Social network launches for chronic disease sufferers

A new niche social network has been launched by independent research agency Healthcare Landscape for sufferers of acute and chronic medical conditions.

The online community, called icarecafe, provides a completely confidential environment in which sufferers can discuss any medical issues with a global audience. The website also acts a platform for blogs and interactive media in order to promote research.

Adam Gac, strategy director at Healthcare Landscape, said: "Icarecafe differs from other social networks because it takes a holistic approach to the patient experience. "It allows learning and sharing not just with people who suffer from one specific ailment or illness but also from family members and carers."

Revenues for the site are now being generated by advertising and sponsorships from healthcare agencies.

- Sam

Not home early enough to read a bedtime story to your kids?

Microsoft has launched a neat online interactive storytelling application on Windows Live Messenger in conjunction with Chorion, the entertainment company, to allow parents to read stories to their children remotely from another location.

“Time for a Story” is a free animated application and lets children interact with pictures on the screen while hearing their parents’ voices and seeing their face on the screen via a webcam.

Children can interact with the pictures on screen, whilst hearing their parent's voice and seeing their face on the PC. The new tool provides three classic Noddy stories, with other classic characters expected to follow in the coming months.

Alex Marks, head of marketing for Microsoft Advertising said: 'By bringing relevant and interactive content to consumers, brands are able to connect and engage in far deeper and more meaningful ways.

Read the full story here

- Sam

“G-Speak” Consigns the Mouse to History

Apologies for the shortage of posts recently. We are now back with a vengeance from our recent EMEA digital summit so be prepared for some reading!

First up is an interesting technology development. The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed how characters in "Minority Report" and the latest "James Bond" films use their hands to manipulate the interface on projected screens. By pointing and gesturing at the screens, the characters use their hands to control their way around the programs after slipping on special gloves, doing away with the need for the mouse.

Now a Los Angeles based company called Oblong Industries has made this futuristic vision a reality by creating “G-Speak,” potentially changing forever the way we navigate our way around our computer.

G-Speak allows the user to select an object on the screen simply by pointing. By bringing your hands closer together or moving your hands to one side, the object can be placed in a different position or on a different screen. The real interacts with the virtual in what Oblong is coining the “spatial operating environment.”

“Human hands are the most sophisticated manipulating tools in the world,” said John Underkoffler, chief scientist at Oblong Industries, the Los Angeles-based company that has created the technology. “The idea is to drop the mouse and let hands do what they’re fully capable of. That is to describe and push, poke and pull and manipulate the world.”

The aim is to make the technology accessible for all, with the cost of up to £40, and is already supplying some universities. Oblong hopes that the technology will be ready for the wider public in about two years.

- Sam

Dapper MashupAds Further Kills Field of Dreams thought process

http://www.dapper.net/

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/10/dapper-mashup-ads-turns-your-website-into-contextual-display-ads/

It's not news that click through rates are not that high from an industry average level. Why is that? There are several reasons but one of the main ones is that users don't want to leave the site that they are already visiting. Another reason is that the ads that aren't relevant to what they are seeking.

A new type of ad from Dapper is helping the cause of the display ad. The concept is simple but effective: take the latest and relevant content from an advertisers website and pipe it into a banner ad. This basically makes the ad a mini website for the brand or publisher. As that should be the goal of any advertiser with the way that broadband penetration rates are going, this is a good service to check out.

According to the article, they are seeing 3-5x improvement in click through rates by using these types of ads.

Rick

Billing Revolution Brings One-Click Payments To iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android Apps

http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2008/11/10/billing-revolution-brings-one-click-payments-to-iphone-blackberry-and-iphone-apps/

I realized last night that every person in the industry uses the joke around 'This is year for mobile'! Outside of vowing to not make the joke anymore myself, I caused me to think about what would need to happen to propel the advertising for this media vehicle.

Here is an example of one such thing in my mind. Billing Revolution is offering one touch payment for items over the mobile phone (and charging only a small fee for such a transaction).

Check out the link to learn more about this company but it could assist in mobile payment across devices and markets.

Rick

Digital Plays Key Role in US Elections

While the world's media has been gripped by the developments of the US elections, reports have emerged on what the parties have been spending on advertising, and notably the shift from traditional to digital. Check out a selection of articles here, from how Obama's online ad spend approached $8 million, to an interesting piece on how digital was leveraged to enlist hard to reach young African-American and Latin voters in the Obama campaign, ultimately playing a key part in the democrat party’s success.

http://www.brandrepublic.com/Global/News/860172/Obama-victory-credited-digital-advice-strategist-Axelrod/?DCMP=EMC-GlobalBulletin

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3631586

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-looking-at-the-obama-campaign-through-the-digital-traditional-ad-spend/

- Sam