Perceptric Forum

Chris Gilbey — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:17:24 +1000

You really have to wonder whether we are living beyond the looking glass... Like Alice, we must have all taken some sort of halucinogenic.

Check out this story about Halliburton allegedly selling nuclear secrets to the Iranians! Unbelievable:

According to journalist Jason Leopold, sources at former Cheney company Halliburton allege that, as recently as January of 2005, Halliburton sold key components for a nuclear reactor to an Iranian oil development company. Leopold says his Halliburton sources have intimate knowledge of the business dealings of both Halliburton and Oriental Oil Kish, one of Iran’s largest private oil companies.

John Edwards

Chris Gilbey — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:35:34 +1100

Interesting story about John Edwards in The Guardian. I'm not sure whether it was placed by people who are pro-Edwards or anti-Edwards. Maybe Edwards is trying to position himself as a VP for either Obama or Clinton - as the left winger to balance their right wing tendencies, particularly Clinton...

The former North Carolina senator's chosen profession alone raises the hackles of business people. Before entering politics, he made a fortune as a trial lawyer.

In litigious America, trial lawyers bring lawsuits against companies on behalf of aggrieved individuals and sometimes win multimillion-dollar settlements. Edwards won several.

But beyond his profession, Edwards' tone and language on the campaign trail have increased business antipathy toward him. His stump speeches are peppered with attacks on "corporate greed" and warnings of "the destruction of the middle class."

He accuses lobbyists of "corrupting the government" and says Americans lack universal health care because of "drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists."

Despite not winning the two state nominating contests completed so far, with 48 to go, Edwards insists he is in the race to stay. An Edwards campaign spokesman said on Thursday that inside-the-Beltway operatives who fight to defend the powerful and the privileged should be afraid.

"The lobbyists and special interests who abuse the system in Washington have good reason to fear John Edwards.

"Once he is president, the interests of middle class families will never again take a back seat to corporate greed in Washington," said campaign spokesman Eric Schultz.

Company Structure

Chris Gilbey — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:48:31 +1000

Have you ever thought that only you know what the company structure really looks like....

(Found this on Laurel Papworth's blog )

Inserting advertisements into video games holds much promise

chrisbroad — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 00:15:11 +1000

Advertising

Got game

Jun 7th 2007
From The Economist print edition

Inserting advertisements into video games holds much promise

Welcome to the future

THEY are known to television executives as the “Lost Boys”—the generation of video-gaming young men who are watching less television and, thanks to ad-skipping technologies such as TiVo, even fewer advertisements. The obvious response is to start putting advertisements into games instead, by incorporating billboards into the game environment, for example. But incorporating static advertisements into games is unsatisfactory. Now that most PCs and a growing number of games consoles are connected to the internet, however, it is possible to update advertisements when required. As a result, static in-game advertisements are now giving way to dynamic adverts, which accounted for $26m of the $76m spent on in-game advertising last year, and will account for 55% of the $182m spent this year, says the Yankee Group, a consultancy.

ARE you a generalist or a specialist?

chrisbroad — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 23:47:30 +1000

Vertical search-engines

Know your subject

Jul 12th 2007
From The Economist print edition

Topic-specific search-engines hope to challenge Google, at least in some areas

ARE you a generalist or a specialist? The question can be asked of people, but it is increasingly being asked about internet search-engines, as specialist or “vertical” sites take on generalists such as Yahoo! and Google. Some are already prospering: GlobalSpec.com, for example, a profitable search-engine for engineers, has 3.5m registered users and signs up another 20,000 each week. “They own that market,” says Charlene Li of Forrester, a consultancy.

This is due in large part to GlobalSpec's definable customer base. Its knowledge about the needs of its users sets it apart from the generalist search-engines, says Angela Hribar of GlobalSpec. Vertical sites, which serve up search results from a carefully selected group of topic-specific websites, can also target advertising at particular audiences more precisely...

the 8 realities of technology and social experience that are shaping the world of today's teens and twenty-somethings...

chrisbroad — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:57:03 +1000

"This is a discussion of the eight realities of technology and social experience that are shaping the world of today's teens and twenty-somethings.

It looks at the growing role of technology in teens' lives, the way they use their gadgets, their expectations about how to find and use information, and the social consequences of their use of technology."

by Lee Rainie Director, Pew Internet & American Life Project

YouTube founder's success secrets, off the BBC by a VQUENCE employee

chrisbroad — Wed, 23 May 2007 23:17:26 +1000

I'm with VQUENCE and am always intrigued by the machinations of GoogleTube here on the BBC.

Vquence targets Asian Media Companies

Richard McKinnon — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:26:47 +1000

For a while we've been talking about video, China and incredible growth.

Today, we bring the three together, along with contributors to this blog, Chris Gilbey (Sydney) and Chris Broad (Hong Kong). Startups need to operate across the globe right out of the gate. Vquence is running fast. Read the press release

Video Search Company Opens Hong Kong Office.

Hong Kong; Sydney, Australia; Santa Monica, Ca. Video search, socialization, and advertising company, Vquence has started targeting business in China and Hong Kong just days after the startup company’s initial launch. Vquence is aiming to partner and build relationships with global media companies headquartered in Asia.

“China’s internet growth will lead the world this year. Vquence is China focused; it’s a market and a community we aim to succeed in” Chris Gilbey, Vquence CEO said today. “We intend to develop business relationships with major media companies to deliver video search for deep vertical markets”

Vquence is a technology leading video search engine. When launched, users will easily and intuitively discover relevant video content. An authoring toolset then permits easy creation of a playlist of thin sliced videos (or ‘vquence’). The vquence is presented through a specialized video player. This playlist will play in any Web page. Users will be able to cut and paste the code for their vquence into a blog or web page. Dynamic insertion by Vquence places ads into the vquence based on relevance.

“Video is the centre of the internet’s next big leap forward. Vquence will be a key accelerator.” Gilbey said. “That’s why China’s market is so important to us.”

Vquence has appointed Chris Broad as Vice President, China, to head its new China/ Hong Kong Office. Broad has had over 10 years of experience in Asian and Global technology businesses. Broad brings a record of success in establishing technology markets, elevating corporate presence and image, and facilitating the start-up of operations in various worldwide locales.

Based in Hong Kong, Broad worked for Thorn EMI, Leccotech, (now part of Quest Software), Surface Mount Technology, and SubmediaAsia. Company knowledge includes IT enterprise solutions, ODM consumer electronics, and entertainment technology businesses.

“In China our focus is on advertising and content opportunities moving away from old print media, pc’s, and traditional TV to the web, and handheld devices. Our goal is to facilitate that transition and help content owners easily monetize their content.” Broad said

“My role is to introduce Vquence into China’s market dynamic. Our social media solution for mainstream Chinese corporate media is totally market and community facing” Broad said.

China’s 14 million site blogosphere is joined by a new blog or online social forum every second.

“China’s unique cultural character is well-matched to developing a Web-based economy and consumer social media.” Broad commented. “China is a rapidly evolving media market. Video consumption is up 30% on last year. Vquence is about to become part of that evolution.”

Known for innovative strategic marketing and business development, Broad has been tasked by Vquence to develop media relationships in Hong Kong and China, followed by other parts of Asia. He has been set ambitious first year targets.

“Injecting Vquence and its unique business model into China’s media and internet business community will rapidly build out our business, and those of our partners.” Chris Gilbey commented. “China’s social structure and media environment encourage social communities and sharing. To become part of the Chinese media market we need to establish early in the evolution of this company that we are prepared to listen to the Chinese marketplace, rather than assuming that there is a one size fits all solution for all media.”

Vquence was formed in July 2006 by Gilbey and Dr Silvia Pfeiffer, a former CSIRO research scientist. Gilbey is a long time entrepreneur in the content and technology arenas. Pfeiffer is a leading authority on Digital Media Analysis; helped develop Annodex, an open source platform for video distribution; and has developed application algorithms to analyse and mediate video content.

“Vquence’s technology and business model aim to turn today’s video assets and costs into online reach and revenue. Our model is to unite consumers, publishers, and content owners.” Gilbey said, “We facilitate social networks,” Gilbey said, adding “Consumers find and aggregate video, then share it widely. They get paid. Content creators and publishers are rewarded from embedded ads in the vquences their communities share.”

The Vquence move into Asia follows the company’s launch two weeks ago. Vquence’s technology affords an instantaneous approach to clickable video. Content owners can monetize video to consumers seamlessly.

“We change market dynamics. We work with media companies where there is an established chain of title to the IP and then help them monetize it. Consumers become legitimate distributors of the video asset rather than pirates.” Gilbey said. “Community drives the opportunity – the wisdom of crowds determines what is truly viral content. We provide the acceleration.”

The Vquence R&D team is internationally spread and headquartered in Sydney. The company expects to announce a slate of initial customers that includes media and content companies in both the US and Australia

Further Information;

Chris Gilbey,
CEO, Vquence
Sydney, Australia

Chris Broad
VP, China
Hong Kong, China

About Vquence: Vquence is a video search, socialization, and advertising company that has a comprehensive model of monetizing video for content owners to consumers. Demonstrations of the technology are being conducted under NDA. The Vquence website has more information on the company. www.vquence.com. The company has offices in Sydney Australia; Hong Kong, China; and Santa Monica, Ca.

Down the YouTube?

chrisbroad — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 23:01:58 +1000

This is a premium content article on Economist.com

Down the YouTube?

Mar 23rd 2007 | SAN FRANCISCO
From Economist.com

The online-video site gets a heavyweight competitor

IT HAS been a terrible month for Google, the biggest search engine and the internet’s reigning superpower, and for its subsidiary, YouTube, the pioneer and precocious leader of online video. Users may love them, but the old-media companies, feeling increasingly exploited, loathe them, sue them, and gang up on them. And that matters, because neither Google nor YouTube, as quintessential “new-media” companies, own any of the content that they organise so well.

With the announcement on Thursday March 22nd of a new online-video venture between NBC Universal, the huge media unit of General Electric, ...

IOC tendering Beijing Games new media rights for China

chrisbroad — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:31:36 +1000

Revenues from broadcasting and new media rights for the 2010 and 2012 Olympics have already risen nearly 40 percent from the previous two-Games package, which includes the Beijing Olympics, and will be in excess of $3.0 billion.

The IOC estimates some 15 percent of that will come from new media including the internet and mobile phones.