Category Archives: marketing

No Picnic: Marketers plan for the future

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Photo: A different kind of picnic in Amsterdam. CC Mark van Woudenberg (http://flickr.com/people/mindcaster-ezzolicious/)

The speeches by leading futurists, celebrities like Sir Richard Branson, the yoga classes with Woody Harrelson: Picnic in Amsterdam is a great big party for the global technorati.

Futurist speaker Adam Greenfield at the conference next month will address the loss of privacy and independent thought caused by ubiquitous computing devices.

In an interview at the Picnic website, Greenfield describes how a mobile device might present you with map, minus a route through a bad neighborhood. In other words, it has already done some of your thinking for you.

Greenfield, a former PSYOP sergeant in the US Army’s Special Operations Command, is now head of design direction at Nokia.

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Take that, truthers

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The Age, with help from a “professional skeptic,” tries to knock-down Sasquatch, UFOs, ghosts, global warming and 9/11 conspiracies — all in one shot. (Click the image, above, to see the article and vid.)

“(The internet) has been the driving force behind a lot of social movements and conspiracy theories,” says the founder of the Skeptic Magazine.

For conspiracy and esoteric researchers, not to mention real cryptozoologists like Loren Coleman (he’s the best in the business), this can be maddening.

By linking charlatans such as Tom Biscardi to those questioning the U.S. government’s stories about 9/11 or global warming, Shermer discredits honest research.

Live long and prosper? We might do neither

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Biotech body snatchers. A genetically “inferior” underclass. Increased terrorist attacks. Futurists will “make it so.“

(Marketing buzzword alert: “Futuring,” a verb, is the act of exploring of the future, according to those who do it. Photo: Futurist Thornton A. May flashes the three-finger “Sustainability Symbol.” More about this strange hand signal shortly. Credit: Dragonpreneur, under a Creative Commons license.)

from Mark:

A new book by a futurist and adviser to three U.S. presidents portrays a horrific near future scenario filled with body snatchers, a booming “neuromarket” for false memory implants, and a self-aware internet that rebels against humanity.

The author of “The Extreme Future,” James Canton, Ph.D. (below), was a student of Alvin Toffler, according to Publisher’s Weekly. He will be speaking at the U.S. Army War College this fall, at a conference aimed not at predicting, but shaping, the future.

“The goal of futuring (exploring the future) is not to predict the future but to improve it,” reads a quote from futurist Edward Cornish, on the U.S. Army War College’s website.

For more about how futurists plan our futures, see these blurbs and broadcasts by Alan Watt.

Bloggers from the military and intel communities are talking about the book. Here is an excerpt from one dot-mil blog:

(Dr.) Canton…includes “Top Ten” lists detailing everything from Energy Trends to Robo-Futures.

In THE EXTREME FUTURE, Dr. James Canton predicts that:

• The high cost of oil will force the West to invent new alternatives to oil and lead to depressed OPEC economies, leading to more terrorism against the West

• Radical life extension will create a two-class global society of those who live over 150 years and of those who cannot afford to

• The Internet will develop an awareness of itself and its own personality and rebel against human controls

• Human cloning will become the ultimate in identity theft

• A nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India is more likely then not

• Copy-cat products from Asia—from drugs to auto parts—will perform better then the original branded products they’re based on

• Radical life extension will reshape entire markets and society

• The new global Innovation Economy will deliver widespread prosperity and wealth

Social networkers: Don't be suckers

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The more you play, the more they pry

Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

A warning to all you social networking, or “Web 2.0″, junkies out there: This kid (Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg) and his coding pals are not your friends. Photo: “Scott Beale / Laughing Squid,” at laughingsquid.com. – mb

Practically all of the stupid games, quizzes, widgets and apps used by Facebook social networkers scoop-up more personal data than they need, and keep that data longer than they should, without notifying users.

A University of Virginia study found recently that 90 percent of the most popular apps (UVa looked at 150 of them) rip-off Facebookers’ personal data.

Here’s a link and excerpt to some recent coverage of the case study’s release:

Privacy Lives » Blog Archive » Social Networking Sites’ Applications Gather Users’ Personal Data
“Facebook fanatics who have covered their profiles on the popular social networking site with silly games and quirky trivia quizzes may be unknowingly giving a host of strangers an intimate peek at their lives,” reports the Washington Post. A couple of weeks ago, the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (“CIPPIC”) filed a complaint (pdf) against Facebook alleging 22 violations of Canadian law (which I blogged about here). The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has launched an investigation. The BBC discusses security vulnerabilities in these applications here. CNet News and others have reported on the problems surrounding this kind of data-gathering from social networking sites and third-party application creators.

Health: Google's first flop?

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Google’s new health records service aggregates your electronic medical records — your prescriptions, diagnosis, test results, you name it. The benefit to advertisers (i.e., targeted marketing) is clear.

The government can also call dibs on your personal data at any time. (See the excerpt from Google Health’s privacy policy, below.) The fed’s interests in your data, of course, are potentially limitless: Did you get your vaccinations? Are you on psychiatric meds? The CDC, DHS, NIH, the Attorney General’s Office… they all want to know.

Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is participating in the service. So, I tried pairing my BIDMC records with a Google Health account. But my data did not seem to transfer over.

I deleted my Google Health account after this failed experiment. I will eat my hat if the data have truly been deleted from Google’s databases.

Any possible benefits to consumers from Google Health clearly outweigh the privacy risks at this point.

And I am left wondering whether this might prove Google’s “first flop.” — mb

Google Privacy Center – Privacy Policy
e have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations thereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or (d) protect against imminent harm to the rights, property or safety of Google, its users or the public as required or permitted by law.

Second Life | The Second Life® Brand Center

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Ding!

I’d read that Second Life developer Linden Lab was prohibiting the press from using its logos, and thought that was ridiculous.

Behold:

Second Life | The Second Life® Brand Center
Guidelines for Press Use of the Second Life Hand Logo

(These are excerpts–mb)

Never use a Second Life Hand Logo (or any part or version of one):

in any name or logo of a business, news program, or publication, including any website or blog, in a header or banner of a website or blog (so far so good, right?–mb) in the title of … without……in any manner…

in any manner that tarnishes the Second Life brand name or the Logo. (My emphasis–mb)

In other words, you may not publish this logo (below), and say it looks evil.

Be on the lookout for "Minority Report" two-way ads

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Because they will be looking for you.

(Image: from the Ubicomp.org website. )

No need to wait. The technology already exists for interactive advertisements, which will see you, and make offers based on what they think about you. Hotels will feature the displays, from Samsung, in their lobbies this year.

Interactive advertising: A good thing?

Soon, a large advertising display will detect your round-shouldered frame several yards away, and offer you a coupon for a caffeinated pick-me-up. (That, or the display will see that you are about to take a swing at it, and call the cops.)



Cheerleader tryouts bumping hard news?

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UniversalHub blogger Brett knocks the Globe’s coverage of a local firefighter’s bust for weed possession, and says newsworthy images, such as mugshots, are taking a backseat to prettier pictures at Boston.com.

I’m not sure the stakes at so high on this particular story (the pot one), but I plan to share Brett’s observations with my journalism students on the other side of spring break.

Like Brett, I’ve been marveling (in a purely detached, analytical way) at the sexed-up photo galleries at Boston.com, from the cheerleader tryouts, below, to party shots like this.

Pats hold cheerleader auditions – Boston.com
Alanna Hicks, of Weymouth, stretched her arms and legs along with the other 300 aspirants. Judges will pare the field to 75 for a final tryout.
Essdras M Suarez / Globe Staff