think you have what it takes, Jeremy invites you to sign up here.

Social Networking Meets Instant Messaging: Why the Smart Money's on imeem

From Blog Business Summit...this is really nice, because the guys at imeem are awesome...it's rare to work with a group of such highly talented people who are also so nice and down-to-earth...

I’ve been waiting for quite a while for social networking applications to start throwing instant messaging into the mix. After all, there really isn’t any better social network than my AIM buddy list.

AOL and MySpace are the big heavy hitters in this arena, AOL with its hugely popular Instant Messenger network and MySpace with it’s huge social network are both vying for the undivided attention of tweens, teens, college students and young professionals. AOL is preparing to launch a social networking system based on its instant messaging system, while MySpace has already launched its instant messaging system. Unfortunately, when I tried to launch the MySpace instant messaging program to check it out, I got this message from Tom, “The IM is busted. It’s not working. It is going to take a few weeks to fix. I will post an announcement when its (sic) fixed. - Tom.”

Meanwhile, a cool new Instant Messaging/Social Netoworking Application has entered the fray. imeem is still in its beta version (very, very beta), but it’s incredibly promising. Of course, there are a lot of twists and turns ahead in the quest to create the perfect social network, but at this point, I’d say the smart money is on imeem.

Why? The success of any new social networking application rests squarely on its ability to reach critical mass quickly enough to keep the early adopters interested while simultaneously attracting new users. After all, what’s a social networking application if none of your friends are on it? imeem is the only social networking/IM application out there at the moment that allows you to interact with all your buddy lists (from AIM, ICQ, MSN, ect.) while simultaneously using the social networking features with those people who already use that part of the service. It’s the single most compelling feature that imeem offers, and it may help sustain the small startup while the 200 lb. gorillas bludgeon one another.

In addition, imeem integrates blogging into the mix. Users can post blog entries directly on their imeem profiles. It’s already a much better blogging application than the crappy one on MySpace. But it simply won’t do for any serious blogger. imeem needs to move quickly to allow users to integrate other RSS feeds into their profiles like ziki does.

Finally, unlike either AIM or MySpace, imeem actually gets the need for a clean, pretty, simple graphical user interface (GUI). Like the iPod and the forthcoming controller from Nintendo, imeem is intuitive and simple to use - while both AIM and MySpace are often clunky, counterintuitive and downright difficult to look at.

I might be an idiot for saying that a little startup can take on two behemoths, but I’m really looking forward to finding out.

Lifehacker likes Vyew...

...which makes me happy because I like Vyew AND Lifehacker. Vyew is a great company, run by Cal grads, and they presented at Connector Group's Showcase at Microsoft...here's what Lifehacker has to say:

Web site Vyew (think view) lets you collaborate in real-time with other users in a web based meeting room. You can either start an anonymous meeting (requires no registration) and invite up to 2 users, or, if you go through the free registration, you can invite up to 20 participants and get a few other members-only benefits. Vyew offers photo sharing, whiteboarding, file sharing, screen captures, and can run from your browser without the need to download anything (sort of). Vyew requires Flash and Java. Check out the video demonstration if you want a better idea of how it works.

Paris Hilton smackdown, from Peerflix

Peerflix, one of our client companies, has developed a very cool viral game (Peerflix Paparazzi) and it's all about bashing Paris Hilton/Nicole Richie. http://www.peerflixgame.com/ ...I think you're supposed to "take pictures" of them and earn points by doing it, but I just liked the smackdown part....and the shiny objects...

Connector Showcase - check back for date

I've spoken to a lot of you about our upcoming event, the Connector Showcase. It's going to be in September or October...we're still working out the dates. But keep checking back - details are forthcoming...