Microsoft + Yahoo = MicroHoo Search
The Search landscape is once again changing. With Microsoft’s purchase of Yahoo, there seems to be a new challenge to Google, which currently holds a majority share of search traffic. In fact, Google is both #1 (through Google.com) and #2 (through YouTube, which is not typically thought of as a search engine).
It’s always exciting to see new innovations and changes. To their credit, the folks at Google have not simply sat on their lead. They keep giving us search marketers new and interesting tools for attracting leads and running Search Engine Marketing (SEM) campaigns.
Microsoft’s Bing search engine has been showing a lot of promise, and we’re already running campaigns there. MSN search always had some intriguing demographic targeting tools, but they never pulled enough traffic to see if the system would scale.
As they join forces with Yahoo, it will be interesting to see how MicroHoo (that’s Microsoft + Yahoo to you) approaches services beyond keyword search. Let’s see some solid new ways to drive and measure relevant traffic from content, site, and video targeting.
Microsoft and Yahoo have some solid resources and assets. It will be interesting to see if Yahoo can effectively pull properties like Flickr, Delicious, Yahoo Video, or even Avatars into Search. On Microsoft’s side, they have some interesting properties that could be part of Search, including Silverlight, X-Box, Zune, Healthvault, Money, Streets, and Windows Mobile.
Let the (new) games begin!
My Books Get Three Stars
Two of my photo reference books received a three (out of four) star rating by a reviewer from Comics Buyers Guide (CBG). In the September, 2009 issue of CBG (#1657), the reviewer wrote, “I would recommend these books and photo reference to all prospective artists.”
Whoo! That’s good stuff. CBG is the world’s longest running magazine about comic books, so hopefully it inspires people to check out my books. You can advertise all you want, but a good review from a respected reviewer and publication goes a LONG way.
So far, I have published three photo books, which you can check out on my buddyscalera.com website. More to come in the future!
Old Videos from Wizard World
Back when I was at Wizard Entertainment, we produced a bunch of videos to promote the Wizard World Chicago Comicon, which the company had purchased. It was a great experience to produce these videos. Here are two that I uploaded to my Flickr.
Wizard World Chicago 1999
Wizard World Chicago 2000
See more stuff at http://www.buddyscalera.com
Tumor on Kindle – Comics as eBooks
As ebooks grow in popularity, we’re starting to see more ebook exclusive releases. What’s impressive is the recent announcement by Amazon and Archaia, a comic book publisher based here in New Jersey, (disclosure: I know the people at Archaia personally) to release a comic book on the Kindle before the print release.
The Kindle 2 handles images pretty well, but it’s still black and white and, well, pretty small. So most people who create comic books (including me) are trying to understand how to best format their existing comics for ebook readers.
What makes the Archaia deal so interesting is that their comic book will be formatted specifically for the Kindle a full six months before it is released in print. That gives the publisher plenty of time to decide how to package the print edition.
According to Publisher’s Weekly, the first issue of the comic book “Tumor” will be free and then the next seven issues will be 99 cents, bringing the total to $7.92 for the whole series. The print edition will sell for $14.95.
When you consider that many new comic books retail each week for $3.99, you have to wonder what’s going to happen to that core business. And when high-quality color ebook devices become available, will many people still be willing to pay $3.99 for a print comic when a 99 cent version is available?
Now that comics are going to the Kindle, get ready for even more interesting changes in the comic book publishing industry.
McCloud Talks Tech on TED
Scott McCloud is a comic book creator who wrote a brilliant book called “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
A few years back, McCloud gave a talk at TED (Technology Entertainment Design), which is an annual conference in California. Not only is McCloud a smart guy who knows a lot about comics, technology, and science…he’s a terrific presenter.
Check out this video as he discusses how comic books and computers are evolving to leverage new technology. Good stuff. It’s especially compelling considering the implosion of traditional print publishing.
Chrome OS & You
Google announced their plans to evolve their Chrome web browser into something of an operating system. Geek-folk were abuzz (including myself) at this potentially huge news of Chrome OS.
And the rest of you just yawned.
Here’s the deal. Your computer runs on software, right? And that software that boots up your Mac or PC is the operating system (OS). Now, for a very long time there’s been, like, two and a half operating systems.
- Number one is Windows. Big, omnipresent. If you run a PC, you probably run a version of Windows. (Vista, XP, stuff like that.)
- Number two is Apple. If you have a current Mac, you run Mac OSX.
- Half is Linux. This only gets a half because you have to actively work to put Linux on a system, even though it’s a pretty amazing OS. Plus it’s mostly free.
Google aims to introduce their own little OS to basic PC computers…computers that would ordinarily run Windows. And in our techno-centric world, Google challenging Microsoft is a big deal.
Microsoft’s Bing search engine is a direct challenge to Google. Google’s Chrome OS and Google Apps is an even more direct challenge to Microsoft. Now that everyone is connected to the ‘Net, this battle of the titans becomes more epic.
But for now, don’t worry about it. Hit snooze. We’ll wake you up in 2010 and let you know how it all turns out.
LINKS (Not Necessarily Endorsements)
- Google Chrome OS & What It Means For Future of Computing
- Google Chrome: Redefining The Operating System
Jackson Dies. Fans Flock to…MySpace?
In terms of media, Michael Jackson’s death revealed some interesting insights in social networks. No, it’s not that people on social networks — like Facebook, Twitter , digg, etc — broke the news to their friends. Instant sharing is at the core of social networking.
The big surprise? MySpace became a serious destination for fan outpouring. Yes, MySpace, the site that some industry experts have declared dead. Yes, MySpace, the social networking pioneer that just laid off 30% of their workforce.
The King of Pop died suddenly on June 25, setting off a firestorm of news and reaction. Post-event analysis reveals that sites like Twitter and Google were hobbled by the surge in traffic. Google thought the surge in traffic was an organized attack on their site.
SIDE QUESTIONS: If Michael Jackson’s sudden death had this effect on the Intertubes, isn’t it time for the government to review the Net’s infrastructure? What would happen in a larger global event? Could the Net handle it? And is it ironic that television (that “old media”) works just fine during major surges? Debate, discuss.
Back to MySpace
As news raged, something weird happened at MySpace. People started to “friend” Michael Jackson’s MySpace Page at an astonishing rate. MediaWeek reported that “the official Michael Jackson MySpace profile was adding 100 new friends per minute.” Um, wow!
As of this writing, Jackson’s MySpace page has 567 thousand friends. That’s a lot of friends for a “dead” network.
And while Facebook is the current kind of social networks, MySpace is still considered the social network place for discovering music. MediaWeek also reported that “MySpace Music was streaming an average of 100,000 songs every ten minutes in the hours after Jackson’s death.”
It’s frustrating thing that they don’t offer a comparison. That is, how many friends was Michael Jackson getting per day before his death? Don’t know. And how many songs were they streaming every ten minutes before his death? Again, don’t know, so it’s hard to give a good comparison.
Post Mortem Suprises
Michael Jackson’s surprise death revealed a lot about the way people use the web and social networks. Based on the follow-up coverage, it’s clear that this Internet-thingy still holds a few surprises for us.
Yes, Facebook continues to be THE social networking juggernaut. But we knew that already.
The biggest surprise for many of the “experts” out there? MySpace isn’t dead.
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