I’ve been in the Northwest for the past few days now and very impressed that I have had Internet access in many places I did not expect. Port Townsend, WA and Orcas Island (part of the San Juans off the coast of Washington) both provided me my fix. Or did they?
Yes – it’s wireless, and it’s secure but it’s also SLOW. Broadband does not inherently mean fast. I’d rather have a 56k modem at the moment. So the next time you read an article with a headline ike US Broadband Penetration Nears 70% Among Active Internet Users, take it with a grain of salt.
My current bandwidth is 418 kbps download and a screaming 26 kbps upload (it took me three days to post this)…
OK. I wouldn’t say I’m a Geek. I like to think of myself a Gadgeteer. I had the first generation iPod. My MacBook Pro was from the first lot (I can tell by the fact that I need asbestos pants to have it on my lap) and I check four email accounts from Treo 700P. I think a real Geek would have added, I moblog from my Treo 700P.
I am not a runner. I used to have to run when I wrestled in high school. This post might be the only record of my wrestling career. Needless to say, I sucked, and running to make weight sucked. Running until now, has entirely sucked.
Enter the iPod Sport Kit. A tiny sensor for your foot, a transmitter that connects to your iPod Nano and voila. It tracks your run – gives you vocal feedback while running (400 meters to go… 100 meters to go (and you can pick the gender of the voice)). These features, in and of themselves were enough for me.
BUT WAIT – THERE’S MORE.
When I get back from my run, I plug in the iPod and it instantly uploads to my Nike Plus account and I see my history, speed, distance, cumulative statistics etc.
BUT WAIT – THERE’S MORE.
The Challenge. I can now challenge someone else. My fellow Gadgeteer Erik and I are currently in a challenge to see who can run the fastest 3 miles before the end of the month. Just about every day since the challenge we’ve been pushing each other to go faster. It’s always easier to exercise with someone else. It’s difficult to coordinate. Now, I exercise with him, virtually.
This combination of community, technology and cool is actually making me healthy. The web harnessed for pure good.
So, how fast can you make a Geek run? To date: 8:58 per mile.
If you’ve not seen the Chicago-based band “OK GO” dancing in their backyard, it’s probably because you don’t get email from a High School student on a regular basis. Lucky for you, we’re here. The band’s video- a DIY backyard dance done dance-team style by 4 thirty-ish hipsta dudes- was posted on YouTube with an invitation for viewers to learn the dance, post their own version of the video and compete for a chance to dance with the band, onstage, in concert.
The video itself is charming. Check it out!
Now check out how many people want to get behind a band they imagine does cool stuff in their back-yard. Everyone loves that idea! Really EVERYONE!
There are 2576 YouTube posts- some better than others- related to the video and the band. And OK GO feels the love. They’ve recently been invited to Good Morning America, The Cobert Report, and they’ve done a back-to-school fashion ad for JC Penny.
I just love to see the little guy make a big splash!
Now check out their TREADMILL DANCE–I’ll be organizing a diy video of that one. IM me if you want in!
I love this:
If I could give one piece of advice to the designer just getting into client work, or even some who’s been doing this for a while, it’s this: The next time you want to say “no” to a client, boss, or colleague, say this instead: “Why?”
There’s this running argument I’m having with a colleague. Well, not really an argument, I guess. More like a debate. My colleague’s position is it’s OK to continue to send permission email to someone months or even years after they’ve stopped interacting with it in any way because, hey, it’s an impression, isn’t it? Even if all they’re doing is deleting it as soon as it arrives, at least there’s a split second where they’ve read and recognized the brand name. Doesn’t that have value, my colleague asks.
Short answer: no. Why continue to interject your brand into their lives when they obviously have no interest in it anymore? Most likely, the aforementioned inactive consumer has either relegated you to their spam filter ages ago, abandoned their email address, or died. However, when you’re talking about a database with millions of names in it, you don’t need a very large percentage of those to be real people hitting the dreaded X icon every time before you realize you’re probably pissing a lot of them off. Best case, you condition them to associate your brand with insignificance or irrelevance or whatever other emotion they feel in that short window between recognition and eradication. Worst case, you get lumped together with those sending free Viagra pitches and pleas for help from Nigerian widows.
Here’s a real-world example of what I’m talking about. The other day I was passing through the MSP airport on my way to LA. While passing through the TSA’s security cattle chute, with all the stress and inconvenience that goes along with it, I noticed that some marketing genius has adopted the ‘any impression is a good impression’ approach and sold advertising inside the x-ray trays. Really. So now, next time I’m wondering if I have all my belongings while simultaneously trying to put my shoes and belt back on and my laptop into its bag without blocking the way of my fellow cattle as they meander though, I will be able to enjoy the brand message of some consulting firm or pharmaceutical company.
Is the very moment your customer is annoyed, flummoxed, and/or otherwise peeved at the world the best time to be selling something to them?
From 2005:
In a very bad sign for public radio (Minnesota Public Radio, in particular), I’m finding myself listening to non-podcast, non-musical content less and less. I used to be an NPR junkie (you know, the kind of guy who actually listened to the pledge drives). But lately, roughly coinciding to a month or so before iTunes integrated podcasts into the Music Store, I find the only time I listen to the radio any more is the 10 or so minutes every couple of days I find myself in the shower (yes, it’s true, I don’t shower every single day!).
This, I think, is more of a Bad Thing for public radio than for other forms of talk radio mostly because of the demographics. Now, mind you, I don’t know what Rush Limbaugh’s demos are, but I’m assuming that the average income level of NPR listeners is higher than Rush’s (or Al Franken’s, for that matter). If so, then I again assume that more public radio peeps have iPods or other digital media players than AM radio-lovin’ truckers. If so, then it’s entirely possible more and more people like me will find themselves listening to the radio less and less. For a medium that depends on convincing people like me to send them cash once a year to stay in business, this is not good.
Anyway, I find myself with WAY too many podcast options. The ones I find myself listening to regularly are This Week in Tech (TWiT), Diggnation, On the Media, and the Slate’s daily podcast. I’ve also just discovered the MINI-centric WhiteRoofRadio, the Potter-centric Mugglecast, and the airline-insider-centric Fly With Me (one guess what their theme song is) which only add to my podcast burden. Add to that Christopher Lydon’s Open Source, the iLounge and Engadget podcasts, and the occasional music I might want to listen to, and you see my predicament.
When am I supposed to listen to all this stuff!?! I can’t walk around all day with my headphones on and I’m only in the car for so long (in fact, I find myself looking forward to long drives just so I can make a dent in the list of unlistened to ‘casts). I have kids who feel all media was invented to entertain them, so I can’t listen around the house (god forbid we stop listening to Kidz Bop). Basically, I’m screwed. And so’s public radio. It’s only a matter of time.