Internet Advertising Continues To Grow… For How Long?

I’m still rather bear-ish on the prospects of continued growth for the internet advertising universe.  That sounds heretical given my job and lifeblood, but we can’t expect the continuing economic downturn here in the US to support continued online growth.

New figures released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers show that internet advertising continues to grow to record levels, with the 3rd quarter internet ad spend in the United States hitting $5.2 billion, a $1.1 billion/ 25.3% increase over the same quarter in 2006.

In fact, I think we’re headed for more than a bubble pop of web2.0 as ad budgets will certainly be one of the first things to get slashed when the economy takes its eventual nosedive.  In the midst of all that doom and gloom, I do see the smart and adaptable small companies weathering the kill-off, just as our mammal ancestors did a few million years ago.

IAB: Internet Advertising Continues To Head North

Affiliate Program Seeks to Spread Wifi Love

fon

Interesting new affiliate program from the wifi network FON in CJ (15-18% commission):

Besides earning a commission rate of 15% of all your referred sales, we also provide 120 return day cookies (to track your referrals even after someone has clicked-through on your link) and unlimited referral occurrences.

Refer just $600 or more in sales in any month and you’ll earn a 10% bonus. Refer $1,600 or more in a month and you’ll earn a 20% bonus, bringing your effective commission rate to 18%!

FON has gotten a good deal of press on tech and gadget blogs for its alternative goal to spread free wifi by subsidizing routers for individuals (costs around $50).  I’m not sure how successful the program will be, but it’s interesting to see a company trying to gain traction here in the States turn to an affiliate solution.

blognation USA has more coverage.

FON

Tomb of Ezekiel?

This one shows the building from the outside. Cool, eh? And this one shows part of a Hebrew inscription on the inside. The first part of the inscription is outside the frame, but the rest reads ื”ื ื‘ื™ื ื‘ืŸ ื‘ื•ื–ื™ ื”ื›ื”ืŸ ื–ื›ื•ืชื• ื™ื ืŸ ืขืœื™ื ื• ื•ืขืœ ื›ืœ ื™ืฉืจืืœ ืืžืŸ, “… the prophet, son of Buzi, the priest. May his merit increase upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.” The prophet in question is, of course, Ezekiel, who was a priest and whose father’s name was indeed Buzi (Ezekiel 1:3).

PaleoJudaica.com

New Star Trek Movie Plot Spoilers

JJ Abrams (Lost, etc) is heading up the eleventh Star Trek movie.  Supposedly, it’s going to be based on the academy time of Kirk, Spock, etc and how they all meet.

Here’s a (potentially) major spoiler post (that you have to read if you’re a fellow fan):

I can’t stress how big of a potential spoiler the following information is. If you want to remain spoiler free DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER.

IESB.net – Movie News, Reviews, Interviews and More! – JJ Abram’s Star Trek Story Details!

How To Play the Piano?

Learning to play the piano at a respectable level is not difficult (or so I’ve been told).

So I’m going to learn to play the piano.

Anyone have a link to a site to help me out?  Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email (mail@samharrelson.com) if so!

I’ll keep you posted on my progress here.

Here’s a great piano tutorial from Mahalo:
http://www.mahalo.com/How_To_Play_Piano_For_Beginners_(And_Save_$500_In_Lessons)