clshafer - thoughts online

OK, so DON'T do the right thing...

2007-11-06T14:09:00.000-08:00

I posted earlier about RadioHead's leaving it up to consumers to pay what they think they should for music downloads. Turns out most users don't pay anything. So either people are not inherently trustworthy, or they just don't value Radiohead ;-)

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/media_agencies/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003668181

Credit Card Anti-Marketing

2007-10-12T03:33:00.000-07:00

From BusinessWeek - an article on "anti-credit card" marketing being done on college campuses.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/oct2007/db20071010_959752.htm?campaign_id=nws_insdr_oct12&link_position=link5

Amen to that. Marketers do have an obligation to their clients to help them sell as many widgets, doodads and whatnots as possible as long as the product or service is not inherently dangerous. But very few marketers are willing to be (or can be) honest about the risks of over-consumption of the products they tout. And in the case of credit card companies they make their best profits on customers who can't control their spending.

So, since I feel that Marketers are protected by fee speech, the only thing left is to counter marketing with marketing, and let the most effective creative win.

gPhone platform

2007-10-08T13:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/business/media/08googlephone.html

According to this piece on NYTimes.com Google's "gPhone" is not targeting the iPhone, its targeting Windows Mobile OS. Google is working on a "mobile computing platform" that will bring the Google experience to a smartphone near you.

I've been using my new HTC Mogul for about two weeks now. I find I'm using the browser and email clients a LOT - the large landscape display and generous keyboard make it an almost pleasant experience ;-) I do kind of hate having to synch the calendar and to do lists though. I love the freedom I get with gmail and google calendar to hop on any machine I happen to be at and just have at my data. With the Mogul I decided to bring my personal productivity system (yes, I'm a GTD wannabe) back into Outlook and I've already experienced instances of not remembering what tasks/docs I've updated on the phone vs my laptop. And of course we have a couple of other computers in the house that I could theoretically be tapping away at when I suddenly want to check my todo list.

So while I like the smartphone, it definitely feels like yesterday's news. What I'd really really REALLY like is to have access to a phone-based browser on my Mogul that is as robust as Safari is on the iPhone, coupled with a phone-based version of Google Gears. That would let me update my stuff only once but still let me have my data even when I don't have a clear signal (aka pulling into Grand Central Station on the train ;-)

Radiohead lets users set their own prices

2007-10-08T10:57:00.000-07:00

From Adage an article about how Radiohead is letting users set their own prices for downloaded music.

I remember seeing a company called Magnatunes do this at least 3 years ago. Nothing new under the sun bro.

(Wow. I'm nowhere near hip enough to pull of a "bro" reference, am I?)

More on Apple's "iPhone bricking"

2007-10-02T05:53:00.000-07:00

From ZDNet, an "against" - http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=838&tag=nl.e622

From AdAge, a lukewarm "it's not that bad" - http://adage.com/adages/article?article_id=120858

Apple is not amused...

2007-09-30T15:56:00.001-07:00

Just read this article from the NYTimes describing how Apple's latest update for the iPhone has disabled those that have been unlocked to work on other networks, and those who have "unauthorized" software loaded - thus rendering them "iBricks". Read it here.

I've been pining for an iPhone, but opted for an htc Mogul instead (Sprint gave me a great deal after I suggested I might cancel my account). The Mogul is nowhere near as engaging a machine as the iPhone, but at least I can load any damn software on it I please. While I can see trying to enforce the exclusive AT&T relationship (kind of, I actually think it sucks) I absolutely can't see trying to maintain control over what software can and can't be loaded. To me, it's an ugly continuation in the trend towards seeing technology and media purchases as things consumers don't actually own - but use with the permission (and under the limitations of) the companies who produce them.

Happy Birthday Smiley

2007-09-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

It never even occurred to me to ask who invented the emoticon.

Ecommerce for Everyone

2007-09-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

Over the summer I worked on a very fun side project with some former Modem colleauges, helping to develop an affiliate marketing product that lets anyone sell select retailer's merchandise on their own sites. I was thrilled last week to see an article about their company - Lemonade - in the NYTimes.

And do check out their site as well - http://www.lemonade.com/.

Back after a break

2007-09-15T07:09:00.001-07:00

OK, so you might say I've taken a break from blogging. That's a joke. At the end of July I took a fall on my bike and broke my jaw. Its mainly healed up, though I still have lots of metal braces bonded to my teeth. All that should come off in a few weeks, then I'm looking at a fair amount of dental work before I'm back to snuff.

I'd like to say this has been a life-changing experience that has given me a chance to reflect on my life and truly evaluate what is and is not important but to tell you the truth its mainly been a chance for me to skulk around the house and be miserable. My major insight is that modern life really revolves around two main poles - eating and talking - and that neither is very much fun with your jaws wired shut.

Anyway, in keeping with the "online thoughts" of this blog, I did find the Internet to be a huge relief in the early days of my accident because it gave me a chance to learn as much as I could about my condition and what I could expect. The general info I found about broken jaws was not so helpful. Most medical content I ran across (WebMD, RevolutionHealth, various hospital sites, etc.) was pretty generic and full of exortations to visit my doctor. More helpful was the few first-person accounts from people who had experienced or were experiencing the problem themselves. That helped give me a sense of what I could expect in the future, and that what I was feeling at the time was normal. I also found a lot of quackery - when I first got out of the hospital I was crazy to find information on how to speed recovery for broken bones. For those of you who have broken bones right now - the answer is "good nutrition", but I saw tons of ads for magnetic bracelets and such. I can completely see how attractive things like these are when you're under duress but it really brought home for me how important it is to view what's on the web with a critical eye.

Merlin Mann's Google Tech Talk on "Inbox Zero"

2007-07-27T12:32:00.001-07:00

Merlin Mann's recent Google Tech Talks presentation on email management. At the end of the day its really more of a GTD discussion than anything else, and its loooooong. In a nutshell:

Don't check email, process email. In other words when you open an email decide in the moment what action you are going to take with it.
Those actions should be reflected in a personal, canonical list of verbs... delete, delegate, defer, respond, etc.
Check email less frequently so that you spend more time doing - in Mann's example "if you work in a sandwich shop your focus shouldn't be on taking orders. It should be on making sandwiches."

Jon Stewart's take on CNN/YouTube democratic debate

2007-07-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

Viral is not the end-all

2007-07-19T06:41:00.000-07:00

AdAge.com has a video summary of research questioning the efficacy of marketing that targets a very few "influencers" - which is the basic idea behind viral marketing. The research was conducted by Duncan Watts - a sociology professor at Columbia University. Prof Watts ran computer models of social networks and determined that marketers are better off not relying solely on targeting a few small group of influencers. So its not a repudiation of the "tipping point" idea, but more of a "reality check".

I have no idea how accurate Prof Watt's models are or what assumptions go in them, but I do appreciate the notion that any idea should ultimately be testable.

BusinessWeek article on Widgets

2007-07-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

BusinessWeek has an article on widgets heralding the age of Web3.0. The idea is that widgets further empower users to be content authors/distributors. In my last post I wrote about the significance of viewing the mass of small blogs and sites out there as the equivilent of a broadcast network - here's a quote that puts it far more eloquently:

"We've got to push it [content] out to where they are," says CBS Interactive (CBS ) President Quincy Smith. "We can't drive everyone to CBS-dot-com-backslash-CSI-backslash. Nobody is around."

Google's Susan Wojcicki

2007-07-11T03:59:00.000-07:00

USA Today has a piece about Google's VP of Product Management - Susan Wojcicki (right here). Who can't love the fact the fact that Google was founded in her garage? Susan is credited with the idea of AdSense - the driver behind the ubiquitous Google text ads found on just about every blog on the Internet. Its easy to forget how innovative an idea that was at the time - it shows an appreciation for how all of these individiual "mini-sites" could collectively have the same "network" value as a large branded property, like AOL.com or NYTimes.com.

Reflection on the sticky note

2007-07-04T06:36:00.001-07:00

An article from IHT.com on the humble sticky note - more than just a means of reminding. They're a way to apply meta data to the world ;-)

techPresident

2007-07-03T03:24:00.000-07:00

Just ran across this very interesting blog that discusses how the various presidential candidates are using technology to connect with consumers. Oops. Did I say "consumers"? I meant voters.
Despite the fact that campaign managers are trained to think like product brand managers - all in all I think this is a very healthy thing for our democracy. Traditional media give politicians to much ability to control the public's perception of them. New media's informality and relatively low cost to publish means many can share their own observations of candidates (e.g. the John Edwards hair styling video) and can discuss these experiences directly with each other. OK, the Edwards piece isn't really fair ;-)
Still missing, as pointed out in this techPresident editorial, is the ability for more direct conversation with candidates.

What does Marsellus Wallace Look Like?

2007-06-30T07:09:00.000-07:00

I've always really appreciated design solutions that rely on pure typography.

Interview with "Tog" about the iPhone

2007-06-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

Nice interview in BusinessWeek with Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini (Apple employee number 66) about the iPhone, and Apple's approach to design in general. Much credit goes to the iconic Steve Jobs. Tognazzini credits Jobs with three critical attributes; a worship of great industrical design, a generally unrecognized store of "common sense", and an utter lack of fear. Amen to that brother.

Lifestraw

2007-06-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here's an article from Newsweek on the Life Straw - an inexpensive portable filter for cleaning unsafe water literally while you drink. What I love about this is how it reflects a different way of looking at the problem of delivering clean water. It's to expensive to clean up a lakeful of water - but its not so hard to clean up a mouthful.

More Information confirms your first impression

2007-06-15T06:53:00.000-07:00

Reason.com has a summary of a study done by the Cultural Cognition Project at the Yale Law School. Researchers presented subjects with a brief explanation of nanotechnology, then polled them on whether or not they thought the benefits would outweigh the risks. 89% of respondents were able to form a strong opinion based on this small amount of information. The researchers then gave a subset of subjects more detailed information - about two more paragraphs. What they found was that the additional information merely confirmed the respondent's initial reaction.
So, for me this confirms the adage about only having one chance to make a first impression, and the power of tailoring messages to segments. The study segmented respondents into four groups: hierarchists, individualists, egalitarians and communitarians. Hierarchists trust experts, but believe social deviancy is very risky. Egalitarians and communitarians worry about technology, but think that social deviancy is no big deal. Individualists see risk as opportunity and so are optimistic about technology. Tailoring that first, initial presentation to each segment would surely have helped to form that initial impression.

Maxed Out

2007-06-10T19:31:00.000-07:00

Just finished watching Maxed Out - a very well done, very disturbing documentary on the havoc that easy credit is having on the lives of many Americans. Its hard not to see the proliferation of credit cards in the same light as fastfood and recreational drugs. As a species we just don't seem to be programmed for weighing long term consequences, and there are to many organizations with vested interests in helping us rack up debt. (My wife insists we pay off our balances each month - and I'm going upstairs to thank her in person right now!)

Microformats explained

2007-06-05T14:27:00.001-07:00

From the blog of Alex Faaborg comes this interesting explanation of microformats. Microformats are bits of embedded structured code (e.g. xml) that allow software to make sense out of content on your pages and maybe actually do something with them.

I'm particularly fascinated by the idea that microformats would help browsers act as intermediaries between your applications and content out on the Internet. For example - you might want to write an email to someone who's address you don't have. Your browser could be smart enough to search the Internet for the person you want to write to - recognize their contact info in a publicly available page, and return that address to your mail app. Its another step in the right direction for the semantic web.

Google Gears

2007-05-31T04:01:00.001-07:00

From Lifehacker comes a description of Google Gears - a beta program that allows offline access to online applications. You can download Google Gears at http://gears.google.com/ (I haven't done it yet).

Another shot at Microsoft? If you could access Google's free docs, spreadsheets and email program when you're away from an internet connection, would you be less interested in buying Microsft's very expensive products? (leading question...) Of course the real killer app is to be able to access remote versions of these apps, offline or online.

Movie countdown from 100

2007-05-25T17:27:00.000-07:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FExqG6LdWHU

Strangely compelling.

Distributed Content

2007-05-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

Here are two articles that deal with the topic of allowing users to embed your content in their sites.

The first comes from Tomio Geron at Red Herring - more and more news agencies are creating branded widgets users can publish on their sites. The widgets show a variety of information including news stories and weather.

The second comes from Andrew Hampp at Adage.com - CBS will allow users to embed CBS content directly in their own blogs, social network pages and personal sites.

So - allowing someone to broadcast your content is not about engaging that person as a user. Its about engaging them as affiliates. Is a different way of thinking about building a content distribution network then I've thought of before and I'm curious what the application might be to other industries than news and entertainment.

Article on better understanding consumer's needs

2007-05-23T05:44:00.001-07:00

Just read an article on Adage.com by Erich Joachimstahler and Agathe Blanchon-Ersham - Understand the Ecosystem of Consumer Demand . It's a nice followup to an article I posted about earlier on understanding consumer rituals. The basic premise is that marketers should avoid the mistake of basing consumer research in the context of their products or services. Instead research should focus on consumer's larger needs. They cited Axe body spray as an example of a company that gets it right. Unilever understood that the promise they were trying to deliver on was not a superior personal scent - it was "help men get the girl".

I don't know how that mind-set factors into their product development process - but its spectacularly evident in their advertising.

Netlix Movies on demand

2007-05-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

I've been using Netflix' On Demand movies for a few months now and have been raving to friends. Today I found this nice online video from David Pouge at the NYTimes.com site describing its features.

Instructables

2007-05-21T10:58:00.001-07:00

Create and share mini-tutorials on how to do just about anything. This is a fun site to click around on - I especially like the series showing how different magic tricks are done.

BBDO Study on modern "rituals"

2007-05-21T06:09:00.000-07:00

From Advertising Age comes a really interesting summary of a BBDO study about modern day rituals. The idea is that most people's days involve activities in 5 major groupings - "Preparing for Battle", "Feasting", "Sexing Up", "Returning to Camp", "Protecting Yourself for the Future" - and that marketers that understand how to position their products within these categories will better connect with consumers. I'm used to working with audience segments, identifying unique needs for each seperate group. This is a nice way to look at broader needs that are shared by everyone.

Personalized Ad Banners

2007-05-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

NYTimes.com has an article on companies bringing the same algorithm-driven rigor to brand ad banners that we see in search engine text ads. When I was at Modem it was understood that the Creative had to be engaging, interactive and above all relevant. But at the end of the day it was all about placement, and understanding how to intercept the right person with the right message was the key to driving a particular behavior.

I like the idea of getting personalized ads, more often than not when I'm searching on Google the ad links are as meaningful to me as the "natural" results. What I'm less comfortable about is having the criteria for showing me the ads be opaque; based on covert cookies and tracking my past traffic. Personalized ads are just like recommendations in Amazon or Netflix, right? I can tweak the criteria in those by rating products I like and telling the system to disregard certain choices. Why shouldn't I have the option to do the same for ad banners?

Gmail support for Powerpoints

2007-05-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

Google is rolling out support for viewing Powerpoint files in Gmail. Hallelujah!

I've been using their word processor (started back when it was Writely!) and spreadsheets for awhile now and love the ability to access anywhere, from any machine. Powerpoint access though has always had to wait until I was at a Windows machine.

Nice "Informational Menu"

2007-05-17T06:54:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a site redesign for a major helicopter manufacturer, and have been looking at helicopter sites. I really like this products menu from AgustaWestland's site.

They've grouped their products by tons - which I guess is a meaningful way for users of the site - but the technique could be used for any site that wants to display a set of items along with some kind of visual way to differentiate them.

Unrest in Second Life

2007-05-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

Very Interesting article on last Friday's Technology Review by Wade Roush about unrest in Second Life. Large numbers of Second Life residents are signing a petition complaining about perceived bugs, poor performance and lack of responsiveness from the game's creators. The problems seem to be tied to the wild success of the product and the difficulties in scaling the current architecture to meet resident's needs.

The amazing thing to me is that there is a whole gosh darn economy being generated by this thing! People can build their own Second Life objects and sell them to each other for real money. I've made a conscious decision not to try it out - I'm what you call an "addictive" personality for these types of things ;-) but I did spend about an hour watching over a friend's shoulder as he tried to get off of orientation island.

The other thing that is amazing to me is how I suspect people's expectations have changed as the Second Life platform has matured and as people have come to view it as more of a business tool than as a crazy cool community of enthusiasts. It will be very interesting to see how Linden Labs negotiates the transformation.

Physicians Blogs

2007-05-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting article on Physician's blogs from Kim Painter at USAToday. An increasing number of physicians are blogging about their day to day experiences, which can make for very compelling reading. The article raises valid questions about patient privacy, and accuracy of information (for those blogs which are heavily fictionalized) and ends with the conclusion that the most interesting opportunity is for readers to "know more about the mind-sets" of doctors. I couldn't agree more. I'm married to a pediatrician and I'm constantly reminded that medicine is as much an art as a science. People today have to take a greater responsibility for their own health than ever before - from a fiscal standpoint, from a preventive standpoint, from an ethical standpoint. Managing this kind of responsibility requires that patients enter into dialogs with their care providers, and mutual understanding is at the core of any dialog.

And check out www.medlogs.com for a collection of medical blogs.

Article on musicians' use of the Internet

2007-05-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting article from NYTimes.com about how musicians and artists are using the internet to successfully promote themselves online. Artists are using a lot of smart techniques to foster community-based relationships with their fans. My favorite is Canadian folk-pop singer Jane Siberry's "pay what you can" policy. Fans can download her songs for free, but her site also lists the average price that paying fans give, which turns out to be in the area of $1.30 per song. ITunes is $0.99 - so what gives here? The fact is that people are willing to pay more when they feel like they're supporting something they're truly committed to. In a way its like Public TV played out at the individual (or band) level.

Inaugural Post...

2007-05-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

... or re-post. Or post-post. This is the fourth incarnation of my blog (if you count the "roll your own" journal I wrote in ColdFusion back in the year 2000) and in this go-round I'd like to reflect some of the interesting online stuff out there I'm seeing and chew on how it relates to designing software people can really use. I don't pretend to have any great insights on the latter. I've been designing software and websites for the last 15 years and while I've managed to make a pretty good living I do still feel like I'm just figuring it out and I'm just blown away by lots of what I see out there.