valleylist(sm) v138 r.1 friday 12.17.2010
high tech products companies consumers
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AVATARS AND HIGH TECH PERSONNAS are incidental to most people. however “valleylist” likes the idea of creating and using a unique online avatar. the online personna promotes the business. people prefer interacting with “valleylist” as opposed to a nameless faceless company. progress in this area has come from video games. a little analysis will tell you that high tech is in fact almost totally devoid of personality. even the internet is too techie and good only at selling techie products to techie people.
disney comes up with all kinds of characters.
the internet’s response an unclever “i’m a googler”.
television video games movies and consumer products use a unique identity to reach their audience. even if the product identity changes from week to week the consumer audience is reached and perhaps persuaded to try the new product. the internet and high tech in general kind of plod along with a big curmudgeon approach. high tech is a very highly charged kind of communications environment. mcluhan would say it is ”hot”. even hotter than live radio or live television.
the best new high tech avatars and personnas come from video games and can be found at gamestop downloads.
for the internt it’s grow your own avatar or personna using digital imagery or photography. yahoo avatars includes a new feature that automatically publishes your avatar to yahoo facebook or twitter. most individuals like to come up with a graphic or photographic image for use on the internet.
sony and video game companies are the big leaders when it comes to avatars and high tech personnas. yet sony finds themselves lagging behind video game #1 nintendo. sony didn’t go big on the internet like a lot of big companies. disney and early projects from television and newspaper publishers were costly and were ultimately folded into the internet. cbs weathered the storm and launched cnet just to stay in the high tech game. these days cbs interactive is a top 10 internet company.
sony has very big wins in the movie and video game areas.
sony also remains the world leader in consumer electronics. looks like even the biggest of winners decided to pick a few areas and make sure they score a real win. trying to diversify into everything like a lot of the leading television entertainment news and publishing companies has not been a winning strategy for information services companies.
the latest big win from sony. the top 10 video game “worlds of war warcraft” designed by hideo.
groupon for the iphone is the “valleylist” app of the week and the #1 app according to topten reviews.
“valleylist” suggests trying our favorite digital music from the itunes store here comes the sun sun king all across the universe and magical mystery tour.
top 10 video game avatars and high tech personnas world wide
[based on internet videogames high tech products or cell phones]
#.video game – - – - <>top10 lists video game – - – - #nyt almanac 2010 top 10 video game
1.tron characters
2.the sims
4.super mario brothers <>super mario galaxy #mario kart wii w/wheel {Wii} #wii super smash bros brawl
top 10 games world wide says the top 10 reviews also incliude resident evil 4 fallout 3 half-Life 2 soul calibur bioshock mass effect 2 while the new york times almanac 2010 likes wii play w/remote and wii fit w/balance board.
avatar and high tech personna analysis. in fact everybody uses a digitized image to identify themselves on the internet. however that’s just ordinary folks using avatars and personna’s to tell people a little about themselves.
the “valleylist” project has an entire group of avatars just for the internet. the latest is famous inventors. the point is that big search services like “yahoo” rely on a stylized “y” and a yahoo yodel to identify themselves. call the yahoo company and you are greeted with a “y – - – - a – - – - h – - – - o – - – - o” yodel. lots of photographs of chief yahoo jerry yang. the company doesn’t do enough to communicate their idenity with an online personna. i’d like to see something as interesting as the video game mega success sonic the hedgehog.
the internet needs to step up to communicating one-on-one with each end user using some kind of avatar or online personna.
how about the mega success of the tron characters. first a computer generated movie then a videogame and then maybe an advertising vehicle for some nameless internet company. i’d like to see internet companies come up with that kind or originality with likeable and memorable characters.
instead it’s “bing”.
perhaps everybody’s favorite for decades is nintendo’s smash hit the mario brothers. started out as a video game. went on to become a successful movie franchise. to this very day the mario brothers characters that helped launch the nintendo remain in the top 10 every year.
instead it’s “ebay” for us internet people.
last but not least the compelling story of laura croft. first a movie. then a video game. finally a favorite video game character. what a character like laura croft can do for a business like nintendo or even sony is remarkable.
still the internet industry is happy with “google”.
twitter almost has an avatar. instead they stopped at the logo. the bird logo has no real personality or fun characteristics. it should be a specific bird that does things like reynolds. a twitter bird who knows everything that’s needed for reaching people on the internet.
instead twitter has only a somewhat larger version of the “y” for yahoo.
it’s a pop culture project. most successful characters come from movie companies like lucas films or disney. the pixar gang came up with toy story. not really as well liked as mickey mouse or luke skywalker. companies borrow these characters to help create an identity because the characters themselves are powerful at communicating a specific message. use luke skywalker and to reach a particular audience.
conclusion. intel pentium became one of the top 10 brands world wide with the help of a space man character. the space man didn’t do very much. the outer space theme helped define the futuristic nature of the pentium processor. the pentium became a requirement for any computer purchase. the high tech personna strategy was so successful that even intel cannot replicate the technology and marketing moment. all of their new chips seem lackluster by comparison. in fact the latest intel chips like the celleron and the atom are very scaled down versions of the space age mega chip – - the pentium.
that’s a computer chip with a personna. other than that there’s not a lot out there with a real high tech personna. even the movie avatar leaves people wondering. is an avatar or some fantasy. an interesting movie. lacks a lasting character loved everywhere. nvidia and other microprocessor companies have come up with characters in imitation of the massive success of the pentirum. however it’s too late.
the space man momentum continues to make intel the number 1 in the world.
central city hospitality house needs old computers and creative arts supplies. mention “valleylist”.
1009 market street off of 6th sf ca 94103
415-553-4547
planned live event scheudle
comedy open mics tour of san francisco nightclubs 7:30pm
1.mon – - hotel utah 12.20.2010
2 wed – - the creamery 12.21.2010
3.fri – - cafe international 12.22.2010
4.thu – - bazaar cafe 12.30.2010
in the meantime “valleylist” projects continue to roll off the high tech bandwagon at a faster pace than ever. what’s coming up is focusing on solutions instead of causing problems. eliminate failure not people.
“avatar editions” – - planned titles
#. title – - – - – - – - – - – [avatar] – - schedule
1. interactive television by special request [philo t farnsworth] – - completed
2. display screen or touch screen [steve jobs] – - completed
3. the microprocessor [bill gates] – - completed
4. read only memory and data storage [vinton cerf] – - completed
5. connectivity [marc andreessen] – - completed
6. electricity [jerry yang and david filo] – - completed
- – - – new weekly schedule – - – -
holiday special – - – - thanksgiving avatar [tim berners lee] 11.25.2010 – - completed
7. new technology world wide [nolan bushnell] 12.04.2010
8. technology by the numbers [trip hawkins] 12.11.2010
9. avatars and high tech personas [hideo sony video game designer] 12.17.2010 < – - current version
10. aol – - the special edition [elon musk] 12.20.2010
holiday special – - – - christmas avatar [santa claus] 12.25.2010
11. i read the news today oh boy [henry luce] 01.01.2011
for more information look up “valleylist” avatars syndication version.
san francisco being what it is i almost made it to peaches christ superstar at the herbst theatre. a sudden appointment book conflict renedered the entire day useless. other than that “valleylist” recommends the residents new years eve at the fox theatre in oakland.
not to be missed
- - marga gomez new years eve
- – shop at the studio 1815 polk street for last minute gifts from real artists.
- – anything from another planet
- if all else fails come and see me sing with the choir.
- we wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year.
greg mckenna
publisher
valleylist
all rights reserved.
“valleylist” is a free weekly internet newsletter focusing on technology and politics emailed to 5 million readers every week. copyright greg mckenna.
