Posts Tagged ‘USA Today’
Because our company is actively working with green technology companies in China we all have a heightened sense of awareness in this area. One of our team members sent me a great link – about a 4+ minute video – http://www.wimp.com/solarhighways from a site called wimp.com (no joke!) on how LED based solar panels as road surfaces is a possible way to alleviate the U.S. reliance on petroleum based products.
The idea is that the road not only would pay for itself but that solar highways can generate energy to be used for other purposes. Scott Brusaw the inventor and co-founder of Solar Roadways, is both interesting and approachable – watch the video and see if you agree. The entire road would become an electric grid. People would be driving on glass. It is a concept that blew my mind.
I personally had no idea that there is a great deal of petroleum used in making asphalt. Actually I had not given much thought as to what’s in asphalt at all. With so much talk about the U.S. losing ground I am consistently buoyed with stories like these from what I consider to be brilliant American thinkers that are willing to throw out conventional thinking. The U.S. continues to be a world leader in innovative thinking and development of innovative products.
I took a tour through the http://www.wimp.com website and was surprised to find that most of the content is far from being as interesting as the Solar Highway video. Although for some reason I was compelled to watch the ‘Cat vs. Annoying Bird’ video. There are some other interesting videos on the site worth watching.
Separately, LED lights are increasingly becoming a topic of conversation as in January 2012 incandescent 100 watt light bulbs will no longer be sold in the United States. Incandescent bulb technology (if it can be called that) is more than 100 years old. An excellent article in USA Today by Peter Stevenson http://usat.ly/kUWxWh highlights the attributes and challenges of adoption of LED lighting for bulbs in particular.
Solar Highways may be a far off idea but LED light technology offers great opportunities to help lower energy costs and expenses.
Great ideas and innovations excite me and get me thinking. Do they do the same things for you?
I saw an article last week in the DM News http://bit.ly/euzIOK noting that two-thirds of “consumers oppose online behavioral tracking and targeted advertising based on it, according to a Gallup/USAToday poll conducted earlier this month. Consumers were surveyed about the subject days after the Federal Trade Commission recommended a “Do-Not-Track” policy that would allow Web browsers to opt out of all online tracking by third-parties.
Gallup found that 67% of consumers said advertisers should not be allowed to present ads based on their Internet use, while only 30% said marketers should be allowed to do so. Thirty-five percent said tracking by marketers is justified because it allows free access to websites, and 61% said free access was not worth the loss of privacy.
Ninety percent say they do not pay much attention to online ads, while 61% said they have noticed targeted ads based on websites they have previously visited.
Taking issue with the tone of the questions in the survey, Jerry Cerasale, SVP of government affairs at the Direct Marketing Association, said the results pose a challenge for marketers. They need to educate consumers about what behavioral targeting is, and its value, he said.
“The question starts with Do-Not-Track…The request itself gives a negative connotation,” he said. “We look at it as an educational challenge.”
The poll also found that consumers are willing to allow some tracking, as long as it is their choice. Although 37% of adults would allow no tracking at all, 47% would allow tracking from advertisers they choose. The segments of consumers more amenable to opt-in tracking are younger and wealthier, according to the poll. More than half (57%) of adults ages 18 to 34 would allow tracking by selected advertisers, while 53% of those with annual incomes of $30,000 to $74,999 would do so” Gallup surveyed just over 1,000 consumers December 10th – 12th.
I agree with Mr. Cerasale’s point that the questions itself is a loaded one. When the discussion is about on line tracking that feels creepy. However, and I have been harping on this for a long time, when the discussion is about marketing relevancy and how behavioral targeting will save consumers time the conversation is entirely different.
Those with unlimited time can beg to differ but until there is evidence that 3rd party advertisers have individual consumer information and are using it in a personal way I will remain convinced that serving me relevant ads beats my being served feminine hygiene product ads and my daughter being served ads for Cialis and Viagra.
And you?
For those of you that do not live in the Northeastern United States you may be unaware of the aftermath of the ‘unnamed’ hurricane that occurred over this past mid-March weekend. Hurricanes by definition have sustained winds over 75 MPH and there were several reports of winds in excess of that. Whether they were sustained or not is not the point. What is important is that millions of people were impacted – some tragically and 2 ½ days after the storm thousands of people remain underwater and without power.
It’s obvious that national newspapers would not cover local events, (to any specific or significant degree) like the impact of a storm in the suburbs of New York City. But our local paper (the Norwalk Hour) is there precisely for that reason. When I opened my paper on Monday to read articles about the impact of the storm locally there was exactly one article on the storm. No data. No rainfall or wind amounts. The website had little more to offer and did nothing to help people without power who could not access the internet anyway. Although I did not intend to pick on the Hour, I’ve been monitoring both their printed and web coverage of local events for several years.
Why do we even get a local paper? For me (and many people) it’s to cover local events. News, weather, sports, local politics and issues related to schools and services in our immediate communities. I realize that some people may only get one newspaper and the local paper may be it. But many people receive either national newspapers like the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal or read them online. But those papers will not cover local events such as high school and youth sports. Nor would they offer detailed local weather records or stories from people in the community. I suspect that most people are not looking for in depth reporting of national and international events in the local paper.
Their website can take on much of those added functionalities and offering full website access to subscribers would be added value. Contextual advertising could be created to serve up ads during weather events that would offer services such as snowplowing, services for helping after a flood, tree removal and generators. You get the idea.
There are some local newspapers that are marrying web and local content very well even now. But far too many are miles behind the curve. If they don’t change their approach I fear that they will be extinct sooner than later. That would be not only a loss of employment for those that work on the staff of local newspapers; it will be a huge loss for the local communities.
I’m not naïve. It’s terribly difficult these days in the newspaper business. People want access to information for little or nothing. But if local papers are not going to cover local events in a timely fashion their audience will disappear completely. It’s happening every day. By the way today’s paper did have three articles on the aftermath of the storm. A day late.
Agree or disagree?