Commentary by blog and social media consultant Josh Hallett on the use of blogs for public relations, media, marketing, communication & branding and from time-to-time the unsolicited opinion.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I think people that say that haven't had their work ripped off. Recently my friends at cnp_studio found an agency that completely ripped off a web project they did. Sean writes about how BMW Marketing Consultants stole everything, images, HTML, CSS from a project.
They've contacted the offending party and they feel what they've done is perfectly fine. Nice. What would you do in a situation like this?
This morning after a meeting I visited the Apple Store in Orlando (Millenia) to check out the MacBook Air.....perhaps to make a nice impulse buy. I had not yet seen the machine up close, but I knew that it might be the deciding factor. The other major issue is whether my EVDO modem would work. I went to the store carrying my Sierra Wireless 595U to specifically check the fit.
Arriving in the store, all the Air's have a small USB security dongle. (Shown below) I pulled out my modem and the woman working at the front asked, "What's that?" I respond, "It's my EVDO modem, I need to see if it fits" Her response, "Sorry, you can't do that." Somewhat shocked I said, "Well, whether this fits or not determines if I buy one of these, can we temporarily remove this?" The response, "Sorry I can't do that." Somewhat amazed, I said, "Well then you just lost a sale." No response back.
No Air for me, and I was somewhat disappointed with the poor customer service and attitude of the Apple Store staffer.......it was a 180 to the typical experience.
Image by Tyler Howarth, used under CC
Download Zip File: Hyku-Gallery.zip (V 1.0)
Sample Gallery: Photos by Josh Hallett
While this blog runs on MovableType, I've had a few people ask if my Photography section was a blog and if the theme was available.
The photography section is run with MovableType, and the template is not that easy to export. With that I created a simple WordPress theme based upon it. It's a unique horizontal scrolling blog used to feature photos. In my case I have a Flickr account, but I wanted to draw attention to just a few of my photos, hence the sub-blog.
The theme is very basic, it doesn't offer comments or many other blog functions...it's mostly meant to use WordPress as a simple CMS to manage the display of some photos.
The easiest thing I've found to do is copy/paste the Flickr embed code for the image in the body of the post. The width of each picture element is designed for the medium size photo (usually 500 pixels wide).
Since you can't run multiple blogs off a single WordPress install you'll need to create a separate directory/install for a photo gallery. Of course you're free to hack around with this, edit the styles, etc. Enjoy!
How about a quick usability review? I'm trying to find out how much a single business phone line costs with Verizon. Watch this screencast to see how things turn out:
Maybe I'll just head over to Vonage....they list pricing right on the home page.
My friend Chris Gent hosted a Super Bowl party...big deal huh? Well when you construct a large screen outside your home and invite the neighbors over it's a bit different.
Brother's Brick reminds me that LEGO turns 50 today! I don't recall when I received my first LEGO set, but I think it's safe to assume that I've been playing with them for over 25 years. Thanks for the memories!
Recently the Vancouver Olympics debuted the three mascots for the Winter Games in 2010. The mascots are nods to the heritage of the region (no they're not Bob and Doug McKenzie). Of the three mascots I really like Quatchi the sasquatch.
The mascot selections are always controversial. Doug Haslam doesn't like them (along with many of the other previous mascots). While I agree with Doug that many of the previous mascots have been, how shall we say, unique. However, I like Quatchi.
Ah yes, the fun of searching for a Wii. Charlene Li recently posted her tips, but I have some observations:
Grandparents Always Win:
In my searches I have often found the 'opposition' to be grandparents, they have some significant advantages over the regular Wii-searcher
1.They're retired so they have plenty of free time to wait and search and wait.
2. If you watch Wal-Mart commercials, most of them work there, so they have the inside scoop on the next shipment.
3. Waiting is what they normally do at the doctor's office, so waiting for a Wii is 'fun'.
4. They're kinda cute and remind you of your grandparents, so you can't get mean with them.
5. They may be old, but they're crafty, remember they won WWII.
Where are Logistics and RFID?
The retail world is supposed to be digitized/automated/controlled/tracked, etc. Major retail chains brag about how efficient their systems are and the inventory control they command. Yeah right.
Call any store and they have no idea when any Wii's are arriving. "We get them when we get them." Really? That's the inventory control that made you one of the largest and most profitable retailers in the world?
Ask them how many 195/85 15H tires they have and they'll have an exact count though.
Find One?
Seriously did you find one? Buy it for me :-) Nevermind, I got one!
This post has been simmering for a while, but I just can't take it anymore. I was driven over the edge by a few things:
1. Todd's post of the state of 'practices' by some firms.
2. David's follow-up to that
3. Recent conference statements/events
Rant start//
Many times recently I've been sitting in conferences listening to 'experts' talk about various subjects. I've always said my definition of expert, especially when it comes to social media, is loosely defined as 'a few years ahead of you on the learning curve'. It's funny though that these experts were asking 'what is social media?' just a short time ago.
I sit in these conference session and I try not to be a Dave Winer and call out all the bullshit and look like an ass, but it has to stop. Some of us have been using Twitter to make our snarky comments, but the rest of the audience just sits and soaks up this knowledge. They don't know any better.
The other day at Executing Social Media conference in Atlanta, Paull Young reports that a speaker advocated that corporations edit their Wikipedia entries and insert links. Nice.
At the same conference a speaker used most of their time to pitch their product and subscriptions to their newsletter. Classy.
I've joked about making up simple little 'Bullshit' signs that we can hold up as a silent protest. Perhaps the speakers would see these and change course.
What to do? Ask your next social media 'expert' for some recent client projects they've developed. They don't have any? They've just been 'consulting' Nice.
Yes, you can still provide clients with a baseline of education without having much of a project base to draw from, but until you've actually run a social media campaign/project you just don't know it all. I'm not saying I know it all, it's a relative scale. If I say something you think is BS in a speech, call me on it, question it. Let's talk about it.
In the end the level of 'expert' and 'conference speaker/keynote' needs to be examined.
Rant over//
So what do we do? Start to publicly name the folks spewing BS and blatantly pitching audiences under the veil of an 'expert speaking'?
Ah yes, the SEO thing again. If you remember I was a bit critical of firms that start blogs for SEO purposes. Then Scott Baradell recently wrote a SEO-fueled post. Today I read this Web Worker Daily post about keyword optimizing your resume.
How far do things go? It seems the logical end would be to keyword optimize the names of our children. After all how will they ever stand out in the future job market?
If you name your child Steve or Karen you're condemning them to a lifetime of low page rank. My next child will be named Britney Guitar Hero Facebook or perhaps Google Mortgage Cheat Codes.
The trick is predicting what keywords will be hot in two decades. How about you, what's your child's keyword optimized name?
When you travel quite a bit things like luggage become really important. Especially if you never check bags. Serious travelers know that you never check bags. Not checking a bag has saved me a number of times.
I've been using my trusty Briggs & Riley carry-on for the past few years, but I'm really lusting after the new T-3 Ducati series from Tumi.
Nice. Anybody is free to buy this for me and send it my way :-) I'll let you know my address. I ended up buying it for myself right before Christmas :-)
I'm a big Oakely fan. I remember my first pair of Factory Pilot Eyeshades back in the 80's. I had yellow ones to match Greg Lemond's. Then there were the Frogskins, Razor Blades, the Iridium phase....ah those were the days. One of my all-time favorites were the original Sub-Zeros.
Today you'll find quite few Oakleys in my collection: 00, Why 3.0, Gascan S, M Frame, Zeros and Minutes. Also somewhat contrary to the often said line "If I bought expensive sunglasses, I'd lose them or sit on them," I've never lost a pair and when one pair did break I received a free warranty replacement pair from Oakley.
Checking out the Oakley site today I noticed a new 'Asian Fit' feature. I thought, "What is that?" Sure enough Oakley has a link that says, "What is Asian fit?"
Here is their explanation:
Getting the right fit is essential for comfort, protection, and even optical performance. You may have heard industry terms like “European Fit” and “Asian Fit”. If sunglasses tend to sit too low on your face or slide down your nose, touch at your temples or cheeks, or feel narrow at the sides of your head, try our Asian Fit. The tabs below show all the technology we put into making these frames fit with perfection.
At first glance the term 'Asian Fit' seemed a bit direct for me? What do you think?
Please accept this as my formal apology. Over the weekend our DSL modem from Verizon died. I asked my wife to call Verizon and see about getting it replaced. Once again I apologize.
I think the ordeal took most of her afternoon today, and it's still not resolved. To set the stage, the DSL modem does not power up. I swapped out power supplies and switched outlets, no luck. It's dead. We were also one of the first in our area to get DSL, something like 6 years ago.
She calls and talks to one person, then another, then another. I'm overhearing bits and pieces of the conversation. Here are some highlights:
- At one point the tech says, here is the issue, you might not have DSL service since you're not paying for it. My wife responds, "Looking at my bill, we're being charged $35 for 'Advanced Data Services'...." Oh yeah, that's it, never-mind.
- The tech asks, "Have you tried the other phone lines in the house?"....Hello, the modem is dead, changing phone lines isn't going to make a difference.
- Verizon says they need to test the circuit, can we plug the modem in. If you remember the modem is dead, not sure how plugging it in will help you test it.
- It turns out our DSL circuit is so old they actually need to upgrade it to get us a new modem. That's 1-2 days.
More updates as this story develops.
Walking around the toy store at Downtown Disney I ran into an old friend, Beaker, from the Muppets. Many old memories from the childhood :-)
Beaker was one of my favorite Muppets, along with Animal. Who is your favorite Muppet?
Update: The attack is over. E-mail is working now.
If you've tried to e-mail me the past few days you would notice that it's bouncing. My mail server has been under a DDOS attack since last week. At one point it was receiving about 4 million bogus connections per hour. Fun stuff. Luckily my host is very cool and has been helping out with things.
The question though is why me? There are some thoughts that it's a deliberate attack, or it could be that I was randomly selected. Not sure. Anyway it will soon be a week.
While I wonder how much e-mail I have missed, most of the people I deal with on a daily basis know how to reach me, i.e. jrhallett@mac.com or jrhallett@gmail.com.
My mail server is under a massive DDOS attack so it's somewhat difficult to e-mail me right now. If you need to reach me you can use jrhallett(at)mac(dot)com. Of course not having e-mail is also a refreshing break :-)
I'm a bit late on this since I said I would pick the winner on July 31st. Sorry about that, I've been on a half-vacation/half-work trip. On to the important stuff though....
First off, thanks to everybody that entered and shared their desire for the Helio Ocean. It's tough because no matter who I pick I'll end up upsetting somebody else. Looking over all the entries there were a mixture of appeals. Some folks expressed their desire for the device, other talked about what they would do with the device. Some were funny, others were sad.
In the end though one entry appealed to me and to a few other people. What I mean by this is a few friends e-mailed me to vote for one of the entries. Alan Gutierrez has a plan for what he wants to use the Ocean for and it's a good cause. Congrats to Alan and thanks again to everybody else that entered. If I had a few more devices I'd send them your way, but all I had was one.
I'll be contacting Alan to arrange for shipping.
Perhaps some friends could help out with some service :-)
Just about a week into my Helio Ocean giveaway, there are a total of three entries/links:
- Can a Brotha Get That Helio Ocean
- Putting Josh Hallett's Helio Ocean to Work in Hollygrove
- Consider this Poor PR Practioner
For a quick recap, I'm giving away the Helio Ocean I used for less than a month. You can get all the details here.
Also if you didn't read it, the Ocean now has MS Exchange support.
I've been debating about getting an EVDO card for some time now. A few weeks ago I bit the bullet and bought a modem and signed up for unlimited service with Sprint for $59.99/month. My quick review: Why didn't I do this months ago?
One of the things holding me up was form factor, specifically PC Card or Express Card. I worried that I'd buy a PC Card modem which is what my PowerBook G4 would need, then later I'd need to switch out to an Express Card if I ever upgraded to a MacBook Pro. A little while back I asked for some opinions on which EVDO service to try, Verizon or Sprint. One of the folks that commented was a Sprint EVDO engineer. He and I exchanged some e-mails and he provided me with a ton of good information. His suggestion was to go with the Sierra Wireless 595U USB modem, that way it would work with any machine.
While the modem does stick out a bit, when you think about it being one big antennae, it's better than a card that inserts in a card slot.
I've always been a Sierra Wireless fan. Way back in the day, 1999 that is, I had a HP Jornada 680 with a Sierra Wireless CDPD modem. With that little Jornada keyboard and a wireless modem I was a true nomad. I loved that device combo...but I digress. Looking over the cards offered by Sprint I was always going to go with Sierra Wireless over a Pantech or other device.
Installation on the Mac was easy, I just had to download the Watcher application from Sierra's web site. Some things never change. The watcher app had the same little card with wings like it did back in '99 when I used it on Windows CE.
So far the speed has been great and in some cases it's faster than my DSL at home...that's sad. Last week I used the card extensively at BlogPhiladelphia when the wifi was overloaded. I used EVDO to upload the majority of my photos from the event without any issue.
One of the cost justifications for EVDO is that you never have to buy internet or wifi in a hotel or airport again. In the past week I have found this to be true. I stayed at a Westin and a Raddison and in both cases I used only the EVDO (saving $20). I have also been to Houston and Atlanta airports and didn't need to pay for wifi (saving $16.95). Give me a few more days and I've paid for this month's worth of service.
Another factor is my virtual office status. I tend to work at coffee shops and other locations that offer wifi. This of course limited my choices since some of my favorite lunch spots don't offer wifi. I don't need to worry about this anymore.
Why didn't I do this months ago?
It's been a few weeks since my 8GB iPhone was activated after a bit of an issue. (I should note that AT&T contacted me regarding my activation issues and has credited my account) I've put the phone thru its paces and compared it to my two previous devices: a Blackberry Pearl and a Helio Ocean. I've been using the phone as a single-source device, i.e. it's replaced my existing Blackberry Pearl, 30 GB Video iPod and my iPod Shuffle on long trips.
Here are my thoughts arranged in a number of subcategories:
Form Factor
The phone is a bit larger than the Blackberry Pearl that I'd been using for the past 6 months. If you remember I debated about buying the Pearl since I knew that as soon as I did Apple would announce the iPhone...and they did. Previous to the Pearl I used a Blackberry 7290 so I was used to carrying a larger device. Going from the svelte Pearl to the iPhone was a change. However, even though the iPhone is larger than the Helio Ocean I used, it feels smaller. I chalk this up to Apple's industrial design. The phone just feels good in your hands. (Compare the three devices below)
My one fear is dropping the thing. After all, you are carrying around a $600 device. While my Pearl has survived a number of drops I don't look forward to testing this out with the iPhone. To offer some level of protection I purchased the snug-fitting Incase in dashing red. Some folks have said that the case is scratching their device but I have not seen this yet. Like any case though, it causes the dust and other 'stuff' to pile up. Be sure to take your case off often to clean it up.
Update We have a winner.
I have a almost brand-new Helio Ocean that I'm going to give away. I bought the Ocean to test out the device and Helio's service. I used the unit for almost 30 days and then cancelled the service. I loved the Ocean and if I didn't have a contract with Cingular/AT&T I probably would have stuck with it. The built-in GPS with Google Maps and IM clients are the real killer apps.
How can you 'win' this Ocean? Easy:
1. Write a blog post about why you deserve/want/need/covet the phone.
2. Link your post to this post.
3. I'll find your post via my Technorati watchlist.
4. I'll pick a winner
I plan to pick a winner on July 31st and ship the phone out a few days later. The 'quality' of the winning entry will be judged solely by me. Who knows what will win, a sob-story, a tale of geek-lust, we'll see.
If you want to compare the size of the Ocean to the iPhone and Blackberry Pearl you can check out this picture.
While hanging out with my son the other day:
Daddy, does IHOP have a drive-thru......why not, I'd love to get some pancakes to go.
If policemen are supposed to help us make good choices, why is that one smoking?
If that's where we recycle the aluminum, where do we recycle titanium?
I went to see Erasure in concert last night in Orlando. They're one of the core group of British bands I've been fans of since high school. The group includes Erasure, Depeche Mode, New Order and the Pet Shop Boys. However this was the first time I've seen Erasure live. Live footage from previous concerts shows that Andy Bell sounds as good on stage as he does on a CD. Standard cameraphone pic below. (Thiscubs4u has better shots from the Miami show)
I left the concert though with mixed emotions. It was a great experience to see them 'live' and Andy still has it vocally. To say that Andy is a bit flamboyant and plays to the gay fan-base would be a bit of an understatement. However, Andy is getting older and a little bit heavier.
I often found myself wondering what it would have been like to see them years ago, in full-form. In the early 90's I had the opportunity to go see them as part of the Wild tour. I didn't and I regret it to this day.
Related to my previous post on the Boeing 787 rollout....when I need 787 news I turn to Flightblogger. It's one of the best resources for news on the new Boeing plane.
Earlier this week Jon Ostrower posted that he had been granted media credentials to the rollout by Boeing. One problem though, getting there, as in cost. He needed to raise $900 in less than a day. Jon posted a donation link and asked his readers to help out.
As it turns out the readers of his blog did it. They raised the funds. As Jon writes:
I am sitting here with my jaw on the floor.I donated my $20 and am glad that things worked out for Jon. I look forward to his coverage.I owe you all a debt of gratitude. From those who gave a dollar or some who cleverly gave $7.87 and to those who gave larger contributions, I am eternally grateful for your support. I am awed at your generosity and your words of encouragement.
I have raised the money to be present with Boeing this weekend in Seattle to cover the roll out of the Boeing 787.
A quick reminder that the Boeing 787 aka Dreamliner will be rolled out this weekend, July 8th. If you can't be there, you can watch on DirecTV.
The adventure is over. After waiting close to 3 hours on hold for the 'Activation Support Line' I talked to somebody that could actually do something.
The rep said, "That should do it, your phone should activate in a minute or two....is there anything else I can do for you?" I replied, "If you don't mind I'd like you to stay on the phone till that actually happens." Sure enough the notification popped up, and it was done!
Now it's time to figure out what photos, songs and videos to fill this thing up with.
It's Monday morning and still no activation for my iPhone. I called shortly before 9 a.m. and stepped through everything again. This time the rep said it should be no more than 1-2 hours. If nothing happens I should call the Activation Support Line at 877-800-3701.
I just called the line and the current estimated wait time is 60 minutes. Good thing I have speaker phone :-)
For those doing the math it's been 64 hours since I started this process.
Over 48 hours after purchasing my iPhone I still do not have service. The most frustrating thing is the lack of clear information from AT&T. Here's a quick rundown of my situation:
- Friday 6:30 PM: Purchase iPhone and go home. Before I attempted activation I had a few errands to run. Big mistake. Many of the folks in line were talking about rushing right home and activating to avoid any of the problems that would surely overwhelm AT&T later that evening.
- Friday Evening: I plug in my iPhone and start the process via iTunes. Halfway thru I am told my account will not work, I need to call AT&T. I have been an AT&T/Cingular customer for almost 10 years. Even though we've had a family share plan for the past 4 years, one of the numbers on the account was originally a corporate number. That needs to be cleared. AT&T rep takes my number and says somebody would call me back that night. No call.
- Saturday Morning: I call AT&T and wait for over 90 minutes, eventually I hang up because it's Saturday and I have other things to do. I venture down to the AT&T store and ask them about this 'corporate' flag. The rep looks up my account and says that there is a note in the system that the flag is going to be removed, but it can take as long as 24 hours.
- Saturday Afternoon: I attempt to run the activation again on iTunes, it goes further this time. I eventually get the famous "Your Activation Requires Additional Time to Complete...." message. Things are looking up, or so they seem.
- Saturday Night: I call AT&T and check on the activation. The rep says they are running anywhere from 24-48 hours behind, everything else looks good though. Keep checking.
- Sunday Morning: I call AT&T and inquire again, the rep says everything on my account is provisioned correctly, it will still be 24-48 hours.
- Sunday Evening: Reading Rex Hammocks' note, I call the 'special' number he used. Turns out my account is not provisioned correctly, so WTF were the two previous reps looking at when they said "everything is provisioned correctly?" I spend almost 30 minutes on the phone with this rep rebuilding my order since the iPhone data plan and the SMS plan weren't on the previous order. Once again WTF?
At some point I am supposed to receive an order number, then I can call back in to check on things again. When will that be? The rep didn't want to give me a range since they didn't know. Estimate would be with 24-48 hours. (Gotta love those numbers now!)
So what will AT&T be giving me and the thousands of others to make up for this massive cluster F? Similar to what TypePad did last year, I'd like to see an e-mail from Randall Stephenson saying, "Hey we screwed up, what can we do to make it up to you? Would you like a free ( ) week, ( ) month of service?"
24 hours after my last update, I still don't have a working iPhone. I called AT&T and they said everything is provisioned correctly and that I just need to wait for the phone to activate.
However, I was told that activations are running anywhere between 24 and 48 hours behind. Great.
It's almost 10 a.m. and I am back on the phone with AT&T. I was told that it might take 24 hours for my phone to be activated. :-(
One benefit to living in Polk County, FL is that when something like the iPhone launch happens you can be sure to find 'smaller' lines here, compared to Orlando or Tampa. Across the US there were HUGE lines at Apple Stores, but for the most part AT&T Wireless stores fared a bit better. In my case, the Winter Haven AT&T store was the perfect location.
I arrived around 3:30 to find myself 13th in line. The first person in line arrived at 7 p.m. on Thursday, the second person said he showed up around 3 a.m. The one question on everybody's mind was, "How many phones do they have?" The other folks said that earlier in the day the manager had come out and said he couldn't tell them how many phones they had, but that everybody in line (at that time) would be getting one.
As scheduled the AT&T store closed at 4:30 for staff to prep. The manager came out again and reviewed the sales process and answered some basic questions about the phone. Once again he surveyed the line and said that everyone would be getting a phone.
The line slowly grew up until shortly before 5 p.m. That's when more people began to arrive. The store manager came out and handed out numbers to the first 30 people in line and said they would be allowing 10 people in at a time to purchase the phone.
By the time 6 p.m. rolled around the line was probably 40 people deep. With a slight amount of applause the store opened and the first 10 shoppers entered. As number 13 I was forced to wait outside for the next 15 minutes. During the time the manager manned the front door and fielded question from shoppers. He finally confessed that the store had a total of 60 phones. Of those, 40 were the 8GB model and 20 were the 4GB model.
I was let in the store around 6:20 and the played with the demo units while I waited for my number to be called. One thing to note is that the demo units are connected to the internet via wifi so they're very fast. Obviously the 'cellular' connection won't be as fast.
The selection of cases wasn't that impressive so I held off on purchasing one. Soon my number was called and I purchased my 8 GB unit and was on my way. As I walked out I showed the packaging to the rest of the folks in line.
Arriving home is when the fun began. I attempted to use the online registration system but received and error and was told to call AT&T. I called, waited 30 minutes and then was told they'd call me. Great. It's not 9:45 p.m. and still no call from AT&T.
I'll post an update when anything new happens.
In other coverage, Kyle Kennedy has a recap of some action in Lakeland, David checks in from Atlanta and Rex bailed in Nashville.
Dan Blank has a humorous look at the lifecycle of an iPhone owner.
Day 1: Total TranscendenceYou really need to see the illustrations though. It kinda reminds me of when I bought my Newton 100.
Day 2: Cognitive Dissonance
Day 30: Panic
Day 90: Buyers Remorse
Day 365: The Cycle Begins Again
I've been debating about getting EVDO service for some time now, but which one? While I am a Cingular/AT&T customer, their data network is sloooow. The obvious choice seems to be between Verizon and Sprint.
I asked some folks a while back and one of the main considerations was coverage. Well, in my area they are equal. Verizon and Sprint both have the major areas of Florida covered pretty well. I am a Mac user so that factors slightly into which card I might purchase, but I'm mostly concerned about speed and general ease of use.
Which one then, Sprint or Verizon?
I've been debating on whether I should sign-up for NetFlix or Blockbuster Total Access. I'm torn.
I was one of the original NetFlix customers from many years ago, back when they only had one distribution center and those of use on the right side of the country had to wait days for DVDs. Today, NetFlix has a distribution center in Lakeland, FL, less than 25 miles from my home.
However, Blockbuster has the in-store drop-off/pick-up thing which can help with impulse rentals. But then again I have never liked Blockbuster as a company :-)
Who do you use for your online DVD rental? Have any of you tried both services? Have an opinion you'd like to share?
Paul Stamatiou has posted his review of the Sprint UpStage phone. I have the same phone as part of the Sprint Ambassador program, and I agree with just about everything Paul has to say, with a few exceptions.
Here are my quick thoughts:
- It is super-thin and feels great in the hands. The rubber-ized covering reminds me of a ThinkPad X-series.
- The touchpad area is a real pain. It's constantly jumping around and canceling items I'm trying to view.
- While others say they have been able to get the UpStage working as a modem for a Mac, I have not had much luck.
- Paul doesn't think there is a market for the TV function, but don't tell that to my son. He loves Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. Both of those channels are on the 'Live' TV list and they are live.
- The flip gets annoying. The constant flipping back and forth to enter text makes me not want to use the phone.
On that last point, I think you really need to decide what you want a phone for (other than being a phone). If you want something with MP3 capabilities that perhaps can compare with the iPod then this is your phone. If you want something for texting and other 'business' communication then this is not the phone for you.
Looking at the stats the other day I see an inbound search for 'how to write a statement to the press' from Google. The number one result? My post on useless language in corporate press releases.
I wonder if the person doing the search took my post seriously as a genuine 'How-To' and wrote an honest release?
Am I the only one that looks at this LEGO Ludo set and thinks, Village People?
Perhaps it's the goatee on the first guy and the combo of stubble and tilted hat on the third. Add in the cop and you're almost there. The only one that doesn't fit is the race car driver.
It seems like I just wrote this headline, oh yeah, I did :-) Congrats to UF for winning the NCAA Basketball Championship, again, last night.
I did my time at UF from 1990-1995 and while I am not a ravenous fan, I do feel sorry for all those folks out there who have to work/live with the super-fans. You'll be hearing about this for the next month, year...or even decade.
Sprint has cranked up their Ambassador program again. This time they're sending out the new UpStage phone aka the Samsung M620. I received mine this morning (Saturday FedEx delivery!). A quick run-through confirms some of the stuff I've read: It's a slick package, but there are definitely some usability issues. Specifically, you find yourself constantly flipping the phone over to enter text/URLs and then flipping back to use it. I plan to play a bit more and post some other thoughts later.
A quick photoset of the un-boxing is here. As with the previous Sprint Ambassador program, users are given a phone and 6 months of service to evaluate the product/service.
This afternoon I stole away a few hours from working to attend the last Spring Training game of the season in Winter Haven, FL. The Cleveland Indians were playing the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays won, 6-2. The complete photoset can be found on Flickr.
It seems that every time I turn around Helio is launching a new phone. Dave has the details of the new 'Ocean' model. Not only is Helio launching some cool handsets, they're building in some great features and functionality. Looking at the phone it sort of reminds me of the SONY Mylo.
For some reason I was under the assumption that all inbound text-messages on Cingular were free, it was only outbound that cost...hmm. As a heavy Twitter user I was 'surprised' to see a nice 'addition' to my cellphone bill this past month :-)
For future reference, almost 800 messages costs a little over $80.00.
You should know by now I am a big fan of Plazes. But have you ever wondered what a plaze actually looks like? Well, here is a photo of an actual plaze from their Flickr photostream:
It seems like the trendy thing to do this year is 'Go Green'. After all, there was the big announcement on the Oscars last night that they're green. In order to jump on the bandwagon I will make every effort this year to 'go green' with my lawn. Currently my lawn is mostly green with a little bit of brown. I think with proper watering and some other attention it can be all green.
Wish me luck.
I've been looking at getting a small external drive for my PowerBook to store some photos. Are those self-powered USB drives any good? I've been debating between one of SmartDisk's tiny, Firewire-powered drives or one of the USB 2.0 models. Anybody have any suggestions?
GigaOm reports that Plazes has received $3.5 million in funding from Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures. I've been a user of Plazes for quite a while now.
Some people say, "aren't you afraid of people stalking you?" Not really, but you can always turn if off :-)
