Google announced today that they are getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read. The new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google. If you’re like me, you received about a dozen emails today about the new policies.

Google continues to dominate the web with essential services that are deeply intertwined in business and personal daily life. It calls to question the basic fact that it’s all being given away for free. Google Docs, Calendar and Search are such a fundamental part of my daily life that I’ve become reliant on them for many of the things I do everyday. Is that something I should be receiving without cost? Can Google provide these increasing services for free? It’s a radical new model that will certainly evolve as the market develops.

Read The Policies Here

For now though, I like millions of others, will glance at the new privacy policy and agree without much deep thought. It’s the small price I pay for the elegant tools that I get for free.

By The Business Insider | Daily Ticker – Wed, Jan 11, 2012 8:28 AM EST

Market research firm YouGov BrandIndex has released its survey of the top brands of 2011, and found for the second straight year that Subway is the most beloved brand among consumers. You just can’t beat cheap sandwiches, it seems. The survey is based on a continuous sampling of 2.5 million people online, within YouGov’s database that nationally represents U.S. adults. The survey produces a “Buzz score,” based on consumers’ response to questions such as, “If you’ve heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?”

The results are an amalgamation of those results taken from the entire period of 2011, and thus represent the strength of these brands based on consumer sentiment and “buzz” over the period.

Here are the 10 strongest brands in the U.S. right now, starting with the best:

#1 Subway: YouGov says: “Subway is the only dining brand to crack the BrandIndex Buzz Ranking Top 10. The sandwich giant ranks number one in our overall Buzz list for the second consecutive year.”

#2 Amazon: “The launch of the Kindle Fire and an increase in marketing spend solidified Amazon’s number two position,” YouGov says.

#3 History Channel: This is History’s third consecutive appearance in the top five brands of the year. It’s not just World War II stuff any more: The channel added reality shows such as Pawn Stars and speculative documentaries about aliens.

#4 Google: Google edged up one spot from last year’s survey due in part, perhaps, to its launch of Google+, its social networking site.

#5 Cheerios: General Mills introduced ‘Cinnamon Burst Cheerios’ last year, but the cereal is a perennial best brand in this survey.

#6 Lowe’s: Lowe’s buzz declined a little at the very end of 2011 due to a controversy over its refusal to sponsor the TLC reality show All-American Muslim.

#7 Ford: Ford is the top auto brand in the survey and its 2011 sales bounced back.

#8 Discovery Channel: Shark Week — still getting the job done for Discovery. This is the third consecutive year for the channel in the YouGov Top 10.

#9 Target: Target hurt itself in September when its launch of a Missoni collection crashed its web site. But people like the cheap and trendy retailer so much it kept its place in the top 10.

#10 Apple: Apple hasn’t been in the top 10 for the last three years, but new iPad and iPhone models — plus the death of Steve Jobs — appear to have grown consumers’ affection for the brand.

Whatever your political leaning, Occupy is symbolic for shifting public sentiment towards “fairness”. If an articulate and savvy leader emerges to leverage this newly formed communications channel then we could see Occupy evolve into a force for real change.

Thanks to Online MBA for posting this interesting graphic that attempts to explain Occupy Wall Street.

Spices are the critical component to positioning the flavor to produce specific emotions. Sweet, savory, pungent, hot. They are my Pantone decks in the kitchen.

I found this compelling infographic today on spices that I’m sharing in honor of flavor. Thank you to Recipefinder for creating and posting this delightful image.

PS I try to grind my spices fresh in a mortar and pestle. It’s amazing the aroma and flavor difference!

By extending the identified media channels to include Promoted and Shared content, I think the strategists can develop specific content thats’s most appropriate for their audiences.

Click the graphics for a high resolution download. A huge thanks to the authors for this valuable contribution.

Find the full story here on WhiteHouse.gov

“We found that 83% of US adults have a cell phone of some kind, and that 42% of them own a smartphone. That translates into 35% of all adults. Their definition of a smartphone owner includes anyone who falls into either of the following two categories:

1. One-third of cell owners (33%) say that their phone is a smartphone.
2. Two in five cell owners (39%) say that their phone operates on a smartphone platform (these include iPhones and Blackberry devices, as well as phones running the Android, Windows or Palm operating systems).

Mobile phones are a main source of internet access for one-quarter of the smartphone population

Some 87% of smartphone owners access the internet or email on their handheld, including two-thirds (68%) who do so on a typical day.

When asked what device they normally use to access the internet, 25% of smartphone owners say that they mostly go online using their phone, rather than with a computer. While many of these individuals have other sources of online access at home, roughly one third of these “cell mostly” internet users lack a high-speed home broadband connection.

Android is the most common smartphone platform, followed by iPhone and Blackberry devices

Phones operating on the Android platform are currently the most prevalent type of smartphone, followed by iPhones and Blackberry devices.

Demographically, Android phones are especially common among young adults and African-Americans, while iPhones and Blackberry devices are most prevalent among college graduates and the financially well-off.”

We think the new report will help ease some client’s uncertainty regarding primary platform for app development combined with overall penetration of devices.

Download the Pew Report

Santee Village Lofts is a residential adaptive reuse project in Downtown LA’s Fashion District. FLUXbranding created a refreshed brand position to re-market the project after acquisition by client Kennedy WIlson. To jump start the sales effort, FLUX designed new identity, sales center displays, impact signage, printed literature, photography and video support. Communications activation included print and online ads combined with a dedicated social media outreach on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and across relevant blogs. An initial limited release sold out on 1st Chance Sale weekend.

With more than 4,600 stores in the US, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, AutoZone is an industry leading retailer and distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories. FLUXbranding has created a variety of training programs, promotional campaigns and exhibits that have enabled sales growth in the specific product categories of rotating electrical and batteries. By building lasting relationships with key personnel FLUX continues to contribute to the AutoZone success story, year after year.

Who’s the bounciest? France, Spain and India it would appear.

Google Analytics released some illuminating data to Webmasters today. Data contained here comes from all websites which have opted-in anonymous data sharing with Google Analytics.

You may be wondering, how many websites are in this “anonymous data sharing” pool? Currently, hundreds of thousands, and they’ve endeavored to make all of the metrics statistically significant. The date range of comparison  is from November 1, 2010 – February 1, 2011. Comparison is done with data from November 1, 2009 – February 1, 2010.

Time on site? Russia, Germany and UK lead the world. The type of countries annotated in the average time on site graph above seem to be in reverse order as those in the bounce rate distribution.