Between Initial Advertising and Final Checkout Today, one's personal IT infrastructures and services often are equal to or better than even sophisticated enterprises.

Driven by challenging activities like communications, content, search and commerce starting a blog, IP-telephoning, producing and sharing videos, or collaboratively working on a Web-based product has become as easy as never before since modern Internet platforms, Web 2.0 technologies and a nearly ubiquitous Internet access support the instant messaging (IM), collaboration, blog and multimedia environments as well as eCommerce transactions and online banking.

I think that the Internet continues to be a world-wide entertainment, broadcasting, information and collaboration medium with a commercialization aspect, resulting in an extremely effective transition into electronic commerce, information acquisition and community operations and it's unique strength lies in letting users personalize their news, communication and entertainment online, in Web logs and instant messages, file sharing, search queries and personal software.

Directing the creation of marketing tools and steering the execution of marketing and technology programs, successfully driving growth in targeted markets through implementation of key projects, building and guiding top-performing teams means to embrace the Web's unique strength: Interaction and participation. More  ¶ 'Between Initial Advertising and Final Checkout' posted by eA : 12:23 AM  0 comments links to this post

  Clever Checkout for eCommerce Platforms: Google Checkout When I made this post I was talking about a differentiation by a new payments model.

'Conception for such a payments technology should address a fair pricing, safety and convenience of payment to get onto a path the Web can really improve one's life.... Consumers like to buy what they want wherever they are and it's just a question of time when Google will enter the payments market'.

They entered and rolled out across the US Google Checkout is a very integrated experience from initial advertising to final checkout targeting eCommerce platforms to advertise at Google.

'For every $1 you spend on AdWords, you can process $10 in sales for free through Google Checkout. If you exceed your free transaction processing for the month, or you don't advertise with AdWords at all, you'll only be charged 2% plus $.20 per transaction'.

Both, consumers and eCommerce platforms can benefit, because it simplyfies the checkout process, builds trust and tracks all orders and shipping in one place. Here's a list of participating stores and a great promotion including 10$ GC's.
I'm wondering when Google MicroPayments will come...

Labels: checkout, google, payments

  ¶ 'Clever Checkout for eCommerce Platforms: Google Checkout' posted by eA : 4:02 PM  0 comments links to this post

  2.0 for Self-Expression and Collaboration When I started computing more than a decade ago I remember it took me weeks to learn a new program for self-expression, calculation or collaboration. Today it takes me about five minutes total, it doesn't require any skills and within seconds I can take part in a worldwide distributed live-communication.

The difference?

I'm using modern Web 2.0 technology like a blog, shared wikis, RSS, folksonomies and AJAX to organize important information in hassle-free Web sites. Additional today's Web-based platforms let information structure emerge instead of imposing structure, filter, sort and prioritize the information (flood) and set a serious trend for the future. Light-weight collaboration techniques, user-suggested tags, bottoms-up approach are just a few expressions to name in a 2.0 context.

• Simplicity Will Win in Web 2.0

Enterprise management and enterprise IT management need to recognize this trend, Web 2.0 technology and business concepts can help an organization to

• take advantage of the new social and workplace trends
• lower costs and improve functionality
• embrace innovative new products, services and applications
• increase knowledge and capability

I'm thinking already about the next level of interacton and participation.

• Web Vision of a World in 3D
• Web-Mapping Applications with Google API

  ¶ '2.0 for Self-Expression and Collaboration' posted by eA : 4:30 PM  0 comments links to this post

  Web-Mapping Applications with Google API I recently upgraded my Google web-mapping application in the contact section to the map API Version 2 which exposes nearly the entire interface to customization to enjoy a higher quality in terms of service tools that can introduce custom location icons, location coordinates and metadata providing greater user-interactivity by performing asynchronous network requests with Javascript and XML (AJAX).

Well, nothing special about that, but everything depends on precision and quality of service and I experienced that the digital-imagery improved a lot since last year. Combining Gmaps with other sophisticated services could turn it into a giant well working global business system over the next years. I'm thinking of geo products that will become more and more popular and will enable businesses to build services like geo-tracking or just view a data source in a geographic context.

It's part of a web vision of a world in 3D to conduct buisiness on a level of interaction we have never experienced before.  ¶ 'Web-Mapping Applications with Google API' posted by eA : 9:40 PM  0 comments links to this post

  Initial World Cup FlyAround with Google AJAX Search Watching the current FIFA World Cup on the weekend I got the idea and the opportunity to play with the newly developed dynamic Google AJAX search module. Although it's in an early stage I'm impressed:

In general I found it easy to integrate and a fast way to simultanously search several sites, blogs, google videos, maps, in particular the quality of searchresults for my blog improved a lot applying the GblogSearch module. It also allows mash ups and a better participation in current communications. I would wish to have more convenient default values like link target _self and an expansion into further areas.

I added a tabbed version of the application to my service site, just type World Cup 2006 or AJAX. I think it's a step further into social search and an good way to allow users to contribute content.


Resources:

• Google AJAX Search API (Beta)
• Google AJAX Search API Blog
• Google AJAX Search API Groups

Labels: worldcup2006

  ¶ 'Initial World Cup FlyAround with Google AJAX Search' posted by eA : 10:19 AM  1 comments links to this post

  World Cup 2006 Kick-Off ShowCase The biggest sporting event of this year the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany with the world's best 32 football teams to compete and to determine the tournament's winner after 64 matches in 12 stadiums has nearly taken-off. It's funtastic weather here in Germany and I think topclass players and passionate fans from around the globe will make the cup a world class celebration during June/9th and July/9th.

• 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany (Official Website)
• 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany (Current Wikipedia News and Links)
  

After an opening ceremony and a speech from the german president Horst Köhler I'm exited to watch the german team tomorrow at 6.00 pm playing against Costa Rica in Munich's Allianz Arena. Stats say 'The World Cup hosts have never lost their opening match', although the fascination of football has a long and rich tradition it's everytime an opportunity to participate in a World Cup's atmosphere especially when it takes place in one's country.

Immediate reactions on World Cup matches and atmosphere can best be monitored in blogs and other user-generated media like web pages, newsgroups, chat lines, forums and message boards. I'm also expecting lot's of user-generated multimedia presented as moblogs, vlogs, photo sharing and podcasts.

• Simplicity Will Win in Web 2.0

As the fascination of football the slogan 'Made in Germany' has a long tradition, too. Top model Claudia Schiffer presents the new campaign for the initiative, “Invest in Germany – Land of Ideas”, it's worth to have a look at:

• Germany - Land of Ideas (Claudia Schiffer promotes Germany)

Labels: events, worldcup2006

  ¶ 'World Cup 2006 Kick-Off ShowCase' posted by eA : 4:15 PM  1 comments links to this post

  Simplicity Will Win in Web 2.0 During Web 1.0 design and content were dictated, now in Web 2.0 new applications let users combine data and functionality from a variety of sources into a custom environment blurring the line between software and the Internet using an architecture of participation. Surveying the evolution, I revisited some of my posts from last year

• TrendSpotting - New Technologies First in Consumer Markets
• Webtrends - Spotlight on Interaction and Participation
• Ubiquitous Broadband Leads the Way

and wondered if they were still actual. In deed, they are. These new Web 2.0 technologies capture the enterprises now to foster online collaboration and to create an excellent interactive user experience.

How to participate in social interaction? Well, one can create a Flickr.com account and upload images, a YouTube.com account and upload videos, write a Wikipedia article, create a blog at Blogger.com, subscribe to other's Site Feeds, promote your own Site Feeds at FeedBurner.com, use the Internet phone service Skype.com or communicate and explore the world in 3D with Google Earth, SketchUp, a 3D modeling software, and 3D warehouse.

Simplicity will win leading to adoption, scale and thus to a competitive advantage for both, demand and supply.

• More

  ¶ 'Simplicity Will Win in Web 2.0' posted by eA : 2:25 PM  0 comments links to this post