The attention economy explained by David Gauntlett Basic Web Economics:How things work in the 'attention economy' This page explains how people make money from giving away information free over the Web, and how the internet has (arguably) brought about a whole new economy -- the 'attention economy' -- where traditional wealth becomes less important than the ability to capture people's attention. But let's start at the beginning... I hear that the people who invented the web directory Yahoo! There are now loads of people who have become millionaires by devising websites which people want to visit. In the same way, you get to access Web services, such as the Yahoo! Yahoo! Numerous other Web services, such as free e-mail and free web space, are paid for in the same way. Not all of these services are actually making a profit at the moment, though. Indeed -- it seems that some people have become millionaires even though their web concepts are currently making a huge loss. Has anyone successfully charged for access to a website? Yes and no.
Pinterest: Behind the Design of an Addictive Visual Network Ever find yourself in the rabbit hole of the internet, bookmarking and screengrabbing things you want to buy or images that inspire you? Well, judging from Pinterest's hockey-stick growth, you're not alone in your digital collecting and curating. The invite-only social discovery platform launched in March 2010, the brainchild of Paul Sciarra, Evan Sharp and Ben Silbermann, with the mission to "connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting," opining that books, recipes and items can bridge the gap between strangers. In October, the site surpassed 421 million pageviews, which means that each of its 3 million users are spending quite a bit of time there, pinning and organizing images to help them plan their weddings, decorate their (oftentimes, dream) homes, create bucket lists and manage an inventory of favorite images — no small feat on the ever-growing web. Pinterest's simplicity and browsability comes from the nimble fingers of designer Evan Sharp.
Comcast Brings Live Streaming TV to iPad Comcast has added live streaming TV on an iPad to its service at no additional cost, although it’s currently available only to its Xfinity HD Triple Play subscribers in Denver and Nashville. The company will add more markets in coming months, according to AppleInsider. The new functionality, known as AnyPlay, works only over a home Wi-Fi connection, and it’s only available on the iPad now, although support for the Motorola Xoom tablet is in the works. On the road or on a cellular network, Comcast customers need to use the Xfinity TV software to access On Demand movies and TV shows. There’s another potential catch: AppleInsider noted that when AnyPlay’s existence was first known last September, a leaked memo said that the service would be limited to one device at a time, with a maximum of 10 registered tablets per home. It’s not clear if those restrictions are in place now that the service has launched.
Grandes surfaces: Le prix du panier moyen fran ais a augment de 4,4% en 2011 Après une accalmie en 2010, le panier moyen des consommateurs a grimpé de 4,4% en 2011 avec la flambée de certains produits comme les jus de fruits, selon l'Observatoire annuel des prix de Familles rurales, publié mardi par La Croix. Au mois de novembre, le panier moyen élaboré par l'association de défense des consommateurs et qui comprend 35 produits de consommation courante (eaux, biscuits, jus de fruits, desserts, confiture, produits laitiers,...) a atteint un «niveau historique» de 137,6 euros, a souligné celle-ci. En 2010, les prix étaient restés quasiment stables à +0,19%. Résultats préoccupants Selon Familles rurales, les résultats 2011 sont «particulièrement préoccupants». «Les relevés de prix de l'année 2011 sont les plus hauts depuis la création de l'observatoire des prix en 2006», note l'association. Les paniers de grandes marques nationales ont connu une hausse de 2,65% en 2011, tandis que celui des marques de distributeurs a grimpé de 4,14% et celui des 1er prix de 8,12%.
The Implicit Web: Last.fm, Amazon, Google, Attention Trust As we rush through life and a myriad of web pages, we leave traces. We don't have time to think deeply about any of this. The blogs that we visit, the music we listen to, the movies we watch; we take all of them for granted. The concept of the Implicit Web has been around for some time. What is the Implicit Web? The basic concept of the Implicit Web is simple. Things we pay attention to What if there was a way to capture our choices automatically? The Mechanics of the Implicit Web The Implicit Web is powered by clicks. Typically, software that powers recommendation engines or search engines takes clicks, time and actions as inputs and feeds them into a sophisticated optimization algorithm. Last.fm - the Implicit Web at its best Perhaps the most successful example of the implicit web up to date is Last.fm, which was recently acquired by CBS for $280M. And then Last.fm took the next logical step - introduced you to people and new music based on the music that you already liked. Conclusion
You are what you curate: why Pinterest is hawt Evolution of social media by Elad Gill (graphic courtesy of Elad Gill) Updated: The new hot social thing on the web these days is a Palo Alto, Calif.–based company started by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp. 2012 will likely see an acceleration of structured, push button, social curation across the web. The way I see it, Pinterest is yet another example of basic human behavior’s being transposed on to the web. Back when I was young, my cousins would cut out photos, ads and visuals from fashion and lifestyle magazines and create collages. In 2005, David Galbraith, a friend of mine who has a nasty habit of predicting the future before everyone else, built a service called Wists. Well, since everyone is using “curate,” why don’t we? From the foods we eat, the drinks we chug, the jeans we wear, the bags we buy, the shoes we run in — they are pretty universal. The online world is even worse: Everything looks so similar that we do need to do something to stand out.
Des télés au doigt, à l'oeil et à la voix Pour une écologie informationnelle On s’enthousiasme facilement des innovations quotidiennes que proposent l’actualité des technologies de l’information. Qu’il s’agisse des innovations technologiques, toutes présentées comme devant révolutionner le monde ; de la pléthore de nouveaux services, tous censés bouleverser les équilibres de leurs secteurs respectifs ; et bien sûr des nouvelles pratiques, d’autant plus méritoires dans ce dédale de nouveautés. Peut-être faut-il surtout voir dans cette course à l’innovation et à l’utilisation de ces monceaux de gadgets le reflet d’un comportement psychologique, d’une addiction à la nouveauté, comme l’explique le neurologue Irving Biederman, qui montre qu’une nouvelle information déclenche chez chacun d’entre nous des réactions d’ordre chimique qui nous font nous sentir bien. Nos outils n’évoluent pas à l’aune de nos pratiques Pourtant, si on prend un peu de recul, qu’est-ce qui a vraiment changé dans nos pratiques depuis 10 ans ? Information overload Vers l’économie de l’attention ?
A Guy's Guide To Pinterest One of the first things I noticed when I signed up for Pinterest earlier this week is that several of my female friends and acquaintances were already on the site. It was as if they had been holding out on what many are promising will be 2012's hot ticket in the social networking space. Of the 16 people Pinterest said I knew who were already using the site, 14 were women. Over the course of the first day, five more women I know added me and I suddenly felt like I had ventured behind some secret curtain. That is not surprising: in December, Mashable reported that 59 percent of the site's visitors were women between the ages of 25 and 44, and that 58 percent of its visitors in the previous 12 weeks had been female. Pinterest is a visual pin board where you can collect images you find on the Web and arrange them in categories with links back to the original site. "Our goal is to connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting. Getting Going First Impressions