Cynopsis Kids reports on the Walt Disney Internet Group’s acquisition of iParenting Media. Good move. The iParenting content will dovetail well with this, this and this. After so many years of WDIG trying to figure out the Web while they tried to fill the pit left behind when Scrooge McDuck’s money bin collapsed, content aggregation is one of the smarter strategies for them to be embracing.
Yesterday, AdAge printed this article about the Facebook population speaking out against Beacon. The article mentioned a petition with 50,000 signatories.
The petition, titled “Facebook, stop invading my privacy!” had 50k signatures on November 29, just nine days after it was created. That same day, Facebook changed their opt-in / opt-out policy with regard to Beacon.
By December 3, the date of the AdAge piece, it was up to 65,000 members. It’ll be interesting to see whether growth of the petition levels off because of the policy change, or continues to rise because members want to underscore their displeasure with the original policy.
The latest from my daughter’s campus: Everyone’s going to Download.com and grabbing and installing Post-it Software Notes Lite 3.1.1, which has more than 1.5 million downloads so far. It’s a nifty little widget that lets you create virtual Post-Its you can leave on your computer desktop, arrange as desired and delete as needed.
Great idea. Perfect piece of desktop branding for 3M. But …
If you download the software, be sure to unzip the .exe file before installing. On my desktop (Windows XP), the downloaded .exe file wanted to install IconEdit2. On my laptop (Vista), the file wanted to install a Canon printer driver. Weird.
Also, be warned (but not surprised) that if you have Vista, the widget is not very Vista-friendly. Then again, Vista itself isn’t very Vista-friendly, but that’s a whole ‘nother kettle of albatross.
And don’t go to the 3M site looking for the software. They have a 30-day trial version available of Post-It software that sells for $19.95. I have no clue how the trial version differs from Post-It Lite 3.1.1., or even if it differs at all.
Why 3M doesn’t just make a kick-ass Post-It widget available to everyone for free, I don’t know. It makes all the sense in the world that they should. This is the perfect widget idea for the brand. Make it great, make it widely available and let the ideavirus spread. Then make the upgraded version so compelling that word of mouth about that spreads, too.
There’s no reason 3M couldn’t own the idea of computer desktop notes. They’re so close … yet so far.
Well, whether we do or don’t, it looks like they’re on their way.
