Category Archives: Science & Technology

What are we going to build?

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“A huge portion of our lives (as marketers, as consumers, as voters, as citizens) has been dominated by the fact that there were three or twenty TV networks. That this was a scarce resource. It’s not. Not any more. So, if there’s unlimited real estate, what are we going to build?” – Seth Godin

During my years doing affiliate relations for our news networks, most (all?) of our programming decisions were based on what we thought we could convince radio stations to “clear.” Coming up with an idea that 30 or 40 radio stations (out of 60) might agree was worth putting on the air was daunting. Mr. Godin’s post brought this to mind:

“Why not start the Debate Channel? 20 hours a week of live debate available online. Get a cable network to run three or four hours of highlights every week as an inducement to the candidates, but it will really be about the Net. If a candidate doesn’t show up, the others get more time to talk.”

We still have to program for our affiliates but we are no longer limited by that. So, what are we going to build?

Branding Yourself

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“Personal branding is something I get a lot of questions about. People often ask me what they should do in order to get an established name out there and be seen as a major influencer in their industry. The reason they want this is because the second you accomplish this, the opportunities will come your way and you’d be amazed at the kind of business or money that just lands in your lap.” — Neil Patel at Pronet Advertising

I don’t remember hearing much about “personal branding” before blogs and podcasting. But if there is an “smays brand,” you’ll find it here.

I had lunch today with Chuck Zimmerman and it would be hard to find a better example of this concept. He and his wife Cindy work too hard to say the money “just lands in (their) lap,” but they’ve certainly created a unique brand in the world of agriculture marketing. I’d love to share some of Chuck’s amazing success stories but before he pays for lunch, he makes me sign an NDA.

What’s your brand?

NASA intros offbeat video podcast

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Podcasting News: “NASA has launched a new video podcast, NASA EDGE, that provides an offbeat look at the nation’s aerospace program. The hosts of NASA EDGE offer an unscripted take on the latest events at NASA.”

How easy it would have been for a big old gov’ment agency like NASA to do a boring, lame-ass video podcast. Real easy. I don’t know if this will catch on but somebody gets it.

Unexpected uses of iPods

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Like all good lists, there are 10 of these but my favorites are:

  • Train Doctors to Save Lives: iPods can double interns’ ability to identify heart sounds
  • Bring Criminals to Justice: using iPods to hold copies of wiretap transmissions in a large drug-conspiracy case.
  • Record Flight data: iPods as flight data recorders in light aircraft.
  • Flashlight:  For about $13, you can purchase Griffin’s iBeam, an attachment that will quickly turn your iPod into a combo flashlight and laser pointer.

Voice-to-text-to-blog?

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Planet Nelson points to Jott: “…is a free service (to the extent that your cell can call anywhere in North America for free) that allows you to dictate a 30-second message into your phone and then have it sent as a text email to a friend/colleague/self/offending politician/anyone whose email address is in your Jott address book.”

From Jott.com: “Using Jott, yoau can either Jott your blog directly or just jott yourself and post later. Better yet, your readers can listen to you too — a great way to connect?”

Blog with Jott

If I understand this correctly… a news reporter could be posting audio and text reports directly from their mobile phone to their blog. And given the evolving definition of “reporter,” this tool could be used by anyone, whether they went to J-School or not.

Update: Jamie at Planet Nelson Jott’ed back on this post. The voice-to-text was close. “Blogroll” became “blog rule” and “Gnomedex” showed up as “noon desk.” But pretty slick all the same.

Overlawyered.com

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From the About Us page of the site: “Overlawyered.com explores an American legal system that too often turns litigation into a weapon against guilty and innocent alike, erodes individual responsibility, rewards sharp practice, enriches its participants at the public’s expense, and resists even modest efforts at reform and accountability.”

Hey, some of my best friends are lawyers.

Broadband up; Blackberry chains; ESPN welcomes comments

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Report: Broadband Users Now the Majority in U.S. – Yahoo! News
“According to a new report released Thursday, U.S. home broadband penetration will top 50 percent this year, the first time it has ever done so.”

Survey: Blackberry owners chained to work
Survey results showed that those who owned a Blackberry were, in fact, more likely to work long hours than those who didn’t.”

ESPN.com allows comments on every article
ESPN.com has enabled comments on every single story they post, even ones from the wires. The feature is called ESPN Conversation. You can dig into this yourself on this controversial story about some remarks made by former NBA player Tim Hardaway. This particular story has attracted nearly 1000 comments in just 24 hours. ESPN is one of several big media properties that allows readers to comment on stories. The Washington Post has also embraced reader feedback.

Majority of Americans feel bloggers play a valuable role
According to a new poll by iFOCOS and Zogby, a majority of Americans (55%) feel bloggers are important to the future of American journalism. Further, 74% said citizen journalism will play a vital role. I am not quite sure of how they distinguished the two in the poll, but the results are certainly positive. The survey of 5,384 adults nationwide was conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2007, and carries a margin of error of +/- 1.4 percentage points.

— Steve Rubel’s Micro Persuasion

“Computers for people who believe in feng shui”

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That’s how Charlie Brooker describes Macs. He really wails on Macs, people who use them, people who associate with people who use them, etc, etc.

“I hate Macs. I have always hated Macs. I hate people who use Macs. I even hate people who don’t use Macs but sometimes wish they did. Macs are glorified Fisher-Price activity centres for adults; computers for scaredy cats too nervous to learn how proper computers work; computers for people who earnestly believe in feng shui.”

You can read his full article here and it’s worth the registration. I hope to god he never stumbles across my “Mac Lust” post from last April. [via Jeff Jarvis]

Improve your swing with video iPod

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Baseball players are using their iPods to do their pregame video studies. According to a story by Jayson Stark at ESPN.com, Astros pitcher Jason Jennings thinks his iPod turned his whole season around. Stark predicts: “One of these days you’ll see a pitcher take a walk behind the mound during a key at-bat, pull out his iPod and take a quick video-refresher course before launching the big pitch of the night. Heck, if NFL quarterbacks can get plays radioed right into their helmets, why not?” [Thanks, Barb]

Unrelated sports note: I’m guessing I might be one of the few people on the planet that has NO idea which two teams are playing in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Chris Pirillo: “Apple gets the consumer”

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“My brother Adam isn’t a geek – and he’s never written to me about any other device (from Apple or any other manufacturer). It’s not even out yet and I already hate the iPhone… largely because someone else didn’t make it four years ago. Seriously. Apple gets the consumer in ways that no other company ever will. It makes my new Smartphone seem so… ancient.”