Last week (or some time ago) our office staff were surprised by a most gorgeous present from our boss.
At first glance, I thought it was just a pretty lock for travel bags or for decoration. It was placed in a hard plastic/glass like boss, and it looks very expensive. So much so that we believed it was a free gift given to our boss and he couldn’t use so many so he had to distribute them to us.
But of cos that was not the case xD
This lock, which doubles up as a 1GB thumbdrive, can in fact decorate your bags and store data (but not protect your travel suitcases).

We got excited and went to the main Philips website. It turns out that there was many other designs available, under the section called Active Crystals. One that particularly caught my attention was this:

As a fan of multi-functional tools (see previous post on handphone cum accessory), I was quite awestruck by how pretty a USB can be. So pretty that you can even wear it out as an accessory. (Don’t you wish you could have given this as a present on V-day? With all your photos, videos and messages stored and locked away in this little heart )

And here’s another one that doubles as a handphone accessory. I’ve seen people strapping  Sony’s tiny memory USB to their handphones, but it was just a flat, rectangular piece of gadget. Not a crystal doll, like this.

(the way you use it is to insert its head into your machine since the body acts as the cover… kinda sadistic)

Besides the thumbdrives, Philips also has a section on Active Crystals headphones.

So what does this tell us? Technology is no longer for the geeks. It can be beautiful, too. Imagine our boss had given us the boring little rectangular USB – it would be ‘just another office tool’ to us. However, this particular USB, encased in a different exterior, means a whole new language to us. And you can’t get any happier when you receive a USB drive as a present the next time.

For someone who has to be constantly updated with the web2.0 & with 2 yahoo accounts……

I’m quite ashamed that I’ve never heard of Yahoo MyWeb before. Well… not until Yahoo’s announcement to shut it down on Mar 18, 2009.

(click to enlarge image)

A quick online search shows that Yahoo! first set up Yahoo My Web 2.0 way back in year 2005 with the goal to help users save valuable information they discover on the Web.

A year later, it re-launched with a new name, dropping ‘2.0’, as Yahoo My Web even after Yahoo! acquire Del.icio.us. Sounds familiar?! Yes, for a while, the internet media giant was running its Yahoo! Photos along with the acquired Flickr in Mar 2005 before finally closing the former in Sep 2007.

Signs of ‘de-emphasis’ started to show in Oct 2006 (2+ years to phase it out completely? )when My Web users are directed to Del.icio.us and/or Yahoo Bookmarks. Right now, Yahoo is offering three ways to migrate their MyWeb information.

1. Use Yahoo Bookmarks as all MyWeb accounts are available there

2. Migrate to Delicious following three basic steps

3. Export their MyWeb bookmarks to other bookmarking services using Yahoo’s export tools.

Since My Web was relatively unknown compared to its counterparts, I believe not much inconveniences will be caused. Curiously, I wonder what is the rationale behind the re-launch in June 2006? Sentiments, pride, the refusal to relent or simply the belief it may work somehow?

Whatever it is, the final outcome somehow concludes that, sometimes, we have to give up things even after much time and efforts has been poured in.

Click Rate is a ratio between number of clicks and number of advertising format views.

Click Rate (in %) = (number of clicks / number of views). Click rate is one of the parameters for campaign evaluation.

http://www.netboom.cz/terminologie_eng.html

A random search for guaranteed click rate churned out a result of 32,700,000 on Google. Almost all the companies are preaching an at least 4% guarantee click rate.

The questions here are:

• How do they achieve that?
• How to they guarantee?
• What is the magical formula?

Well, it does not exist! Guarantee either comes with a page long fine print or somehow a loophole somewhere. It is simply because we cannot force people to click on a link, be it banner or text.

What is the trick here?

Send it to people, send it to more people, and send it to even more people.

Mathematically speaking and from statistical point of view, it will reach a point where the more you send, the higher the chance of people to click on it….

Send it to 4 million people, you might be able to reach 4% click rate .

Is it relevant to the brand?

Does it help to sell more products?

Is it relevant or targeted?

The answer is No.

So be careful when agencies guarantee a click through rate!

Like the rest of my colleagues, I have 2 phones (work and personal).
Now why is that a problem?
When I go out for lunch I only carry one, but when my colleague goes out for lunch she carries a little bag and puts both of them in a little bag.
Let’s face it, I’m lazy and I don’t even carry my wallet out – I have instead a $10 note or a card, and these usually drops out of my pocket – especially the notes (but I’m lucky because I someone usually tend to notice so I don’t end up losing them).
So when I see these kinda of phones – I think, won’t it be great?

Nokia Strapup Phone Bracelet

This one even has a camera (see picture on right). Wow. On top of that, features such as internet support, Bluetooth, email and alerts are also available.

Featuring a touchscreen interface and sleek unique design that looks fashionable to be a bracelet yet has sufficient functions as a phone, it is indeed very appealing to lazy people like me.
Designed for clubbers, this phone apparently can send predefined message based on your movements too, so that leaves out the hassle of typing on a small screen (I wonder how much it can read though).
Too bad these are only concepts and Nokia won’t be realizing them too soon. Right now, we have Nokia’s lipstick phone (which doesn’t have a lipstick), Motorola’s slim Razr (which can’t shave), so I think it’ll be nice to have a real multifunctional phone, like a bracelet phone which actually acts as a bracelet.
Until then, I will have to either get a tote like my colleague does, or find some ways to make sure my pocket holds my stuff properly.