Business
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Will future social scientists looking back on this age be puzzled by what so abruptly changed the economy, society, and the world business climate in just a few short years? If they’re probing for answers, I’ll assume they won’t blame a large heavenly object for today’s cataclysmic reordering. But, similar to the comet that struck earth and wiped out dinosaurs 65 million years ago, the rapid changes of our present period will likely lead to some business model extinctions.
Technology and the Internet are rapidly altering the business platform for almost all organizations. The changes are swift and deep.
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The stethoscope is a timeless tool in the medical profession.
But according to a Time magazine article, today’s medical students are often less competent and comfortable with stethoscopes. Instead, they increasingly opt for expensive, high-tech tests to diagnose conditions that could be detected by careful listening through a stethoscope.
A Temple University doctor may have a solution. Time reports that Dr. Michael Barrett, in an American Journal of Medicine study, “concluded that medical students improved their stethoscope skills dramatically if they listened to certain digitally recorded soundtracks that mimic the distinctive vibrations produced by various valve problems and other cardiac conditions.”
Barrett created a recording of stethoscope sounds heard when a patient has an abnormal heart. Students downloaded the recording to an iPod and listened for two hours. The results were impressive: After listening to the iPod recording, students could correctly identify 80% of the sounds (up from 30% without the recording).
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Blogs
There is a new report that has just been released. Technorati, the blog search engine, now keeps tab on over 27 million blogs. There are 60 times as many blogs as there were three years ago. At the present rate of growth, they will double every 5.5 months.
Most of these blogs are not written by professional writers or journalists. Only a few of these will gather a large audience. But, when there are 75,000 new blogs added each and every day (about one per second), they will have an effect on how and where people spend their time online. It is now estimated 25 percent of the Web content output daily is consumer-generated media (CGM) with blogs playing a major role. This is long past a fad and well into a major trend reshaping our information society.
iTunes
Apple’s online iTunes store growth has soared 241 percent in the last year. It had over 20 million unique visitors in December.
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In a story here Wednesday, I discussed the contrasting Super Bowl advertising of big-money Budweiser and the guerilla marketing tactics of GoDaddy. Now it turns out, Budweiser knows how to use guerilla advertising methods, also. Budweiser, the biggest advertiser in the biggest event on television, is going to use its Super Bowl presence to launch its own direct-to-the-consumer broadband network via the Web (story here). The network will feature a variety of programming and entertainment options.
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Online retail sales in the Christmas season beat even the most optimistic expectations (see story ). January figures now indicate 2006 is continuing at the same rapid pace. Based on figures from comScore, online non-travel retail sales were up 33 percent over 2005 revenues in the same period. Some of the fastest growing retail categories included:
- Event tickets...up 50 percent over 2005
- Consumer electronics...up 43 percent
- Sports and Fitness...up 41 percent
- Apparel and Accessories...up 38%
This hypergrowth may appear difficult for some economists and prognosticators to comprehend, but it seems almost expected when you see the fundamental shifts taking place in people’s media of choice. A on a just-released Jupiter Research study reveals time spent online is now equal to the time spent watching TV among Internet users.
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