Techcrunch has been reporting how big company execs at the WEF event in Davos have been discussing the subject of The Future of Mobile Technology. I found the Techcrunch blog post pretty boring, which almost certainly means that the real event was not any better. I then had a look on YouTube to see if I could find the video of the discussion round, but there was nothing. Still, I found this funny one which is at least not boring to watch and has the same title: Future of mobile communications.

Tesla Motors, a well-funded California startup, has built a battery powered sports car. If you have ever had the pleasure of getting stuck in the huge traffic mess around Los Angeles (where Tesla Motors is located) not only might you think that it would be a good idea to reduce pollution by using alternative energy cars but, even more, you might puzzled at how it is possible to not develop and enforce the use of functional public transportation to ease things up. But that is a different topic. Now Tesla Motors has passed - according a blog written by the VP of Vehicle Integration - the US safety tests and will now be able to sell the car in all 50 US states. The tests obviously proved that the Li-Ion battery-packed car will not become a fireball even in serious crashes. Although one might argue whether it really makes a difference if you are rolled over by a tank or burned alive by exploding Li-Ion batteries. I need to think that one over some more.

This list here is from the book "The New Rules of Marketing and PR", from David Meerman Scott. I think he really hits the mark with it, and I can confirm most of his findings from our own work in online marketing.

• Marketing is more than just advertising.
• PR is for more than just a mainstream media audience.
• You are what you publish.
• People want authenticity, not spin.
• People want participation, not propaganda.
• Instead of causing one-way interruption, marketing is about delivering content at just the precise moment your audience needs it.
• Marketers must shift their thinking from mainstream marketing to the masses to a strategy of reaching vast numbers of under-served audiences via the Web.
• PR is not about your boss seeing your company on TV. It's about your buyers seeing your company on the Web.
• Marketing is not about your agency winning awards. It's about your organization winning business.
• The Internet has made public relations public again, after years of almost exclusive focus on media.
• Companies must drive people into the purchasing process with great online content.
• Blogs, podcasts, e-books, news releases, and other forms of online content let organizations communicate directly with buyers in a form they appreciate.
• On the Web, the lines between marketing and PR have blurred.

The Asus Eee PC has been creating lots of interest and pre-orders (100k in Germany alone for only 20k available from Jan 25 on). While reading some of the comments about Asus' plans to also bring out 8-, 9- and 10-inch versions, I found this new UMPC here that was shown at the CES in Las Vegas. It is from a Taiwanese company that is a supplier in the automotive industry, which for sure means highest quality due to the stringent QA requirements in that industry.

The Noahbook adds some great new things to the idea of the Asus Eee, and the videos make me want to check one out when it becomes available in Europe. What I like is the possibility to work with higher resolution (1024x780) while not having to increase the LCD display. You can move quickly around with the mouse. Also, the keyboard has been split into two parts, providing more space. Another simple but, it seems, effective design trick. From the videos, it also appears to be a very solid product, which is what I would expect from this company. Only question that remains is if pricing is similarly low, which I strongly doubt, but if it comes in at below 500 EUR then it could be a great product. Overall, the UMPC market is clearly taking off in 2008 and is stealing the show from the likes of even Apple, whose Steve Jobs seems to have lost - temporarily - his guru-like appeal, not showing much exciting news at last week's MacWorld and even having Apple's stock negatively affected but it. Steve, maybe you should hire some guys from Taiwan to get you back on the right track?

What is in a name? We always thought that was not so important for us, but over time we got tired of people misreading what we are. So end of last year we decided to look for a new name for our company. As anyone who has been in this process knows quite well, it is not an easy task. Especially if it is your own company. We found some good names, but the web domain names were of course taken, and not having the .com, .net and other domains did not make sense for us we thought. So finally Adrian found one that we liked since it describes what we do, had all domain names still available and, last but not least, found approval from others we asked as well. After letting it sit there for about 4 weeks we still thought it is OK, so decided to do it.

From today on we are Extendance, and Nice Ventures, which was started back in 2001, ceases to exist. The name has served us well, but the time has come to move on.