Internet users have dramatically increased the amount of time they spend taking in online content, rather than shopping or communicating – according to a study by the Online Publishers Association reported by Marketing Charts.
People are now spending on average 47% of their online time perusing news, information and other content online, up from 34% four years ago. That growth has come at the expense of time spent on communication, which has dropped 28% to 33% and online shopping, down 5% to 15%.
OPA president Pam Horan says factors behind the increased time spent on content include:
According to Springwise, wannabe film stars now have a new way of finding that break through role in at least one movie, called The Flirting Club.
Through the itsourmovie.com website, hopefuls can upload their own recorded auditions for parts in the film. Registration also gives users the chance to vote on other people’s auditions, the end result being that participants are not just competing for roles, they are collectively casting the film.
And for those aspirational movie moguls, you can take a financial stake in the movie for as little as £10, each pound invested going straight to the movie budget and buying additional votes on the scripting.
Quite a few people have had the idea of a public bank of bicycles that people can borrow to get themselves around town in a healthy, green way, but a problem has been keeping them secure when they’re not been used.
According to Trendhunter, Dutch designers Springtime have come up with a solution – the bike dispenser. Looking a bit like a large drink machine, the dispenser keeps a whole brace of made-to-fit bikes safe and secure until needed. When ordered, the dispenser spits out a bike on a little conveyer belt, each of which is fitted with a tracking chip so people can’t just make off with them. Clever.
Where should you locate to attract the best students to your business? A new global ranking puts Melbourne fifth and Sydney sixth among the world’s top 20 university cities.
The ranking, in the Global University City Index by RMIT University (located in Melbourne) is based on the cities’ scales and “liveability”, the number of world-class universities with internationally diverse population and their investment and performance in education and research, reports The Australian.
Here are the top 10 cities:
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”
Carl Jung
Smart Company is the leading online publication in Australia for free news, information and resources catering to Australia’s entrepreneurs, small and medium business owners and business managers.
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