AdAir - First Peek at Dubai

Did you hear of the newest advertising idea in the world? I bragged about it here even though I don't have anything to do with it. Now AdAir just landed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's largest banner! At 20,000 square meters, I'm sure nothing else comes close.

And who is going to be the advertiser on this outdoor media? Guardian quotes Stephen Jones in that the advertiser is going to be a real estate company, in line with the current expansion in Dubai. Soon you will see ground based advertisements when you fly over Los Angeles International Airport and Chicago O'Hare.

As I wondered earlier, the ads will most likely target window seat passengers flying to these airports. This may well be one of the ways that make air travel free in the future. Would you mind a travel route covered with advertisements if your tickets were free? Or would you rather take an aisle seat and pay for it?

During an email brainstorming session with Chahal, he pointed out another way for advertising on the ground - use one (or many) of those laser lights to draw high-refresh images on the ground. That way, the ads can be moving pictures instead of being just still ones. This would definitely impact the conversion rates (which are going to be difficult to measure) and the amount of attention the ads receive. Unfortunately we did not brainstorm what happens to the ads in the day. Maybe the current day/night ads can double as a screen for night-only laser advertising.

Surely, this kind of advertising is only beginning now and we can expect more innovations in this arena soon.

This is where I got the news from.

Bubble 2.0

FrankShaw has a very interesting post here on the reasons why the current internet bubble will pop. The example he points to, eBay's acquisition of Skype for $3.1 Billion in 2005, is very relevant to the argument that the current trend of buying over perceived value of a company might lead to the creation of a bubble. Armed with the right tools, one can find a lot of such examples in today's markets.

If you look at the current 'online contextual advertising' market, you can see signs of a bubble forming. Almost every service depends on advertising as a monetization method. If you remember those obstructive ads of yesterday, the contrast between then and now is very noticeable. Problem is, there might be a race for the two types of advertising models to meet midway. If you've noticed, webpages keep getting more and more cluttered with advertising and other 'link propagating' methods. And visitors keep evolving too, most people today have learnt to avoid even the most contextually relevant ads. Of course, the system works when I'm searching for airline tickets to the Bahamas, but not when I am searching for information on Labor Day. And most searches are probably related for information and may not be focused on products per se. Effectively, people get trained to ignore the advertisements altogether.

So what might the future of advertising hold? I'm tempted to say "that's for Google to decide", but I guess "Time will tell" isn't a bad cliche after all. BTW, lemme know if you find this blog too cluttered :)

Take on Internet Applications

GigaOM has an interesting post today on Big Internet is Web 2.0’s OS — so Who Owns the Apps? written by Alistair Croll. I have known GigaOM for some very insightful pieces of information but this post is really on top. Alistair writes about how opening up their platforms helps large web services like eBay, Google and Amazon turn into operating systems, servicing niche areas of online business.

Big Internet companies are making themselves the OS of the web 2.0 world. In addition to the fundamentals — operating a web application, storing data, handling logins — each company has a core expertise. In Google’s case, it’s page ranking and relevance; Facebook maps social relationships; Salesforce knows about customer relationships; and eBay has an auction and reputation engine.

Applications created on top of powerful existing platforms get the inherent ability to be relevant and effective, yet light weight. An application built on top of the eBay platform leverages from its reputation and auction engine while delivering functionality that eBay itself may not want to currently get into. Opening up their platform has brought Facebook where it currently is.

Creating an environment for application creation is beneficial for the web service crown jewels of today and they will only hurt themselves by creating roadblocks in the way of application development. Hopefully the Facebooks of today realize the goldmine of collective intelligence they are sitting on and try to tap into it by removing some of the hurdles. Creating conditions for development of applications serving the long tail is going to be the way of the future as per the current internet trends.

Create a Video For AdSense!

Remember my earlier coverage of the Gmail video? People who reached this blog too late missed the video submission deadlines back in August. Hopefully you're early enough not to miss this AdSense Video submission opportunity.

If you have a website or blog that uses AdSense for monetization (or at least one channel of monetization), make a video for submission to the AdSense Publisher Stories and get featured on the AdSense Blog! For details on what your video should include and how to go about submissions, here's a big chunk of data copied from the AdSense Blog:

Here's how it works:

1. Shoot a video (2 minutes or shorter) about your story with AdSense.
2. Fill out the submission form and submit your video as a video response to Tim’s video on YouTube.
3. We will review your submissions and pick a few videos to be featured on the AdSense blog in the coming weeks.

In your video, you may want to answer some of the questions below, but feel free to include others.

* Where you are from and what you do for a living?
* Why did you create your site, blog, or forum?
* Who is your intended audience?
* How did you hear about AdSense?
* How has AdSense helped you?
* What are some useful AdSense tips you would give to other publishers so that they can see the same success?

I'd rather have you read the terms and conditions at the Blog itself, but please hurry - submission deadline is the 31st of October. If you don't have a YouTube account, get it here. Don't miss this chance to have your blog/website featured on the Google AdSense Blog! You might even be able to pick-up visitors on the way. Look at Tim Carter's video below and try to resist visiting his website..

iPhone Could be More iNnovative

While we can fathom that electronic accessories aren't the most environmentally viable of creations, at least I was under the impression that the iPhone, and all products Apple, are as safe as they can be. Apparently this is not so, as I learnt from the TechCrunch post today.

According to Greeneace, the iPhone is the only top phone company still using PVC in the manufacture of the earphone cables. The iPhone also contains chemicals like Bromine, Chlorine and Phthalates - some of which have been eliminated or greatly reduced in Nokia and Sony phones. Moreover, the non-user-replaceable batteries of the iPhone don't help Apple one bit.

Maybe it's time Apple took lead in another aspect of technology by choosing to go green in a way no other company has gone before. After all, we expect Apple to be nothing less than exceptional in every aspect.

Just How Did They Measure Hydrogen's Weight?

Gizmodo has an interesting post on Korean researchers having developed an unmanned plane that uses half-a-kilo of hydrogen to make whopping 10-hour flights. Unlike fossil fuels, Hydrogen packs an immense amount of energy and a half-kilo of the thing is energy equivalent to 1.3 kilograms of gasoline (Source).

My question is, how does one go about measuring the weight of Hydrogen? Being the lightest substance, it's not like you can fill a balloon with hydrogen and tape it to a weighing scale as that would show a negative weight. Moreover, just how negative the weight will be depends on the atmospheric pressure at the time of measurement. Vacuum measurement seems like a good alternative, but as soon as you fill a test tube (previously holding vacuum) with Hydrogen, it should become lighter than its original weight.

Googling for Hydrogen's weight measurement led to some 404s in the book search and more 404s in the actual results. I'm wondering if Google is trying to hide this particular information from the public. One of the results points to heating Methane until it breaks down (The Methane molecule consists of one atom of Carbon and four atoms of Hydrogen) to release Hydrogen. A difference in the weight of Methane used and of the Carbon left over should give the true weight of Hydrogen, given that one knows just how many molecules of Methane were there to start with. Even then, isn't every Hydrogen atom like a wing for the Carbon atom?

If you find yourself inclined to answer, leave a comment. For the sake of simplicity, let's not get into Avogadro's number and such jargon - not every reader may be able to follow.

Law Enforcement Modules from FBI

FBI is now probably the first Law Enforcement agency in the world to directly seek help from bloggers and website owners to track Predators, Missing Persons and Most Wanted Persons. This link to the FBI website shows the 4 different modules you can incorporate into your webpage to help nab a criminal.

Although the modules use [iframe] and cannot be called 'Widgets' as-such, it's still nice to see a government agency trying to use current technology to help a good cause.

If you have space available on your webpage and you haven't decided on what to do with it, give the FBI widgets a go. Who knows, you might even be able to win the reward set on one of the most-wanted people!

Via Mashable