Hollywood2020

HITACHI BRAIN MACHINE -- TO REPLACE REMOTE CONTROLS?

Hitachi researchers say the "brain-machine interface" will someday help paraplegics communicate even without muscle control. SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI: ap

WOW the Hitachi brain machine looks a bit like an old fashioned machine that was used to give women permanents in another era! Here's the complete AP story--

Device uses your brain as a remote control
Houston Chronicle, United States - Jun 22, 2007
By HIROKO TABUCHI AP Underlying Hitachi's brain-machine interface is a technology called optical topography, which sends a small amount of infrared light ...

picture of old-fashiond permanent wave machine--

GUBA DOES DEAL WITH WARNER BROS --

GUBA.com is one of the ETBs (early true believers) it was founded in 1998.Thomas McInerney is the co-founder and CEO of GUBA®.

www.guba.com -- leading the way for Warner Bros online downloads -- rent or buy even MAC!

According to their website, "under his leadership, GUBA became profitable in less than a year after it was founded and has grown at a 67% compound annual growth rate over the last 5 years". Eric Lambrecht, is the Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer.

1st US VIDEO SHARING COMMUNITY TO DISTRIBUTE WARNER BROS...According to Guba's online press release, this premium offering allows users to rent and buy, on a download basis, movies and television shows online. With the launch today, GUBA becomes the first US video sharing community to distribute licensed Warner Bros. Entertainment’s content online.

GUBA LETS YOU RENT OR BUY:

Rentals start at $1.99 per movie with 24 hour unlimited viewing. You can buy extra days for reduced fees -- no need to download again. GUBA also allows users to also buy -- catalog films retail for $9.99 and new releases, out the same date DVDs are released in stores, will go for $19.99. TV shows start at $1.79 per episode.

MULTIPLE FORMATS VIA GUBA:

GUBA is known for it's special intuitive search interface making it easier to download cross platform -- to PC, iPod, PlayStation Portable, and other portable devices. You can watch video in Flash, QuickTime, and Windows Media formats. Good news for Mac Addicts-- you can stream video using Windows Media Center and Apple's Front Row.

In the Associated Press post on this GUBA development -- founder CEO said what makes good sense to the content generation: "Kids in the dorm rooms don't own TVs," said Tom McInerney, co-founder and chief executive of Guba. "They've got computers and that's their source of entertainment."

WHAT DOES GUBA STAND FOR -- what's the acronmym -- well if you were around in the biz in 1998 -- you'd probably know ---

GUBA	=Gigantic Usenet Binaries Archive

SLASHDOT story last fall-- honed in on what was unique about GUBA -- here's the excerpt of that story: "Despite the growing popularity of p2p networks,Usenet is the real treasure trove of multimedia content including vintage cartoons, westerns and popular television shows. Nearly two terabytes of data is added everyday to Usenet. GUBA, a seven year old San Francisco company is making it easier to find the information on Usenet through the browser. Its like " Google for Usenet,"  (Hollywood2020 got that link from mdbriggs.com thx!).

Don't remember USENET? -- look it up at wikipedia.com -- where have have you been -- certainly not in the early social networking circle of usenet and bulletin boards and more....bet you don't even know what multimedia means??

Hmmm GOOGLE must be taking notice of what's happening here...what a buy-out this private company GUBA could be for the right portal play! DID I SAY THAT??

STARDOLL.com OFFICIALLY HOLLYWOOD2020 FAVORITE POST --- NOW $6 MILLION RICHER

STARDOLL.com posts by blogger emerging marketing and business development consultant Joyce Schwarz, Hollywood2020.blogs.com is the most popular post of all on our blog! It's official. Yesterday more than 800 page views for Stardoll posts alone! Yes, 800+. www.stardoll.com.

STARDOLL post -- took over our blog-- it went beyond the borders--we're just going to leave it and come back and fix it later??????? Sorry if it bugs you-- go to www.stardoll.com and you'll have fun. Guess you can blog outside of the lines like you can color outside of the lines too??

Hollywood2020 started covering Stardolls.com back in February,2006 -- here's one of the most popular links -- of course it mentions Angelina Jolie --we know how to get the buzz going> Hollywood2020: STARDOLLS-- DRESS UP ANGELINA JOLIE AND MORE STARS. We covered it again in May --Hollywood2020: STARDOLL.COM -- HOT HOLLYWOOD2020.Blogs.com POST ...

GOOD NEWS -- now Stardoll.com is $6 million richer...Online dolls get $6 million to spend Stardoll.com, a Stockholm, Sweden-based children's site, has raised a Series B round of funding from Google-backer Sequoia and its original investor, Index Ventures.

According to PR Newswire June 27 release: PRNewswire/ -- Stardoll.com, the online dress- up and makeover community, today announced the close of a $6 million Series B round. The round was led by US-based Sequoia Capital with previous investor Index Ventures also participating. The press release explains: The investment syndicate brings together two of the most active and successful investors in the consumer Internet area. Between them their successes include Yahoo, Google, Skype, PayPal and Betfair.

Angelina dressed in a flowing party dress--

ooh did you see how fast she got her pre-pregnancy figure back!

Links to Hollywood2020blogs.com post on Stardoll.com = fashion.hostevelen.com/dress-fashion-game-star-up.htm - 63k - cached AND www.buscasitios.com/index.php/ Society/Holidays/Online_Games/ - 25k - Supplemental Result - Cached ANDdress-up-fashion-games.fashion-mania.com/  AND

Links, News, Photos and Blogs related to Different for Girls ...  AND

Information about design fashion game girl online  AND

gada.be/d/blog-awards - 96k - Supplemental Result - Cached - even JAPAN:

Information about dress fashion girl game up

MORE BACKGROUND ON THE FOUNDER OF STARDOLL.com -- we love this site and the fact that it is the brainchild of a 50 year young woman is FABULOUS....aren't we all children at heart.

I know this blogger Joyce Schwarz is really only 14 years old!!!  I MAY HAVE SAID THIS BEFORE -- but one of my favorite hobbies was to make hats (out of paper cups) for my Barbie-type dolls -- I think maybe I had one Barbie Doll but of course I had to cut her hair and restyle her the way I wanted etc...which drove my mom up the wall!

Founder info (NOTE -- we have no connection to Stardoll.com -- we have never even talked to them-- but someday --maybe this summer we will head to Scandinavia and stop by and say hello in Stockholm -- by then they will probably have $20 more million !!! )

• WHAT IS STARDOLL.com?
• WHAT's that site all about: The site features more than 330 celebrity dolls whom users can style with thousands of different clothes and accessories. Each week the site attracts more than 1.2 million unique visitors from over 200 countries.

ANNOUNCING "MEDOLL"

Besides celebrity dolls, the site will be launching the MeDoll feature, which allows users to create a personalized doll whom they can dress with merchandise from a virtual store. In addition to increasing revenues from user payments, this new feature also creates opportunities for marketing partnerships with fashion, retail and media brands.

MOST POPULAR DOLLS

-- according to the website as of Tues, June 27 8 pm PST

1.	Ashlee Simpson 2
2.	Christina Aguilera 3
3.	Rihanna
4.	Ciara
5.	Lindsay Lohan 2

OOOOh we found such a kewl new Stardoll that he/she -- we'll surprise you deserves it's own post-- that's next! Tune in again in an hour or so Joyce Schwarz, JCOM, www.joycecom.com, joycecom@aol.com.

ME & MY WEEMEE -- WEEWORLD GETS $15M BIGGER!

ME & MY WEEMEE --& WEEWORLD DOMINATION .. at Hollywood2020.blogs.com we've written about this company earlier (last year, in fact). We love it -- and we love our weemee (below). Glad to hear that the company WeeWorld (www.weeworld.com) just got another $15M fo its digital identity business, CEO Celia Francis is quoted in a RED HERRING.comWeeWorld Gets $15.5M Allowance story as saying "the firm will use the funds to expand its presence in the US and support further advertising and sponsorship in the USA and achieve what she jokingly refers to as 'WeeWorld domination'. Francis also notes in that article as they expand they have to become anthropologists because of how people use their 'WeeMees' are different worldwide.  Okay....now that I have my WeeMee (digital identity) dressed and ready with her Tiara and Sunglasses she's all set for the SoCal day (or is it nightlife) Of course the drink in that martini glass is Pomegranite juice -- this is SoCal after all...but as Jimmy Buffett says -- it must be 5 p.m. somewhere in the world! In RL (real life) I'm still sitting here with hair curlers (okay not really) and my pink flannel bathrobe. But that's more info than you needed to know isn't it!. The wonder of a Digital identity.

WEE MEE BUSINESS MODEL: The RED HERRING article says characters can be used in emails, blogs, instant messaging applications, and cell phones. WeeMees can also link up and find other WeeMees with similar interests. Users now pay $2 to create a WeeMee, as well as pay for additional updates to their character via a mobile phone. There are supposedly 9 milion WEEMEES out there (note supposedly Habbohotel.com has 40 million habbos out there according to recent reports). Of course, WeeWorld is also looking to the sponsorship/ad model too and they have an expanded deal with MSN for Microsoft Messenger. Kewl stuff....good going Weeworld ...PS I just got my WeeMee today (forgot if I had one before) anyway it was free-- so rush and get yours and save that $2.00 fee that will probably be up there soon. Read more about WeeWorld from my blog last year just about this time-- April 17, 2005. Comments on your avatars or weemees are welcome, email me at joycecom@aol.com.

And yes WeeWorld -- I'd love to do some consulting for you in the USA -- how about some juicy corporate sponsorships or even a Hollywood television/movie deal?? How about celebrity WeeMees...more on me at www.joycecom.com. Oh....the firm is in Glasgow --and I would just love to go to Scotland very soon....

DANCE THE NIGHT AT VIRTUAL LOUNGE ADS COULD PAY FOR ADMISSION

by Joyce Schwarz, JCOM, www.joycecom.com, author and emerging entertainment consultant, blogging at www.hollywood2020.blogs.com. Unless you've been living in a cave lately, you know that the hottest 'cross-between' (as we call the comparison in Hollywood) is MySpace/YouTube -- now along comes another version of the virtual community experience-- a virtual disco www.pcdmusiclounge.com, The new experience is brought to you by a company called Doppelganger.

In today's SF Chronicle article Doppelganger Chief Executive Officer Andrew Littlefield says, "It's an environment where they can see and be seen."

For more details about PCDmusiclounge.com, link to: Going safely into the night San Francisco Chronicle orDoppelganger Adopts Dance Moves, Boomboxes, 3D Environments

PRODUCT PLACEMENT MODEL?

Most of the articles on the new site list product placement as the ad model.

Revenue, of course, can also be from electronic commerce. Interscope Records

signed up for a trial on the site. BUT Hollywood2020.blogs.com things that

the real model is underwriting and sponsorship of the lounge and events that tie

in with real-world concerts.

Making real money in a virtual world

Doppelganger, A New Online Ad Model? GigaOm

NOTE that the company Doppelganger was formerly called Evil Twin.

Interesting notes here about it's funding and a bit of controversy on the VCs:

MercuryNews.com | 08/12/2005 | VC funding for Q2 2005 

Evil Twin Studios, San Francisco, $2700000, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, VSP Capital, Video games distributorThe three companies – Evil Twin Studios, Truveo Inc. and Umbria Inc. – were quietly ... It had raised more than $25 million in VC funding from firms like ... hosting.mansellgroup.net/enablemail/ ThomsonNewLetter/HostedWires/NewsLetters/Aug5.htm - 39k -

Cached

NEC ROBOT GETS AVATAR PAL TO TALK TO YOUR HOME DEVICES

Personal Robot PaPeRo gets smarter....according to www.pinktentacle.com NEC just announced new tech that enables PaPeRo household robot to connect with personal devices by using a digital avatar that “follows” you ,appears on the screen( on the device) and interacts with you.NEC's PaPeRo robot gets digital . Hollywood2020 wants to know why PaPeRo can't just embed the devices within it's body-- why can't it BE THE TV, BE THE MP3 PLAYER, BE THE CAMCORDER, BE THE DVD PLAYER-- all that metal and no guts? Let's see how smart the avatar can get, previous explanations show that the personal robot is authomomous -- and they show it going to sleep on the couch -- just another couch potato? Most women would not tolerate for another authomomous agent during football games hanging out on the couch! Japanese execs should get a clue! In case you haven't seen the NEC guidelines for their personal robots-- we're reprinting them here-- pretty kewl huh--not unlike guidelines for real people in real relationships -- except the artifact stuff (which I'm sure is really just a language translation goof -- artifacts in our culture go in the attic or are banned to the Goodwill or if worth something-- sold at a yardsale or carried off to the Antiques Roadshow...people generally aren't artifacts? But then some that I know bear a close resemblance to them sometimes! The three principles of the NEC robot

NEC says online: What kinds of things do we want for robots to achieve the "world with personal robots in mind" that we introduced earlier? We present the following 3 items required for robots from the point of view of "interaction with people." 1)To understand one's partner - not with an ID or password, but with a 'natural form'. 2)Having individual characteristics -having and asserting one's sense of values 3)Having specialties (having some things superior to people) -    so as to live as an artifact - (ARTIFACT???? that's sure as clear as MUD comments blogger Joyce Schwarz, Hollywood 2020.blogs.com.

STARDOLL.COM -- HOT HOLLYWOOD2020.Blogs.com POST --WHY?

By Joyce Schwarz, author and Holywood columnist and consultant on emerging entertainment, www.joycecom.com. STARDOLLS.com -- continues to be one of this blog's (www.hollywood2020.blogs.com) hottest posts. We discovered it back in February see our post DRESS UP ANGELINA JOLIE AND MORE STARS .

So we returned to www.stardolls.com to see what's up there -- and of course who's starring now. And we found this Q& A which may explain the popularity of the website: What is Stardoll.com?Stardoll is an online celebrity dress up and community site for everyone who likes fashion and celebrities. Most of our members are girls and boys between 7 and 17 There are new dolls every week.

HOW DID STARDOLL.com get started? The site says: Stardoll's original name was Paperdollheaven.com, and started as a hobby by Scandinavian-born Liisa. Inspired by her childhood passion for paperdolls, Liisa drew dolls and accompanying wardrobes, and also taught herself web design. Today the site is operated by Stardoll AB in Sweden and has around 400.000 visitors per day.

ABOUT THE SITE: The site is free and you can : can 1) Save celebrity dolls in album 2)- Write in diary and guestbooks 3)- Send instant messages... and more Basic membership is free and you can upgrade to what's called SUPERSTAR and that cost is about $3.00 (US) per month-- not bad.

CATEGORIES OF STARDOLLS INCLUDE: actors, actresses, models, singers, superstars, royals and othrs and special categories that include Makeup (yes, you are the makeup artist for Angeline Jolie and others

Actors -ranging from Ashton Kutcher to Tom Cruise, actresses -- from Bollywood's Aishwarya Rai to Grace Kelly to Zhang Ziyi (Memoirs of a Geisha), and models, singers; superstars ( Alicia Keys to Madonna); Royals (yes,as in Camilla Parker-Bowles );OTHERS ( including Sharon Osbourne ), Games (including a chance to 'dress-up' Oscar --yes, that Oscar from the AMPAS-- as in Academy Awards and a section called Make-up where you get to put cosmetics and 'make-over' your favorite Stardoll.

WHO'S ON STARDOLL.com?

On Saturday morning 10 a.m. PST as this post was being created there were 17,583 users online (and they say 400,000 visitors per day) and these include what they call: People who just signed in -- here are the avatars for just some of those fans:

	Candy-Girl101 Girl 10, United States
	NewYorkCity*Grl Girl 12, United States
	kittenemily Girl 9, Great Britain
	jlb Girl 12, Great Britain
	niamhos Girl 9, Great Britain
	Jared*boy Boy 16, United States
	**MizzGilmore** Girl 11, United States
	dog-chelsea Girl 9, Great Britain
	MiryHD Girl 13, Italy
	xxkizzxx Girl

Newest dolls

1.	Audrey Tautou
2.	Lady Punk
3.	Amanda Bynes 2
4.	Mix and match petra
5.	Eliza Dushku

Most popular dolls

1.	Lindsay Lohan 2
2.	Avril Lavigne 2
3.	Girls Aloud
4.	Ciara
5.	Brenda Song

People who just signed in

	Candy-Girl101 Girl 10, United States
	NewYorkCity*Grl Girl 12, United States
	kittenemily Girl 9, Great Britain
	jlb Girl 12, Great Britain
	niamhos Girl 9, Great Britain
	Jared*boy Boy 16, United States
	**MizzGilmore** Girl 11, United States
	dog-chelsea Girl 9, Great Britain
	MiryHD Girl 13, Italy
	xxkizzxx Girl

Superstar Catwalk

Do you want to be seen here too? Then you need to become a Superstar!

Become a Superstar!

*mummy's*star*

loowny

1.	Audrey Tautou
2.	Lady Punk
3.	Amanda Bynes 2
4.	Mix and match petra
5.	Eliza Dushku

BAD WORD DETECTOR -- vegetable mania --(to detect 'bad words' Stardoll.com has set up a system where different vegetables thrown into the text?What you have noticed is our automatic "Bad Word - Filter" in action! Everytime our filter detects a bad word, it is replaced with a name of a vegetable.

CYWORLD -- What do 15 million Koreans know about the future...US launch in beta

CYWORLD -- will SK Telecom rule online worldwide? Suddenly Korea's SK Telecom is in the news and moving forward on several fronts.

Korean social-network Cyworld is moving onto US land with a beta out of San Francisco. If you don't know about Cyworld -- you should! The Korean social-networking service has reached saturation among young South Koreans, with reports estimating 90% of late teens to twenty-somethings . A division of mobile wireless provider SK Communications, the company has already expanded into the Chinese and Japanese markets and now USA.

Welcome to Cyworld! (USA beta-site)

CYWORLD. ... CYWORLD，MINIHOMPY. MAIN. EMAIL. TOMEM. GIFTSHOP. us.cyworld.com/ - 2k - Cached - Similar pages

FROM THAT SITE: "Cyworld is a FREE online community that brings people together like never before. Family, coworkers, schoolmates, and best buds are all here -- playing, working and just hanging out. Our Minihome service is a fun way to express yourself while keeping in touch with your friends (and making new ones!) Post pictures, keep a journal and lots more… in style. Join one of our clubs (or start your own) to meet other people who share your interests. Whether you’re into cars, crafts or calculus, there’s a conversation happening right now."
BUSINESS WEEK STORY ON CYWORLD:E-Society: My World Is Cyworld

"If someone is to block Cyworld today, I'll probably have to sue the person." ... "I use Cyworld as the photo archive for my family," says Kim Joon, ... www.businessweek.com/magazine/ content/05_39/b3952405.htm - 51k - Cached -

Cyworld - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -

Cyworld control room in Seoul, Korea. Operation of the site is monitored here by · Enlarge ... The main feature of Cyworld is the service called minihompy, ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyworld - 20k - Cached - Similar pages

Mashable* » Cyworld US Launches - Will It Topple MySpace?Cyworld US, the American version of the popular Korean social networking site, ... So how will Cyworld stack up against MySpace? Well, I get the sense that ...mashable.com/2006/03/30/ cyworld-us-will-it-topple-myspace/ - 52k - Cached -

RED HERRING | Cyworld to Annex the US

According to the private beta site, Cyworld US will be similar to the other global ... Cyworld could continue its global success in the growing US market. ... www.redherring.com/article.aspx?a=16327 - 37k -

Cached

Smart Mobs: Come and see me in my hompy

Cyworld's main feature is a blog-like "mini hompy," short for mini homepage. What differenciates Cyworld is the "mini rooms" that users can customize with ... www.smartmobs.com/archive/ 2004/10/01/come_and_see_me.html - 28k -

PAYPAL, OBOPAY, TEXTPAYME & NEAR FIELD DEBIT CARDS ALL IN ECOMMERCE, EWALLET LINE-UP

CHANGE, CHANGE & MORE CHANGE...recently I blogged about PayPal's new mobile service and how difficult I found it not only to use but also to find anything to buy. Slashdot.org has a link tonight to this Reuter's story that may explain more of the details that I did not include because I was so frustrated with my experience in 'mobile-paying' my brother a quick $20 bucks. Oh it's always so easy...until you have to do it. An anonymous reader writes "PayPal is bringing the eastern use of (Link to Reuters article courtesy of slashdot.org): the cellphone as a payment method to the United States.

OBOPAY, TEXTPAYME & NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION DEBIT CARDS! 

Check out the competition mentioned too:

Just An Online Minute... Wireless Digital Wallet
MediPost Publications, New York - 10 hours ago
... world with commerce. Motorola, Obopay, TextPayMe, and Visa are all experimenting with wireless payment technologies. Visa is reportedly ...
Transfer Money Through Phone With Obopay!
Digital Lifestyle Magazine, AZ - Mar 31, 2006
... Obopay is planning to start pushing their similar service pretty soon. Whether or not Obopay will turn out to be better than PayPal Mobile, this is great news. ...

Welcome to TextPayMe

Use TextPayMe to Send and Receive Money with your Phone via Text Messaging... Pay your friends with TextPayMe - dinners, movies, club dues, etc. ... textpayme.com/ - 12k - Cached - Similar pages PLEASE look at these carefully before signing up or sending money -- as we found at Hollywood2020 there may not be much to buy with the money you send to pals!

HOTCOS HOT COMPANIES =UNDER THE RADAR

NEW CATEGORY FOR HOLLYWOOD2020 BLOG: HOTCOS -- Hot companies...starting this week Hollywood2020 author/analyst and emerging entertainment and media consultant Joyce Schwarz, www.joycecom.com will look at the hottest conferences and the hottest companies being introduced at these digital media and other events.

One that we have not covered yet is the UNDER THE RADAR www.undertheradarblog.com. Here are the winners according to the www.undertheradarblog.com site: I've added some links and some comments either my own or from the various tech websites. 

UNDER THE RADAR CATEGORY WINNERS:

Community 2.0 - Dogster (www.dogster.com) where every dog has a web page:
Connect 2.0 - Box.Net (www.box.net) free online storage and upgrade for fee
DIY News - Spy Media (www.spymedia.net) the newsphoto marketplace for everybody.
Make It Easy - Dabble DB (www.dabbledb.com) share, manage and explore info -- still in beta.
Search 2.0 - Part 1 - Riya (www.riya.com) photo search -- Hollywood2020 is a big fan already -- see our previous post on Riya.com.
Search 2.0 - Part 2 - Wink (www.wink.com) social search engine-- share info about collections & more.
Smooth Surfing - Flock =www.flock.com according to their site:Flock is the free web browser that makes it easier to share and connect with your friends. They say: We're not quite ready for prime time but if you can't wait, check out our developer preview and let us know what you think. Also, make sure to check out our Flock Blog.
When 2.0 - Skobee www.skobee.com -- link together with your pals for social events.

People’s Choice Award Winner

Community 2.0 - Dogster  (see above)
Connect 2.0 - Box.Net (see above)
DIY News - TailRank (www.tailrank.com) (best of blogs news ranking based on your preferences...Here's what they say at their site: What is TailRank? TailRank finds the best content from thousands of blogs so you don't have to! Read more 
Make It Easy - Dabble DB (see above)
Search 2.0 - Part 1 - Riya (see above)
Search 2.0 - Part 2 - Eurekster (community powered search -- choice of Hollywood.com, iVillage.com and more-- see article in BUSINESSWEEK: 
read more...Check out what a Swickibuilder and a buzzcloud etc.

Smooth Surfing - Flock (see above)

When 2.0 - Mosuki (www.mosuki.com) share calendars and events

ALL PRESENTING COMPANIES -- according to the UNDERTHERADAR.com blog website include: AirSet | Box.net | Browster | BubbleShare | CalendarHub | Dabble DB | Dogster | Eurekster | Flock | Goowy | Kaboodle | Loomia | Meetro | Mosuki | NowPublic | Popist | Rallypoint | Riya | Rollyo | SimplyHired | Simpy | Skobee | Sphere | Spy Media | TagCloud | Tagged | TailRank | The Form Assembly | Top 10 Sources | Wink | Zoho| Zvents

We'll cover some of the others as they start to make mroe news! GOOD news there is another event from the IBD Network set for June 14 -- here's the link to the info and how to apply: IBDNetwork is now accepting company nominations for our fifth Under the Radar event focused on Digital Media.If you or someone you know has an interesting company, product or service that should be considered for this conference, please complete the Under the Radar nomination form.

Companies will be selected from the following sectors:
Video Hosting & Community Sites
Video Editing & Search Tools
Online Music Discovery, Sharing and Recommendation
Podcast Creation and Advertising
Photosharing and Editing
Mobile Content