Citing Nielsen's "fast national" figures, which are preliminary, ABC said the Oscars broadcast trumped other recent awards ceremonies, including the Emmys, the Golden Globes and the Grammy Awards. Even so, the viewership figure fell far short of the 40.2 million viewers who tuned in last year to see Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" win for Best Picture. And the total viewer turnout for the glitzy event was the lowest since 1974.

The program was being watched as a potential barometer of the health of broadcast TV, as it was the first big event to air on a traditional broadcast network since the resolution of the months-long writers strike.

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• Wired 15.03: Snack Attack!
  
  
• Mobile Opportunity: Mobile applications, RIP
  Summary: The business of making native apps for mobile devices is dying, crushed by a fragmented market and restrictive business practices.
  
  
• Ajaxian » Adobe AIR v1.0 & Flex 3.0 Released; New Adobe Open Source Site Launched
  Continuing their march into the RIA space, Adobe announced today the official release of AIR v1.0 and Flex 3.0.
  
  
• Microsoft Announces New Reporting Standard for Digital Campaign Performance: Engagement Mapping: New approach allows advertisers to map and assign value to various touch points, gaining a more complete picture of a campaign.
  New approach allows advertisers to map and assign value to various touch points, gaining a more complete picture of a campaign. (Let's here it for another fine short MS headline, btw.)
  
  
• SHIFD Beta - Shift Content Between Your Devices
  Shifd easily allows you to shifd content including notes, places, links between multiple devices. Also see this blog post.
  

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• Donna Dates // Current
  icebreaker :: Timi's project gets some local publicity. JPP makes a cameo.
  
  
• Isabella Rossellini turns to directing insect sex
  Bug sex ...
  
  
• Sundance Channel : Green Porno
  More bug sex with Isabella
  
  
• Redford likes phones for distribution
  
  
• EETimes.com - Users' love affair with iPhone stumps Mobile World panel

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XPERIA from Sony Ericsson

The launch and importance of Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA range of phones should not be underestimated. Some of you Engadget readers out there may have heard rumours of this, but the news was made public at the Mobile World Conference yesterday in Barcelona.

It is a potential game-changer for SE both in terms of form and function. The X1 (first in the range) is as impressive technically as it is visually. Notably, it is the first phone from SE built on the Windows Mobile 6 OS, and signals a radical change in their technology strategy. It is an elegant slider with a 9-panel configurable touchscreen and has every imaginable bell and whistle out there at the moment.

“XPERIA™ X1, a stand-out, arc slider phone from Sony Ericsson designed to address the growing need for a premium, converged mobile experience.”

The commentary has been incredibly positive out there in the blogosphere, and I encourage all of you to check out the links below and familiarize yourselves with what has been a highly anticipated launch.

XPERIA product site

XPERIA: product mini-site (don’t miss the ATL set to a Beatles cover)

SE press release

Microsoft press release

Engadget: Recap and review. Tons of positive comments.

Crunchgear has a full recap/live blogging of the entire SE announcement in Barcelona.

Sony Ericsson is an iris partner, by the way.

And yes, I want one very badly.


Technorati Tags: mobile, sony.ericsson, iris, experia, mwc

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The Matter Box

I got my first Matter Box last week. It is the first piece of DM I have truly enjoyed receiving in years.

It really deserves a proper post, but I just don't have time to blog about it at the moment. Be sure to check it out, and in the meantime, here's what a few other people had to say ...

What’s the Matter? is Roo Reynolds post about the Matterbox. Here's another Matter Box post from the Notcot blog. There are several photos in this Flickr photo pool as well as this fine Matter Box Flickr photoset.


Technorati Tags: marketing, dm, uk, iris, matterbox

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• Mobile Messaging 2.0
  Mobile World Congress in Barcelona: a hosted discussion on mobile messaging, devices, and user practices and trends
  
  
• Mobile World Congress 2008 Party List | Mobileslate
  
  
• Social Media to Weather Recession
  According to the Forrester Research report, marketer moves into areas like word of mouth, blogging and social networking will withstand tightened budgets. In contrast, marketers are likely to decrease spending in traditional media and even online vehicles
  
  
• Recruitment 2.0/ HR 2.0 « Me Like The Interweb:
  Company culture has become an immense selling point for prospective hires. The use of a company's own videos and pictures can entice candidates by giving them a glimpse of the inner workings and presenting the human side of the company.
  
  
• The Media is Social | Fast Company


• Dawn of the digital natives - is reading declining? | The Guardian
  If you believe a scary US report, reading is on the decline. But, says Steven Johnson, it completely fails to consider the amount that we do every day on our computers ...
  
  
• NSki Season Video Mix with Silversun Pickups Rusted Wheel
  Nice.
  
  
• Who owns what
  mydigimedia by Amy L. Webb
  
  
• Neatorama » Blog Archive » The Evolution of Tech Companies’ Logos
  A very nice walk through time.
  
  
• Ex-Googlers Launch Instructional Video Site Howcast, Raise $8 Million A Round
  Audience members can also look at upcoming scripts and improve them or write their own in a guided wiki portion of the site that follows the Howcast script template (introduction, instructions, tips, end with a fact). The script is then approved. For a great example, see: Howcast - How To Pretend You’re a Real New Yorker and Howcast - How To Create Facebook Widgets
  
  
• MediaPost Publications - One in Eight Viewers Surveyed Watched Super Bowl Ads Online - 02/07/2008
  So why is there no place cool to watch them?
  
  
• If Online Marketing Is the Future, Why Are Some CMOs Stuck in the Past? - Knowledge@Wharton
  Americans spend an average of 14 hours a week online and 14 hours watching TV. But marketers spend 22% of their advertising dollars on TV and only 6% online, according to data compiled and analyzed by Google.
  
  
• Rubber Republic
  "The best viral marketing, viral ads, advertainment under one rubber roof" Here's the write-up from Brand Republic: Rubber Republic launches one-stop viral seeding shop
  
  
• Lost fans to find answers in Bluetooth Zone at Victoria Station - Brand Republic
  It would be nice to get some numbers ...


Technorati Tags: del.icio.us, links, blogosphere

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• Shrove Tuesday is Pancake Day
  How can it be that they call it Pancake Day in the UK? I don't get it.


• The New York Times - Apple "Get a Mac" Banner
  Brilliant creative use of the space and of the technology.


• Apple Ad on The New York Times Website Front Page
  Here's another one: Don't Give Up on Vista


• The Hype Machine :: Popular Blog Tracks
  Very nice MP3 blog


• Chatty Zuckerberg Tells All About Facebook Finances | Kara Swisher
  

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• Design Police | Bring bad design to justice.Let's start with something funny. If you're even remotely creative, you'll love this.
  
  
• Google’s quarter falls short of expectations; Social networking not monetizing well | ZDNet.com
  Google on Thursday reported fourth quarter net income of $1.21 billion, or $3.79 a share, on revenue of $4.83 billion, up 51 percent from a year ago. Excluding charges Google reported earnings of $4.43 a share. All of those figures missed Wall Street estitimates ...
  
  
• 'Facebook fatigue' kicks in as people tire of social networks | The Register
  Whisper it, but numbers from web analytics outfit comScore have confirmed what the chatter in bars and cafes has been saying for months - people are, just, well, bored of social networks.
  
  
• Social search is the future
  Recap of a speech by Google's Marissa Mayer
  
  
• Motorola Realignment
  Motorola announced late Thursday that it is seeking alternatives for its handset business that likely will mean a sell-off of the division.
  
  
• FORTUNE: Techland Google gets its way with new wireless network «
  The minimum $4.6 billion bid has been met in the Federal Communications Commission's auction of the so-called C block of the 700 MHZ wireless spectrum, and that means that the eventual winner of those airwaves will have to make their new network open to ...
  
  
• The Life Cycle of a Blog Post, From Servers to Spiders to Suits -- to You
  
  
• Shipment of Fail
  
  
• The Vacationeers Get “Lost” in Google Maps Street View


• Etsy :: The Storque :: Etsy News :: Etsy's First Five YearsI've been a fan of this from the start. A fab modern social business.
  
  
• McIlrath quits Hurrell and Dawson for Iris - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic
  Shaun McIlrath, the founding partner and creative director at Hurrell and Dawson, has been poached by Iris to take the new role of executive creative director.


• McDonald's Poland
  Nice. Check the store finder ...


• Is the Tipping Point Toast? -- Duncan Watts
  From Fast Company. I thought FC was gone. Not so. Scoble and Shel have now joined. Look for a comeback soon ...


• Scrapmodo: The Anti-MacBook Air Has All the Necessary PortsFunny.


• How Last.fm Will Create "Communities Around Content"
  Daniel Langendorf analyzes how last.fm is much more than a streaming service - it is aiming to create "communities around content".


• Growing Online, BBC Is to Join With MySpace - New York Times
  The commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation is expected to announce a partnership with MySpace on Thursday to make some of its content available on MySpace, the popular social networking Web site.

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