Having grown up in the Silicon Valley during the dot.com era, the internet is probably my favorite technology topic. And, despite the events of 2001, the internet is back! These days, people often cite web 2.0 businesses as an indicator of a rebounding internet-economy, businesses such as YouTube, but are these businesses truly successful?

http://www.businessweek.com/

I think this article brings to light some realities that web businesses face:

1. How do you create a business (and bring in revenue) when so many people are able and willing to produce content for free? Is ad revenue sufficient? Is it sustainable?

2. We normally think of high traffic as a good thing–more customers, right? But, with the high storage and bandwidth costs for some businesses, I was amazed to learn that YouTube’s costs are so high! How do you control your costs?

I’ve always be curious about the following question - if everyone has one of something, is it impossible for that something to be cool or sought after? So many hot items these days, whether they’re cars or consumer electronics or jewelry or clothes, are hot items just because only a select few folks have them.

While covering the mobile phone industry, I often wondered: Did Nokia’s struggles to create the hot, hip device stem from the fact that hundreds of millions of people own Nokia phones and even if the device itself was unique (i.e. stylish etc…), the fact that everyone had a Nokia product would in itself be enough to squash some of the appeal. Consider how Nokia created a sub-brand, Vertu, for its highest-end devices - folks paying thousands of dollars for a diamond-encrusted phone simply did not want to be carrying a ‘Nokia’ like everyone else. On the other hand, even though millions of people owned Motorola phones, the RAZR took off like crazy, at least until ‘everyone’ had a RAZR.

I then happened upon the following article in the Guardian:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1869042,00.html

In the story, David Smith wonders if “…most disastrously, Apple’s signature pocket device with white earphones may simply have become too common to be cool.”

What do you think? Post your thoughts here or discuss in the forum…

The 6th Annual Emerging Technologies Conference, will take place on Sept 27-28th on the MIT campus. This year’s exciting lineup includes an opening keynote by Amazon’s frontman, Jeff Bezos, and other notables such as:

Jonathan Miller, CEO of AOL
Phillip Sharp, Nobel Laureate and Pioneer of RNA Interference
Roger McNamee, Founder of Elevation Partners

There are about 8 breakout sessions which touch on innovative topics including: Anti-aging, human genome sequencing, innovation hindrances, software radio, and other topics.

In addition, there will be representatives from the Tech Review’s list of the world’s most influential leaders under 35 years of age who will shape innovation in the decades ahead. Various tech testbeds, and keynote panels are planned for this two-day conference. Over 75 companies were represented in 2005 which included firms ranging from Kleiner Perkins to NASA to Google.

For more details on the conference goto:
http://www.technologyreview.com/events/tretc/

The MIT Innovation Club has been formally asked by the Tech Review to volunteer at this event. Details for volunteers will be sent out this week.

Ever visited http://chacha.com? Chances are that you haven’t, especially since the site just went live. ‘ChaCha’ is a new search engine founded by Scott Jones, commonly considered the inventor of voicemail.

In contrast to Google, a site that takes your search query and returns a list of ‘hits’, ChaCha puts you in direct contact with a live researcher. First, you submit your query and then you interact with the researcher or ‘guide’ who seeks and then refines results based upon your dialogue/chat. While the guide is looking for your results, you watch a video advertisement that pays for the service.

Here’s a recent story on USAToday.com…

This blog has a sample interaction between the searcher and the guide…

What do you think? Is ChaCha the future? Will people be willing to watch an ad and interact with a human searcher or is Google the tried-and-tested method. Post your comments here and discuss in our forum!

We recently got an invitation from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia to send teams to its 4th Annual Innovation Challenge MBA Case Competition, sponsored by DaimlerChrysler, Whirpool, American Express, and General Electric.

A quick set of emails to the Sloan student body resulted in greater than 50 MBA students and Sloan Fellows interested in participating. Last year, Sloan placed in the top 10 out of 321 business school teams and with a $20,000 grand prize, it’s no wonder that there’s so much interest from the Sloan student body.

Of particular note: The student teams select the Challenge Sponsor of greatest interest to them and then tackle a challenge from that sponsor. A team of various innovation experts then vote on the challenge solutions and crown the Most Innovation team.

Let’s go Sloan!

With the arrival of September, the MIT Innovation Club is beginning to ramp up for another academic year. After a summer’s worth of planning, the Innovation Club has a lot of new things in store for those of you on the MIT campus as well as around the world:

Further website expansion: After renovating our website last spring, we will continue to add features and expand the information contained within the site. For the past few weeks, we have been beta testing a message board tool which is now available via the ‘Forum’ link at the top of our webpage. We hope that the message board will be a place where members of the MIT community and those of you around the world can come together to discuss innovation and brainstorm new ideas. The blogging that began here in the spring will continue as well, featuring commentary on innovative technologies and business models.

Expanded event and activity schedule: During the summer, we have been in contact with many corporate partners including many from the world of information technology (including Apple, Dell, Intel, LG Electronics, Logitech, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Research-In-Motion, and Texas Instruments) and will host numerous speakers, focus groups, and brainstorming sessions during the upcoming year. We will also expand our relationship with MIT’s Science and Engineering Business Club (SEBC) and host events for both MBA students and undergraduate and graduate students in the science and engineering disciplines. Finally, we have a number of Technology Testbeds planned for the upcoming year. In addition to our flagship Blackberry Testbed, we will put a number of additional “to-be-announced” devices and technologies in the hands of students for their use during the academic year.

New merchandise: We will soon receive our first shipment of Innovation Club Nalgene water bottles, branded with the new Innovation Club logo. During the upcoming year, we hope to expand our lineup of Innovation Club-branded merchandise with details and ordering information posted on the website.

Broader range of I-Teams: On the heels of our success Innovation Lab (I-Lab) projects last year, the Innovation Club will work with MIT’s Desphande Center and the MIT Sloan Venture Capital and Private Equity Club (VCPE) in both the fall and the spring to sponsor a number of I-Teams projects within the MIT MediaLab and with external corporate partners. I-Teams are student teams who assess the commercial feasibility of scientific and engineering breakthroughs and conduct strategy projects for corporate partners and MIT research labs under the leadership of MIT faculty and staff. More information about our I-Teams lineup will be posted here on the website soon.

Free subscription to the MIT Technology Review for MIT community Innovation Club members: In order to help keep its members close to the pulse of innovative products, services, and business models, the Club and the MIT Technology Review now have a special arrangement through which members of both the Innovation Club and the MIT Community will receive a free subscription to the MIT Technology Review.

That’s it for now, with more updates to follow shortly…

As always we welcome all questions and suggestions at innovationclub-execATmit.edu.

We look forward to seeing you soon in person on campus as well as virtually on our message board.