i want an iPhone
Friday, June 29, 2007
But not as bad as some, apparently. In NYC, people were lining up as early as Monday morning for the Friday debut of the iPhone in stores. I understand the anticipation, the excitement, and the sheer want of having a new gadget, but it makes me wonder: How can someone sit outside on a New York City street for 5 whole days? Never mind that this week, there were thunderstorms coupled with hot and unbearably humid weather. I hope the iPhone meets these people’s expectations. The propensity of it not meeting expectations, of course, is unlikely. Read any review on the phone, and you will find yourself in the mind of a child in a candy story. CNET reviewers, New York Times’ David Pogue, and Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg all hail the phone to be the greatest thing since sliced bread – or maybe the iPod – while glossing over some of the limitations AT&T, its sole service provider, creates. The utter mania the iPhone has generated reminds me of a time before anything “i”. It all began with iMacs, which came onto the scene when computers were purely functional and void of any artistic characteristics. Its cuteness led us to look at our desktops as decoration or “computer couture”, as my fiancé, the IT guy, calls it. Then came the iPod, which completely revolutionized the way we experience music and so reason would suggest that the iPhone possesses huge potential. The success of Apple’s technologies is of course two fold. It was not only due to great design, but also to fantastic marketing. The build-up for the products is managed just right, the news touches upon all the desired messages and the advertising is right on point. I couldn’t have imagined the iPod experience better than it is portrayed in its ads and the Mac vs. PC commercials created the personalities we will forever attribute to the brands. But while Apple is the frontrunner, articles on the wireless industry reveal a grim reality. Take Marty Graham’s article in Wired. In it, Marty talks to seemingly clueless wireless service providers about their thoughts on the needs and wants of their customers. Brian Finnerty, Director of Device Development for Sprint Nextel, said: "What do customers want? We have no idea. As an industry, we're like robots -- we go toward the light and we pile up on it." What a sad state of affairs. Thank iGod for Apple. Labels: advertising, Apple, buzz, Marketing, Public Relations
posted by Gina Bolotinsky
2 comments
Google’s Public Voice
Friday, June 22, 2007
This week, Google launched a public policy blog on which Andrew McLaughlin, Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs, shares his thoughts. And for this blog, Google is facilitating a conversation by permitting comments. McLaughlin blogged: Yes, we're a multinational corporation that argues for our positions before officials, legislators, and opinion leaders. At the same time, we want our users to be part of the effort, to know what we're saying and why, and to help us refine and improve our policy positions and advocacy strategies. Looking at this from the PR point of view, one has to wonder how much of this dialogue is driven by the negative press Google has received lately on issues of privacy. Whether or not I feel Google is truly a culprit, comments on blogs are an excellent PR tool and I commend Google’s efforts. The blog itself also creates a great buffer zone for allegations by providing Google with a distinct voice that can comment almost instantly. Only time will tell if Google is truly proactive in its crisis communications; yet, something tells me that we will not be disappointed. I predict a chapter on Google in PR 101 text books of the future, if there is not one already. From the other PR perspective - that being the emergence of new media - it doesn’t take a fortuneteller to foresee that if Andrew keeps up with relevant news and posts with a consistent frequency, this blog has the potential to become a true authority on public policy matters. So this could very well be the birth of actual media being generated by Google. For example, news could be broken right on this blog. So the outcome of this blog clearly holds vast possibilities for us PR folks. In the meantime, we’ll be keeping tabs, taking notes and offering insight as this experiment unfolds. Labels: blog, crisis communications, Google, Internet, Marketing, media, new media
posted by Gina Bolotinsky
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Google Ogling
Friday, June 15, 2007
The issue of privacy is once again at the tips of our tongues and the culprit is, of course, the all mighty Google. One complaint revolves around the new Google Street View the other about why the company must store our information for 18 months, which was reduced from up to 24 months just this week. First, let’s examine Street View. Google went around some major US cities and snapped photographs of just about every inch of them on street level with a camera that was strapped onto a car. The images captured are now available for public viewing. What’s the purpose? You can check out a neighborhood virtually if you are, let’s say, moving there from far away or simply want to get a feel for the area where you will be having dinner tonight. In Tuesday’s Time article on this topic, Stephen Chau, product manager for Google Maps, describes one of his favorite and most practical uses of the service as checking out the street signs where he parked his car that evening to make sure that he won’t wake up to a parking ticket. So what is all the hoopla about? Well… obviously, some photos that were taken are a bit embarrassing (guy peeing on the side of the road) and some might even jeopardize reputations (guy climbing a fence, seemingly breaking into a building). In the Time article, Kevin Bankston, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said “We don't think what Google's done here is necessarily illegal, though a few images may cross the line and may create liability. It's more that they've done something that's really irresponsible and rude to people.” So is it really all Google’s fault that people behave this way? Should the people themselves not be held accountable for their own actions? Google has an explanation as well. Chau contends, “Street View only features imagery taken on public property and is not real time. This imagery is no different from what any person can readily capture or see walking down the street.” Google also plans to blur out the faces of people captured in Street View, securing their anonymity. And what about Google saving our IP addresses in relation to our search queries for 18 months? This past week, Google received a complaint from the Working Party, which is a group of privacy policy advisors for the European Union. In response, Google made the change from storing the information for 18 – 24 months to just 18 months. Yet some are still concerned about this length of time. The other day, we were discussing this very issue in our office. Our SEO guru and Connors Vice President, Mike Levin, was explaining that privacy simply cannot be regarded with the same standards of even 10 years ago. This is our sacrifice to technology. But it’s not as dramatic as it sounds… 1984 is in the past after all and Google is hardly big brother. But I will say that it is always beneficial to have people on both extremes, fighting the “what ifs” and keeping Google and the like in line. Labels: Connors Communications, Internet
posted by Gina Bolotinsky
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ProBlogger Meetup
Monday, June 11, 2007
For those who are just getting into blogging, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger writes a fine column on how to do exactly that. They hosted a night out in the Upper West Side over the weekend that I was lucky enough to attend. (Note to the tavern proprietors: please refer to the the basement of Gin Mill as the Gin Mill, and not a separate bar called the Speakeasy as Google Maps does not yet have an underground view. Thanks.) As I am sure my illustrious colleague Mike Levin will be writing his own writeup of Saturday's event on our HitTail blog, I thought I would post my notes on our sister site so we cover both bases! Unfortunately Darren was quite swamped with adoring fans, so I didn't get to introduce myself but I did get to meet Shai Coggins from b5 media who was nice enough to give me a sporty new T-shirt. I spent the most time talking with a very cool Dutchman, Peter Verkooijen, who hosts the Web2NewYork meetup. I look forward to hearing your feedback on HitTail's Nederlands interface! Chris Conley is on a journey that I'm sure I'll be reading along with at Startup or Bust. I met my first Huffington Post blogger, Alex Geana, who was far too modest about the importance of said publication. Jim Cortina was probably the funniest man there, and I have already found some useful applications thanks to Nick O'Neill from AllFacebook. It was great meeting you all and if any of you happen to be interested in AJAX and the future of search, I encourage you to come check out our own Search Engine Superpowers Meetup tomorrow! Labels: blog, blogger, meetups
posted by Adam Edwards
2 comments
You Spin Me Right Round
Friday, June 08, 2007
It’s been a busy week and I am thinking about what to write. The news lately has been dominated by tuberculosis, kidnappings and a certain someone who has made it clear that money can buy you everything, including a ticket out of jail. So I figured I would devote this week’s post to the topic of spin. We PR professionals always get flack for it. But are we really the only culprits? In my mind, spin is what makes the world go round. Take this week’s Harvard commencement as a prime example. Bill Gates was there making a speech on the importance of being altruistic. Let me remind you, in case you forgot, that this is coming from the king of Microsoft. The same company that a couple of weeks ago announced that open source technology violates its many patents and users of it should be paying royalties to Microsoft! Yes, Gates has given millions to education and he is one of the world’s biggest philanthropists, but let’s just say that Google’s “no evil” philosophy doesn’t come from the Austin Powers trilogy… So Gates’ generosity can be construed as a PR campaign. But what about the fact that Gates did not even graduate from Harvard? In fact, he dropped out and doesn’t even have a Bachelor’s degree. I don’t know about you, but I don’t recall my parents or teachers ever telling me, “College is a good decision, but if you have bigger ideas, follow those! Who knows where they can lead you!” In fact, I was among those drilled to believe that college is the be all and end all of my life and that if I did not attend a prestigious college, I would be doomed to life as a vagabond. This is the philosophy of the NYC private school sector. Now that I have passed through the system and have a degree from Boston University under my belt, I realize just how few people actually attend those coveted schools and I wonder: has my pricey degree gotten me anywhere I would have otherwise not been? I don’t know the answer to that, but the question brings to light another. Didn’t all that pressure or that spin, if you will, drive me to do my best? In the end, was I not deceived for my own good? Life, along with my BU Communications Degree, has shown me that truth comes in many shades of grey.
posted by Gina Bolotinsky
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YouTube Embedded Video Forces a Site Visit
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Something just changed at YouTube, and let me explain how significant it is. When you embed video using THEIR video embedding techniques, or if you use a Widget, then you're giving up a lot of control over your page, and perhaps even your entire site.
Just yesterday, I was explaining to a friend, and creator of ChangingThePresent.org how Widgets, the type that get embedded into Web pages, are incredibly powerful. No one would do it, but technically the person controlling the Widget (the publisher of the Widget) has the power to do anything they want with the entire page, including stealing data from other Widgets, or even blanking the whole page and replacing it with another.
It's with this coincidental timing of me just explaining this that YouTube decides to go and make its move. Now HitTail, like so many others was leaching off of YouTube's bandwidth to show our own demo. As of today, they started running Previous/Next arrows to step through (seemingly) related video. Also, they're showing a row of postage-stamp video icons that zoom up at you as you mouseover, much like the Macintosh launch pad.
Now I won't describe every nuance I noticed, but the system is rigged to make you end up on the YouTube site, where a little bit of banner advertising is being run. What YouTube has avoided was embedding advertisements INTO the videostream itself--something that could have resulted in users screaming bloody murder. As it turns out, YouTube has experimentally struck a delicate balance between "evil" behavior that pulls you back into their site to show advertising, and leaving the embedded videos intact in a way that the individual site publishers will not pull YouTube video off their sites. The new features arguably enhance the embedded video experience.
One annoying nuance is that even if an embedded video is running, if you click the next arrows repeatedly, it will pop open a new window of the YouTube site, playing the same video. And what you have then is the same video playing twice in two different windows, with the double narration track and all--very disconcerting. But I'm sure YouTube will work out these problems.
They're finally making their move, and thankfully for all of us, it didn't involve embedding ads into the video stream. But still, it makes you wonder what's next.Labels: advertising, Google, video, Widgets, Youtube
posted by Mike Levin
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The Surface and Beyond
Friday, June 01, 2007
This past Wednesday, we saw the world of tomorrow on Today. What does it look like? Very much like what we hoped and dreamed. With Microsoft’s Surface, technology is truly at our fingertips and it is wonderfully effortless. So what is it? A delightfully simple tabletop computer touch screen that is sensitive to our favorite gadgets and allows us to interact with technology in a more seamless manner. For example, your child can paint a picture with her fingers and then save the picture and print it out and you can place your digital camera onto it and have your photos uploaded and display automatically! I know that I sound like an ad for Surface, but I was truly impressed. And while it’s true that the technology is not quite revolutionary, as David Pogue points out, it’s the first time that this touch screen technology is integrated to accommodate a wide array of uses. Surface was unveiled at the All Things Digital conference this week, which our fearless leader, Connie Connors, attended. The Surface looks to have been the most exciting gadget. Others included a new version of RealPlayer, a new Palm, Palm Foleo, which boasts a 10 inch screen and a full keyboard, making it quite the mini-laptop and a smart pen by Livescribe, which can record what it writes when used on special paper. The event also had its hosts, Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, conduct interviews with various CEOs. Included were the usual suspects, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, as well as some others who are not the most equated to technology. Among these were Sen. John McCain and CEO of Time Inc., Ann Moore. Technology being the topic at hand, Swisher chatted with Moore about magazines being a dying breed and all print trying to stay afloat online. Moore assured her that print is alive and well and that people are still reading magazines and that the demise is actually harder felt on the advertising side. “We’re not breaking news [in the print version],” Moore explained. But “we’re breaking it online. … It’s a very different experience to read Time magazine than it is to read Time online. Time magazine is long for journalism, a complement to what we’re offering online.” Maybe so, Ann, but what happens when in 5 years, a brand new gadget that can house books, magazines, and has online capabilities is introduced at D? It will be easy on the eyes and feel good in your hands. Will we want to smudge our fingers with newspapers and carry around bulky magazines? Common sense suggests this future is not far off and I think we all know the answer to the questions posed.
posted by Gina Bolotinsky
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