Friday fun: Clever Clocks

Here are a few interesting and creative ways to display time.

Analogy - Jason Yip has made something something so simple and clever you'll wonder why you didn't think of it.

This Flash clock shows time literally sliding by.

The clock shows that time marches on and overwrites the past.

The World Clock shows up to date global statistics - some of which are alarming and depressing.

The Barcode clock is just what you'd think it would be.

And one of my favorites is Clockr. It uses random images from Flickr to produce the numbers.

Innovation stagnation

The New York Times had this great article yesterday about how difficult it is sometimes to look beyond what you know and think like a beginner. Innovation becomes more difficult as knowledge and expertise increase.

I'm reminded of the clever "ideating" ad campaign from IBM.

Free is the new black

Radiohead. The New York Times. Google Docs. Photoshop.

The unifying thread? Free is a business strategy.

More than ever before, companies are finding new and innovative ways to get their products into the hands of the consumer. Often the easiest way to do this is to give the product away. The thought is the business will make their money in other ways. (i.e. Radiohead will sell more concert tickets and t-shirts; The NY Times will sell more advertising due to increased traffic.)

The Internet has changed consumers' expectations. We don't want to pay sales tax. Or shipping and handling costs. We want free phone calls, free music, and free classifieds.

Several newspapers now offer free print versions in addition to their free online versions. Software often comes with a free trial. Lawyers offer a free initial consultation. Tech companies offer free white papers.

Even when companies do charge for a product, they are finding creative ways to offer extras - free refills and WiFi at the coffee shop. Free shipping and gift-wrapping. Buy one get one free. And why not? People love getting things for free.

But it may seem scary to just give your product away. Many companies "give it away" without a clear definition of what success will look like. Think through your "free" strategy and figure out what you're trying to accomplish. Is it about business leads? Email addresses? Loyalty? Publicity?

The trick is to make sure the gift keeps on giving.

"Free news here! Get your free news."

The New York Times announced earlier this week that they would no longer charge for full access to their website. Many have called this the death of paid content on the web. "If the New York Times can't make a pay-for-access model work, it can't be done" goes the line of thinking.

I think it's more a matter of the type of content. News has become commoditized. Many print newspapers have become free at the newstand. It's hard to charge for a product similar in every way to free ones available from CNN, WashingtonPost.com, FoxNews, etc. It's no coincidence that there aren't "premium" news channels" on your cable or satellite service.

But in my opinion, this does not signal the death of pay-for-content on the web. Plenty of sites thrive now with this model by providing content not easily obtained elsewhere. Sports sites give you more or "inside access" to certain information for a fee. Niche sites dealing with particular topics can do well.

The question you have to ask is "Do you have a unique and compelling content offering?" If so, people may be willing to pay for it.