Where's Gump Been?

Well, I took the month of December off. From blogging, that is. No posts at all. It was nice. I had withdrawl, but I am back.

And it's good to be back on GumpRants.com. 2005 means more blogs on lots of different topics. We covered a lot of ground in 2004, and we'll cover even more in 2005. Topics like:

• Blogging and the Blogosphere
  (it's like looking at a reflection of a mirror in another mirror...)
• Viral Marketing
• Gadgets, Electronics & Technology
• Apple and Steve Jobs and what's NeXT (pun intended)
• The Videogame Industry
  (especially online gaming and how it's becomming an new marketing arena for reaching teens AND adults)
• Cars
  (especially fast ones, expensive ones or ones with cool technology)
• News from the Wierd
• Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations
• The Internet
• Digital Photography
• Digital Filmmaking
• Wireless Advances
• and more

It's good to be back. I missed you guys.

-aB

You Can Say Cheese But Don't Smile...

The State Department is banning smiling from passport photos, as it creates an "unnatural expression that distorts natural features." Snippet from the AP story at MyWay.com:

Smiling "distorts other facial features, for example your eyes, so you're supposed to have a neutral expression. ... The most neutral face is the most desirable standard for any type of identification," said Angela Aggeler, spokeswoman for the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs, which handles travel-document guidelines.

New passport photos with folks showing their BriteSmile pearly whites are already being rejected. In fact, that makes me think of a great publicity stunt for all of those teeth whitening products. I smell a petition or other publicity gimmick coming on...

Read the full AP story here.

-aB

Microsoft Takes On Google

Microsoft yesterday launched a beta version of the new MSN Search tool, located at http://beta.search.msn.com.

Generally, it looks a lot like Google with the home page simplicity, and results pages are laid out in a smiliar format as well.

The tool still primarily relies on Yahoo Search technology, so you'll see very, very similar results to using Yahoo. This likely won't change until sometime in 2005.

Here's a snippet from Microsoft's release:

MSN today debuted a beta version of its new MSN® Search service, providing consumers with more useful answers to their questions and more control over their search experience, which results in faster access to the information they are seeking online. The new MSN Search is designed to reduce the time and effort required by consumers to find information online by offering one of the largest, most up-to-date selections of information and a new class of powerful, customizable search tools.

SeattlePI.com has a good story on MSN Search, and includes thoughts from the WSJ's Walt Mossberg and several other reporters. Here's a snippet of Mossberg's comments:

Today, Microsoft is due to unveil its long-awaited new Web search service, and the product bears all the hallmarks of the feisty, upstart side of the company. I've been testing this new version of the company's MSN search service, and, while it isn't yet as good as Google, the search leader Microsoft is targeting, it shows all the signs of becoming a very serious challenger.

Read the entire story here.

Time will tell if Microsoft can win the search war. This is the first serious volley against Google. As search starts to mean more about a combination of what's on the Internet as well as what's on your hard drive, the fight will become much more interesting.

Don't think so? Just take a look at Google Desktop, their application for including local searches (i.e. your hard drive) with traditional, Internet searches. This was Google's preemptive strike against Microsoft and acknowledgement that local search is gonna be key.

-aB

I'm Laughing. How Long Until This Is True?

I'm afraid that it is already true.

I've actually caught myself in conversations with friends saying, "Well, as I wrote about on my blog a few weeks back..." I'm scaring myself. I'm just one sick puppy.

This cartoon comes to us from the Cincinatti Enquirer and illustrator Jim Borgman.

Thanks to NatterjackPR.com and Kevin Dugan's PRBlog for the link.

-aB

Now This I Like

XM Satellite Radio is set to announce next week a "wearable" Walkman-like device that can pick up XM's digital satellite radio signals. Snippet from CNN:

A spokesman for Washington, D.C.-based XM declined to comment beyond saying a major product announcement was planned for Oct. 26 in New York with automotive parts and consumer electronics products maker, Delphi Corp.

"XMSR is also likely to announce its wearable device next week. There is a good shot this 'Walkman' type device, in the near term, will differentiate XM's hardware from Sirius," a rival satellite radio system, said Kit Spring, analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus in a note for investors.

Now, this is super-cool and the type of thing that I would be interested in. I've always been interested in XM (and Sirrus), but the units weren't portable and difficult to carry from one place to another.

You have to assume that both XM and Sirrus are trying to work with Apple on a iPod/XM/TiVo combination appliance. Now, that would be cool.

Read the story on CNN here.

-aB

Great Presidential Election Poll Site

There are a lot of presidential polls out there - Zogby, ABC/Washington Post, CNN/USA Today/Gallop, FOX, etc. I personally get confused by all of them, and which news organiztion or research firm is sponsoring each one.

RealClearPolitics.com does a good job of showing all of the latest results of all of the polls on one page. It also shows trending data for the past several months and an aggregate/average of all of the latest poll data.

Good site, if you're into polls. Personally, I don't know how accurate they are. I think the election in two weeks will be decided solely on voter turnout - and which party is able to get more voters to the polls.

-aB

Sports Bar Owners' Worst Nightmare

TV-B-Gone is a little keychain-sized remote control that can turn off virtually any television. Press it's button, and it will turn off any of 209 brands of televisions within sight distance of its infrared eye.

Today's Wired does a story on Mitch Altman, the inventor of the TV-B-Gone who invented it to "improve conversation." Snippet:

"I was always squandering my time, energy and creativity on something that was at best benign," he said, in the suddenly quiet aisle at Best Buy. "I was always trying to get people to do something good. Some people do something for the disabled or something. But that's not really my thing, so I did this."

The idea for TV-B-Gone was born at a restaurant in the early 1990s, when Altman and his friends kept paying attention to a TV in the corner, not to one another. They chatted about how to turn off all televisions, and he wondered if it would be possible to string together a series of "power" commands.

Check out the story here.

Check out the TV-B-Gone here.

-aB

So, What Is Viral Marketing?

The new Viral + Buzz Marketing Association has put out a manifesto outlining what I think is a pretty good (albeit somewhat arrogant) definition of viral marketing and general tactics and strategies viral marketers should utilize. Here's a snippet:

We believe that network-enhanced word of mouth has a critical role to play in the future of integrated marketing communications. Marketers need to offer content in the media and through one-to-one connections that the recipients themselves choose to propagate to those that they deem appropriate, thereby eliminating irrelevant, untimely and (as a consequence) annoying marketing messages.

I've said it before that I think viral marketing is about to experience some controversy of its own, and it seems that organizations like the VBMA understand this. This industry needs some rules and standards to help mitigate the inevitable controversy that will hit us soon.

Check out the manifesto here.

-aB

Wi-Fi Where It's Needed

Wired has a story today on the WanderPod, a large, yet portable satellite trailer device that can be set up anywhere to allow people wireless internet access. Applications include traveling events, diaster recovery and military applications, though I bet the U.S. Military already has something quite like this.

It's a great idea, and inventor Dennis Stacey said it was just an idea in his head a month ago. Just a few weeks later, they have a working prototype - and rolled it out at the SpaceShipOne landing a few weeks ago.

Neat.

-aB

Mark Cuban Interview About Blogging

Mark Cuban, the founder of Broadcast.com and now billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks does a cover story interview with the Online Journalism Review.

In the interview, Mark talks about how he's using his blog to strike back at people who tick him off. That list includes Donald Trump, members of the NBA and several lucky journalists. Snippet:

The media has always known that the power of the word can be immense. With one paragraph, execs and businesses can be impacted significantly. Blogs create a balance. Now if a blog is well read, or read by those in the media who are looking for any chance to swipe at their competitors, a smartly written blog can turn the tables.

I think this new checks-and-balances scenario will make media much stronger. Look at the controversy over whether Bush's records were forged or not. It's bloggers vs CBS. That's a great example of the power and value of blogging.

Cuban has always been very opinionated and controversial. That's why I like him. He also acquired Jason Terry, one of my favorite Atlanta Falcons players.

And he gets blogs, and the idea that they can be used effectively to create dialogue with media (and consumers) and sometimes share a side of stories that some reporters don't cover.

Good read. Enjoy.

-aB

Great Article on Narrowcasting

I think the concept of narrowcasting has a huge future. As the number of information and entertainment outlets increase, we'll see more and more niche players serving up niche content.

Think about it this way - the channels are going to desperately need content to fill their programming schedule. At the same time, consumers are going to expect more and more niche programming.

Digital cable has brought us hundreds of different stations, all catering to a different audience. So too have DVDs and now downloadable music. Niches that may have not been catered to in the past because of limited shelf/slotting space at the local record or movie store now have many more choices.

Read the Wired story here.

-aB

It Is the Dawn of the Age of the Amateur

An article from the October edition of FastCompany.com talks about the "Amateur Revolution" taking place. It discusses everything from Rap music, to Linux to astronomy to The Sims all being driven by Pro-Ams, or professional amateurs.

Rap started on the street, as an alternative to the music fare of the big labels. Linux is "open source" programming, the true definition of Pro-Am. The Sims game would have been a modest hit by itself, but became the best selling game of all time because it opened up opportunities for Pro-Ams, or KEY INFLUENCERS to participate and create content that other Sims players could share.

My thought? "Open Source" is the output of Pro-Ams.

The article is a good one. Read the online version of the article here.

Journalism is going through the exact same transformation right now. I was surprised that the article's author, Istvan Banyai, didn't mention it, especially since it is impacting his livelihood - journalism.

Blogs are written by the same type of folks featured in this article - Pro-Ams. These amateurs are passionate and committed, sometimes more so than their full professional counterparts.

Taking this whole theory one step further, what is the economical impact of it all? What if everything in the "creative arts" (journalism, computing, etc.) and science becomes infiltrated by Pro-Ams? Will this commoditize everything? Pro-Ams are usually not compensated for their efforts. What will this do to those who make a living in these areas? Will it drive them to increase the quality of their product? Or will it cause resentment and frustration? Interesting thought.

-aB

When A Hummer Is Just Too Practical

Got six tons to haul? Want to be different from your neighbors down the street? Don't want to compromise on the puny-sized Hummer H2?

Got $115,000 to blow?

The International Truck CXT Pickup might be for you. It weighs in at a svelte 14,500 pounds and is over 21 feet long. Perfect for those commutes to the grocery and soccer practice.

Thankfully, it has a 70 gallon diesel fuel tank, so you only have to fill it up every few days.

-aB

But He Used His Turn Signal To Pull Over

Minnesota's Samuel Tilley got a speeding ticket.

He was travelling 205 mph. That's a buck-forty over the speed limit of 65 on U.S. Highway 61. Tilley was feeling a bit of a breeze as he achieved this speed on his Honda 1000 crotch rocket.

The ticket will cost Tilley $215, which is about $1.54 per mile per hour over. Dollar for dollar, that's a lot of speed for the money. What a bargain, until Sam's insurance company finds out about this little event.

Check out a copy of the ticket on The Smoking Gun.

-aB

Can You Trust Online Poker?

Here is an interesting story about "poker bots," automated computer programs that could be playing against you in an online poker room near you. Snippet from the MSNBC.com story:

Widespread use of bots capable of beating your average player would pose a significant problem for the red-hot online poker sector, which has grown exponentially in recent years and is expected to top the $1 billion revenue mark this year. Without some way of verifying the identity – and humanity – of players, the business could be significantly undercut.

Hard to believe, but online poker is now a $1 billion industry, thanks in part to reality television and the celebrity poker tournament TV shows. What made for VERY cheap television programming (what's cheaper than setting up some lights and a few cameras around a card table) has now created a new industry.

What' perplexes me is that a few weeks ago, I wanted to buy some decent poker chips for my friendly in-person poker games. It was almost next to impossible to find a store in Atlanta that sold them. HELLO - stores need to make "poker" hay while the sun shines.

Read the full story here.

P.S. Finally bought this set of poker chips from Brookstone. Very cool.

-aB

The Sun Is Setting on Network News

Much has been written about the demise of traditional network news. The cable network Fox News beat ratings for not only the other cable nets, but also the "big three/four" network broadcasts during the Republican National Convention. Cable news had never beat out the network news before. Ever.

Certainly, this Dan Rather story isn't exactly helping build credibility, respect and viewership for network news, either.

James Pinkerton has a good editorial in Newsday today entitled, "As Rather Goes, So Does Network News." Pinkerton feels that Rather should resign, and gives many good points and precedants for this.

He also talks about the new ways that people are getting their news. Snippet:

So the "de-massification" of the media has been ongoing-and will keep going. In the '90s, Internet-based news-most notably the Drudge Report, which burst on the scene in 1998 by breaking the Monica Lewinsky story-proved that the "new media" could blow past older media. And now we have even newer media: the bloggers, the folks at home in their pajamas who collectively broke the "Rathergate" story.

Read the column here.

-aB

The Advent of Breaking News Blogs

With the speed and relative low cost at which people can set up blogs, as well as register new URLs, it just makes sense that we're going to start seeing blogs on very specific, narrow topics that are also very timely.

Take a blog that went live on Saturday. Rathergate.com discusses the controversy regarding the authenticity of military documents used in Dan Rather's 60 Minutes story from a week and a half ago.

It's very much a grassroots effort (sharing a conservative point of view), with frequently updated blog content as well as a petition tool to enable Anti-Rather readers to share their displeasure with CBS and local affiliates.

The interesting thing about this blog is that it was set up to basically discuss one topic/issue. While there are hundreds (if not thousands) of blogs talking about "Rathergate," this is the only one I know of that is focusing exclusively on this topic, and one that has a specific URL (www.rathergate.com) to prove it.

Much has been written about the Dan Rather forged memo story over the past week, especially in the blogosphere. The power of bloggers to not only write about breaking news, but to affect it is significant. Bloggers' interactions with traditional journalists on this story (and many others during this presidential campaign are changing the entire news gathering process.

How will this story, as well as the blogger-journalist interactions during this entire presidental election, affect the news business? This is going to be interesting.

-aB

Superman and Locks...

Superman and Bic pens have something in common - they both don't mix well with Kryptonite. It seems as though the non-writing end of a Bic pen can be used to open U-Shaped steel bike locks, made by companies such as Kryptonite. Snippet:

The U-shaped steel bike locks that cyclists have relied on for years to keep thieves at bay just had a gigantic hole blown through their reputation, as bike lock maker Kryptonite scrambled to reassure customers that it is working on a solution.

Kryptonite Locks issued a press release on Friday announcing a pretty unprecendented swap program. They're going to share more details of this upgrade/swap on Wednesday afternoon.

The same "Bic pen lock trick" is discussed on dozens of Web sites with details on how it can be used to open vending machines, gas pumps, bike locks, security systems and generally anything that uses a cylinder/tubular lock.

How much you want to bet that someone will demand that Bic change their product design? How much you want to bet that Bic will be sued with claims saying they're liable for designing, manufacturing and selling a product that can be used for theft?

Just wait - it won't take some lawyer long...

-aB

1999 Wasn't That Long Ago

This is a picture of the Google.com "server farm" way back in 1999. Yep, that's all it took to run what is now the most popular search page (and Web site) in the world.

See more pictures of the vast computer network, with running commentary at Archive.org.

-aB

Can't Find 742 Evergreen Terrace?

So, you've had a beer at Moe's, grabbed a burger at Krusty Burger (the one on Route 401 one block south of LardLad Donuts), and now have to head over to Professor Von Bowser's Sanitorium for Dogs (you know, the one at Center and Oak Grove Streets) to pick up some medicine for Santa's Little Helper.

Lost in Simpson's references? Don't be. Two Simpson's fanatics Jerry Lerma & Terry Hogan have compiled an amazing map of Springfield, USA, home to all of The Simpson's characters we all know and love.

From the South Street Squidport district, home to dining establishments like The Frying Dutchman and The Legless Frog, to West Springfield, where you can find the John Ford Center for Alcoholic Cowboys and Cletus' house, it's all on the map. All of your favorite obscure references from 300+ episodes are displayed on this map. Amazing.

You have to check it out.

-aB

Oprah Gives Entire Studio Audience New Pontiac G6s

WOW.

This is not only an amazing (and very expensive) publicity event, but also an amazing charitable gesture. Snippet from the news story:

CHICAGO (AP) - Talk show host Oprah Winfrey celebrated the premiere of her 19th season Monday by surprising each of her 276 audience members with a new car.

"We're calling this our wildest dream season, because this year on the Oprah show, no dream is too wild, no surprise too impossible to pull off," Winfrey said.

Read the entire AP story here.

The audience members for the show were chosen because they had written Oprah about their need for a new car.

This is one of those stories (and they're not many of them these days) that makes you feel good. Bravo, Oprah and General Motors for creating a media event that also did some real good for 276 people and families.

-aB

Value of a TiVo Just Plummeted For Me

What good is a TiVo if recorded programs are weighed down by significant restrictions preventing consumers from watching saved content?

Both ReplayTV and TiVo have agreed to significant replay restrictions on recorded content, thanks to the lawyers in Hollywood. A story in the San Jose Mercury News discusses the agreement. Snippet:

The makers of TiVo and ReplayTV digital video recorders have agreed to limit how long consumers can keep pay-for-view movies stored on future versions of the VCR-like devices.

The new technology also will allow Hollywood movie studios and broadcasters to regulate how often movies purchased through pay-for-view services can be watched. Digital video recorders that recognize these new copy restrictions will begin appearing in the spring of 2005. But it could be years before entertainment companies begin to take advantage of the technology, according to ReplayTV President Bernie Sepaniak.

Read the full story here.

Geek News Central predicts the demise of these DVR companies within two years.

TiVo, what are you thinking? You were finally on the right track, as this article in this month's Business 2.0 magazine explained. First you took off the ability for users to skip through commercials, now you're agreeing to restrictions limiting the one thing consumers purchase your appliance for - to "time shift" and be able to watch programming on their schedule.

Hollywood (much like the RIAA) forgets that honest consumers had none of these restrictions back in the days of cassette tapes and VCRs. And they seemed to be able to make a decent profit back then, didn't they?

Sigh, and I wanted a TiVo Series 2. Makes me reconsider...

-aB

McOrder Predictor

I was in a McDonald's in Pittsburgh over the weekend and noticed that, behind the counter over next to the drive-thru window was a television monitor showing the approach to the drive-thru lane and menuboard.

Cool, I thought. I guess that they can look at that and see if they're about to be busy with cars lining up.

Little did I realize that the camera and monitor are part of a much more complex order and traffic prediction system, as outlined in this MSNBC.com story that I came across today. Snippet:

Do you want fries with that? Never mind, we already know. A Pittsburgh startup, HyperActive Technologies Inc., is testing technology at area fast-food restaurants designed to give kitchen workers a good indication of what customers want before the hungry souls even get close enough to place an order.

Very cool stuff. Notice that the article didn't mention scanning license plates and cross-referencing with previous orders from that vehicle. Come on, you know they're doing it...

-aB

Politically Correct Wheaties Snubbs Hamm

General Mills, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to be "globally politically correct" and not include Paul Hamm, the first American to win the men's all-around Olympic gold medal for gymnastics, on its series of U.S. Olympic champion Wheaties cereal boxes. Bad PR move. Very bad. Snippet of the Reuters story:

General Mills Inc, the maker of Wheaties cereal, announced on Monday three U.S. Olympic champions will appear on millions of its iconic orange cereal boxes - but Hamm was not among them.

For those of you who didn't watch the Olympics, (and according to NBC, there weren't many of you - ratings rocked and NBC/Universal made a killing), a scoring error caused one of the biggest controversies of this year's summer games, and a gymnastics ruling body (not the Olympic ruling body) asked Hamm to return his gold medal, so that it could be given to South Korean bronze medalist Yang Tae-Young. Bad PR move there as well, but that's another rant entirely.

It's not Hamm's responsibility to return the medal. He didn't do anything wrong. He accepted the medal that was awarded to him. The gymnastic ruling committee (which seems to be about as ethical and credible as the figure skating ruling committee - remember that fiasco two years ago?) should petition the Olympic ruling committee(s) to give another gold to Yang Tae-Young. They can do something about it, not Hamm.

Back to General Mills...

Why are Wheaties and General Mills getting into this controversy? An American company, with an American cereal product that has displayed gold medalists on its "Breakdast of Champions" box cover for 80 years doesn't want to upset South Korea? Why snub Hamm? Spin control at General Mills has already begun. Snippet:

"We feel pretty good that they were among the top performances, and they include a broad cross-section of sports" at the just-concluded Olympics, General Mills spokesman Greg Zimprich said.

Here's the funny thing - the "Contact Us" link on the bottom of the Weaties.com web site home page don't seem to be working (at least tonight at 1:00am). Go ahead, try it: http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/comments/.

Read the entire Reuters story here. Read General Mill's press release here.

-aB

Differences In Blogs & Message Boards

As blogs continue to get more mainstream, they're being compared more and more to message boards, an information structure that's celebrating its 25th year of existence.

Lee Lefever discusses the difference in a very informative article and equally informative table at CommonCraft.com. There's also some discussion of the article and topic at PR Opinions and Media Guerrilla.

-aB

Internet Turns 35, Mid-Life Crisis Eminent

Thirty-five years ago this week, several UCLA grad students hooked up two computers in a small data network that would ultimately become the Internet. Snippet:

Thirty-five years after computer scientists at UCLA linked two bulky computers using a 15-foot gray cable, testing a new way for exchanging data over networks, what would ultimately become the Internet remains a work in progress.

Stephen Crocker and Vinton Cerf were among the graduate students who joined UCLA professor Len Kleinrock in an engineering lab on Sept. 2, 1969, as bits of meaningless test data flowed silently between the two computers. By January, three other "nodes" joined the fledgling network.

Read the whole AP story here at MyWay.com.

-aB

Go to Duke, Get a Free iPod

Duke University is giving all incoming freshmen an iPod. The kit includes a 20 gig iPod, voice recording attachment and gift certificate for song downloads at a special Duke-only Apple iTunes online store.

The iPod is also engraved with the Duke crest and comes pre-loaded with some content, like a message from the university president and the Duke fight song. Bet those files will be top downloads on Kazaa within the week.

This a heck of a lot better than the free tube of toothpaste, poster and Vols mousepad I got when arriving at the University of Tennessee back in 1994. Of course, UT tuition wasn't $37,555 either.

-aB

ChangeThis.com Is Blog Roll Worthy

Two days ago I told you about ChangeThis.com, a Web site that packages smart thinking from smart people, all in easily-digestible manifesto form.

Smart guy Seth Godin is attributed with the idea behind this web site, smart guy Guy Kawasaki had a manifesto a few days ago, and today Mr. Smart Guy himself Tom Peters shares his 60 TIBs (This I Believe) thoughts.

Many of the thoughts in Tom's manifesto share the themes and feel of three of his books from 1999, The Project50, The Brand You50 and The Professional Service Firm50. And I would be remiss in not mentioning Tom's latest book, Re-imagine!, one of my favorite marketing/biz books of the year.

ChangeThis.com is now permanently ensconced on Gump's Blog Roll, on the right. Gee, it looks so gosh darn pretty there.

-aB

Meet George Jetson. He's Tailgating You.

Flying cars are only 10-20 years away, according to this story in BusinessWeek.

No more pulling over to the side of the road to figure out where you took the wrong left turn...

Thanks to Alan for the article link.

-aB

Mixing Bloggers & Advertisers

Sooner or later, blogs and advertisers are going to merge. Yeah, it probably won't be a pretty wedding or honeymoon, but the marriage is gotta happen. It's a shotgun wedding, whether we like it or not.

A Wired article today talks about a new site and company, Blogversations.com that is looking to team up bloggers and advertisers. The blogosphere has spoken. They're not happy.

[BEGIN RANT]

I see two camps of blogs: 1)Blogging for dollars blogs and 2)Blogging for hobby blogs. Blogging for hobby is great, and is an exciting, fast-growing phenomenon. They're virtual diaries into the conscious minds of other people. Great stuff. Great to write (it's therapeutic), great to read. But not a business people can turn into a livelihood.

For the "blogging for dollars" to work, there has to be a sustainable business model. Time and time again, the Internet has demonstrated that the "paying subscriber model" doesn't work for online content (other than porn). People aren't going to pay to read blogs. Period. Sorry, but it's true.

That leaves advertising-supported blogs, a strategy that Blogversations.com is trying to own. And the blogosphere is up in arms: But what about the purity and sanctity of blogs? Won't bloggers be manipulated to write about things or say things or do things, just because an advertiser is dangling dollar bills in front of them?

HELLO! Welcome to Pollyanna-ville. Population: YOU. On an internet (notice the lowercase "i" by the way) full of spam, misleading ad banners, Google-bombing and the like, our little pure and clean blogging corner of the universe won't stay this way forever. The marketers are knocking on the door. Do we let them in, or just wait until they bulldoze our back fence during the night? If there is money to be had, the marketers (myself included in this group) will find a way to make it.

So, that being said, Blogversations.com doesn't seem to be acknowledging what I think is the most important part of the advertsing-supported blogging issue - FULL DISCLOSURE. I want to know if a particular blog is being supported by a particular advertiser. Just let me know. If the content on the site is informative, interesting and compelling, I'll continue to read it whether it's sponsored or not. Crappy content? You can forget about it, whether someone paid for the trash or not.

Media work on two models, subscriber-sponsored (like HBO and Consumer Reports) and ad-supported (like freaking everything else in the world). We're not going to pay to read blogs, so that means we're going to have to find a way to deal with advertisers.

[END RANT]

That's my 0.02.

-aB

Smart Thinking at ChangeThis.com

I'm not quite sure how Seth Godin is involved with this project, but a new marketing/communications-oriented op-ed manifesto site has launched at ChangeThis.com.

The first manifesto is from Big Thinker Guy Kawasaki, fresh from completing his new book about how to start-up a start-up.

Check the site out. I'll be reading more of it this week, determining if ChangeThis.com is Blog Roll-Worthy.

-aB

Are You a Trendspotter? Get Your Fix Here...

If you like living on the bleeding edge of the fashion/lifestyle trends, then DailyCandy.com is for you.

The site is targeted to women 25-35 and provides localized content on trends in NYC, LA, Chicago and San Francisco. There's also a section for "Kids" and one for unfortunate souls who don't live in one of those happenin' four cities.

Here's a snippet from the "About Us" section of the site:

DailyCandy is the ultimate source for the latest need-to-know information about fashion, food and fun. It's like getting an e-mail from your clever, unpredictable and totally in-the-know best friend who always has the scoop on everything.

DailyCandy is the brainchild of Dany Levy, self-admitted sugar junkie and an expert on getting the scoop. Her work has appeared in New York Magazine, The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Elle and Time Out New York. Few people are as qualified to deliver your DailyCandy. Just ask her dentist, who has a lovely estate in East Hampton thanks to her 14 cavities.

Nice site for getting to know what's hot with the female 25-35 demo.

-aB

iTrip + iPod + Soldering Iron = Pirate Radio!

Got an iTrip? Think that the quality of the signal sucks? Me, too.

This story at Engadget talks about some fun you can have with your iTrip, a soldering iron and some goodies from your local Radio Shack.

Obviously, this voids the iTrip warranty and will probably get you tracked by some suits from the FCC in a unmarked black panel van with lots of antennas.

I could care less about broadcasting my own radio station. I just want the iTrip to broadcast a decent signal to my car's radio!

-aB

BugMeNot.com Back Online

Web site registration avoider site BugMeNot.com is back online, after being taken down by it's previous Web hosting provider. Snippet:

BugMeNot.com, a site that helps web users get around website registration roadblocks, is back up after disappearing for several days because of server hosting issues.

In an e-mail late Friday afternoon, the site's creator -- an Australian who has refused to disclose his identity for fear of legal repercussions - wrote, "Bugmenot went down because our host pulled the plug inexplicably. I'm guessing external pressure."

Read the entire story from Wired here.

-aB

Wired Magazine: Don't Capitalize internet

Wired magazine announces today that internet, web and net should no longer be capitalized. They're changing their style guide to reflect this change. Snippet:

Effective with this sentence, Wired News will no longer capitalize the "I" in internet.

At the same time, Web becomes web and Net becomes net.

Why? The simple answer is because there is no earthly reason to capitalize any of these words. Actually, there never was.

The article goes on to explain that other recently-developed media, like television and radio aren't capitalized, so internet should not be as well.

Well, this is going to take some getting used to. The one biggie that the article doesn't cover is whether web site is still two words or one.

Read the full article here.

-aB

Blogvertising?

This Wired story claims that the very popular blog Fark.com may be taking payment for submissions. Snippet:

Fark.com, one of the most popular blogs on the Net, has been accused of selling out - joining a growing list of new-media outfits willing to bend old-media rules.

According to a veteran new-media publisher, Fark has been selling preferential placement of story links without informing its readers.

Jason Calacanis, publisher of several rival Weblogs Inc. blogs, claims Fark offered him highly placed links to his sites in return for several hundred dollars.

Will this "payola" become a trend? It's certainly not a new issue, with traditional journalism having dealt with the advertsing vs. journalism challenge for decades. A book that I read a month or so ago, Backstory: Inside the Business of News by Ken Auletta discusses how the issue has created serious controversy in the newsroom at the Los Angeles Times.

This is going to be interesting...

-aB

"Maria Sharapova" Tops Yahoo! Search Rankings

For those of you who aren't aware, Yahoo! provides their Yahoo! Buzz Index, showing a summary of the previous week's top 20 searches.

Google also provides a free weekly report, showing the "search patterns, trends and surprises according to Google." It's called the Google Zeitgeist, and it's updated weekly with statistics on what were the most popular searches the previous week.

If you read it, you'd know that "Spongebob" is the #1 search on Google among children. Mmmm, just thinking about crabby patties makes me hungry...

Interesting, free stats for buzz marketing gurus. Add to that the free data you can glean from the Pew Internet & American Life Project as well as Nielsen//Netratings and you too can be an Internet professional!

Did I just give away all of my secrets? Damn.

-aB

Slamming Airlines Favorite Topic of Blogs...

Seems that I am not the only person who enjoys ranting about airlines on blogs. Tom Peters posted this rant about airline travel on his site just two days ago.

His main point? Airlines just need to tell the truth. I'll drink to that, and add another thought: Airlines need to tell the truth and manage passengers' expectations.

Read Tom Peter's rant here.

-aB

Visual Representation Of Top News

These News Maps things are pretty cool. They're a visual representation of what stories and topics are top news at any given time.

The technology has been developed by The Hive Group and is implemented on the Web site NewsIsFree.com. The tool allows you to see what topics are hot in many different online publications by rolling over the main "hive" image, but also allows you to "zoom in" to any topic or article and see the specific coverage. Cool.

-aB

The Balkanization of Online Media

Well, it seems as though columnist Adam L. Penenberg of Wired agrees with me on the ridiculousness of online registration for online media, specifically online newspapers. Snippet:

By putting their advertisers' interests above their readers', news sites risk alienating their core customers. Without us, there wouldn't be any advertisers to appease. There's no law that says we have to tell them the truth about ourselves, and news is news: I can get it from any number of sources on the Net.

I discussed my displeasure about this issue last month here on GumpRants. In that post I mentioned one of my favorite tools, www.BugMeNot.com. It's a great tool, so I will mention it again.

Here's a link to the full column on Wired.

-aB

AirTran Is A Very Poor Airline

AirTran Airways is a “very poor airline” in my opinion, based upon their inability to manage customer expectations and make decisive decisions.

After over nine hours of delays, excuses and three consecutive de-plane and re-boardings, AirTran finally cancelled a 3:14pm flight bound for Philadelphia at 11:15pm last night. “It took AirTran Operations Center over nine hours from their first delay announcement yesterday at 2:45pm until almost midnight to share with its customers the fact that they would indeed cancel this flight,” states Adam Brown, an upset AirTran passenger and author of this blog. “[AirTran] could have made the cancellation decision at around 4:00pm yesterday afternoon, enabling passengers to consider other travel alternatives, but instead they delayed, de-boarded, re-boarded, made excuses and manipulated passengers for an entire day.”

Following is a rundown of yesterday’s timeline, outlining the poor decisions made by the AirTran Operations Center resulting in dozens of passengers sleeping in the airport – since AirTran did not provide hotel or meal vouchers to their inconvenienced customers. AirTran spokespeople claimed that since the delay was “weather-related” and not AirTran’s fault, they were in no position to compensate the weary travelers. “While the inclement weather was not AirTran’s fault, they do not seem to be taking responsibility for their poor decisions and indecisiveness in waiting nine hours to cancel this flight,” claims Brown. “They created this situation by refusing to take the best interests of their customers to heart.”

12:30pm – Adam Brown, passenger on AirTran flight 339 to Philadelphia, arrives at Atlanta airport early for a scheduled 3:19 departure.

2:45 – AirTran gate agents announce some weather in the Philadelphia area, and that boarding might be delayed a bit.

3:30 – AirTran gate agents announce that the weather is Philadelphia is still challenging, but they are going to go ahead and board. Flight 339 boards and pushes back from the gate.

4:00 – AirTran Captain announces that all flights into Philly have been delayed, but that we were going to stay on the taxiway so that we can be the "first to depart" once a slot opens up.

6:00 – AirTran Captain announces that delay is indeterminable and that we are going to return to the gatehouse to wait this one out. Plane returns to gate.

7:13 – AirTran re-boards the plane, announces we have "immediate clearance" to depart to Philly.

7:47 – Plane pushes back from gate, heads towards runway, then abruptly U-turns and returns to gate two minutes later. No one is allowed to deplane. Passengers are waiting on news from the AirTran Captain.

7:58 – AirTran Captain announces that it will be at least 35 minutes before we are allowed to leave the gate. Everyone must remain on board.

8:42 – Plane pushes back and moves to taxiway, where engines are cut off. AirTran Captain announces that it will be at least 50 minutes before we can depart. Drink carts come out, as people are awfully thirsty (and hungry), Passengers begin to realize that we came out to the taxiway for only one reason – not because we were planning on departing for Philly, but because AirTran needed to use our gate for other flights. So, we’re hostage. We have been deceived.

9:39 – One hour later, the AirTran Captain announces that we cannot depart to Philly because of weather both in Philadelphia and Atlanta, so we’re heading back to the gatehouse to await further direction.

9:55 – We’re still not at the gatehouse. You see, there are no available AirTran gates! This makes everyone realize that our pushback at 8:42 was purely to allow another plane to use our gate and that we were deceived and manipulated by AirTran.

10:34 – We arrive at a non-AirTran gate, D4. This is the second-farthest gate from the Hartsfield terminal and an entire concourse away from any AirTran customer service representatives. We’re told to wait in the D4 gatehouse for further direction.

10:56 – We are told to get back in line to re-board the plane (now for the THIRD time), we have been given clearance to depart to Philly. An unhappy, unprofessional and rude AirTran Supervisor decides to re-board the plane row by row, only calling two rows at a time. Travelers who have been patient to this point are now at their breaking point. The AirTran Supervisor starts at the rear of the aircraft and does NOT allow elderly or business class to board first. Not surprisingly, many passengers begin to revolt. It takes 30 minutes to re-board the aircraft for this THIRD time.

11:28 – The AirTran Captain comes on the PA system and announces that AirTran Operations has now cancelled the flight, a full eight hours after planned departure time. After three re-boardings of this plane, multiple excuses and explanations, passengers are understandably upset. They want answers, they want compensation, they want honesty. Sadly, they get none of these.

Postscript – Since AirTran claims that this was a weather delay, they will not provide hotel or food vouchers for the stranded passengers. Seeing that it is past midnight, most passengers are unable to find a hotel, even on their own dime. Additionally, all concessions at the airport closed hours ago.

Travelers waiting for their baggage had to endure almost two more hours of waiting. Baggage did not arrive back at the terminal until 1:30am, according to George Bott, a Houston passenger traveling on the flight. AirTran baggage representatives had mentioned that baggage would take at least an hour to be taken off of the aircraft, upsetting the already weary passengers. An hour came and went, with no bags. Baggage actually took closer to two hours, making an angry crowd that much more upset. AirTrain baggage representatives were indifferent and unapologetic.

Even though my blog is called “GumpRants.com,” I don’t often use it to rant negatively about something. This is an exception. I’ll be sharing this situation (and this Web site) with AirTran Customer Service and asking them to respond. When they do respond, I will post it here.

In the meantime, I encourage all of you to email a link to this article to all of your friends, family and co-workers. While we can’t hold AirTran responsible for the weather, we must help them understand that customer expectation management and decisive decision-making regarding flight cancellations ARE their responsibility, and something they are currently doing very poorly.

This is not my first serious issue with the AirTran airline regarding poor decision making and customer manipulation, I will share my other experience with you in a later blog posting.

-aB

Interesting Seth Godin Interview

Marketing author Seth Godin is interviewed for the Global PR Blog Week and discusses advice for PR professionals on blogging, "brand journalism," and how RSS feeds make Seth's argument for permission marketing. Snippet:

The problem is that this medium is amateur at its best. Amateur which means that bloggers aren't bored, bloggers aren't lazy and bloggers aren't just trying to fill space. The traditional PR approach isn't going to work (at least for now). What works is bringing actual news and actual remarkable stuff to people who care.

Read the full interview of Seth Godin on PR Machine here.

Read more of Seth's comments on blogs, RSS, email marketing and other interesting stuff in Seth Godin's Blog here.

-aB

Great Interview on Blogs and PR

Jay Rosen, Chair of the Journalism School at NYU and Steve Rubel, a speaker at the blogon2004 event held at UC Berkley last week, discuss disintermediation and how PR is changing as consumers discover new ways of getting news. Here's a snippet of Rosen's comments:

I think public relations should first understand that to the extent that its art is a form of "spin"-whether it's reasonable spin, accepted spin, good spin, bad spin, terrible spin - it is selling a service for which there is less and less value, and less mind is paid to it. Spin was possible in the era of few-to-many media, and a small number of gatekeepers who could be spun.

My advice to PR people is to help citizens become more so-- more sovereign over information goods. Spin is not a good. Neither is a brick wall, or a blatantly one-sided story that cleverly coheres because it leaves out every single inconvenient fact. Public relations, if it wants to do good, should stand for real transparency in organizations, and genuine interactivity with publics. Want an issue in corporate PR? Freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, freedom of interaction for company bloggers: how do we make it a practical reality?

You can read the full interview on Jay Rosen's blog here. It's great - Jay speaks about his definition of participatory journalism, PR ethics and blogging, the difference in bloggers and credentialed journalists, and how journalism schools are (or are not) responding. This is another must-read for marketing professionals. (Another must-read is this article I wrote, although I am a bit biased.)

The blogon2004 blog itself has some great information and content gleaned from last week's event.

-aB

Gump's Weekly Photography Showcase - Week 3

I'm now into my third week of showcasing some of my photography work that I host over at Smugmug, in my opinion the best photography hosting Web service out there.

The past two weeks have seen me linking to my black and white photography from a trip last year to Jackson Hole, WY, and to a photography workshop I took to Washington State in 2003.

This week, I'm linking to some pictures I took when Melissa and I went to Sedona, AZ and the Grand Canyon. This is one of my smaller galleries in terms of total number of images, but I'm pretty happy with how my black & white prints of Red Rock in Sedona and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon turned out. The picture shown above is of the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a small church that is actually constructed into the side of one of the mountain features there in Sedona. Very cool.
 
Enjoy the pics.
 
-aB

Clear Channel Radio - Less Ads in 2005

Anyone who's listened to radio during the past few years has probably noticed that there are a LOT more radio commercials. In fact, during drive-time (radio station's most profitable listening times) on some stations, the amount of commercials would exceed 20 minutes/hour! Just four or five years ago, eight to ten minutes of advertising per radio hour was considered a high average.
 
Clear Channel, owner of over 1200 stations says that they are going to change that in this New York Times article. Here's a lead paragraph and link: 

Clear Channel Radio plans to announce today that it will begin limiting the number of commercials its more than 1,200 stations can play, in a move that analysts say may ripple through the industry even before it takes effect on Jan. 1.

 
Read the article here.

-aB

Blogs Flex Muscle In "Viral Marketing"

Earlier this week, I did an interview with Alex Goldfayn, columnist for The Chicago Tribune and author of "The Technology Tailor" technology newsletter.
 
The article, "Blogs Flex Muscle In Viral Marketing" is in today's Saturday edition, and a copy is currently live on the Chicago Tribune Web site. Unfortunately, the site requires online registration to view. If you want to see what I think about required newspaper site registration, scroll down to my Wednesday blog posts or just click here.
 
But, thanks to BugMeNot.com, we have a login and password for you to use at ChicagoTribune.com to read the article: 
 

Member name: msnerd
Password: mortimer

Here's a brief snippet of my quote: 

"With blogs, consumers wield more power online. They have the opportunity to reach the masses very quickly. And as marketing professionals, we have to acknowledge that," [Adam Brown] said. Which is why eKetchum has been focusing its online public relations strategy on "influencers" (bloggers) maintaining "innovative media" online. The result of all these consumers reading other consumers' thoughts and opinions is known as viral marketing.

I'll link to the easier-to-access story on Alex Goldfayn's site as soon as he puts it up.
 
-aB

PR in 2014

 

John Paluszek, Senior Counselor at Ketchum and very well-respected public relations professional has an interesting article on PR trends and where he sees the industry in 2014.

John discusses the convergence of public relations, science and technology in his article. I'd like to add my thoughts on where our industry is going, and three trends I see:

• Narrowcasting - people are getting their "news" from more targeted news outlets. In studies, younger people say they get their "news" from outlets like MTV News, for older "conservatives" we've all seen the increase in popularity of FOX News (at the expense of the big 3). "Create Your Own News Program" from different resources/subjects/talent/length is not that far away. Heck, on my standard three years old Comcast digital cable box at home, I can choose to watch different "parts" of CNN news programming when and in what order I want to. (Granted, I don't do it that often, but I'm sure it will be easier to do in 2014).
  
• Timeshifting - people get news and information on their schedule, whether it be via the Internet, in their cars, on their wrists (like John mentions) or more selectively packaged with tools like TiVo and personal digital recorders. These trends will continue - making it more difficult for us as PR practitioners to reach our audience with broadcast segments.
  
• Participation Journalism - What will a "journalist" be in 2014? Our definition of journalist means classically trained, generally impartial, available resources (and credibility and readership) of a known publication. With laypeople getting into the "news business" with blogs, this is changing. Blogs right now are primarily text and a few images. What's going to happen in a few years when Joe and Jane Consumer can shoot video of a live breaking news event on their video-enabled Cingular wireless phone, provide live commentary of the action and fetch it up onto their own blog (or someone who syndicates "breaking news" from these individuals) in real time?Will these new "pseudo-journalists" (like bloggers today) accept a relationship with PR professionals? Working with traditional journalists today is easier - they know how we PR people work and we know how they work. How will PR practitioners create relationships with these new "pseudo-blogger-journalists?" Like them or not, they're here. About 30-40 bloggers have been given credentials to the DNC and RNC conventions (for the most part, different bloggers at both). It will be interesting to see how other journalists interact with them, if and how consumers interact with their online content and if they provide any insight that traditional journalists don't provide.

Just some thinking I thought that you might be interested in.

-aB

Most Click-throughs on Pop-Up Ads Are Probably Acccidents

Pop-up ad banner click-throughs are already at deperately low percentages, clearly demonstrating that they don't work as a marketing tool. Web users have gotten pretty good at ignoring anything that has the general shape and placement of a traditional ad banner unit, and intrusive ones like pop-ups (and even pop-unders) annoy surfers.

A report, noted in today's Techdirt.com and pulled from Revolution Magazine shows that it might even be worse that marketers thought. Snippet:

The vast majority of click-throughs on pop-ups are accidental and it is taking users longer to close these ads because of "hidden" close buttons, new research is claiming.

Who's surprised by this? Anyone?

-aB

Another Negative of Online Site Registration

I'm not a fan of having to register and jump through a dozen hoops just to read an online newspaper. The Atlanta Journal Constitution started a mandatory-registration policy in April and from what I hear, has seen a CONSIDERBLE reduction in site traffic. Waaah. Their "questionnaire" went so far to ask for phone number, salary info and a couple things that I thought were purely ridiculous, especially for a marginal-quality newspaper like the AJC. The New York Times didn't even ask for that private information!

Last month, CNN.com ran a story about Web newspaper registration that explained that I was not alone in my frusturation. The story mentioned Web sites like BugMeNot.com that allow users to use "generic" UserIDs and Passwords to get around registration, a great idea.

But this story from Wired points to another problem for publications with required registration. Their articles aren't showing up in search engine rankings. Registration firewalls means no search spider access. No spider access means no listings, which in turn results in fewer readers.

It also makes it tough for bloggers to link to online articles. Thankfully, The New York Times has created a Link Generator Tool to help bloggers create links to NY Times articles that don't need registration and don't go stale (another issue). Cool tool.

Enough ranting for today. Did I mention how much the AJC sucks? Yes? Good.

-aB

Canon Announces the XL2

This is BIG news for anyone shooting broadcast-quality miniDV digital video. Canon today announces the new XL2 camera.

About two years ago, Canon updated the XL1 with the XL1S. It wasn't a big change (hence the small name change) and I think the only real big update was the addition of SMPTE color bars (yipeee) and some progressive scan tweaks. At least that's what I thought, since have an XL1 (and love it so).

This product update is a biggie. Read the press release snippet:

The Canon XL2 allows you to capture images closer to the finished product than ever before. Work that previously was limited to post-production can be simply and effectively accomplished in the field, in the camcorder.

An Open Architecture philosophy, performance found only in much more expensive video cameras, Total Image Control and the solid foundation of Genuine Canon Optics, interchangeable lens capability and superb Canon image processing quality are united in the XL2.

The XL2 brings a host of performance and convenience features to this class of video camcorder- benefits that can't be found in this combination on other high-end video cameras. They include: Canon Super Range Optical Image Stabilization in the standard lens; dual aspect ratios; various frame rate capabilities; image gamma and detail controls; skin detail control and convertible LCD display and among others.

Unprecedented image control coordination between two XL2 cameras, remote computer camera control and direct video recording to computer are just a part of the capabilities of the XL2. Never before has so much creative power been put in the hands of the film maker, video artist, and corporate and event videographer.

Read the story at Gizmodo.

Read the announcement from Canon.

-aB

Sony delays the PSX until 2005

Bummer. Sony's PSX, basically a PlayStation 2 and TiVo rolled together, won't be coming out in the US this year as hoped. Japan has had the product for over a year now.

Engadget discusses the delay here.

Maybe it will be a TiVo for me, as I discussed here last week.

-aB

Batman: The Animated Series on DVD

I was always a huge fan of this TV series. Where Warner Brothers could have done something really campy with marginal-quality animation, they instead decided to go with the talented duo of animator Bruce Timm and background artist Eric Radomski.

The look of this TV show was beautiful - dark, edgy animation on backgrounds that used light (or lack thereof) and shadows in visually interesting ways.

The writing and voice casting were top notch, too, as this review on IGN of the DVD Volume 1 states.

-aB

Gump's Weekly Photography Showcase - Week 2

Last week, I linked to some my black & white photography from a trip to Jackson Hole, WY.

This week, I'm linking to some of my photography work from a photography workshop I made to Washington state last year with a few other photographers.

The trip was planned by Scott Bourne and his Olympic Mountain School of Photography. Scott's a great guy, an amazing photographer and a Photoshop wizard.

I've broken my favorite images from the trip into three categories - Interior, Mountains and Coastal.

Washington is beautiful, and I would move to Seattle in a minute if given the chance.

Enjoy the pics.

-aB

Friendster Promotes Fakesters

Friendster is now getting some heat for a marketing concept that I always thought was a great idea, but a little controversial. Two degrees of Friendster separation from Will Ferrell (or Ron Burgundy, the character he plays in Anchorman)? Cool.

Here's a snippet:

Since its inception, the social-networking service Friendster has taken a militant stance against members posting fake profiles of cartoon characters, political figures, celebrities and bogus people. But now, in an about-face, Friendster is promoting profiles of characters from the new movie Anchorman.

Full article in Wired here.

If Stranded On a Desert Island...

If I was stranded on a desert island and could only take one tool with me, it would be my Dremel.

Without sounding too much like an infomercial, it's one of those tools that you won't know how you lived without. Over the past three weeks, I've used my Dremel on about a half-dozen projects including:

• Polishing my stainless steel watch (with the polishing kit that includes jewler's rouge);


• Sanding off protruding nails in my hardwood floor;


• Cutting sheet metal to install a new exhaust fan in my bathroom;


• Cutting sheetrock (using the drywall cutting tool) to fix my a/c unit;


• Sanding down some abrasions on the lower front bumper of my BMW Z4.

That's just in the past two weeks.

This is really a great tool that every gadget-oriented person should have. You'll catch yourself looking for new projects to use the ole' Dremel on. Dremel.com is a pretty good Web site, and includes an Owner's Club and Message Board with a lot of tips to help users out with less-than-traditional projects for the tool.

-aB

Great Article/Open Letter to Apple's Steve

I don't know what it is about Apple, but there are a lot of "armchair CEOs" out there that love to share their thoughts on how to help Steve Jobs run his company.

You must give Jobs credit for what he's been able to do since taking the company back over in 1997. The iMac, the iPod, iTunes - all Jobs inspirations and all have re-established Apple as a design and technology leader.

This article/open letter in Business Week, however does pose some interesting ideas that Steve might consider.

-aB

RIAA, Are You Reading This?

Now, I am very conservative when it comes to copyright laws. I think that "ripping" music files that you don't pay for is stealing - theft pure and simple. But I am so frustrated with how the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is going about enforcing copyright laws.

Album sales are down. Yeah, file sharing has something to do with it. But perhaps RIAA, it has something to do with album quality. It sucks. The last five CDs I have bought have had mediocre music quality, and the last two albums I purchased would not work in iTunes or on my iPod. Albums I legally purchased, mind you. Penalize the legitimate purchasers - great concept, guys.

Additionally, there is such an opportunity for music labels to do something compelling with the CD form factor. Cool jewel box graphics, an included DVD with video snippets, actual album lyrics. Now the Dance/Trance/House genre gets it, with artists like Paul Van Dyk and Moby including some of these things to "encourage" people to buy the albums in record stores. And they get the cool packaging concept, too - with funky paper jewel boxes and jewel box dust covers/wrappers that give someone an incentive to buy the CD. They realize that the audio information encoded on the CD is "art" as well as the CD packaging. What happened to that thought with mainstream artists? You're buying something tangible here. Product design is still important!

But the mainstream artists are still scratching their heads, wondering why no one is purchasing their fair-quality CDs in cheap plastic jewel boxes with one-sheet cheaply-printed album covers.

So, I buy my mainstream music off of Apple's iTunes Store. Cheaper, iPod-able and I can still print out the album cover and make my own CD jewel box if I want to. Dance/Trance - I'll buy the cool packaging at a record store (at least until they all go out of business). But if it weren't for that, it would be iTunes all the way.

So, back on point. Long rant there. Steve Winwood gets it, as this article in Wired notes today.

-aB