Video conferencing from within gmail chat is being rolled out globally over the next several days according to the Official Google blog.
Here is video on YouTube describing how the gmail video chat service from Google works.
It has yet to appear here in my gmail account.
I use Apple’s iChat video conferencing application on my MacBook Pro to video conference with my family while away from home.
It will be interesting to learn how Google’s video chat compares with iChat.
Vacation property rental firm Homeaway.com has raised $250 million in additional venture funding for a total of $405 million raised since it was launched in 2005 – all based on one simple idea: a web based vacation property rental listing service.
From the Associated Press:
“The company’s revenue comes from people who typically pay $299 a year to list a vacation property for rent… HomeAway’s sites, which include VacationRentals.com and GreatRentals.com, will end the year with about 325,000 paid listings, up from 257,000 last year.”
The HomeAway.com story is just another example of how good ideas – more often than not – appear obvious after they have survived the light of day – day after day, week after week, month after month…
From today’s Wall Street Journal:
“While listening hours are declining, most people still listen to an average of 18.5 hours a week, according to Arbitron Inc. Based on the price of reaching each listener, radio generally offers its audience “at the lowest [cost] of any major media,” says David Field, chief executive of Entercom.”
Not sure about Radio reaching its listeners and audience at the lowest cost of any “major media” – Mr. Field.
Haven’t the internet and search advertising become “major media” yet?
I guess media isn’t major until those in the “major media” say it is.
There is a relatively new – possibly major media – called internet search offered by a company called Google which connects its audience with advertisers for as low as .05 a piece.
Radio may indeed reach its audience for less but by what standard does radio define and measure its connection with its audience?
In search advertising the audience isn’t counted and considered reached until the advertiser’s advertisement is clicked.
Radio advertising measures audience reach and then its connection of advertiser to listener how – instead by listeners clicking their radios on?
Isn’t anything less than authenticated and measured advertisement – disconnected advertising?
Which radio station can I buy a radio ad on to reach a targeted audience of 10 listeners for $.50 or even 100 listeners for $5.00?
Depending on your definition, radio may indeed offer its audience at the lowest cost of any major media – but at what price?
Today while returning along with my wife from her 25th college reunion in Dallas, TX, I noticed at least a dozen unsold billboards along the roadside on our 200+ mile drive.
Some billboard company’s had removed the previous expired ads and filled the unsold inventory with their own corporate sales message.
Others displayed public service announcements.
Another billboard was still advertising an event held back in June 2008.
One common recurring billboard message was “Available”.
On more than one occasion, I noticed an “available” billboard with the following message:
Unavoidable Unforgettable Unbelievable Results!
Come on!
Unavoidable?
Yes, to a degree.
Both drivers and passengers traveling over long stretches of highway may be captive audiences who find it difficult to avoid billboard sales messages – but what happens to advertisers messages when drivers and passengers aren’t paying attention to billboard advertisements but instead are paying attention to the road?
Unforgettable?
Surely not…
I can’t remember a single ad I saw other than those I am writing about now.
Unbelievable?
Results?
Yes.
Unbelievable… with so much of today’s advertising being tuned out – it is hard to believe billboards produce any “results” at all.
What businesses can claim “results” from billboard advertising other than road side establishments and the billboard company running the ad?
Examples of any other businesses who see “results” from billboard advertising would indeed be unbelievable.
Could this be the reason why so many billboards are now “Available”?
Today’s Saturday Interview in the New Yorks Times was with Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
One of Schmidt’s answers was simple yet profound:
“We have a product that is more measurable, more targetable, and we are the innovator in the space. At some point, people need to sell products, and at some point they realize that the best advertising is measurable advertising, and they conclude that we do that.”
Businesses who haven’t yet concluded measurable advertising is better than unmeasured advertising fall into three categories.
They are:
1. Layman
2. Laggards
3. Luddites
In a future post, I will describe my experiences explaining search advertising to each type.
Microsoft’s adCenter blog has posted their 2008 Holiday Advertising Guide for search advertisers.
Some of the guide’s highlights:
“Online retail shopping increases in November by more than 100 percent.1 Adding promotions like free shipping make an enormous difference—57 percent of consumers stated that free shipping is a reason for them to shop online.2 For search and display advertising, online buying will peak on Black Friday, November 28, followed by Cyber Monday, December 1.”
1. Hitwise Market Share in all Categories, 2008.
2. iCongo/Harris Interactive, April 22, 2008.
Based on the percentage of consumer interest and barring any data suggesting otherwise, shipping costs appear to have become the largest remaining barrier to consumers shopping and buying online.
Can elimination of shipping costs insure and increase internet retailers sales prospects this 2008 holiday season?
As the largest online retailer, Amazon.com demonstrated their understanding of the power of free shipping by offering it during the 2007 holiday season.
Amazon is again offering free shipping this holiday shopping season with some conditions through their Amazon Prime Member program.
Amazon Prime
In this current economic climate, aren’t internet retailers who don’t follow Amazon’s lead by offering some type of free shipping risking transaction losses to internet retailers – like Amazon – who do?
According to Microsoft’s Holiday Advertising Guide and their traffic data from 2007, Internet retailers can expect four peak search traffic periods during this holiday season:
1. Black Friday
2. Cyber Monday
3. Holiday Crunch
4. Post Holiday
Holiday Search Traffic
Important search traffic dates for internet retailers this year will be:
1. Black Friday: November 28, 2008
2. Cyber Monday: December 1, 2008
3. Holiday Crunch: Occurs between December 4, 2008 and December 18, 2008
4. Post Holiday: Begins on December 26, 2008
Internet retailers who advertise free shipping this holiday season can forecast a larger percentage of transactions generated via search from within their market than internet retailers who don’t.
Washington D.C. now has Street View images available via Google Maps.
National landmarks including the Washington Monument, the Lincoln National Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial and even the White House are now visible from Google Maps Street View – albeit from afar.
To see your favorite national landmark, search for the landmark or its address in Google Maps and click street view.
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington DC
Panning the camera angle will get the image and perspective you are looking for.
The White House
National security interests prevent vehicles equipped with cameras from getting to close to the White House, so this Google Street View from several blocks away will have to do.
However, pedestrians can still have their photo taken in front of the White House.
I was able to get this up close picture of the White House when I was in Washington D.C. earlier this year to give a search engine marketing presentation.
The White House Washington D.C.
Here are the nearly final 2008 U.S. Presidential Election results from Yahoo and Real Clear Politics:
U.S. Presidential Election Results
Barack Obama is set to become the 44th President of the United States with 349 Electoral Votes compared to John McCain’s 147+ electoral votes.
Update 11-07-08:
Missouri has yet to show us what their 2008 U.S. Presidential Electoral Votes are.
2008 Final Electoral Map
Google is providing 2008 Election Results for the U.S. Presidential Election at both the national and state levels.
2008 Election Results
Coverage of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate election results are also available at the state level.
2008 State Election Results
For Live Election results as the become available, visit Google’s 2008 U.S. Election Results page.
MapMash has produced a pretty cool interactive US Electoral College map in Google Maps.
The MapMash map has eight different 2008 electoral college polls preloaded for comparing poll results from CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, USA Today, Pollster.com, Real Clear Politics, 270toWin.com and Politico.com
MapMash
I don’t know when the polls were conducted but their results vary widely.
US Electoral College Map
Google Maps users can click each state to see how its electoral votes could affect the 2008 election outcome.
Reset the map from the “Submit Your Prediction” drop down box to generate your own personal prediction of the electoral college vote outcome.
Reset
Click twice on a state to switch votes from Obama to McCain or vice versa when to create your own custom electoral college map.
US Electoral College State Map
Overall, MapMash has created another cool use for Google Maps.
Search Marketing Communications 
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