Short Takes
"Yo...Rocky!"
In partnership with MGM Studios, consumer products and services company IncrediMail (www.incredimail.com) offered branded content including: A series of "Rocky Balboa" themed email backgrounds for its users to embed within emails to friends and family; the Rocky theme song used as an email notifier to alert users when they have messages in their inboxes; an email skin to customize and decorate users' inbox toolbar with "Rocky Balboa" images; and four "Rocky Balboa" wallpapers and a screensaver. The company says its 10 million-plus active users send more than 330 million emails each month, making the viral potential of this new platform noteworthy for all marketers.
Cost of Spam Rising
A new study from Ferris Research (www.ferris.com) predicts that the global cost of spam in 2007 will be US$100 billion compared to US$50 billion in 2005. In the United States alone, spam is expected to cost US$35 billion in 2007, up from US$19 billion two years ago.
Kickin' It
The World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) says it is not only about fun and socializing, but that it is an innovative technology leader and model for sports organizations everywhere. WAKA uses a unique email system so that kickball players can contact each other and keep up with happenings in the league. There is also an online invitation system for tournament teams and players can easily obtain league information on the Internet through multiple means of communication. Kickball anyone? (www.kickball.com)
Fingerprint Access
Shimon Systems (www.shimonsystems.com), one of the 70 invitees of DEMO 2006 and Silicon Valley Tech Museum INNY award winner, is offering Bio-NetGuard, a security solution for WiFi local area networks. The product uses biometric fingerprint verification technology to authenticate the user-no more lost passwords! For maximum network security, the device is also available in a two-factor fingerprint plus password authentication version. Both versions can be purchased in user configurations supporting just five users for small application all the way to 250+ users for large deployments.
So Much Data, So Little Space
IDC sought to account for all the ones and zeros that make up photos, videos, emails, webpages, instant messages, phone calls and other digital content cascading through our world today. The researchers assumed that an average digital file gets replicated three times. Add it all up and IDC determined that we generated 61 billion gigabytes-161 exabytes of digital information last year. That's like 12 stacks of books that each reach from the Earth to the sun!