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BusinessWeek Online is reporting the imminent launch of Project Caravan which “calls for books to be delivered simultaneously in five formats -- hardcover, digital, audio, print-on-demand, and by chapter.” Six non-profit publishers are participating, however no doubt it is being eyed rather nervously by publishing giants everywhere.
 But some of them are way ahead. New York publishers Farrar, Straus and Giroux, for one. Check out Pulse (the book). It is Ultra-Modern Media.
You can read the entire book at the website - serialized entries are posted at 6:00 a.m. and 3 p.m. (noon on weekends) from April 10 through November 6, 2006. Or, subscribe and get chapter “chunks” by email or RSS – and what’s modern cool is you can start your subscription from the beginning, even if you “come in late.” But wait! there’s more…
There's tag clouds, links to the most popular posts and tags; annotated lists of people, blogs, forums, publications, etc. for “structuring the wider conversation” going on around the globe about the topic. Comments for participation are enabled, of course, but readers can also add to the book’s resource and network areas.
This isn't a community site - there are no discusstion groups or forums at the site. This is a bonifide modern book.
Oh yeah, and you can view the table of contents and index and buy the print book there too.
Modern Media kudos to Pulse author Robert Frenay and FSG for their “networked book.”
Fashion is always a reflection of what is happening in society, and “technofashion” is very modern media. Fashion is keeping our modern media tools at hand, helping us incorporate it into our personal expression and self-extension. Yesterday it was our car or house – today it is our modern media.
 The iShirt integrates the iPod Shuffle right into the shirt via a magnetic clasp. This quintessential Podcast accessory keeps your ipod firmly attached even during vigorous activity. PodBrix, the maker, also offers limited edition iPod-related merchandise.
 Although we’ve featured phones and cases that are jewel-studded to fur trimmed, this waterproof iPod case by Otterbox takes iPod where it couldn’t go before - swimming, kayaking, or jet skiing. They’re serious about enabling “what I want, when I want it” media.
 And, Motorola is at it again, this time with Oakley, creating Bluetooth sunglasses, riding a fashion trend in “connected” clothing. The joint venture provides communications “anywhere and everywhere consumers want to be.” Watch for more fashion that is reflecting, incorporating and enabling modern media. More importantly, how can your product keep customers connected
Another nod to “my media,” General Motors puts an “iPod” jack into the consoles of their 2006 vehicles. Drivers can control the iPod through steering wheel controls and the track information is displayed on the vehicle’s sound system. BMW and Lexus have adapters in the glove compartment, but GM was the first to announce integration into the console. Considering the wildly popular iPod mini debuted in January 2004, this is a modern media miracle of swift adoption and integration.
Coming soon, mobile Wi-Fi so we can also download on the go!
From Me-Everything to the We Generation. The creation and sharing of multimedia is a hallmark of the “We Generation.” Here are just two new services, among the many cropping up, that let us be “we.” These are the modern media equivalents of the post office and Community Square on a global scale. They are simple and brilliant examples of connecting customers with each other.
Ourmedia.org offers free storage and bandwidth for video, audio, photos or text. Their mission: provide a place alongside big media to “gather, inform, entertain and astound each other.”
Dropload is an online place to drop off files and have them picked up at a later time by someone else (or yourself). Upload any type of file, up to 100MB each. Just specify the recipients and they receive an email with instructions for downloading. After 7 days, the files are deleted. As handy as UPS.
Social networks and services built around our digital self-expression - modern media on the rise. Modern marketing opportunity. Are you creating, contributing, enabling or participating in social networks?
 Speaking of social networks, “tribalware” is a new software category. And in the multimedia tribalware category is phling! Never be out of IM reach with phling! Send your camera photos, text – oh, and voice – to your instant message buddies while you are on the move via your mobile phone.
phling! also connects you to your PC at home so you can display or playback your files, also via your mobile phone.
This is Liquid Media, Online Oxygen*, and social networking all wrapped up into one modern media service. Communication power lies in the customer. Don’t underestimate this shift from mass channels to tribalware. This is where “frame of mind” marketing lives.
*Online Oxygen is a trademark of Trendwatching.com
 HomeSeer is offering an RFID Home Starter Kit. It is specifically designed to track the presence (or absence) of your personal property, but it can also notify you when the kids get home from school or when little ones wander near a pool. Or, how about if the trash cans aren’t outside on garbage day?
Controversy over “people tagging” aside, RFID tags are modern media and will play a valuable role in “liquid media.”
So, start brainstorming how you can use RFID to deliver truly useful products and services that allow your customers to pull information on demand.
 Remember when you were asking yourself
“who wants a camera in a phone?” Mobit is connecting the real world with the digital
world via the mobile phone camera. They’re teaming their
visual search technology with instant gratification (and media
and marketers).
A picture can launch a thousand possibilities. Take a picture
of an ad – get the nearest location to purchase. Click a quick photo of a movie poster,
buy tickets or download a ringtone. Shoot a smile and respond to a poll. Snap a shot of a label and get product information. Immediate reponse on your mobile phone. Anything becomes “animated” without any modifications to it (no bar codes, tags etc.)
And, of course Mobit supplies
response metrics.
Elle, Vibe, Jane magazines are
using Mobit to offer promotions to advertisers, and a host of them are signing up –
Saturn, Target, Absolut Vodka, DKNY, Old Spice, VW, Ford – and on and on.
We like where this is going (with caution) – customer pull – “what I want, when I want it.” What can you animate?
This post first appeared on our site in April of 2005 and has been moved here within our current site
 The first podcast debuted mid-2004
and we already have the first industry show and conference. Podcast and Portable Media Expo will be held in November, 2005, in Ontario, California, USA.
Major broadcast media outlets
jumped on podcasting faster
than any new channel to date – even faster than blogs. CNN, BBC, National Public Radio,
and a host of talk radio shows are available as podcasts. The craze began as a broadcast channel for amateurs, but it is really all about “convenience listening” and niche programming.
If you are not familiar with podcasting (where have you been), it is an MP3 recording coupled with
RSS (really simple syndication). MP3 is the standard file format for digital audio/music players and RSS is method of subscribing
to content so that it is downloaded automatically (at your defined schedule) when it becomes available. Podcasting is anywhere, on-demand listening. The MP3/iPod is the convenience-listening appliance.
Public relations people, are you listening?
 Scion’s concept car, t2B, is modern
media on wheels. The Scion’s
hallmark of personalization has been coupled with socialization.
Features like the “suicide” door on the driver’s side and single sliding door on the passenger side open the interior
completely to the outside. The “ticker tape” dashboard,sound system, MP3 docking station, and the projector in the roofturns it into a mobile entertainment system. Scion says it let’s
the owner “decide how
to use the car.”
Refreshing, and a peek into modern media integrated into our lifestyle.
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But some of them are way ahead. New York publishers Farrar, Straus and Giroux, for one. Check out Pulse (the book). It is Ultra-Modern Media.
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