Amie Street, a Rhode Island-based company, is developing a marketplace for music where the price per song is determined by market demand. This makes so much sense! Why should songs cost 99 cents regardless of whether the band is new and unkown, or well established. Such a model would be a huge boon for emerging artists, because people may be more willing to pay 10 cents for an unknown artist vs. 99 cents, and as interest in the artist rises, so does the price people are willing to pay.

[thanks, Eric Olson]

Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of Blackberry, has submitted a patent application for a context-aware feature, which would sense if the device is in a pocket, or on a table, or in a hand and adjust its behavior accordingly. For example, if it’s in a pocket, it would shut off the screen to save power and vibrate to announce a call, or if it’s on a table, it would ring loudly, depending on its user settings. It works by measuring the movement of the device during an occasional and very brief vibration, which is too subtle to be mistaken for a message alert.

The full patent application is available here. [thanks, New Scientist]

[UPDATE: The winner will be determined Friday, September 15 at 12:00pm PT. If I win, I will donate the $50 to the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula.]

[UPDATE 2: Poll results:  Noah - 2, Glenn - 6, WM - 12, congrats to BGC.  Thanks for participating.]

9 unstructured thoughts and links that are collectively indicative of the emerging importance and future of 3D online functionality:

1) Mark Warner, a democrat exploring a race for President in 2008, had a town hall meeting in Second Life - future elections will clearly have a vital online component - as ideas can be shared and communities built online extremely quickly and efficiently!

2) Joi Ito: Prototyping new organizational structures within War of Warcraft
(free registration required)

3) W Hotels prototyping within Second Life - imagine testing products services or experiences online before massive investment in the real world.

4) American Apparel retail store within Second Life

5) MTV’s Laguna Beach community within There - this is something that relates to what I’ve talked about before on SHARKRIDE -there will be an extremely robust convergence of television and online activity, as people become participants and not simply passive consumers of media.

6) Amazon exploring opportunities within Second Life - imagine having an avatar that visits a virtual mall - ability to browse stores, try on clothes etc. and one click purchasing without the hassle of parking, check-out lines etc. of real shopping centers.

7) Real/virtual interactions and marketing opportunities - “Avatar-Based Marketing” (Harvard Business Review)

Dynamic communities, coupled with advancing 3-D display technologies, will blur the line between reality and virtual activity and revolutionize how we work and play and function as a society - education, political campaigns, government services etc. will be much more efficient. Imagine a 3 D Internet where you can learn, browse, buy, communicate and collaborate with business associates located around the world via a lifelike avatar.

9) WMJ IDEA OF THE DAY: A service that creates avatars that mimic your real body, and look EXACTLY like you, so your avatar can collaborate with business associates, try on clothes etc. - of course, the functionality to import avatars into online environments doesn’t yet exist, but it should, and will, as 3D environments evolve beyond simply fantasy worlds to an essential part of our real existence.

[UPDATE: 10) A Harvard Law School class will be partly taught in Second Life.]

[UDPATE 12-25-06: Check out this TechCrunch profile of Gizmoz a company with a site in private beta (not yet available to the public) that creates avatars from uploaded pictures, and a voice sample.  Cool!]

Whether the patent system fuels or stifles innovation is highly debatable, and I think it depends too on the industry.  For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, where it can cost more than $100 million to develop a drug, I think IP protection is vital to encourage investment in new products.  But, does Friendster really deserve patent protection for social networking?

The US Patent Office is developing a wiki to solicit public feedback on the merit of pending applications, which has promising implications for greater efficiency in the system.

Cool and imaginative entertainment and casino and hotel and retail concepts abound in Las Vegas. Future developments and entertainment options are only limited by imagination, which has no limits. To mix things up here at SHARKRIDE, I propose a little competition: I will accept submissions for imaginative hotel, casino, restaurant, show, or entertainment venue Vegas concepts via email, or comments and will select what I believe to be the 5 best to be voted on by SHARKRIDE readers - feel free to submit as many ideas as you want. The submission deadline will be Sunday, September 10, 11:59pm PT. I will subsequently figure out how to do that blog voting thing, and will paypal the winner $50!

To foster imaginative thinking, here are a few of my own concept synopsis samples:

1) A James Bond fantasy laser tag game played in a casino complex - perhaps there could even be a mission - such as an Oceans 11 inspired heist challenge!

2) A Space Hotel and Casino with midget alien servers, weightless simulators, rooms with planet shaped beds that hang from the “space” ceiling, a virtual UFO abduction experience, a space station replica etc.

3) A “heaven” themed Hotel and Casino, which features famous artist and celebrity sponsored visions of heaven - there could be different visionary concepts within the hotel - perhaps even a feature where you can select your favorite things from a list of available options, and a semi-custom heaven experience can be created for you. Bikini clad women serving warm chocolate chip cookies, and margaritas under palm trees, for instance.

4) Underwater restaurants and Ice Bars and rock and roll and Hollywood and jungle themed restaurants have been done, but what about a restaurant where you need to catch the fish you want to eat, or catch a chicken with your bare hands, or a simulated hunting game, or pick vegetables in a real garden, and then master chefs prepare you a gourmet meal with your selected elements as you watch, or perhaps there could be a conveyor belt type floor that travels through different themed sections, where the menu options can be presented via various themed shows hosted by theatrical chefs.

5) The ultimate putt putt golf experience that goes way beyond the ordinary “gypsie” theme. Perhaps there can be cars won for holes-in-one, and other organized wagering. Instead of spinning windmills, there could be pong-like robots, and the course would exist on multiple levels, so you would need to climb up and down volcanoes or over ravines with crocodiles, and you can challenge “pros” employed by the course who are basically comedians, or dressed up animals - and there would be laser shows, and really cool water hazards that spray water etc. — whatever, you get the idea.

Let’s have some fun!

Boeing is developing a hydrogen fuel cell powered aircraft prototype. The plane will be a light-aircraft and have a top speed around 70 mph. The technology is in its infancy, but has tremendous potential, according to Boeing. Of course, battery disposal and even the production of hydrogen currently have a negative environmental impact. [via Treehugger]

[I will be traveling until Wednesday, September 6, so posting may be slow until then. Thanks, Matt]