Applied DNA Sciences of Stony Brook New York is a company that has creating an anti-counterfeiting and authentication solution using plant DNA. At the outset, I need to disclose that I have been working with the company on its communications strategy, and it is a company that I’m excited about. I feel that they have developed  a game changing technology that has already attracted widespread media attention. There are numerous applications to the digital sector. Using just a molecule of DNA the technology could mark a CD or DVD to ensure that consumers are receiving the “real deal” and not a bootleg copy. In the case of a DVD, the disc itself could be marked or the marker could actually be used in the production of the ink used to print the label.

I sat down last week to speak with High Gear Media Senior Editor John Voelcker. John spoke about how the company had created over 60 websites in the automotive sites. The sites are not “fan” sites but intended for those consumers who are seriously in the market to buy a car (In his words, not “gear heads.”). He spoke about how car companies are really willing to spend to reach these consumers and how the company is poised to profit by increasing digital ad spends.

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Former newspaper editor, author and man about town Sir Harold Evans was the keynote interview at DeSilva+Phillips Dealmakers Summit last week in New York. He sat down with Financial Times’ US Managing Editor Chrystia Freeland to discuss the state of journalism, Rupert Murdoch, pay walls and old school reporting….

Locational sharing is growing in leaps and bounds. As we’ve said before, look for this to be one of the hottest areas in 2010. Foursquare’s on a roll as traffic surges 50 percent in January | VentureBeat

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The audience at last night's Digital Cocktails event

Digital Cocktails' Socia Media Panel (l-r) Paul Kontonis, For Your Imagination, MATTER, Edelman; Matt Heindl, Kirshenbaum Bond; Jessica Amason, BuzzFeed; Katy Kelley, Carrot Creative; Adam Penenberg, Author, Viral Loop

Last night we had a great turnout at Gotham Media’s Digital Cocktails event focused on creating the perfect social media campaign. You can get a sense of the discussion from the Twitter feed (#smwgotham) and we will have video highlights up this week. Thanks to all… We hope you will make it to our follow up event on measuring the impact of social media campaigns (especially the return on investment).

ScanBiz Mobile solutions is one of a slew of iPhone/mobile startups that, with almost no overhead, is putting out applications for handheld devices. The true challenge here is how to get your application to rise above the rest. It goes without saying that it has to be a quality application. But at least half the battle is standing out, getting noticed. Marketing savvy and PR are essential if you’re going to make money.

ScanBizCards is a very cool app that scans business cards. But that’s really only the beginning. Founder Patrick Questembert and Danny Panzer have devised numerous applications. For example, you can connect to Linkedin and send out introductory emails and enter info in your address book after just a scan. More applications are on the way.

It’s a worthwhile app to add to your arsenal….

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Gotham Media’s interview with Adam Penenberg, author of Viral Loop, continues. Adam continues the conversation by addressing the attributes of a successful viral campaign and discussing the campaign he launched around the publication of his own book – proof of concept, if you will.

If you liked this… you’ll love this….

I urge you to attend our Digital Cocktails event held as a part of Social Media week…. Here are the details. Registrations, as always is at www.gothammediaventures.com

Expert panelists in the field of social media and viral communications will offer insights and guidance to what works and what doesn’t in creating successful social media and viral campaigns. A discussion of tools, techniques and ideas from the masters.

Creating the Perfect Social Media Campaign

Registration: $30 INCLUDES WINE RECEPTION
Including:

Jessica Amason Viral Media Editor for BuzzFeed.com and columnist for The Huffington Post

Paul Kontonis CEO For Your Imagination Studios

Adam Penenberg Author, VIRAL LOOP: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves; Contributing Writer, Fast Company, Professor, NYU School of Journalism

Elizabeth Pigg Vice President Media Strategy, Edelman Digital

Well, it’s finally official. As announced on Wednesday, the New York Times will begin charging users for access to its content in 2011. The king of all New York newspapers said that it won’t charge for ALL access, but instead will allow users to access a certain number of its online articles for free. Only once a user exceeds that limit in a month will it ask them to begin paying for access. And of course, those who subscribe to the Times in print will continue to have unlimited free access to online articles.

So basically, it’s a totally reasonable imposition and it should help the Times bolster its finances with more than just ad revenue.

And it comes as no surprise, given the fact that they’ve been rather publicly mulling the idea for some time now. Not to mention, just about every news source either has considered, is still considering, or will consider following suit.

It’s just the nature of the beast for publishing these days, and we’ve discussed it here before. With costs staying equal in a wintry economic climate, users increasingly getting their content exclusively online, and declining ad revenues, publishers across the country have been searching for a way to keep themselves profitable.

Frankly, we’ve been pretty spoiled to get all of our news content online at no charge for so long. And asking users only to pay for access to content above a certain volume is actually a pretty good deal for us all (though the Times hasn’t said how many articles users will be able to access for free). They could’ve taken Rupert Murdoch’s rumored approach and charged for access to all of its online content – it certainly would have the power to do that without any serious drop off, anyway.

But what’s good for them is good for us. The Times needs to continue to bring in the dough via its online advertising, which necessitates a good amount of traffic in order to keep prices competitive. So while having access to some online content for free is a concession to readers, it’s also almost vital for them to maintain and grow their ad revenue stream.

Regardless, the Times says this is not just an attempt to bring in more revenue. They’re actually saying that this is them “betting on the future of the web,” as well. And as far as I’m concerned, given the current state of affairs, it seems about right. Whether things will change drastically enough to make this model archaic before it even exists, remains to be seen.

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• New York Times Plans to Charge for Articles (wired.com)
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• New York Times plans to charge for some online access (computerworld.com)
• New York Times builds paywall – very slowly (go.theregister.com)
• New York Times Adopts Pay Model for 2011 (businesspundit.com)

I had an opportunity to sit down with Adam Penenberg, the author of Viral Loop to discuss how viral campaigns work and the factors necessary to make them succeed. In this first part of the interview Adam discusses Tupperware Parties, Facebook, Twitter and more….

It is, by the way, a great book, and I urge you to attend our Digital Cocktails event held as a part of Social Media week…. Here are the details. Registrations, as always is at www.gothammediaventures.com

Expert panelists in the field of social media and viral communications will offer insights and guidance to what works and what doesn’t in creating successful social media and viral campaigns. A discussion of tools, techniques and ideas from the masters.

Registration: $30 INCLUDES WINE RECEPTION
Including:

Jessica Amason Viral Media Editor for BuzzFeed.com and columnist for The Huffington Post

Paul Kontonis CEO For Your Imagination Studios

Adam Penenberg Author, VIRAL LOOP: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves; Contributing Writer, Fast Company, Professor, NYU School of Journalism

Elizabeth Pigg Vice President Media Strategy, Edelman Digital

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• Viral Loop (bombtune.com)
• How Much Are You Worth to Facebook? (blogs.wsj.com)
• Viral Loop: Using Facebook and the iPhone to promote something called a ‘book’ (crunchgear.com)

At last year’s Digital Breakfast Seminar Viacom EVP and General Counsel Michael Fricklas discussed the ongoing dispute and litigation between Viacom and Google.