12.02.2007

I've Moved!


Hello, after trying the big three blog services -- Blogger, TypePad and WordPress, I've landed on what I feel is the best for my taste ... The winner is ....

WordPress (sorry Blogger and TypePad). It was a tough decision... They're all very good...

For latest postings, please see me over there.

Thanks!

12.01.2007

True Mobility

locked-cellphone.jpgWith Google intending to bid on valuable 700 mhz spectrum up for auction by the FCC next month, can we expect a new player in the U.S. mobile service provider space? Analysts and Silicon Valley journalists aren't betting on it. Google and advocacy groups (lobbyists) pushed earlier this year for consumer freedom to choose their own mobile device and software application for the new wireless network once it's launched by the winning bidder. Just as open source developers and startups are forcing Microsoft to evolve, Google is pressuring mobile carriers like Verizon and AT&T into a more consumer-friendly business model. First Android, then the Open Handset Alliance. I'm rooting for more choice.

In Germany, two carriers are battling over a locked version of Apple's iPhone, exclusive there to T-Mobile. Vodafone wants a chance to grab some of the revenue from two-year customer contracts and is hoping for a favorable legal ruling Monday. Will they win?

Flaxseed Oil: The Movie


Word that HBO will do a movie based on the book, "Game of Shadows," is timely. With Barry Bonds under federal indictment, a new final chapter must be written into the best-seller by San Francisco Chronicle staffers Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada (now of ESPN). The legal twist gives instant life to a move script (more salacious details!) even though we know the main allegations and saw Bonds eclipse Henry Aaron's home run record this summer. Reports indicate the script co-writers selected for the project also did "Tin Cup." One line from that romantic comedy has potential for the newest effort. But a really important question: Who will be cast as Victor Conte?

The "CNNTube Effect"

youtube-facebook-myspace-and-cnncom-traffic.jpgDid you see the Republican presidential debate this week? Not to worry. Catch the highlights. Thirteen of the 20 most popular YouTube videos tonight as of 7 p.m. PST were from Wednesday's live broadcast of the debate on CNN (for you kids, that's a cable news network on television). This CNNTube Effect is yet another example of the Internet's growing symbiotic relationship with traditional television news media. More than 1.4 million people had viewed the 13 newly posted debate videos. YouTube is trending near the top of all sites visited on the Internet. In early 2006, it passed CNN's website, which of late has been experiencing a traffic decline, according to Alexa the Web Information Company (see graphic). Yes, CNN the television network commands a robust audience, but many of its viewers think YouTube is a merely a mispronounciation of Boob Tube. Do they vote more? We'll see. The 18-24 demographic is flexing its muscle. YouTube and CNN are a great marriage. Content is still king. And broader distribution of that content benefits everyone. Just ask Ron Paul's campaign, whose own YouTube channel counts 38,647 subscribers and 6.2 million channel views.

I Live on the Freeway

glassy-arrows.jpgGoogle's new feature "My Location" for its mobile maps application is groovy. Because it's in beta and 85% of us don't have GPS-enabled mobile phones, we can't be too picky about accuracy. I tried it tonight on a Blackberry 8130 from my living room to learn that my house is on the freeway. OK, not quite. A shaded larger area the shape of blue circle is the best Google can do if your cellphone is not GPS-enabled. Within that circle is my house, with about 100 others. Cell towers provide signals to draw these coordinates. From a non-GPS cellphone, you'll still need to type in a real start address and destination if you want the best directions from point A to B (or ask a cabbie or concierge when on the road). Here's is one funky thing I also learned: If you're using the mobile maps to find a hospital in my neighborhood, be flexible. From the downstairs living room on the west side of the house, a search with keyword hospital produced first on the list Intellidot Corporation (not a hospital). But from the upstairs office on the east side of the house, the same search performed spot on: Pomerado Hospital appeared at the top. Progress.

It's Tally Tuesday!

tally-tuesday-pic.gifIn the wake of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and even the upstart Buy Nothing Day, what phraseology helped consumers make sense of last Tuesday? Call it Tally Tuesday. But how great it would be to see a breakout of data for money spent by consumers on the four days following Thanksgiving.

First reports said online spending Monday rose 21% over last year. Cyber Monday has roots in the frothy dotcom build-up of the late 1990s, which included the $400 Amazon stock price prediction. Surely, modern savvy online holiday shoppers were not waiting for an official Cyber Monday to start buying. No, they clicked all extended weekend long (some in their pajamas), avoiding 4 a.m. rushes to the mall and parking lot anxiety. Cyber Monday isn't really targeted at them. It's for Black Friday shoppers who struck out at Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Target -- or need a spending outlet while in the office. One word that you'll never see attached to today: Returns.

Those come after Christmas, as in Returns Wednesday.

Video: Powerful Storytelling

slacker-video-screen-shot.jpgAs a follow-up to my Nov. 17 post, I noticed that San Diego-based Slacker has posted additional Portable Player product photographs (a handful of new UI screen shots) to its website. But it still needs more to tell a great story. To their credit, the Slacker team is including a link in customer emails to video from an October segment that CNN ran on the company.

So why not use the power of video to your advantage? PR is one way. Another is pure marketing. An online demo (see Sirius Stiletto 2) can reinforce upcoming Slacker Portable Player reviews from tech writers, most of whom have written with excitement about the company's business model since its March launch.

With a million registered online users, Slacker has an audience ready to receive the product message through a richer online medium. Consumers can't touch or experience the product yet in retail stores, so trust and loyalty must be earned in other ways.

11.23.2007

Facebook or Macy's Parade


Saw a little item on NYT today. The topic: How virtual our lives have become, yet how face-to-face interaction remains a natural wonder. No logging in with user name and password required. Smile. Talk. Enjoy. Online social networks help us enhance and expand human networks. We benefit from access to information, cultures, interests and knowledge that each of us is willing to share. So now that the parade has passed, flickr has lots of colorful photos posted and available for you to see, some of them from Thursday. A search of Macy's Parade yields 7,246 results as of tonight.