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The BBC unveils an experimental ‘Perceptive Radio’ that offers personalized content

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Martin Bryant

The BBC has developed an experimental piece of hardware called the Perceptive Radio, that adjusts the content it plays based on a wide range of circumstances, such as location, time, a user’s proximity to the device and background noise in the environment in which it’s being used..

The device was unveiled today at the Thinking Digital conference in Gateshead, UK and builds upon the Perceptive Media project that the BBC announced last year.

Perceptive Media adjusts content for each audience member based on their specific circumstances. The only demo content announced so far is a radio play that adjusts the location in which it’s set, the weather and other factors depending on where and when it’s listened to.

The radio shown off today includes a light sensor, proximity sensor and a microphone that can influence the content it plays. The proximity sensor is currently used to adjust the audio mix of the radio play, adding or removing background sound effects depending on how close a listener is to the device.

bbc perceptive radio 520x365 The BBC unveils an experimental Perceptive Radio that offers personalized content

The BBC’s Ian Forrester has been working on the Perceptive Radio project at the Future Media & Technology department in Salford, UK. He said today that the radio set will soon be tested in homes to see how it can be applied in real-world scenarios. One content idea that Forrester suggested for the device, which streams audio over a WiFi connection, is a ‘karaoke drama’, which could incorporate audience engagement via the microphone. He added that an accelerometer had been discussed as a possible additional sensor to influence content based on whether or not the device was moving.

Personalized advertising is one compelling possibility for future commercial uses of Perceptive Media. Imagine a TV ad that tweaks its messaging based on your Facebook Likes, for example. Despite the BBC’s non-commercial status, that’s certainly a possibility – the Perceptive Radio design will soon be open-sourced, and most of the Perceptive Media source code is already freely available on GitHub.

Posted in Gadgets, Media, news, UK | Leave a comment

Gary Vaynerchuk teams up with WunWun to deliver wine on demand in NYC for one day only

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Harrison Weber

Social media and wine connoisseur Gary Vaynerchuk has partnered with WunWun to deliver bottles of wine on demand across New York City, just for today.

In case you haven’t heard, WunWun is a New York-based startup that makes you feel like you have your own personal assistant — it provides both on-demand deliveries like Postmates and all sorts of services, like TaskRabbit (but there’s no bidding involved).

A curious off-shoot from WunWun’s new B2B play, today’s partnership means users can have wine delivered to them that was hand-picked by Vaynerchuk himself, themed for the upcoming Memorial day weekend. If you’re itching for a curated pack of wines brought to you on-demand (and if you’re willing to part with $100), download the app and give it a try.

wunwun 730x539 Gary Vaynerchuk teams up with WunWun to deliver wine on demand in NYC for one day only

If you’ve kept your eye on Uber in the past, you’ll notice how similar this experiment is to past initiatives from the company, including the time Uber introduced an ice cream trucks into its app.

For more on WunWun, head here.

Image credit: Getty Images / LOIC VENANCE

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Twitter just added Lead Generation to Twitter Cards, this could be big

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Nick Summers

Twitter unveiled the Lead Generation Card today, a new expandable tweet format which allows users to show their interest in a particular discount or offer that’s being promoted by their favorite brand.

When a user expands the tweet, they’ll see a description of the offer, as well a small button underneath that will allow them to instantly send their basic contact information – name, Twitter handle and email address – to the brand or business in question.

All of the information is pre-filled within the Twitter Card based on the users’ existing account settings, thereby avoiding the often tedious process of filling out an online form. As soon as the button is clicked, the information is sent securely to the account that sent out the offer.

Twitter has been testing the feature already with a handfulof brands including New Relic, Full Sail and Priceline.

The idea is to give businesses more opportunities to discover new customers, and also reduce the amount of time spent between spotting an offer on Twitter and actually paying for the product or service online.

It’s also far more sophisticated than the act of simply following an account on Twitter, or ‘liking’ a brand’s page on Facebook. The Lead Generation Card gives businesses and marketers a simple and direct means of finding new customers and ultimately more business.

So how could this work in the real world? Well, an obvious use case is product pre-orders. Microsoft unveiled its latest video game console, Xbox One, at a dedicated event in Richmond, Washington yesterday. Using the Lead Generation Card, the company could have tweeted a picture of the hardware and then asked its followers to give them their contact details if they were interested in pre-ordering the system. Then, once the console is available to order, Microsoft would instantly have access to a pre-generated list of potential customers.

It’s not clear at this point whether Lead Generation Cards are restricted to just Promoted Tweets, or if businesses can apply the new format to all of their tweets containing a suitable offer. Regardless, the new feature will undoubtedly attract renewed interest from brands and businesses looking to engage with their customers and also generate new leads.

“Today, the Lead Generation Card will only be available to our managed clients; we have plans to launch this Card globally and to small and medium-sized businesses soon,” Mitali Pattnaik, Product Manager for Revenue at Twitter said.

Image Credit: KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/Getty Images

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Pinterest isn’t just looking for a Country Manager in France. They’re already there.

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Rude Baguette

Editor’s note: This article by Liam Boogar originally appeared on Rude Baguette, which covers the Internet and technology sector in France, combining breaking news with in-depth analysis.

Female-friendly social network Pinterest already announced earlier this month that after their big push in the UK, France was up next – according to this job post that appeared this week, “next” is now.

The standard Country Manager position, Pinterest is looking for someone with a strong social media background and the ability to research the market, localize the product, and build a team from the ground up.

However, what they don’t tell you on the job listing, is that the Pinterest team is coming to Paris this month.

Speaking with Sara Martineau, French community coordinator based out of San Francisco, she tells me that, after having launched the “Pin it Forward” campaign in the UK, “We plan to do the same for France in just about a month.”

In order to get a better feel for the market, “The team going to Paris to meet bloggers will include [Sara], and four other members of the Community Team.”

It seems that Pinterest is quick to roll out its expansion in Paris, so this job may not stay open for a long time – the team will be out in Paris from late may through early June, so if you’re looking to get an interview in, now may be the time.

Meanwhile, it seems that fellow social network Twitter has been delayed in its presence in France.

While some say there are already up to four team members working at the Twitter France office, an official country manager of France has yet to be announced – perhaps they’re waiting for some of the French tech drama to subside.

Hopefully Pinterest’s entrance into the market will be more welcome – they have yet to be pursued by the French government for tax evasion, but all things in due time.

Image credit: Thinkstock

Posted in Europe, Insider, investigations, news, pinterest france, Rude Baguette, rudebaguette, social media | Leave a comment

Penguin pays $75 million to settle US eBook price-fixing case ahead of Apple’s June trial

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Paul Sawers

Apple may be calling the overarching lawsuit flawed, but Penguin has confirmed it has reached a “comprehensive agreement” with the US State Attorneys General, and other private class plaintiffs, in the long-standing antitrust eBook pricing suit.

While the agreement was originally made back in December, Pearson, Penguin’s parent publisher, has now confirmed it will pay $75 million in consumer damages – as well as additional costs – to bring an end to all antitrust claims relating to eBook pricing in the US. This follows the recent news that it had also settled with EU authorities, after promising to terminate all eBook agency agreements with Apple.

Just to recap, we reported last year that the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) was proceeding with lawsuits against Apple and five major publishers – Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster and Penguin – over alleged e-book price fixing. Essentially, the DoJ was investigating whether Apple’s deals with the publishers amounted to price-rigging, in the wake of the iPad’s launch back in 2010.

Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins had previously agreed to settle for around the $70m mark, and MacMillan became the final publisher to agree a settlement earlier this year, paying $12m in the process. But with Penguin paying $75, this represents the single-biggest payout from the five publishers implicated in the case.

Publishers pay out, but Apple fights on

The Attorney General also confirmed the settlement earlier today, noting that the investigations and resulting litigation has recovered in the region of $164 million so far. “Consumers are entitled to a fair, open and competitive marketplace,” says Attorney General Jepsen. “This agreement is yet another step toward providing restitution to those consumers who were harmed by alleged price-fixing within the eBook market and will further ensure that, going forward, consumers benefit from fair competition in the sale of eBooks.”

Apple is continuing to fight, however, saying that its pricing spurred competition and e-reader advances. The court case kicks off on June 3.

As a result of today’s announcement, Pearson says it has made a $40m “provision for settlement” in its 2012 accounts, and says that an incremental charge will be added to Pearson’s 2013 accounts, put against the Penguin Random House joint-venture which is edging closer to being finalized.

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Study: TV Networks Not Ranking In Key SERP Positions, Losing Valuable Search & Traffic Opportunities

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Amy Gesenhues

After evaluating the organic search performance of America’s most popular television networks, SEO research firm RankAbove discovered a majority of the networks are missing out on significant search and traffic opportunities. The study examined four key areas of search, including keywords,...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Posted in Channel: SEO, Search Marketing: Search Term Research, SEO - Search Engine Optimization, SEO: Keyword Research, Stats: General, television networks SEO, tv shows SEO | Leave a comment

How to Turn Events into Link Building Opportunities

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Ken McGaffin

With a little planning, everything that happens in your industry can create link building opportunities. This template for planning is simple yet extremely effective in helping your public relations and link building activities work together.

Programmatic Attribution Modeling – Don’t Just Measure, Execute

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Dax Hamman

The goal behind an attribution model is to understand how all of your marketing touch-points fit together, showing you which dollars are working the hardest, and subsequently allowing you to make smarter decisions next time around. Sounds simple, right? Actually, it’s very far from simple, and is...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Posted in attribution modeling, attribution modelling, Big Data, chango, Channel: Display, daxthink, programmatic attribution modeling, Search & Display | Leave a comment

Amazon unveils Kindle Worlds publishing platform to help aspiring fan fiction writers sell their work

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Nick Summers

Amazon announced a new publishing platform today called Kindle Worlds, which will give both established authors and aspiring fan fiction writers the chance to earn royalties based on their work.

Fan fiction is a rather murky topic, given that it often combines beloved characters and franchises in rather unusual scenarios. Regardless, the medium has proven to be incredibly popular on the Internet and it’s clear that Amazon sees an opportunity to earn some additional profits.

The company has secured licenses from Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment division for Gossip Girl, by Cecily von Ziegesar; Pretty Little Liars, by Sara Shepard; and Vampire Diaries, by L.J. Smith. All three are also incredibly successful TV shows in their own right, which should add to the interest both from fans and aspiring writers.

Amazon says it plans to announce more licenses “soon”.

The new Kindle Worlds platform will enable any author to publish stories based on these characters and then make them available for purchase through the Kindle Store. Amazon will then pay royalties both to the author of the fan fiction and the original rights holder. The standard author’s royalty rate – for fiction that is at least 10,000 words in length – will be just over a third (35 percent) of net revenue.

“As with all titles from Amazon Publishing, Kindle Worlds will base net revenue off of sales price—rather than the lower, industry standard of wholesale price—and royalties will be paid monthly,” the company said today in a statement.

To coincide with the announcement, Amazon is also launching a pilot program to give additional exposure to short stories of between 5,000 and 10,000 words. For these works, Amazon promises to pay the royalties for the rights holder and authors a digital royalty of 20 percent.

The Kindle Worlds store will launch in June with over 50 commissioned works from established authors such as Barbara Freethy, John Everson and Colleen Thompson. The self-service submission platform, which will allow fan fiction writers to file completed work, will also open simultaneously.

Image Credit: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images

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Free Google Shopping Listings To End Worldwide July 11th

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Ginny Marvin

On June 11th, Google Shopping will complete the global transition to the pay-for-play model that was introduced in the U.S. last fall. Advertisers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, Australia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic will need to run...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Posted in Channel: SEM, Google shopping, Google: AdWords, PLAs, PPC, product listing ads | Leave a comment

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