Sales of in-vehicle consumer electronics (CE) will be fueled by a new emerging segment, the Technology Enthusiast Driver, according to a new study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The study, The Technology Enthusiast Driver Population – Driving the Future of In-Vehicle Technologies, finds that in-vehicle CE sales will grow at an estimated rate of 13 percent to $12.2 billion in 2008.

Technology Enthusiast Drivers are early to mid-adopters of technology and regularly drive a vehicle that is either owned or leased by someone in their household. They are highly interested in emerging technologies such as voice-activated wireless communications, with 61 percent of Technology Enthusiast Drivers identifying the technology as desirable for their vehicle.

“Technology Enthusiast Drivers are the catalysts for the mainstream emergence of in-vehicle technologies,” said Steve Koenig, CEA’s director of industry analysis. “Their interest in these technologies reveals opportunities for manufacturers to meet the needs of the larger consumer population.”

As previously reported in CEA’s Automotive Electronics—What Consumers Have and What They Desire (February 2008), consumers are increasingly bringing portable CE devices into the vehicle. Technology Enthusiast Drivers almost always choose portable devices, with 98 percent owning at least one CE device not permanently installed in the vehicle while 89 percent use their portable CE devices in the vehicle.

“As more consumers use portable CE devices in-vehicle, it’s logical that the next step is a centralized system to help manage all portable devices,” Koenig said. “Our research found that 57 percent of Technology Enthusiast Drivers would like to be able to connect all of their portable devices wirelessly to a centralized vehicle entertainment and communication system.”

Useful Networks announced the availability of its internationally popular mobile and Facebook integrated friend finder, sniff (Social Network Integrated Friend Finder), in the US. Already very popular in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom, sniff is now compatible with the Sprint Network in the U.S.  Unlike other friend finding services, sniff allows you to find your friends automatically and in real-time, rather than the last time they logged in to the service, by either sending a text message from their mobile phone or through the integrated Facebook application. No downloading or upfront fee is required.

Once consumers receive required permission from their friends, using sniff is as simple as sending an SMS text message. In return, sniff provides consumers with a detailed map view of their friends’ locations – making meeting up easier than ever before.

“There is inherent value in allowing your close friends and family to know where you are but only when you want them to,” said Useful Networks CEO, Brian Levin. “Friends can now ‘sniff’ each other out easily and quickly. That is, if they want to be found. You can easily become ‘invisible’ if you’d rather not be ‘sniffed out.’”

Another key aspect of sniff is the privacy controls built in to the application. The user is always in complete control of who can locate them and when. The sniff privacy model is based on the fundamental principles of user notice and consent. sniff also provides multiple confirmation notices to new users reminding them they have joined the sniff network so all users are aware of their status and permission levels.

“Privacy is the most important aspect of sniff,” said Levin. “With varying permission levels, sniff allows consumers to manage if, when and how their location information is shared with other parties. In addition, users have the ability to set up notifications via SMS of key events, such as being located or invited by another user to be part of the sniff network.”

sniff’s popularity is largely due to its ability to provide consistent coverage and an enhanced user experience across mobile carriers and handsets. “We wanted to make this service available to everyone, not just users with high-end phones who download applications,” added Levin. “If you can send a text message, you can sniff.”

Through the sniff Facebook application, consumers can easily invite, connect with and sniff their Facebook friends. Registration for sniff is free and takes just seconds by sending “sniff” to short code 76433 (sniff) from a Sprint device. “sniffing out” friends is charged at $0.25 on a “per sniff” basis and users are only charged if they receive a successful result. Billing is seamless, as sniff is the first Facebook application to apply premium charges to customers’ mobile bills. Standard text messaging rates apply.

Useful Networks intends to make sniff compatible with more major wireless carriers in the U.S. and available in Turkey, Canada and France in coming months.

In addition, Useful Networks is offering a sniff API for use by developers who want to incorporate friend finding functionality into existing social networking or community services.

BlackArrow, the independent provider of multiplatform ad-management systems for viewer-controlled video, today announced the addition of Adobe Media Player to its expanding list of distribution platforms. BlackArrow provides video content publishers using Adobe Media Player with a centralized system for defining ad avails and managing targeted campaigns against their programming. BlackArrow’s seamless advertising workflow enables content providers to broaden their syndication, while optimizing revenues from ad-supported video programming.

BlackArrow gives video networks a syndication edge by delivering advertising directly into Adobe Media Player programming, as well as other Web properties and even platforms such as dynamic video on demand (VOD). To simplify advertising operations, the BlackArrow system dynamically generates enhanced media RSS feeds that incorporate targeted ads formatted specifically for playback within Adobe Media Player. Leveraging Adobe Flash® technology, Adobe Media Player supports downloaded and streamed media that scales to full-screen HD resolution.

“When it comes to user experience, Adobe has set the standard with its ubiquitous Adobe Flash platform — and has done it again with the Adobe Media Player,” said Chris Hock, senior vice president, product management at BlackArrow. “As an Adobe advertising partner, we are committed to enabling a sophisticated, engaging advertising experience for viewers — whether they watch their favorite content inside the browser, or outside the browser with the Adobe Media Player — while introducing new revenue opportunities for content and media publishers.”

“From the outset, we’ve built Adobe Media Player to provide a rich, engaging consumer viewing experience, and help content providers build an advertising business around their valuable video assets,” said Sumner Paine, product manager for Adobe Media Player at Adobe. “As consumers increasingly control their own viewing experience, BlackArrow makes it easier for content providers to both manage ad campaigns and incorporate Adobe Media Player into their overall video syndication strategy.”

Built from the ground up for video, the BlackArrow multiplatform advertising system enables content providers to solve the challenges associated with reaching today’s fragmented audiences who increasingly view video programming outside of traditional linear airtimes. The BlackArrow system works across any combination of ad types, ad-sales models, affiliate and syndication strategies, enabling its customers to more effectively generate revenue from ad-supported video content.

As the first national pizza chain to offer online and text message ordering, Papa John’s continues to explore the digital frontier for ways to make ordering a pizza more convenient and enticing than ever before. This time around, Papa John’s is looking to Facebook and giving free pizzas to their most technology savvy brand ambassadors.

Beginning Monday, Nov. 17 – just ahead of Thanksgiving Eve, consistently one of the three busiest nights in the pizza industry – any Facebook user who becomes a “fan” of the official Papa John’s page will receive an online redemption code for a free medium pizza with any online pizza order.

“For our customers who already love Papa John’s, a free pizza is simply our way of saying thank you for their loyalty,” said Jim Ensign, Papa John’s vice president, marketing communications. “And for those people who aren’t as familiar with Papa John’s and our belief that better ingredients make a better pizza, we invite them to see – and taste – the difference with this special offer.”

In addition to offering a free pizza to its new fans, Papa John’s will provide the same offer to the more than 10,000 Facebook users who are already fans of the brand. And while the free medium pizza with any online pizza order can only be redeemed once, Papa John’s Facebook fans should expect to receive regular exclusive offers. The Facebook offer is available only in the US.

Pluck announced that its technology platform empowered a landslide victory for its customers’ integrated community efforts this past election week. Through hundreds of millions of article comments, photos, videos, forum posts, social networking profiles, recommendations and ratings before, during and after election day, Pluck answered the call from its network of industry leading customers with a resounding: “Yes We Can.”

With this most recent election cycle representing what is widely accepted to be the first social media driven election, customers entrusted Pluck to power conversation and community throughout the election season, which culminated in unprecedented web traffic and online social activity particularly for news organizations during election week.

With integrated social media a now permanent fixture of comprehensive news coverage, Pluck customers include the gold standard of local, national and international media—leaders such as BSkyB, Belo Interactive, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The Economist, Freedom Interactive, Gannett/USAToday, The Guardian, Hearst Newspapers, McClatchy, National Public Radio, The Washington Post and others—who drove record shattering usage of Pluck’s social media capabilities, as indicated by the following results:

• Pluck served more than 147 million social media interactions on November 5^th, the day after the election.
• Usage of Pluck’s hosted social media platform the day after the election was 77% higher than the daily average during October.
• During “peak week,” Pluck’s software and recently expanded infrastructure delivered 100% uptime for its customers, which include some of the world’s most highly trafficked sites.

“This election could not have made it clearer that social media has assumed a monumental and permanent role in public discourse and democracy, here in the U.S. and throughout the world,” said Dave Panos, CEO of Pluck Corp. and executive vice president of Demand Media. “We are proud to have put our customers at the forefront of this dramatic shift and will continue to advance and evolve integrated social media in partnership with them.”

The following is an opinion editorial provided by Erik Bowman, Founder and President, Spoink, Inc.: In today’s distressed economic climate both businesses and individuals are looking for new and novel ways to generate income. With microblogs increasingly becoming highly valued sources of information, entertainment, and community networking, now is the time for microbloggers to monetize existing, non-revenue generating activities. Millions of people microblog on a daily basis and receive tens of millions of page views daily that can be an opportunity to earn income through advertising, donations, or sales of products and services.

To assist microbloggers in generating their own income stream, Spoink, the leader in multimedia microblogging, has integrated both PayPal® and Google AdSense, two trusted online service providers, into the Spoink microblogging platform. These new features are free to use and extremely easy to enable.

• Individual Spoink users can now use PayPal to create a donation button within their microblog.
• Business users of Spoink, including celebrities, consultants, coaches and companies of all sizes, can now use PayPal to add a subscription button and product or service sales buttons.
• Both types of users can also insert Google AdSense advertisements into their Spoink accounts.

Despite the widespread popularity of text messaging among young adults under 30 (67% use the function), a surprisingly high number of people under 30 also would like to have e-mail capability on their wireless handset. According to new research from Sprint, 29% of people under 30 who are also large consumers of other data applications, such as texting and sending photos, would like to have the ability to send e-mail from their mobile phone.

“We’re seeing an increase in the number of people who want e-mail capability on their phone, as well as an increase in the number of people who already use it,” said Kim Dixon, senior vice president of retail for Sprint. “Our research shows that 55 percent of the young adults under 30 (who are the largest consumers of text messaging and photo sending functions) currently use e-mail on their mobile phone – a figure that has more than tripled since 2006.”*

Why the increase in popularity? More than half of survey respondents under 30 think that having e-mail capability on their phone does or would help them stay in touch with friends and family. Those under 30 also were more likely to agree (40 percent) that having e-mail capability on their phone does or would help them get more done each day.

“While people clearly understand the value of having e-mail access on their mobile device, we’ve found they also perceive it as one of the most difficult functions to use,” said Dixon. “In fact, nearly one in four respondents (22 percent) across all groups said they have never tried to activate their phone’s e-mail capability because it was ‘too difficult’ to figure out. Most surprising, however, is that the youngest age group, 18-24, which we typically assume is the most tech-savvy, was twice as likely as someone over 30 to have tried to activate the e-mail function on their mobile phone but couldn’t successfully complete the task.”

With so much to watch online, it is now just a little bit easier to choose. Fancast, the ultimate, next generation entertainment site where users can watch premium entertainment for free including over 6,000 TV episodes and create and manage their personal entertainment experience, has joined forces with Federated Media and four of the Web’s hottest bloggers to develop a digital video guide called “Our TV Picks.”

“Our TV Picks” brings top bloggers “Ask A Ninja,” “Boing Boing,” “Dooce” and “NOTCOT” together for a robust and entertaining conversation about the best video content on Fancast including comedy, horror, drama, and, prime time TV. Now, on Fancast, through the digital guide fans can engage in conversation with each other, and with the bloggers about content on the site. The four bloggers will post regularly on their favorite shows and will offer their unique perspectives on which shows resonate with them and why.

On Fancast’s “Our TV Picks” fans will learn tidbits like why “Ask A Ninja” thinks “CSI: Miami” is “actually a comedy hiding inside a drama,” and why “Dooce” blogger Heather B. Armstrong has labeled herself a “reality show junkie” and longs to be Tina Fey.

“‘Our TV Picks’ is one more way that Fancast is creating the greatest entertainment experience on the Web,” said Karin Gilford SVP of Fancast and Online Entertainment, Comcast Interactive Media. “By partnering with these bloggers, Fancast users can engage in buzz around entertainment on the site. So not only is Fancast helping them watch great content online, but we’re helping them experience it as well.”

Leading Bloggers participating in Our TV Picks include:

• “Ask A Ninja”is a pioneering digital video podcast and one of the most popular video series on the Web. The Ninja will offer his unique comedic take on Fancast programming.
• “Dooce” is written by Heather Armstrong, an irreverent stay-at-home-mom who entertains her dedicated fans with distinctive family-life photography and commentary. Heather offers her irreverent in-the-know picks to the Fancast community.
• “Boing Boing” is among the five most-visited blogs on the web for a reason: they are hard-wired into the Web’s coolest finds. The original digerati, the Boing Boing crew will point Fancast users to great digital entertainment.
• “NOTCOT” has become the daily sources of inspiration for creatives everywhere. With their inspired picks, NOTCOT will help the Fancast community fight against “creative block.”

“‘Boing Boing’ has long been known as ‘a directory of wonderful things,’” said Xeni Jardin, co-editor of the Boing Boing blog and executive producer of “Boing Boing TV.” “This project is a perfect fit, because we intend to help make Our TV Picks a directory of wonderful video. Fancast makes it easier for fans to find and watch movies and television shows they love, wherever it happens to live. I applaud their efforts on that front, and am excited about this joint project.”

The joy of getting someone exactly what they want is just one of the reasons behind the launch of Webgiftr, a new social Web site and Facebook application dedicated to changing the way consumers think about giving and receiving gifts. Available for the first time today as a public beta, Webgiftr makes gift giving fast and easy by ensuring that every gift given is a gift desired. Webgiftr is the first product from newly launched Internet start-up, Web Personal Assistant.

According to the National Retail Federation, consumers in 2007 spent $24.8 billion USD alone on gift cards, illustrating a lack in giving thoughtful and personalized gifts. Webgiftr allows consumers to exchange ideas and preferences for desired gifts by giving them the tools to identify specific products, retailers, interests, and even preferred restaurants to potential gift buyers. Unlike traditional gift registry and social networks that focus on just part of the gifting process, Webgiftr does everything from reminding users of important gifting events, to facilitating event planning and collaborative gift buying, and even making reservations at a favorite restaurant.

“For years I’ve struggled to keep up with all the birthdays, anniversaries and other events taking place across my network of friends, family, and contacts, and knowing what people like is even more challenging,” said Jon Siegal, founder and CEO of Web Personal Assistant. “Webgiftr makes it easy for me to remember these dates and ensures that I give and receive better gifts.”

In addition to reminding users of important events tracked across a users’ network of friends and contacts, Webgiftr is also a unique social community designed with robust tools. Webgiftr’s event tools allow users to organize and promote events, and form private or public discussion groups around those events to discuss what gifts they’re giving or collaborate on a gift purchase. Users can even identify their favorite charities for friends to donate to if gifts aren’t desired.

Remembering important dates isn’t the only challenge gift-givers face. Knowing what people want can also be difficult. According to a recent Harris poll, nearly one-third of Americans buy more than 21 gifts each year, yet 84 percent of those polled had received a gift that they did not want. This demonstrates that consumers often have a hard time identifying appropriate gifts and points to a large market opportunity for Webgiftr to help consumers make better gift choices.

“Web Personal Assistant has built an innovative platform that will change the way people give and receive gifts,” said Carla Thompson, senior analyst at Guidewire Group, “Webgiftr connects people in a collaborative environment eliminating the headaches that are often associated with the pressures of giving the perfect gift. This company has the team, market potential and innovative technology to take the online gifting process to the next level.”

SNIF Labs has unveiled a pet accessory, the SNIF Tag, that combines wireless sensing and social networking technologies to give dog owners peace of mind to supervise their dog’s activities plus a means to socialize and develop relationships online with like-minded owners.

Customizable, the SNIF tag is available in a range of colors and patterns. The small, stylish and comfortable tag attaches to a dog’s collar and records its daily movements and social encounters and then uploads them to the Internet. A secure area of the SNIF website then allows the dog owner to monitor if their dog has had a walk, played and/or napped while they are away from home.

Combining radio, software, Internet, and social networking technologies, the information recorded by the Tag is sent wirelessly to the SNIF base station and then uploaded to the SNIF website where users can securely log in.

The SNIF Tag compiles data on the dog, building a pattern that allows the owner to compare their dog’s activities, health and habits with other dogs of the same breed or dogs in their neighborhood. Owners can also contrast and compare activity level with the dog’s diet so owners can tweak their pup’s diet accordingly to ensure optimum weight and size for breed.

Founded in 2005 by four MIT Media Lab graduates, SNIF Labs designed the SNIF Tag with the focus on beloved dogs, their activity level and how they help their owners socialize. Through the SNIF Tag, dog owners have an opportunity to learn more about their dog’s behavior in real-time and track it over a period of time as well as be a part of an online dog community based on their pups acquaintances.

Tap into your dog’s canine connections and of course their owners. When dogs wearing SNIF Tags meet, the Tags record the encounter. The Tag allows users to make new friends, expand their social networks, and stay connected with other SNIF Tag owners.

The SNIF Tag allows dog owners to do the following:

• Monitor, review, compare and track activity levels of their four legged friend
• Meet new people while their dog is out and about through wireless technology built in the stylish tag which is collecting data of other dogs wearing SNIF Tags.
• Hang out with friends both on and offline by reviewing online profiles and photos of people the owner and the dog have met through the SNIF Tag. Browse groups to connect with dog owners in a specific neighborhood or with people who own same breed dog.
• Show off photos of the top dog, with the SNIF Tag pet parents can create an online photo album of the beloved member of the family

“We loved the idea of using real-world social networking to let your dog do the relationship-building work and act as a kind of social catalyst,” said Noah Paessel, CEO and co-founder of SNIF Labs. “SNIF Tag not only gives dog owners peace of mind, it also offers a non-threatening way to meet new friends and companions via their dogs’ encounters.”

“The SNIF Tag has been a tremendous benefit to me since I recently moved to Boston. The monitoring aspect of the SNIF Tag helped me feel I was still connected to what was going on with my dog while I am at work,” said Hillery Lee, SNIF Tag beta tester. “In addition, the SNIF Tag provides me with an opportunity to meet new people. It was important for me to meet new people when I moved to the city. More importantly, I also wanted to meet others who shared similar interests, such as my love of my pooch and dogs in general. Staying connected to other dog owners could provide me with insight into the best local dog boutiques and parks where I could take Twix, my Airedale Terrier.”

The SNIF Tag Starter Kit costs $299.00 and includes one year’s PREMIUM subscription to the online pet activity monitoring service and social site. A SNIF Tag Starter Kit is comprised of the SNIF Tag, the SNIF wireless Base Station (which charges the Tag), additional customizable lenses and rim, and connection cables.