I had a chat this evening with Mark Michael, co-founder of SynapseLife. SynapseLife is a tool that helps you manage your contacts, favorites, calendars events and then access to it from any Internet-ready device or RSS feed.

He let me know that on Wednesday morning they are launching a browser toolbar that will work with many of the popular social web sites. The first site it will work with is Facebook.

They will be issuing a press release and here are a couple snippits:

"The primary focus of this update is to expand our user’s capability to complement their experiences with social networks," explained Mark Michael. “This fills a gap, since other community projects seem to have neglected to offer their user’s functional applications that allow them to manage their everyday lives."

"We initially focused on providing a Facebook.com interface for our toolbar, because our users requested it, and Facebook has a large market penetration,” explains Daniel Rust, SynapseLife’s Chief Architect. “We will then start to tackle interface with the other popular network applications."

Check out our other coverage of Synapselife.

Alright so the news is out that Apple will be offering a new mobile device called the iPhone this summer. It is a very cool device. Mike has a good overview (more on TechMeme) of the device and why he is going to buy one. But see, Mike is not the average consumer. And that is why I think there are 3 reasons why the iPhone won't see the success that some think it will. Feel free to disagree with me!

Reason 1 – Price

The entry-model is $500, the mega-model is $600. This is not an iPod at $249. Can the average American (you know the ones who own an iPod) afford this? I think not. I am sure there will be some incentives to switch but overall the price will be a barrier to entry. But not to the early adopter crowd. Walk down 43rd street in Manhattan from 5th ave to 6th ave. Ask every person with an iPod if they will get this device. I bet maybe 3% will say yes, and thats a very aggressive figure.

Reason 2 – Locked to Cingular

I am a Cingular customer. How many are not? Will you switch to get this phone? Some will, many won't. Assuming it is GSM, I am sure someone will hack an unlock code but many won't know how. What about those who recently signed deals with the other carriers? Will they spend the $200 or so to break their contracts? Doubt it! I can't wait to read the posts on Consumerist.. they will go something like this "my wireless provider won't let me out for free because I want an iPhone."

Reason 3 – Data Rate Plans

I wrote about this last week with the MySpace deal. The data rate plans will kill this phone. I hope Cingular gets their act together and becomes an industry leader with regards to data pricing but today it is absolute crap. This device will use a lot of data when using the Cingular network (I understand it gets WiFi but that's not available free everywhere!). Can the average American afford $600 for a device and then another $30ish over their normal rate plan for some data? Nope.

I certainly hope my reasons can be addressed before launch so that the iPhone sees the same success for Apple that the iPod has had.

Please grab my feed

Alright I know there are laws about what you can and can't say with advertising and what you have to disclaim. The advertisement below reminds me of a campaign Monster ran last year on the radio. It went something like this… Put your resume on Monster and you have a 50% better chance of getting a job today!… then in the quick tiny font (voice) they say "comparison based on those who did not put a resume online"

So it is with that I give you the new best ad currently running! It is for DayQuil and NyQuil – two products to help you feel better when you have a cold or flu-like symptoms. I love the product (esp. the NyQuil) and thought this ad was funny.

So the ad says "FEEL BETTER FASTER*" – and then on the bottom it says in mouse type, "*vs. no treatment" – well DUH DUH DUH! If I spent the $8 on a bottle of this stuff, don't you think I should feel better faster than if I do nothing? Couldn't they figure out some other marketing message than to play to the dumb crowd.

I say lame and super lame. C'mon P&G let's get it moving here.

Proctor & Gamble Productions (PGP) announced the launch of Capessa.yahoo.com. The website, created by P&G Productions (PGP), in conjunction with Yahoo! and the Zizo Group, is an online community where women can share inspirational stories, as well as practical tips and information relevant to the various aspects of their lives.

From their release:

According to Jim Stengel, P&G, global marketing officer, "The creation of Capessa follows P&G's mission to improve the lives of the world's consumers in meaningful ways, every day." He continues, "This website provides women with relevant information that connects to their specific interests and adds value to their lives."

P&G anticipates that this online community will allow them to learn more about the interests and product needs of women. P&G considers Capessa as a way to better understand digital space, as well as how the company can be more relevant in the lives of their consumers.

Frankly, I don't get it. The home page has tags, so I guess it's Web 2.0. The site is in Yahoo! Health but has topics about work and relationships. There is a blog which you can comment on and a discussion group, but both of them are not branded Capessa.

I think having a community for women on Yahoo is a good thing, but how does this differ from Yahoo! Health, or iVillage? The design is clean and nice, but I was unable to find the site from the main Yahoo! Health site. I would say that this needs some stronger branding and some more cohesiveness to bring together the main site, blog and discussion forum.

Below are the results of Round 2 of BloggerMania I. Not many surprises except 2 #1 seeds are gone and two CEOs make appearances to help their lunch mates. Oh yea and a rabbit helps one contender hop out a win. Congrats to all the Round 2 winners.

Blue Grouping

Moving on to Round 2 are: Niall and Ryan

Select highlights from the matches: Ryan wins over Amber by using a 100 foot balance sheet. Niall wins with a perfect blog entry.

Green Grouping

Moving on to Round 2 are: Robert and Loren

Select highlights from the matches: Robert beat Mike when Bill Gates made an unexpected run-in with the Windows Home Server. Mike was blinded by the green glow and Robert was able to get the win. Loren beat Amanda when Joanne came back and used the force of London and the RocketBoom map to brilliantly win.

Brown Grouping

Moving on to Round 2 are: Cameron and Markus

Select highlights from the matches: Cameron wins over Rex by Digg default. Markus wins with an excellent post about flying as well as Liz loses points as GigaOM does not return emails.

Orange Grouping

Moving on to Round 2 are: Tara and Jeremiah

Select highlights from the matches: Tara wins when the Citizen Nabaztag does the Banana dance all over Steve’s mug. Jeremiah wins when Michael Dell makes an unexpected appearance and takes out Jason.

Never heard of Heavy.com before this morning. They certainly have a very interesting way of showing ads within the Flash player. Polaris Venture Partners has increased its funding of Heavy.com from $10 million to $20 million.

Heavy describes themselves as, "Heavy combines its own unique programming with those of its users to create an environment where you can control and even participate in your own media experience. Heavy empowers its audience to share, editorialize, and create their own content as well as provide its own library of programming."

From the release:

"2006 was a wonderful year for Heavy. Visitors to the site more than doubled and we grew our ad sales and management team, resulting in a 350% revenue increase," said David Carson, co-CEO of Heavy. "Our goal was to prove our advertising revenue model before expanding into new territories and markets, we're now well positioned to expand with confidence and surpass those numbers in 2007. This investment enables us to do so quickly."

"Heavy has clearly established itself as one of the few online video sites able to both attract a very large audience while also building a substantial advertising business," said Mike Hirshland, partner of Polaris Venture Partners. "Heavy is building a true 21st century media company which combines internally developed content with great consumer generated content and with a sustainable revenue model. As advertisers expand their online video budgets in 2007, they are looking to work with the few online brands that can effectively deliver audience in scale. Heavy is ideally positioned to secure a place as an important player in the emerging media landscape. We are excited to partner with the Heavy team to help build this business."

Have a look at Heavy.com even if it is only to see how they use ads. Worth a look as it appears a bit innovative, albeit overwhelming with the number of ads they use.

Boy o' Boy was Yahoo! was busy yesterday! First the mobile news, now the blog news. Finally the deal that was on again, off again, on no off, is now on. Forbes is reporting that Yahoo! purchased MyBlogLog for just over $10 million.

Bradley Horowitz, VP strategy at Yahoo said, "This closes the loop between readers and publishers. Every publisher wants to know his readers, and the readers want to find out about each other. It’s the power of implicit networking."

More information on Mashable. My personal take is that I like the idea of community on the MyBlogLog site but I don't like the widget on a site as the general public really has no reason to see what sites I visit.