November 2011
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Month November 2011

Entries 20 Total

The New Purpose of Commercials

Nov 30, ’11 9:43 AM

It used to be all about selling products. Now they commercials seem to be more about establishing and selling brands.

A recent BASF TV ad talked about the company’s place in chemistry.
There was no product, no action to take, nothing to sell. It made me think that might be why is it has become so difficult for me to understand commercials these days.

When companies take thecourse of selling themselves and what they do they are playing for different stakes that a simple sale. They actually want you to buy the company as leader, innovator, manufacturer and producer of many of the things you want or need and that you can trust them to deliver on their promises.

Apple is the best example of the success andeffectiveness of this strategy. It is also an element that many competitors and analysts have overlooked as an important key to understanding “The Apple Way”.

In their defense most Apple commercials are still mainly about selling products but their secondary purpose is aimed at promoting the brand.

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2011: Season of the tablet

Nov 28, ’11 12:15 PM

As if you didn’t know it already tablets are the Beanie Babies of 2011. They are the hottest selling item this early holiday season and look to hold sway for a long time to come. For many they are the perfect gift to loved ones.

For some buyers the best of the tablets are still a bit too expensive, but some of the lesser alternatives are dead center in the affordable range. Apple may have missed a prime opportunity by not adjusting and reducing iPad 3 pricing thus allowing the door to swing open to a horde of Android, Nook and Kindle options,

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Crapware Must Die! Why Skins aren’t In?

Nov 26, ’11 11:43 AM

CrapWare

Why is it that most users hate the ways device makers and OS platform providers implement proprietary skins for their most desired devices?

Apple has engendered the philosophy that thankfully has taken root in the industry. Make the interface consistent and easy enough for most users to use without having to learn a whole new thing each time you install a new app or upgrade your OS.

In the Desktop world Sony and HP always made pretty great Windows OS and desktop extensions and system additions but users have universally resented and hated the learning curve burden placed upon them.

The added complexity never quite lived up to the promise and potential of skinning. Now user selected apps and widgets have become the preferred method of extending a user’s environment.

When new users acquire a new smartphone they wind up spending a hefty amount of time unistalling stuff and pairing down all the non-standard pre-installed “crapware”.

There is also another categorgy of Crapware that comes in when you download free apps and utilities so a rule of thumb is that caution should be exercised if you hate bunk stuff.

If you are an app-whore prone to grab any andeverything you can, good luck. You’ill need it! if you choose to open up Pandora’s box.

The Skins Game is just about over!

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CyberMonday or CyberWeek?

Nov 26, ’11 10:04 AM

Cyber Week

How did we ever go from having Cyber Monday to having to endure Cyber Week?

And who was it that declared the Monday after Black Friday to be Cyber Monday? Oh yeah, where in the heck did Black Friday come from in the first darn place?

Have we actually de-evolved to the place where now allow the retail industry to declare our holidays and occasions?

If so, we can expect everyday of the year to be some such-and-such day merely related to selling stuff.
If you are among the many millions of folks andfamilies having tight financial issues in these troubling and precarious times all of  this can be especially galling when you can’t afford to participate in any of these deal enticing you to spend what you don’t have to spare.
Don’t misunderstand me. I think that any opportunity to save money is a good idea, however I think we may be taking this a bit too far and seriously reducing the importance, meaning and significance of the “real hoiliday”s or has the annual Xmas misery already done that for you?
“You’ll shoot your eye out kid!” A-rump-a-pum-pum..
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Black Friday Approaches!

Nov 23, ’11 10:07 AM
Anyway, what the heck is so BLACK about Black Friday?
Today, Wednesday 11/23 is the virtual launching pad for big sales, huge deals, and an avalanche of hype unparalled in previous years.
Companies have carefully planned advertising campaigns and saved millions of hard-gained dollars in their marketing war chests just for this time.
My RSS readers, SMS messengers and email accounts are blowing up with hard hype about deals of all sorts.
Talk about just making stuff up, where does this “Cyber Monday” crap come from? Since we are declaring new theme days how about XX, or XX.
The problem is that the 99% of us don’t  have any money to spend andare holding too tightly to the little bit we have while the 1% buys diamond encrusted gold plated iPhones and an extra Ferrari or two.
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Recording Studio in your Pocket

Nov 22, ’11 2:16 PM
Tascam im2 on iphone

Tascam im2 on iphone

TASCAM’s iM2 turns your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch into a high-quality stereo recorder. It is in its essence a pair of condenser microphones, delivering the same high quality as TASCAM’s best-selling DR-series recorders. iM2 plugs directly into the dock connector of Apple devices.

The microphones are adjustable over 180 degrees for the best sound placement. The uni-directional elements are arranged in an AB pattern for detailed stereo imaging while capturing the ambience of your room.

Best of all the iM2 contains its own microphone preamp and analog-to-digital converter for low noise and great audio quality.

Other mics generally use the built-in iPhone preamp, whereas the iM2 can handle up to 125dB sound levels to capture the loudest concerts and instruments without distortion.

Full-featured recording

What makes it a studio? The iM2 has a stereo limiter to control sudden loud sounds and audio. Microphone levels are also adjustable from a knob on the side, so it it quick and easy to adjust.

iM2 is powered through the dock connector so thankfully no battery is required. A USB input is provided to charge your Apple iOS device for overly long recordings, either through a computer or TASCAM’s PS-P515U power adapter.

The iM2 works great with just about any recording app, including a built-in video camera. You can record stereo sound while you capturing hi-def video on your iPhone.

iM2 is a must for all levels of musicians who want to capture their world on iPhone or iPad without sacrifices in quality.

I have been a professional radio announcer, musician, voice-over talent, and studio engineer for many years and in my carefully considered opinion the iM2 is just about the perfect recording accessory for musicians at all skill levels coming in at a nice affordable price. Plus, you just known we all love our iPods, iPhones and iPads, not to mention Apple’s Garage Band and many of the great available apps.

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Xmas Horses are in the Starting Gate

Nov 22, ’11 10:32 AM

‘Tis the season to spend money!

The holiday game starts very soon with Black Friday sales and rounds the bend with two big new Year Tech Expos (CES and Mac World) heading into 2012.

Already the cable TV airwaves are thick with commercials, our mail is packed with promotions, our magazines are pregnant with ads, and the Internet is filthy with hype.
This year we have the addition of Social media to temp us to services like Groupon and others offering more localized deals and of course we still have Amazon, Walgreen’s/Walmart and Radio Shack.
The one traditional thing I really love about the Holiday season is the one thing I cannot even find anymore. A good rum soaked fruitcake.
Everyone seems to hate them and make fun of them.
I love them!
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Finding Your Personal Process

Nov 22, ’11 9:27 AM

You can research and imitate Leonardo’s copius note taking process or Einstein’s dream-state thinking or you can explore and develop your own routines and practices to find your passion; success, or your way,  but above all the most important thing isto lock down or in on a personal process that works for you.

I first heard of the importance of this in an interview with HBO Deadwood Series creator David Milch. He is a stickler on his writing process. Milch seldom delivers a script ahead of shooting often writing and making additions right up to and even beyond schedule. The result is creative and masterful bringing out the very best performances in his actors. They all claim to enjoy and gain great inspiration from his process

  1. Milch never makes copius notes, writes or thinks about writing until he absolutely chooses to.
  2. Finds no excuses for not writing

I also heard of process in themovie adaptation of Wm, Boroughs’ Naked Lunch where in a conversation between Kerouac and Ginsberg it is said that one should not rewrite that it is a sin to revise the flow, the rhythmn and tumbling out of words, that is a betrayal. Ginsberg obsessively states that he feels it is his right and duty to rewrite every word or sentence a thousand times if he chooses.

What is your process? Process is a very personal individual thing. The choices are made from years of habits, skills acquired, study, successes and failures. They spring from a deep knowledge of self.
- When you work (best timing)
- How you work (Best practices, Your way, routine/pattern)
- What you use (tools and resources)
- Why you work (goals or motivations)
- Your preferences (selections and choices)
- Your passions (hobbies and interests)
Your process reflects more than anything else your personality.
I was inspired to create this post by recently finding andadopting a new tool (Evernote) into my process mix that helped me concretize and complete my daily writing process coupled with Milch’s guidelines and my habitual dyslexia I came to realize something significant had occured.
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Samsung Focus Flash (Windows Phone)

Nov 21, ’11 6:02 PM
Samsung Focus

Samsung Focus

Women that go with multiple men are called certain names, but what do you call a tech company that plays around in a variety of OS camps? The term might be versatile. That could work, but really doesn’t carry the sting of other more pointed and direct terms.

Again I state that Samsung has essentially flooded the smartphone market with way too many different models, and now they by adding a Windows phone they have thrown more confusion into the game and made it even more difficult to choose.
Whether this is a strategic or tactical moveI am not really certain. I am also not certain if this has worked in any other industry other than candies. It hasn’t been effective in the automotive industry, nor in the music or entertainment industry. The most recent evidence suggests that as in politics, limiting choice eliminates confusion.
I once worked in a men’s storein San Francisco that put out the same three-piece suit in a wide variety of colors and they stayed on the rack till they grew stale on sale.
When store owner Sam Alderman educated me (told me) to narrow down the selection to only a couple of colors and styles the suits literally started flying off the rack and we had to reorder several times but weknewwhich were the hottest sellers. That lesson stuck with me and didn’t really come to mind or serve as an overiding principle until now.
I call this ”OVERCHOICE”.
None of the above commentary speaks to the quality of the phone, we will get to that in another post or review.
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E-Cigarettes: Technology Run Amok?

Nov 18, ’11 9:10 AM

When I told my non-smoking significant other about e-cigs she remarked in true Luddite fasion that “its an example of Technology Run Amok”.

Are you ready for eCigarettes or Electronic Cigarettes? Well, ready or not here they are, but what the heck are they?

They look like cigarettes but its smoking, without the fire.

These battery powered  e-cigs have a microprocessor and are a vaporized nicotine delivery system.

The junk mail ad says that they Look, geek and tastes like real Cigarettes. But do they kill like cigarettes? No tobacco, smoke., or combustion is involved.

What all the trials proved is that a Cigarette is really nothing but a nicotine delivery system. So it was only natural for someone to apply technology and one up that.

Smokeless Selects brands itself “The New Cool”.

They boast money savings and…

  • No tobacco
  • No Flame or fire
  • No Tar or smoke
  • No ash oe smell
  • No bad breath
  • No yellow teeth
  • No carbon monoxide
  • Bold flavor

…so, what’s missing or actually whats still there? Nicotene and effects.

Smoke anywhere you want, Meetings, Restaurants, Airplanes, Theaters.

I am tempted to investigate who is behind this and what happened to allow this to come to market.

Marketing wise they are taking to junk mail thats how it reached me. Other than that its all new to me.

For me the jury is still out on e-cigs. I still wonder what longer time testing will show and if they ameliorate the numerous ill-effects of traditional cigarettes. If so, they could be useful additions to nicotene patches if they are of benefit to troubled smokers trying to find some sort of relief.

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Apple as Patent master

Nov 17, ’11 9:08 AM

U.S. Patent Office

Apple has recently emerged as a Patent ownership master. A score of new patents have been awarded to Apple that places the highly innovative company in the virtual cat-birds seat of mobile technology.

  • Virtual SIM Card
  • 3D Motion
  • Heat dissipation in computing device
  • iPhone Interfacing Portable Media Devices and Sports Equipment
  • Low EMI capacitive trackpad
  • System for authentication using shared table and sorting exponentiation
  • Ultrasonic bonding of discrete plastic parts to metal.
  • Magic Mouse TV Remote/Gamepad with 3D Capabilities
  • Intelligent multi-output adapter

Many thanks to Patently Apple for content materials. If I was a technology developer/manufacturer I would immediately bookmark and diligently monitor the Patently Apple site for product hints and market direction indicators.

 

 

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SMARTPHONE: HTC Rezound (Verizon)

Nov 14, ’11 9:41 AM

HTC Resound (Verizon)

HTC is a serious player in the Smartphone roundup and they have just stepped up their game with the new Rezound.

Verizon – $249 after rebates on a new 2-year contract

Announced just last week and in time for holiday shopping the HTC Rezound driven by Android is all set to WOW  users.

REZOUND SPECS:

  • 4.3″ HD Touchscreen display 1280 X 720 resolution
  • Dual core 1.5GHz processor
  • Android 2.3 Gingerbtread
  • BEATS Audio (earbuds)
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Marketing from Hell

Nov 12, ’11 7:47 PM
They dangle a carrot in front of you. You’ve heard and seen them. “Watch this free video.” “Get this report/white paper.”  Win an iPad.” “Request free samples”
The catch?
You must sign up and give up your email or allow them access to your social accounts or more, and then it begins!
The Fallout?
- Junkmail
- Unsolicited promotions
- Unwanted Advertisments
- Twitter and Facebook spam
Solution?
This stuff is supremely hard to turn off, if not  downright impossible. You will be forced to spend your valuable time and energy trying to put the horses back in the stable. Good luck with that!
Resolution?
You can start  it for the beginning of the new year or do it now. Learn to totally ignore all of the great sounding enticements, hooks and snares. Lastly never give up your email or other personal info.
Its marketing from the fifth circle of Hell and I’m sick and tired of all of it.
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The Biggest Problem!

Nov 12, ’11 3:57 PM

Computer Problems

We all have faced it. Probably more than once. God bless you. It seems to be common with all types of computers, smartphones, and hard drives.

I would not be surprised that in the near future we’ll be here talking about how it is also a mounting problem with THE CLOUD. It is inevitable! Yes, its bound to happen. All the backups and redundancy planning can help a bit but the “GOTCHA MONSTER” will surely crop up when you least expect it or can least afford it, then there you are knee deep in it!!

So, exactly what is this “Biggest problem”?
For me its been programs, apps and applications that work fine one day, you relax your guard and pour valuable info into them, them BOOM they stop working and you are either SOL, forced to move up to an expensive upgrade, buy support or attempt (vainly) on your own to recover what you have lost.
I will see it as real progress when this type of scenario is no longer a big problem or possibility. I had thought foolishly that Time Machine had solved it, but NO, NOT!
Backing up to hard drives is an option but boils down into guesswork and an exercise in hair-pulling frustration trying to figure out whats what.
I heard of a new cloud-like storage solution called Bitcasa at TechCrunch Disrupt 2011 in S.F. and I have high hopes for it but I have been disappointed before when promise does not meet expectations.
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Adobe’s Flash Lesson

Nov 12, ’11 10:34 AM

I just read a post  called ”Lessons From the Failure of Flash: Greed Kills”
Adobe was only doing what they knew. They once owned Desktop publishing leadership by leveraging Postscript and their purchase of Aldus’ Pagemaker. They won the design industry by buying up BarneyScan and turning it into Photoshop. When the moved on Macromedia they say Flash as their new Postscript

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Netflix: How to “screw the pooch”

Nov 11, ’11 6:19 PM

Netflix

To say that Netflix has managed to “screw the pooch” might be an understatement and crude vision. Clearly these latest episodes are a sure testament to corporate error and faulty thinking but most of all not giving customers what they want, need or demand.

The pity of it is that Netflix was flying high with no competition. Customers were happy and competition like Blockbuster threw in the towel. Somehow in a short period of time Netflix managed to open the door to those that want to be Netflix or own it.

So, what really happened? At the root of the mistakes and missteps I believe that there were deeper causes. Was it that they were just out of touch with their customers, or were they too divorced from the emerging marketplace reality? Who the heck really knows?

Now everyone is asking if Netflix can land on their feet and recover from all this drama and if they can artfully regain their footing and retain their customer base.

There are signs that they are listening. I see them responding to opinion by changing their mind and pulling back from unwise decisions that did’t go over well.

Being a long-time customer I for one have been happy with Netflix up until all this back and forward mess. I  will be patient and hang in there a little longer to see how this turns out and if they can get it back together, literally.

I just hope Netflix doesn’t give up, throw up their hands and give in to being acquired and melded into a mega-media corporation that I probably won’t be able to trust or stomach. One can only hope.…Good Luck Netflix!!!

Screw The Pooch

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11/11/11

Nov 11, ’11 5:34 PM

11.11.11

Well we managed to make it past 11-11-11 and the Earth didn”t spin off its axis and our Sun didn”t explode despite the predictions of ominous things and implications that something could or would happen when the 11-11-11 tumbler clicked.

Maybe it turned out to be lucky for you and you hit the Lotto or a  Mega jackpot at the casino and it turned out to be a great day. Either way you survived it and lived to see another day. Hopefully it will be one with a little less rain, but if that is my only complaint, I think I can handle it.

So, onward and forward into the future…………

Tommorrow we may see meteorites, earthquakes or alien visitations, or maybe all three. I’d settle for a really good corn beef on rye.

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Cool Browser: Opera 11.60 beta

Nov 11, ’11 9:48 AM

Back in the days of the peak of the browser wars when high flying Netscape fought incursions from Internet Explorer I sought refuge and took up Opera as an alternative to avoid the fallout.

Recently, I was quite pleasantly surprised to learn that Opera which always was a great browser managed to survive those intense browser wars seemingly without major success and now in the era of massive social media they are “hanging in there”

Maybe their time has finally come having just releasedOpera 11.60 beta  their latest version now available for download.

Opera 11.60 beta includes:

  • Support for HTML5 microdata support
  • ECMAScript 5.1
  • Additional HTML5 support.
  • HTML5-compliant parser
  • Rich functionality for serious web developers
  • Improved compatibility with other browsers.
  • Redesigned address field with new search suggestions
  • Improved results display in History and Bookmarks.
  • Allows adding pages to bookmarks or Speed Dial instantly,
  • Passwords sync allows access to passwords from any computer,
  • Opera Link synchronises bookmarks and browser information.

If there is a company that keeps plugging on it is Opera and they really deserve our support and for you to take a good look at their product and give it a try. I just did and as always with Opera it is fast and feature packed.

If you are wary of Beta versions go pick up the latest stable version.

Download Opera 11.60 beta from their website .

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The Singularity Smartphone

Nov 8, ’11 9:36 AM

Singularity: When technology becomes more intelligent than humans.

So just how smart will these little things become? Have we set a limit?

Soon will our Smartphones might become leaps and bounds smarter than we are. At that time will they instinctively know exactly who to call and when? Could they make logical business decisions with a minimal amount of information?

For the moment they are safe and secure in our pockets and are our allies, but will they someday become our rivals?

I am really surprised that author Steven King has not written a horror story or screenplay about this particular scenario. (Maybe he has!)

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Cool Search Engine: Blekko

Nov 7, ’11 2:50 PM

Blekko

I reserve using the word cool for select things and seldom attach it to obvious or overly simple solutions. I recently ran into an intriging rediscovery at BlogWorld in L.A. that reminded me of the first the I saw and used Google. The service just coming out of Beta called Blekko and was founded in 2007 and is only now ripening to full blossom in the fall of 2011.

Blekko’s motto is “SLASH THE WEB” It has the potential to reveal data that you could not normally search and find using only keywords. So exactly what does that mean? Blekko is in at its core a search engine, with frills. Check out this video to see what this can do for you. http://blekko.com/ws/+/press-videos

The biggest thing about Blekko is the concept of / slash tags that you create. Slash tags modify your search results and help you zero in and tune out the relevant from the irrelevant and spam. Blekko also helps SEO and site analysis.

Being an instructor who teaches students best practices for searching the web I welcome new players to the Search Engine game. Google has ruled the roost too long and Bing doesn’t have much new to offer.

The service is compelling and powerful once you get your arms around slash tagging. The chosen name on the other hand is dreck, bad choice. Do yourself a favor. Give Blekko a shot and get back at me and let me know what you think. Be sure to try the slashtag creation capability,

Investors foreign and domestic are lining up to cop a piece of the action in case it is a hit or turns out to be the coolest Search Engine You’ve Never Heard.

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