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Leigh Fatzinger is Principal of On Message Ventures, a Seattle-based creative and strategic marketing firm focused on the telecom and technology industries.

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I met Clay Loges at a business networking event last week here in Seattle. Clay’s motto is, “Look for an area of change — then you get to make up the rules.” He’s been living by this for years and has become quite successful along the way.

A former banker and serial entrepreneur who once owned a text paging service in the new Russia - and was a pioneer in the 10-Minute Oil Change service station business and a GPS business — Clay’s latest venture is called Yodio.

Yodio stands for “Your Audio” and is a service which allows people to add audio tracks to image slide shows. The basic idea reminded me of the narrative my Uncle Mitchell gave as he went over his trek through Nepal slide by slide.

He must have given that slide show 20 times or more over the years. If he had Yodio, he could have recorded the soundtrack easily and shared the slide show in seconds with hundreds of his closest friends.

The idea for Yodio came to Clay when he took with his daughter on a road trip a couple of years ago. While driving from Seattle to college at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, the two found the drive to be less than stimulating. As a result they started talking about how to design a way to make the same long drive more interesting and educational for others traveling the same route.

They came up with Yodio as a way to harness the knowledge and enthusiasm of local experts, and allow them to share their travel experiences easily with others.

The key to unlocking this information was to create a system that any local expert could easily use to create audio guides. Their solution needed to be efficient, easy and simple for users located most anywhere.

With the advances of iPods and mp3 players. it became clear to the two that the audio guides could be used to empower individuals to personally access the information about their areas of interest while riding down the road.

The service has expanded beyond travel guides to over a variety of categories, including hobbies, architecture, weddings and many more.

It is very easy to use. Complete the simple registration form including your cell phone number (or the primary phone you will be recording from). Yodio uses this phone number to recognize you and get your recording to the right account.

The next step is to create the recording. Do you have an interesting topic, recent trip or story about a photo or business idea to share? Dial into Yodio’s voice recording line to record a story. Or upload a pre-recorded audio track up to the Yodio server. If the story is about some photos, return to your online account and upload the images. Then use the online production tools to put it all together.

The service makes money by inserting audio advertising into the free yodiocasts. It also allows creators to sell their programs without ads.

Yodio then rewards authors with a 20% royalty based on the price they put on the yodio. For example, if they post a yodiocast for $1 and sell 10 of them, then they can receive $2 royalty. The more Yodios that are purchased, the percentage increases.

I called my Uncle last night and told him about Yodio. He was very excited about it; he just got back from another trip to Asia and had a lot of photos to share with the family. I’m looking forward to his yodiocast any day now.

http://www.yodio.com

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Although mobile content is something consumers can buy and download from virtually anywhere, Chinese start-up Duo Guo is banking on a different approach by selling such content through specialized kiosks in brick-and-mortar retail stores.

Based in Shanghai, Duo Guo—a subsidiary of D Mobile Inc.—has developed partnerships with China’s largest retailers and leading global media companies to bring games, ringtones, software and other mobile services to China’s 500 million mobile phone users in a retail setting. Each Duo Guo kiosk is staffed by a salesperson, who can help consumers as they browse for content. Once customers make their selections and pay, the content gets beamed to their phone via Bluetooth. In addition to its starting line-up of ringtones, wallpapers and games, Duo Guo recently began offering exclusive mobile content from emerging Chinese artists through its “artist of the month” program, and has launched into ticket sales as well. Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Tesco are among the stores that have signed up to host Duo Guo kiosks in China, while the company also operates its own standalone stores in subway stops and Shanghai’s busy Zhong Shan Park area. Content at Duo Guo kiosks is updated every Friday to encourage frequent browsing.

While it may seem counter-intuitive that consumers would want to buy mobile content in a physical setting, many Chinese consumers are reportedly wary of buying online, fearing that they’ll be overcharged or end up paying for the wrong thing. There’s also apparently a fair bit of uncertainty as to which products will work on which phones. In China’s smaller cities, meanwhile, mobile phones can outnumber wired internet connections, fuelling a black market in high-priced street-side sales of pirated content, CEO Jonathan Serbin told Pacific Epoch. Duo Guo is positioning itself as the legitimate alternative. While its cost structure is higher than those of the online services, Duo Guo also enjoys new ways to generate revenue, such as by collecting fees from mobile application companies for introducing customers to their services, he added.

“We realized that there is a great opportunity for selling mobile content, applications and services at retail,” Serbin explained. “People were excited about buying a phone—they had maybe just spent a month’s salary on their phone—and they were saying, ‘Why don’t you give us the opportunity right here, at retail, to buy this cool stuff rather than go home and have to search online [for it].’ This is a great moment, when the customer is learning about their phone and is excited about it. We saw an opportunity to sell content in a very dynamic setting; to have a guided experience. The sales people help them find content and discover what is most appropriate for them.”

Launched last year and backed by US hedge fund Jana Partners, Duo Guo currently has about 25 stores in Shanghai. It is in the process of expanding to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Beijing, with hopes of having 100 stores by year’s end, 500 by the end of 2009. One to partner with—or emulate—in other markets around the world?

Website: www.duoguo.cn
Contact: info@duoguo.cn

From Springwise

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Who do you want to be today?

At Universal Studios City Walk in Los Angeles, they have a store where you can have the picture of your face inserted into a variety of scenarios. For instance, you can have your face placed into a picture of Indiana Jones or onto the body of a supermodel. Well, today I found a place online where you can do this with thousands of different photos — all for free. You can even share the photos you make with friends.

If you’ve ever tried to manipulate pictures in order to try something different or just to have fun, you know that without the proper training and photo editing tools, it is very difficult and most of the time the results aren’t all that great.

Well, not anymore. With FACEinHOLE.com you can easily and, in a matter of seconds, create a totally “new look” for you and your friends. You just have to select a scenario, upload and adjust a photo (or use your webcam) … and there you have it, a great FACEinHOLE to send to your friends, post in your blog or make available to the world.

The site has a huge collection of photos you can put your face on. How would you look with a Mr. T haircut? Or dressed up like Wonder Woman? Or floating through the air skydiving? You can put for face into ads, book and magazine covers, film and TV posters, or on the body of sports heroes and celebrities, music artists and cartoon characters. And the service is completely free.

www.faceinhole.com

Low-Priced Professional Photo Editing

My mother in law recently found a box of old photographs in storage. She asked me if I could help digitize them so she could share them with others in the family. As I went through the box, I found some of the photos were ripped, others were faded and some others included the crazy cousin no one talks about anymore.

After scanning them in, I tried to fix some of the photos with Photoshop. I don’t have a lot of skills or patience with Photoshop, so I didn’t get too far.

But looking around the web, I came wowApic.com, a site that makes it easy and convenient to get professional photo editing services from the convenience of my home (computer) … from enhancing and fixing my pictures to restoring old worn-out pictures.

wowApic provides a whole range of professional photo fix and touchup services to suit your picture editing requirements. They can add a person to a family portrait or remove an unwanted stranger (or crazy cousin) from the background of photos, or even change the entire background. They also offer glamorize and digital cosmetic enhancements that, for example, can give you a tan, clear acne or remove braces.

Other services such as hand tinting for your kids’ pictures and “portraitize” to crop out one or a couple of people from a group photo are also available. Simple touchups such as digital camera mark or red eye removal are also offered.

For those old photos, wowApic can reverse the effects of color fading, repair cracks or creases, tears, stains, blemishes, blurred patches and other forms of damage on your valuable photos.

Their customer service is unbeatable. Upload your picture and get an instant price quote and delivery commitment. You also get free lighting, contrast and color optimization on every picture along with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

www.wowapic.com

3D Photo Viewing

I love to look at photos on the web. Sometimes I’ll spend hours stumbling around photo sites. Flickr, the massively popular photo sharing site, is one of my favorites. I recently stumbled upon a new photo viewing site. FotoViewr.com, launched just last week, brings online photo viewing to a new level.

The service was born out of someone’s frustration with browsing photos on Flickr, through static web pages that offered a meager user experience at best. Wading through page after page of thumbnails, clicking on them and then waiting for them to load made it seem more like a chore.

FotoViewr is a very intuitive application. It easily and simply pulls in any Flickr publisher and offers their photos up in a very elegantly designed 3D interface.

It’s easy to get started - choose your photo gallery style. There are currently 5 to choose from including one that puts all your photos into a 3D moving wall and another that places the photos onto a 3D floor. Then enter a Flickr username.

If you don’t have a Flickr account don’t worry, you can still enjoy viewing Flickr photos through the viewer. I am not sure they intended this, but you don’t need a password, so you can enter any username you wish and view those images.

Next, choose to view the gallery by photoset or keywords and press Create gallery. Your gallery is instantly available for interaction. Click on individual pictures and they fly to the forefront.

You can also choose to view the gallery full screen. Some of the pictures gets pixilated at full screen, but the experience is still worth it. Finally, FotoViewr, provides you with a link to share the gallery with others.

The service is currently free.

www.fotoviewr.com

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Although a new Harris Interactive study reveals that over one-third of consumers say the dire economy will not affect their spending habits,  the 60 percent of consumers who will limit their discretionary spending will curtail going out to restaurants (74 percent) and limit their purchase of electronics (71 percent). 41 percent of consumers, however, have no plans to stop or cut-back on the purchase of cell phones, making it an increasingly viable advertising channel.

To many, it seems the use of mobile phones has become an indispensable part of their lives. People are actually severing ties to land lines with increasing frequency. According to a new study from the National Center for Health Statistics, notes the report, 16 percent of U.S. homes are using wireless phones exclusively.

These trends support the push by marketers to leverage mobile advertising as part of an integrated marketing program to promote their brands and sell products and services, Harris analysts conclude - especially during difficult economic times.

Milton Ellis, vice president and senior consultant, Harris Interactive technology group, says “… there are a lot of people who are still spending money… and even those cutting back still need to buy essentials… the key is to reach out to them through innovative marketing, including mobile advertising… “

Among teens surveyed, 56 percent said they would be interested in viewing mobile ads with incentives, while 37 percent of adults noted that they would be receptive to such advertising.

Ellis continues, “… our research indicates that teens will be strong early adapters to this advertising, with adults not far behind… no other advertising medium approaches the personal relationship consumers have with their mobile devices… “

80 percent of adults and 70 percent of teens identified “cash” as the top incentive for responding to mobile advertising. Additional popular incentives among teens are:

• Entertainment downloads (61 percent)
• Free music (57 percent)
• Complimentary minutes (53 percent)

Appealing incentives among adults are:

• Free minutes (49 percent)
• Discount coupons (37 percent)
• Free entertainment (31 percent)
• Music downIoads (24 percent)

Text messaging is the most preferred advertising approach among over two-thirds (69 percent of adults and 64 percent of teens) of consumers. Teens are more willing to accept advertising images on their mobile phones (47 percent), versus adults (35 percent).

54 percent) of adult respondents said they are comfortable providing personal information to mobile advertising marketers if offered for the right incentive, while teens are very guarded about their personal information. Only 35 percent would divulge it, even if an incentive is offered. 25 percent said they would never provide personal information.

Judith Ricker, division president, Harris Interactive marketing communications research group, concludes that “No matter how mobile advertising messages are delivered, our research shows that consumers demand that if a company is going to invade their personal space with advertising, it better be for something of interest to them. Personalization is hyper-critical.”

For more about this study, please visit HarrisInteractive here. For expanded data and charts, visit Marketing Charts here.

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MCPS-PRS, the U.K. music publishing licensing and collecting organization, recently released a proposal suggesting that new digital media companies that want to license their copyrights should provide equity in their fledgling companies in exchange for the license.

They cited as some of the reasons behind this proposal:

1. Start-up firms present an undeniable headache for music rights entities. At incorporation, emerging firms tend to lack the financial resources, both in terms of cash holdings and cash revenues, to pay otherwise standard fees for music rights.

2. Emerging firms are not stable entities, in terms of their chances for success and the nature of their business models.

…and…

3. Nascent firms tend to operate at, or far beyond, the edge of the envelope that is offering music to the general public according to previously understood, acceptable and agreed upon terms for a license.

Therefore the music companies are taking a large portion of the risk in entering into a licensing relationship.

They go on to state that these companies are created principally for the benefit of the founders who will build the business and flip it for unknown rewards. The rewards, they contend, do not in any way benefit the music entity which helped make the transaction possible. Therefore the music companies should have a stake in that potential upside.

Before I offer some alternative proposals, there are a number of issues to consider here:

1. What experience does the society have in determining valuation vs. investment? These deals are highly speculative. I envision that after a few failed companies blemish the society’s investment record, the societies will charge valuation to investment ratios at unacceptable levels to hedge their bets. This would end up defeating the purpose of the proposal and bring us full circle to where we are now.

2. Would the company that operates on a multinational basis be required to give up equity in each territory? The process of getting licensed in multiple territories is complicated enough without having each society and label as equity partners. Rates vary by territory, so why wouldn’t the equity valuation and complications vary also?

3. How do the proceeds of an equity liquidation event get distributed to the members of the society? I’ve always been confused by the distribution calculations from public performances, which are mostly undocumented (restaurants, retail outlets) — will these calculations be the basis for distributing a windfall?

4. Finally, what level of control will the societies and labels demand or have over the direction and operation of the invested company? Do they get board seats? These organizations are strapped for personnel to handle the levels of digital media business development they have now. How do they expect to manage all of these investments? And how do you prioritize two companies competing in the same or similar markets with whom you have equity investments?

While I applaud the writers of this report for their efforts in coming up with a proposed solution for this evolutionary challenge, I think it misses the mark and raises many more questions and concerns than it answers.

I offer two alternate high-level solutions to the MCPS proposal.

1. Develop an experimental license fee program that will help companies of certain funding levels “get off the ground.” Many companies have an interesting idea that they think will “revolutionize” the music business. The problem is that unless they try out the idea in the public marketplace, no one will know if it works. Give them six months to one year from launch to develop the business at extremely reduced rates — the solid companies will rise to the top and become viable businesses from which the societies and labels can extract their revenue.

2. Maintain the status quo because the marketplace will take care of the issue itself. Much to the chagrin of many an idealistic entrepreneur, until music copyrights truly become part of the open source revolution, there has to be a price to pay to use these valuable assets. I don’t understand how companies can take the position that because the owners of copyrights charge what they think is too much for the use, they can just use these assets without permission. Music licensing is a right given by the owner, not an obligation (aside from the statutory mechanical rates). Those that build businesses on the backs of these copyrights without permission tread at their own risk.

In the end, I vote for #1. It’s going to take a lot of new ideas to revive this business. Given the way music sales decrease year after year, it would benefit the societies and labels to allow entrepreneurs to experiment in the hopes that together they can help the music business find a new footing.

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A growing number of mobile phone subscribers worldwide are taking online social networking to the streets. The U.K. leads Europe in mobile social networking on a percentage basis — with the U.S. boasting comparable numbers. In the U.K., approximately 810,000 mobile subscribers, or 1.7% of all mobile subscribers in the country, visited social networking websites on their mobile phones in the first quarter of 2008. That reach percentage was twice as high as it was in other major European markets?though similar to the U.S., where 1.6% of all mobile subscribers (4.1 million in all) accessed social networks via their phones in December 2007.

In the U.S., MySpace.com, the leading social networking site among PC users is also the most popular mobile Internet social networking site. The site logged 2.8 million unique mobile users in December 2007. Also in December, Facebook, which has the second largest audience among social networking sites, had 1.8 million unique mobile users. In contrast, Facebook led mobile social networking sites in the U.K. with 557,000 unique mobile users per month in Q1 2008, while MySpace followed with 211,000 unique mobile users. While Facebook and MySpace.com were also among the top social networking sites in other European countries during the first quarter of 2008, MSN’s Windows Live Spaces led in Italy (154,000 unique mobile users per month) and France (106,000), and ranked second in Germany (45,000) behind MySpace, which boasted 52,000 unique mobile users per month. Social networking is already a global phenomenon, and going mobile is the next big thing. In the U.K and the U.S. already see millions of users of MySpace.com, Facebook and other social networks interacting with their virtual spaces while they’re on the go. Consumer demand for mobile social networking may be a significant driver of mobile service pricing models as evidenced by Vodafone UK’s recent move to offer unlimited Internet access as a standard feature of its new monthly mobile price plans.

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Now in beta, Knewsroom publishes the “Knews” every morning, featuring the previous day’s top stories in politics, business, technology, design, sports and entertainment. Which stories rank as most important is decided by the audience of readers, in Digg-like fashion. Going far beyond Digg, though, Knewsroom rewards contributors with a portion of 20 percent of every dollar it earns in advertising revenue. Members of the Knewsroom community can participate by proposing topics for the next day, submitting syndicated or original stories, and voting on favourites. Active members earn “watts”—the official community currency—for their contributions, and they can invest them to varying degrees in the stories they think have the most merit. Investing watts in topics is like investing in mutual funds on Wall Street, Knewsroom explains, offering a lower risk but lower rate of return; betting on stories, on the other hand, is more like investing in individual stocks, with a higher risk but a higher potential return. Whichever way they choose to invest, readers get rewarded each day at deadline, when Knewsroom runs its matrix algorithm to determine the Top 5 topics and the Top 5 stories in each section. Contributors who bet on a winner get a share of all the watts that were invested in that winner along with a cut of the ad revenue generated that day, which gets credited to their Knewsroom MasterCard. Contributors of original content can earn an extra USD 150 for their submissions as well.

There seems to be no doubt that citizen journalism is here to stay, but how it will reshape the news landscape is still being decided. Between Digg, Reddit, Newsvine and others, the race is on to decide what tomorrow’s newspaper will look like. Will Knewsroom take hold? Only time will tell. In the meantime, one to test out!

Website: www.knewsroom.com
Contact: team@kluster.com

Published with permission From Springwise

Springwise, an independent new business ideas/innovation firm, scans the globe for the most promising new business ideas. The company was founded in 2002 by trend watcher and entrepreneur Reinier Evers and is headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

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I thought I had the social network angle all covered with my Facebook profile, Linkedin profile, Plaxo, my website and a blog. But then I noticed people “Twittering” and “Zanneling” through my Facebook updates and I was intrigued. What were these new strange verbs, I thought?

So I went over to www.twitter.com and www.zannel.com and I looked around.

What I found was people of all ages, all across the globe sharing their lives in bite size bits — sharing web pages, photos, news stories and conversations being overheard. More bits sharing ideas, new product launches, videos, bookmarks and slideshows. Even more bits with moments of the mundane, the sad and the peculiar.

Then I dug a little more and found that there are many more sites with strange names, encouraging people to share their interests, loves, hates and lives. Some of the sites share information with other sites. They create a daisy chain effect where, for instance, I can Zannel a new video of the woodpecker harassing me during my conference calls, and it will feed the link to my Twitter account, which then feeds Plaxo and Facebook.

But what if you wanted to share and collect all the information on all your friends regardless of which site they are using?

Enter FriendFeed. (www.friendfeed.com) FriendFeed enables me to keep up-to-date on the web pages, photos, videos and music that my friends and family are sharing. It automatically imports shared stuff from a list of 35+ social-oriented sites across the web.

The list of sites that feed into the service includes popular photo sharing sites such as Flickr, Picasa web albums and Smugmug; video sharing sites including YouTube, Vimeo and Seesmic, and even online radio services like Pandora and Last.fm. In fact, pretty much anything you want to share with others can be fed into FriendFeed.

Here’s what I learned today from my friends on FriendFeed: Xerox is getting out of the copier business. Robert Scoble has 25 stickers on the side of his Mac. A company named Infectious is offering custom art to personalize the outside of your car. I also found out Marcus needs more sleep.

So what do all these little updates and tidbits mean to me?

Well, last week I removed Fox News from my home page feeds because the “news” they report is never new. It feeds on the downtrodden, the mentally ill and the foibles and tragedies of mankind. I had enough.

With FriendFeed, I get news that my friends think are interesting in their lives and the lives of others — the people I share with and follow provide updates on things they are building, investing in and caring about. They provide a vision into the goodness of this world that seems to have lost its way in mass media. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather spend my day being fed a healthy diet of optimism.

It’s good to have friends.

Feel Free to Join My Networks! LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | FriendFeed | Zannel

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Eighteen hi-tech consumer behaviors and purchasing patterns were identified and isolated within the national study. These behaviors included household ownership of certain hi-tech items, consumer likelihood to engage in certain Web 2.0 behaviors, and usage of leading-edge cellular device features. Those who satisfied eight or more of them were classified as “Digital Savvy.”

Digitally Savvy consumers, says the study, are

• 56 percent more likely than the average consumer to own or lease a luxury vehicle;
• 175 percent more likely to have spent $500 or more on men’s or women’s business clothing during the past year and
• 49 percent more likely to own a second home.

Online, this consumer group is high-end in its shopping behavior, and are far more likely to spend online in high-end purchasing categories, such as automotive and travel, as well as every day items, such as books and clothing

• 54 percent of the Digital Savvy spent more than $500 online during the past year
• 35 percent spent upwards of $1,000 during that timeframe

Gary Meo, senior vice president, print and digital media services, Scarborough Research, said “The most Digitally Savvy markets… typically have the presence of major universities and represent established tech corridors in the U.S… They are early adopters when it comes to fully integrating new technologies into their lives… their shopping patterns, demographics and lifestyles could presage behaviors of consumers across the country.”

Active lifestyles and on-the-go living are the hallmarks of the Digital Savvy. They are far more likely to enjoy athletic leisure activities including basketball, yoga, free weights training and jogging. Given this active lifestyle, concludes the study, they rely on cell phones for communication and information. 59 percent of the Digital Savvy use their cell phones for email.

The Digital Savvy are male, young and wealthy

• 56 percent of them are male
• 77 percent of this consumer group is below the age of 44
• They are 132 percent more likely than the average consumer to have an annual household income of $150,000
• 57 percent of this consumer group has an annual household income of $75,000 or greater

The just-released (PHP) Scarborough report, “Understanding the Digital Savvy Consumer,” is available for download here.

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