The front page of yesterday's
NY Times Business section used a lot of ink to tout the announcement of Joost's selection of Mike Volpi to be its new CEO. But what really got me excited was a paragraph back on page C8 near the end of the article, which said that Joost would play with floating "ad bugs" in the corner of the screen after a commercial is over. The bug is a little widget that will remind you of the brand and let you link to the advertiser's website.
Carried to its logical conclusion, this promises a world where nothing and everything is an advertisement. Imagine you're watching a tv show or movie (or whatever the next generation version of these are) on your pc (or phone or some other futuristic device). You like the handbag
Cameron Diaz is wearing in the scene, so you pause the show, click on the bag and find out who makes it, how much it costs, and are given the instant opportunity to purchase. She meets
Brad Pitt at his car and you can click on the car, his shirt, his sunglasses and get similar information Or, you could click on his pearly whites and find out which brand of toothpaste he uses; click on his haircut, find out who the hair stylist to the stars was who cut his and who in your area offers to reproduce it. The Joost concept mentioned is to deliver targeted advertising, so maybe it will learn about you and know whether to tell you where to buy the $7,000 original, the $700 or the $17.95 knock-off. And, maybe, you don't need to pause the action. You could get a split screen or just a comment bubble like those already on some music videos.
Imagine...no more commercial interruptions, but endless opportunities to satisfy vendors with product placement and to satisfy consumers with instant information.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those who don't have the burning desire to be the first with every form of new technology,
Joost is a cool television- through-your-pc technology that lets you watch want you want when you want it. Depending upon your age, think
jukebox or
TIVO, with the content already there. At the moment, the programming is heavily skewed to the young male demographic -- it includes channels for Sports Illustrated Swimsuits, Indy500, Fights, Heavy Animation, etc. In fairness, though, it does have National Geographic and Reuters and even Deepak Chopra on the Lime Channel.
Joost is brought to you by the same folks who invited
Skype. (If you're way out of touch, Skype is the software that lets you talk to your friends in China or wherever through your pc, using your internet connection, and costing absolutely nothing). Joost is in beta testing now and accounts are only available to those who were invited by a friend. If you know me and you ask me, I'll send you an invitation.
