I like the new Twitter Mashup called “Twistori”.
Via Kevin Rose.
Twistori is a social media experiment. It tracks all Twitter messages and searches for emotional keywords like “I love”, “I believe”, “I hate”, “I think” etc. and shows the messages on the site. The simple layout and the nice animations are well made.
Have a look:
Link: Twistori.
Via: Reuters.
MSNBC Reported today that online ad spend will overtake TV in 2009 in the UK.
Here is the full article.
LONDON – The Internet will usurp television as the biggest advertising medium in Britain by the end of 2009, according to a report published on Monday.
Britain has the most developed online advertising market in the world which the report by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Advertising Research Centre said was worth 2.8 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) in 2007.
It said last year’s 38 percent online ad growth was driven by the rising number of people online, the introduction of cheap laptops and the growing popularity of catch-up TV on the Internet through services such as Channel 4’s 4oD.
“With broadband speeds on the up and consumers spending more time on more sites, the outlook for online advertising is rosy — in fact we expect it to overtake TV in 2009 when it will become the UK’s biggest medium,” IAB chief executive Guy Phillipson said in a statement.
The report said the Internet was the biggest driver of overall advertising growth in 2007, with the entire sector in Britain experiencing 4.3 percent growth to 18.4 billion pounds.
Online ad spend had a market share of 15.3 percent, up from 11.4 percent in 2006, but behind display press advertising at 19.9 percent and TV at 21.8 percent.
Display online advertising, such as banners and video, grew 31 percent while paid-for search marketing was “maturing, but not slowing” as marketers and brands learned to secure a greater return on their investment through “key phrases” and accurate targeting.
Advertising spend on search grew 39 percent, in line with overall growth, to 1.6 billion pounds, while its market share remained largely the same at almost 58 percent. Classified advertising showed 54 percent year-on-year growth.
Among the different sectors, recruitment led the market with 25.7 percent market share, ahead of the automotive sector and technology, which overtook finance for the first time.
Israel is considered one of the most advanced countries in the Southwest Asia in economic and industrial development. The country has been ranked highest in the region on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index as well as in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report. It has the second-largest number of startup companies in the world (after the United States) and the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies outside North America. In 2007, Israel had the 44th-highest gross domestic product and 22nd-highest gross domestic product per capita (at purchasing power parity) at US$232.7 billion and US$33,299, respectively. In 2007, Israel was invited to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which promotes cooperation between countries that adhere to democratic principles and operate free market economies.
Despite limited natural resources, intensive development of the agricultural and industrial sectors over the past decades has made Israel largely self-sufficient in food production, apart from grains and beef. Leading exports include fruits, vegetables, pharmaceuticals, software, chemicals, military technology, and diamonds; in 2006, Israeli exports reached US$42.86 billion. Israel is known for its development of cutting-edge technologies in software, communications and life sciences. This developement have evoked comparisons with Silicon Valley. Intel and Microsoft built their first overseas research and development centers in Israel, and other high-tech multi-national corporations, such as IBM, Cisco Systems, and Motorola, have opened facilities in the country. In July 2007, U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought an Israeli company Iscar, its first non-U.S. acquisition, for $4 billion.
Silicon Wadi is an area with a high concentration of high-tech industries in the coastal plain in Israel, similar to Silicon Valley in California, in the United States. In fact, Silicon Wadi is considered second in importance only to its Californian counterpart. The area covers much of the country, although especially high concentrations of hi-tech industry can be found in the area around Tel Aviv including small clusters around the cities of Ra’anana, Herzliya, Caesarea, Haifa, the academic city of Rehovot and its neighbour Rishon Le Zion. More recently, clusters have been established around Jerusalem, with its two new science parks at Malha and Har Hotzvim, as well as towns such as Yokneam Illit in the North of the country and Israel’s first “private city”, Airport City, near Tel Aviv.
Many international technology companies have research and development facilities in this region including the likes of Intel, IBM, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Philips, Cisco Systems, Oracle Corporation, SAP and many more. Because of this, Israel is often referred to as the Silicon Wadi and is known to be second only to Silicon Valley in the level of its innovation and ingenuity. In fact, Newsweek Magazine recently named Tel Aviv as one of the world’s top ten “Hot High-Tech Cities”. Intel developed its new dual-core Core Duo processor at its Israel Development Center located at the Merkaz Ta’asiya ve’Meida (Scientific Industries Center) in the city of Haifa. In 2006, more than 3,000 start-ups were created in Israel, a number that is only second to the US.
Yossi Vardi is known as Israel’s startup guru. For nearly 40 years he has helped to found and nurture over 60 companies in industries that include software, Internet, telecommunications, and energy. At 26, in 1969, he co-founded his first business, Tekem, one of the first software firms in Israel. Vardi was also the founding investor in Mirabilis, which created ICQ, the first Internet-wide instant messaging program. The company was launched in 1996 by his son, Arik, and three friends, and sold to AOL in 1998 for about $400 million. The sale helped open the floodgates for numerous Israeli entrepreneurs.
Today Vardi remains active in investing and building startups, including Answers.com; Gteko, which was sold to Microsoft; Airlink, which was sold to Sierra; and Tivella, which was sold to Cisco. His expertise has been sought by companies all over the world. He has been an adviser to the chairmen of AOL, Siemens, and Amazon, among others.
Yossi Vardi is inviting creative entrepreneurs to his “invite-only” conference, called Kinnernet, every year. His creative conference is supporting the entrepreneurs spirit in Israel and is one small element why Israel is considered one of the most advanced Hotspots in Southwest Asia.
Article via Ahead of Time.
When you think of creative and successful entrepreneurs, the world looks to USA? Self-made millionaires, Silicon Valley startups and powerful brands. But last week at the Entrepreneurs-Day 2008 at the beautiful lake Tegernsee you could discover a different view. About 200 Entrepreneurs and Investors from Germany and Switzerland gathered for a two day conference to exchange knowledge and to talk about collaboration opportunities.
There was still fog over the peaceful lake when I entered the conference hotel. But suddenly I was surrounded by an motivating atmosphere and the sun broke through the fog. The room was packed with a diverse range of people from young twens up to grey haired seniors. There have been smart technicians who developed new technologies for efficient power-consumption, young internet-geeks who designed innovative web applications, as well as pensioners who are now active Business Angels and supporters of young enterprises. But I soon realized that all participants shared something in common: The Entrepreneurs Spirit. This spirit consist of three key elements:
Curiosity to do things differently and to develop the future,
Passion to motivate other people and their team
and the Love about their work and what they do everyday.
The program consisted of a variety of successful Entrepreneurs: Innovative Start-Ups presented their business, Senior Chairmen talked about their experiences, the politician and leader of the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP), Guido Westerwelle, presented his view on the dynamics of globalization and finally the famous mountaineer, Reinhold Messner, gave a motivational speech.
So if these people develop the companies everybody is talking about in the next couple of years, what are they working on? And who is really ahead of time?
Jürgen Habichler, Chairman of Cleantech Invest, introduced one major innovation area, called Cleantech. Cleantech is focused on the principle of sustainability and include a wide field of technologies and services, from alternative energy, environment protection to efficient transportation technologies. Solarion develops new ultra thin photovoltaic solar cells and will enter a new market for very flexible and light solar cells while ensuring low production costs. The company ScatterWeb develops wireless sensors for energy management within buildings. And the company PURE trades carbon assets and integrates innovative financial concepts for companies. So Cleantech is definitely a branch to watch closely in the near future.
Dr. Cornelius Boersch, CEO of Mountain Partners AG and Initiator of the Entrepreneurs-Day, is an expert on new media and internet ventures. The conference featured 42 startup presentation. Each speech was limited to 7 minutes and already split the speakers into two group, the experienced elevator pitches and the technology-fanatics who focused on too many details.
One major trend in internet technology is the development of online video. HiClip is young startup who develops white-label solutions for online platforms and websites. They developed a powerful solution for distribution of videos as well as a nice video-player.
Another open market space is secure voice communication. Secusmart is a Spin-Out of Nokia and offers the first practical solution for secure voice calls. Government, CEOs and VIPs can only use huge telephones with many extra equipment to do secure telephone calls via their cell. Now Secusmart offers a cryptographic solution to make any Nokia phone into a secure device.
So the near future will bring us alternative energy solution, new media landscapes and secure mobile communication. These powerful ideas will define and create the trends of the next decades. The entrepreneurs will do their best to make these innovations happen and to establish their technology in the market. So my personal conclusion was, even if the region of lake Tegernsee looked so calm, the Entrepreneurs-Day 2008 was an event where entrepreneurs shared their spirit to create new successful businesses. So you don’t have to travel to the US to find dynamic entrepreneurs, they might be closer then you think…
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Rottach Egern, Tegernsee, April 2008
Article by Monty C. M. Metzger
China is growing rapidly and expands its influence on a global level. One dramatic side effect is that 16 out of 20 dirties cities, on the World Bank’s list of most polluted cities, are in China. There is a dramatic water shortage in 400 of 668 China’s biggest cities. Environment, water and air pollution are important issues for the future of China.
That’s why China is pushing sustainable concepts and projects. The Green Dragon Media Project is documenting this tough challenge and shows major steps into a greener future for the 1.3 billion inhabitants in China.
Here you can watch the trailer:
