Yahoo vs. TV in Romania

Reteaua Yahoo Romania se lauda cu o audienta medie de 300.000 de utilizatori pe ora, pe intervalul 9:00-24:00. Comparatia cu televiziunile in graficul de mai jos:

Surse: data.yahoo.com, GfK Romania

Statistics for a changing world: Google Public Data Explorer in Labs

As of today, Google is sharing a snapshot of some of the most popular public data search topics on Google. They’re also launching the Google Public Data Explorer, an experimental visualization tool in Google Labs.

Here’s the most popular data and statistics search topics:

1. School comparisons
2. Unemployment
3. Population
4. Sales tax
5. Salaries

and an interesting chart for my fellow colleagues:

This chart compares bi-annual gross minimum wages per month in Euro. This dataset was prepared by Google based on data downloaded from Eurostat - Last updated: March 6, 2010

Chart link (embedding didn’t workfor my blog, still investigating why)

News Via

MTV Europe “Youthtopia” – Youth Culture, Trends and Insights

MTV Europe asked over 7,000 youths to imagine their ideal world and to consider brands as people and whether those “people” would be welcome in their world –”Youthtopia“.

The Study in Numbers:

• 7 European countries
• 5 months
• 3 study phases
• 11 academic expert interviews
• 1,000 hours of qualitative research
• 2,500 blog entries
• 200 webcam responses
• 7,000 survey respondents
• 180 brands rated by youth
• 1 Youthtopian Brand Equity Model

Check-out these key findings:

The 10 Commandments of Youth

The Modern Day 7 Sins

Perceptions of Youth by Youth

Read more on MTVSticky.com and PSFK.com

Ranting about the Apple hype

I know from the start that lots of people are going to hate me for the next paragraph. I’m asking nicely: Please don’t.

Today a new Apple product was launched. Its name sounds like a hygiene product. For the next days I won’t be able to walk into any room where there won’t be people talking about it. I sincerely lost my confidence in all those who adopted it instantly just by seeing a photo and reading some mediocre technical specifications. There are already some voices defending it like it’s some kind of a “fragile infant”, not being able to take any criticism.

That’s why I have to express my lack of compassion for the Romanian fellows I know and to whom Apple has worked its mastery of the hype machine once again:

“You will bow down at our altar, and you will buy. You will bow down at our altar, and you will buy. You will bow down at our altar, and you will buy. You will..”

Here’s some coverage from Zelist Monitor, unfortunately available only in Romanian:

“Apple” si “iPad” in ultimele 7 zile:

“Ipad” la 2 ore de la lansare:

“iPad” la 16 ore de la lansare:

[To be continued] Updated January 27, at 12:35

2009 State of the Internet (Q3)

Akamai Technologies announced today the release of its 3rd Quarter, 2009 State of the Internet report available for download at www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet. Leveraging published reports and information gathered from its network, the Akamai report provides insight into key Internet statistics such as origin of attack traffic, network outages, and broadband connectivity levels across the globe.

Important observations (mentioning Romania too):

• Attack traffic originates from 207 unique countries around the world. Here’s the top 10:

• On a global basis, the average connection speed increased by approximately 18%, and more than 100 countries had average connection speeds under 1 Mbps. Romania ranks 4th in the top fastest countries!

• Overall, 35 countries around the world saw increased quarterly levels of high broadband connectivity, and 49 countries saw yearly growth. In contrast, 41 countries saw quarterly declines, while 27 countries saw levels of high broadband connectivity decline year-over-year.

Via

2010 Digital Trends by David Carr

Have a look at these Digital Trends for 2010 based around 4 themes including: Real-time, Won’t believe the hype, Good cause/Cause Good and Developing a Playful Side.

by David J Carr, Digital Strategy Director, Chemistry Communications

“What Matters Now” – Free eBook

Over the last several months,  Seth Godin has been organizing the thoughts of over 70 innovative thinkers into a free ebook, What Matters Now. With varied perspectives on problems currently facing the world and problems that have always faced the world, the book is packed with quick thoughts on how to enter the new year with fresh ideas and perspective.

From bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert to brilliant tech thinker Kevin Kelly, from publisher Tim O’Reilly to radio host Dave Ramsey, there are some important people riffing about important ideas here. The ebook includes Tom Peters, Fred Wilson, Jackie Huba and Jason Fried, along with Gina Trapani, Bill Taylor and Alan Webber.

Can we get this in the hands of 5 million people? You can find an easy to use version on Scribd as well and from wepapers. Share now.

Download the book below:

What Matters Now

(via PSFK and Seth’s blog)

Never Assume Anything About a Geek Girl

Unfortunately, though the world might be getting more and more geek friendly by the minute, being a geek girl is still difficult. [..]

• Don’t assume that she’s had “help” rolling up her character or that is only playing D&D for the RP aspect (or because of her significant other). The next time someone asks me if I just play D&D because my husband dragged me into it might get a sucker punch.

• Don’t assume she’s buying comics for her significant other. Just because a woman is walking into a comics store doesn’t automatically mean she’s lost, looking for presents for someone else, or there on a dare. It also doesn’t mean she’s only interested in manga, Wonder Woman or Buffy comics. Take note. Lather, rinse, repeat.

• Don’t assume she doesn’t like girly things. Sometimes there’s a sort of pendulum effect, treating geek girls like geek guys and assuming that we have turned against our entire gender just to get geek cred. Not so. Many of us are exceptionally girly, just not by standard definition perhaps.

• Don’t assume she’s read and liked Twilight. Just don’t. Trust me on this one.

• Don’t assume she only likes to read urban fantasy books with strong protagonists. And if we’re writers don’t assume we write that stuff. Many of us dig swords, guns, and classics, too.

• Don’t assume we’re stupid about computers. Eternally annoying. It’s one thing to have sat and tried to fix your own computer for a few hours and resigning yourself to going to the Genuis Bar or Geek Squad, or whatever. But it’s another thing altogether to have to cope with techies talking to you about your computer as if it’s the first time you’ve ever laid eyes on this marvelous object. “Did you restart it?” “Wait, what? It restarts?”

By Natania Barron
Contributing Writer, [GaS]

Full version on GeeksAreSexy.net

Image source

Will Augmented Reality Save Magazines?

No but at least it’s a nice try.

Via

Shift Happens 2009

This is actually an update to the original “Shift Happens” video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist.

Via