It appears that in a country where over 90 percent of the downloaded music is illegally pirated, if you can’t beat them, join them. Google, Inc. has launched a free and legal music download service that is available exclusively to internet users in China. The plan is for the Web site to sustain on advertising revenue, which will be split among Google, a Chinese music company named Top 100.cn, and the participating music record labels. The move symbolizes a potential shift in strategy against piracy, which is also a significant problem— albeit much less pervasive—in America and other countries. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry estimates that the music industry loses hundreds of millions in dollars as a result of piracy. (more…)

On August 4th 2008, the US Court of Appeals permitted Cablevision Cable Company to offer the services of digital video recording (DVR) to customers who do not own personal Tivo hard drives. The alternative, endorsed by the Second Circuit in New York, allows cable companies to record the programs to a central datacenter, thereby mitigating capital expenditures. Redlasso, an online Web site recently forced to suspend their video search, post, and clip services due to legal action by Fox and NBC, may have a viable business plan as a result of this decision. If a Redlasso user purchases the right to record digital video from a cable company, what is to stop that customer from transferring those rights to his account with Redlasso?

In such a scenario, Redlasso is acting as the internet-provider of digital video to cable company DVR customers. Of course, this hinges on the cooperation between Redlasso and cable companies, who may want to develop this service independently. Another possible obstacle is that Redlasso’s video content is delivered over the Internet rather than over the television. Hank Williams of the Silicon Valley Insider does not see this as a problem: (more…)

Launched today, www.cuil.com, the stealth search engine was co-founded in 2005 by two former Google engineers (Anna Patterson and Russel Power) and a former IBM top manager (Tom Costello). To compete with rivals Google [GOOG] or Powerset, the Menlo Park, Calif., based startup, has raised $33M in funding in the past two years.

While suffering from the launch-day blues, Cuil.com (pronounced “cool”) is impressive, a search engine that casts a wide net. (more…)

YouTube, once hailed as the “advertising medium of the future,” is having trouble fulfilling its promises of profit. While one of the most popular and influential sites on the internet, it is failing to make money for its parent company, Google [GOOG].

With 82 million unique viewers a month, and a large, if slippery, demographic, YouTube should be a huge money maker. But Google, who aquired the video sharing web site in 2006 for $1.65 billion, is finding that what it wound up with might indeed be a giant money sink. Don Reisinger of CNET believes Google’s buyout of YouTube was a “major blunder” that has “failed miserably.” Example: YouTube sends 300 billion GBs of data each month; bandwidth for that has been estimated to cost a million dollars a day. (more…)

A U.S. Sentate committee is set to discuss privacy concerns relating to targeted ads with prominent Web site representatives from Facebook, Google [GOOG], and Microsoft [MSFT] on Wednesday.

The discussions are meant to detail the extent to which targeted ads approach the threshold of violating privacy laws, specifically a 1986 wiretapping law established by the federal government that says at least one party within a communication must agree to be recorded.

The reference to the law relates directly to online advertising company NebuAd, which is taking targeted advertising to the next level by working directly with Internet service providers to track user habits. (more…)

On Tuesday, search engine giant Google Inc. [GOOG] announced the beta release of its own free 3D virtual world, Lively. Unlike Linden Lab’s popular virtual world, Second Life, to which it is similar, Lively is an internet plug-in, not a stand-alone program. Users create various locales and personalized avatars, create rooms that are embedded within websites, chat and interact with the environment. Integration with social networking Web sites like Facebook and YouTube – as well as the Google name – will very likely make Lively the most visible 3D virtual world.

Lively will also feature unique branded content. The first, “L.A. Hard Hats,” is a tie-in with National Geographic Channel series of the same name debuting August 3, 2008. Users will be able to visit a virtual version of a building being built on the show. This points to future possibilities in virtual narrative and advertising. As an immersive advertising platform, Lively should be especially effective. (more…)

Software giant Microsoft (MSFT) announced it would purchase the year old company Powerset, a start-up using principals of linguistics in an attempt to make Internet keyword search easier.

Though cell phones offer an “autotexting” function, one that finishes words begun by the writer, Powerset’s technology goes further.

It takes a given word, breaking it down based on meaning, with the end of allowing users to type in inexact concepts that would, thesaurus-like, bring up the intended word(s).

“Powerset has always been a small company with big dreams,” explained company product manager Mark Johnson in a Powerset blog post regarding the deal.

He continued the post by saying the company has the ambitious “ultimate goal of changing the way humans interact with computers through language.” (more…)

Digital music retailer Rhapsody is aiming to make competition with rival iTunes a lot fiercer with a marketing campaign that is said to be worth around $50 million.

ITunes has long been the premier destination for digital music since its inception in 2003, but with its newest marketing partnerships and advertisements, Rhapsody hopes to put a significant dent in the company’s sales.

The digital music retailer, owned by Real Networks and Viacom’s MTV Networks, has brokered deals with Yahoo and Verizon Wireless among other retailers in order to appeal to a wider audience. (more…)

We work with you as collaborative partners to help you navigate throughout the transformation process. With the help of our experts you company is arming itself with strategies, tactics, and technologies to support and realize its ambitious plans! We will be part of the project and help you use of the Internet as an efficient communication and recruitment tool.

L’Atelier North America is part of an advisors committee that reports directly to BNP Paribas’ executive committee dealing with online presence and Internet strategy. Subsidiaries of the BNP Paribas Group such as Cortal Consors and Cetelem have been working closely with Atelier NA to improve their innovation process and brush up their Internet strategy.

Other Fortune 500 clients are relying on Atelier’s input to widespread innovation within their strategic committees or among employees.

Example for the BNP Paribas Group:

Objective…

• The objective for BNP Paribas is to define and implement an accurate online strategy that both reinforces the brand, helps acquire new customers and retain existing ones.
• Find out what customers are expecting from a financial institution on the Internet
• Understand where BNP Paribas stands as far as On-line presence/online banking compared to other financial institutions
• Identify the best practices that will lead BNP Paribas to a coherent and efficient Internet strategy

Opportunity…

• BNP Paribas is now following a very ambitious plan that will lead the Banking Group to attract new customers with a younger and more dynamic brand.
• BNP Paribas is aiming at providing itself with the strategies, tactics and technologies that it will need to achieve its ambitious plans, especially by revamping its brand and using the Internet as a communication customer acquisition and retention tool.
• Strengthen BNP Paribas’ online banking to increase customers’ loyalty
• Use the Internet as a brand support channel and building up a strong online presence
• Create efficient online advertising campaigns

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