Exclamation blog: Stories, Ideas and loud noises
Big Chance for Big Media: AP Tries to Jump on the iPhone Craze
The Associated Press, that symbol of all that is old media, has made a surprisingly tech-savvy move. As Forbes’ Brian Caulfield reported May 7, the global news service is hoping to gain a prime spot on a screen that is viewed regularly by some of the most plugged in folks on the planet – the Apple iPhone home page.
The AP is hardly the only news organization that wants to be in on the mega iCraze, but with its new “Mobile News Network” the AP has a shot at being placed as the first “News” button on the home screen of that ubiquitous toy of techno-yuppies known as the iPhone. At this point, only a handful of widgets are on that often used screen, and most are provided by new media giants like Google and Yahoo, or by Apple itself – such as weather, maps and stock quotes. (All this will soon change, but that’s another story.)
Caulfield describes old media companies’ desire to get on these phones their “best shot at digital relevance,” and I couldn’t have put it better myself. (Full disclosure, Brian was my editor at one time, and he still ranks among my favorite biz tech journalists.)
Like so many other news services, the AP chose not to carve out its own online destination, instead choosing to let Google, Yahoo and various news outlets aggregate and distribute its content. Now, with old media looking down the barrel of a gun, this kind of move could be too little too late. But it’s at least a sign that someone over there is thinking outside the box.
Caulfield reports that so far at least, Apple hasn’t announced that it’s taking up the AP’s offer. Could this be a case of closing ranks? For my part, I hope Apple decides to play ball on this one. To me, the AP is a little bit like the older aunt you invite to your party, knowing that even though she might not understand any of the talk about Twitter tweets or whether Robert Scoble’s going to show up, she’s intelligent and reliable – and she’s been around long enough to bring some experience to her observations of the world.
Mobile TV, Are You Watching?
The range of tools and technological innovations that at first glance seemed completely obsolete (Twitter, anyone?) and now play a significant role in many peoples’ lives is staggering. If you get down to it, humanity is a great collection of skeptics—why watch moving pictures when you’ve got the radio?
In an age when online advertisers are increasingly claiming that TV is dead and online video is the new way of consuming entertainment, mobile devices are emerging from the backseat and trying to make their claim for the new age of entertainment. The New York Times recently had an article in its Media & Advertising section about an up and coming European sensation for watching TV on the phone that seems to be coming to the U.S. (as most great things do!).
According to the article, consumers in Italy, Switzerland and Japan are already hooked on watching a bevy of channels available for streaming on mobile devices and U.S. mobile providers seem to be eager to follow. Naturally, not everyone is sold on the idea of watching long-form content on a small screen, but the future remains to be seen. AT&T Wireless just announced AT&T Mobile TV in the United States, offering a 10-channel service which will sell for $15 per month and, according to the article, includes a Sony Pictures movie channel called Pix.
To watch? Consumers will have to purchase a cellphone made by LG Electronics and Samsung that streams the broadcasts. All of this innovation begs the question—are you willing to pay and watch? Yankee Group analyst Linda Barrabee suggests that adoption is likely to be slow. But, the rise of devices like the iPhone and increased mobility among consumers seem to suggest that watching TV on your phone may not be in the distant future. Perhaps one day, fifty years down the road, generations of mobile TV watchers will be asking: Why do I need to sit on my couch to watch something?
You Down With IDG? Yeah You Know Me
Steve Lohr of The New York Times writes today about publisher IDG and the state of its business. Like many magazine and newspaper publishers these days, IDG has been one that seemingly was struggling. Infoworld went online-only and Computerworld is now a fraction of its size and thickness from a few years ago.
But don’t let these print issues fool you, the Times reports that all is well with IDG who is raking in more revenue from online advertising (52%) than print advertising (48%) and is growing its revenue by 10% per year (70% of their revenue is from publications). Layoffs and killing print issues seem to just have been smart business decisions and not acts of desperation.
This article puts some debates to rest — whether online ads can replace lost print revenue, or, if there’s any hope for struggling companies publishing print publications. IDG is a niche publisher, which helps since they do have a loyal tech audience, and PC World and MacWorld are mainstays that will always do well, but it’s nice to see that there is hope for an online transition for many of the traditional tech publications we love here at LaunchSquad.
What’s become clear is that it’s not an online-offline thing — just because a publisher was never in print doesn’t mean it’s immune to the issues facing the publishing industry (see, CNET). And, on the flipside, there is hope and opportunity for formerly traditional print publishers like IDG.
I guess it’s easy to confuse struggle with change.
One Stop Shop for Docs
There is a new start-up in Southern California that I have been excited about for almost a year now. Docstoc is the latest brainchild of one of my former business school classmates, Jason Nazar and his partner, Alon Schwartz. It’s a user generated community where you can find and share professional documents, ranging from legal to technology to business and beyond. Docstoc announced this week that it has raised $3.25M in its series B round of funding from Rustic Canyon Partners.
Docstoc is a great example of the increasingly transparent world that we live in, a vast database of useful information that is part blog, part social community and part encyclopedia of free information. An interesting attribute and arguably the most compelling reason that this start-up attracted the attention (read: money) of such an esteemed, media-savvy venture firm is that it has popularized the ability to embed documents into any blog or website, a feature that we know very well in the PR world is popular in the blogoshpere and on news sites.
I like Docstoc for many reasons; the site has become my go-to resource for information that I might have had trouble tracking down previously, but I also think that it is leading the charge in changing the way that people use, store and share information. The site is still in beta, the company is brand new, so for me, I will be watching to see what it does with its $3.25M and whether Jason can get another winner off the ground…
Comcast + Twitter = Creepy?
So, there’s been an overload of Twitter posts here lately, but this warrants another. My friend Nathan Halverson is a tech reporter at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and Tweeted earlier about how he was doing a story on Comcast plopping ugly green boxes down in the middle of people’s lawns – unannounced. Anyway, I responded to him:
@paperwords Comcast is so horrible. Why is their DVR still stuck in 2003? It sucks!
An hour later, this floated into Twhirl:
comcastcares @CeeLew An update is coming soon for the Motorola boxes that will help
Yikes. Savvy move, Comcast, but is this a bit creepy? Maybe it’s because Twitter is such a closed community at this point, you expect to be talking into an echo chamber. Well, that’s not always the case.
At least I know my DVR is going to get better, because it really does suck. Bad.
Facebook Opens Up Chat For All. No Converts Here (Yet)
Approximately one year ago I thought I was done with Web chat.
I’d moved on to social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, and had begun to associate instant messaging more with my social-drama-filled adolescence than new and (hopefully) professional adulthood. But then it slowly began to creep back in…
First I graduated from university and started using Google’s Gmail chat to keep up with the international adventures and job hunting travails of my classmates. I was then converted to iChat as another means of communication by my co-workers, and finally caved to Windows Live Messenger– the chat vehicle of choice for my PC-loyalist parents and siblings.
And now Facebook presents another option. Early this month, it was announced on the Facebook blog that an instant-messaging application would slowly be rolling out across networks. A couple of weeks later, the small and supposedly inconspicuous widget appeared at the bottom of the screen– although I have yet to activate it.
Sure, it’s simple, collapsible, unobtrusive and arguably valuable– serving to make communication even easier among Facebook addicts, but do I really have any need for it? Yes, I use Twitter, and one could argue I don’t have much use for that either, but Facebook chat seems at this point entirely superfluous.
As yet another distraction, I’m sure it will slowly gain in popularity over time much like other recent (and initially criticized) Facebook updates like the mini-feed and news-feed.
For now, however, I am content to stay away — we’ll see how long I hold out.
My Tech Obsession Du Jour: The 2-D Barcode
Arguably the coolest thing about life at LaunchSquad is meeting cutting-edge clients who introduce me to new technology that I never knew existed. One such client is StoreXperience, a mobile retail company that harnesses the power of my favorite new tech tool: the 2-D barcode.
I have developed a genuine obsession with 2-D barcodes (often called QR Codes). Though they resemble traditional retail barcodes, 2-D barcodes can be instantly scanned by advanced cell phones to bring complex online content straight to the hands of consumer.
Now all of that tech talk is dandy, but what gets me most psyched about 2-D barcodes is how creative types are bringing this tool into the real world: merging art, technology and design to make a real statement.
Since fashion seems to be the first frontier of 2-D barcode style, here are three companies to keep an eye on:
Lendorff Perhaps the most popular QR Code fashion statement comes from this English company, who have ingrained the barcodes onto scarves. The amazing Rob Walker dedicated his entire Consumed column to these guys last month. I now want to buy one for everyone I know.
Wikd This Dutch tech fashion company embeds individual codes onto shirts and hoodies, allowing wearers to customize the URLs on their clothing — and interested scanners to send private messages via their cellphone.
Denim Code This French company puts 2-D barcodes on the back pockets of their jeans. Can’t imagine this won’t lead to some seriously bizarre pick-up scenarios.
2-D barcodes are already very popular in Japan and Europe, and it is inevitable that they will be more widely seen Stateside soon. To get a peek at what’s in store for you, check out this Flickr gallery of international QR code statements.
All I Really Needed to Know, I Learned on Twitter
Yesterday was a busy day for me. I was in and out of meetings and wasn’t in front of my computer too much. You know, the kind of day when you’re sitting there in a conference room guessing how many emails will be in your inbox when you get back? 50, 75, 100?
Meanwhile, there were two news developments that I was eager to follow: The Pennsylvania primary and Yahoo!’s earnings. Normally on busy work and news days, I rush to my desk, fire up a browser and scan my RSS feeds and a few sites I know can get me caught up.
But yesterday was different. When I got back to my desk, Twitter was open in my browser and before closing out, I did a quick refresh to scan the latest from the people I follow.
Right then, I had one of those Twitter “eureka!” moments. Rafe sums it up elegantly when he says, “The people who laugh at Twitter do not understand it. Pity them.”
You see, as if a genie granted me three wishes, a handful of “Tweets” gave me the gist of the news I was so desperate to follow all day. Special thanks goes out to CNet’s Dan Farber who was live tweeting the earnings call and providing succinct updates as they happened:
-Yahoo CFO: Traffic acquisition costs are up 4 percent because the company has to compete. about 19 hours ago from Snitter
-Yahoo’s headcount dropped from 14,300 at the end of last year to 13,800, including 600 new hires, offset by the company’s layoff. about 19 hours ago from Snitter
-Yahoo generated first quarter free cash flow of $647 million, up 75 percent ….it includes a $350 million one-time AT&T payment. about 19 hours ago from Snitter
-Yahoo CFO: “Advertisers’ budgets may fall, but the ROI of online ads compared to other media may cushion the impact on our industry. about 19 hours ago from Snitter
-Yang affirms that will choose whatever option maximizes shareholder value, including MS….more money! about 19 hours ago from Snitter
In 5 Tweets, I had all the information I needed. Sure, there was no analysis, but that could wait.
On to the election. I read a quick note from Fred Wilson who Tweeted, “i’ve just learned more about the PA primary on Tweetscan than CNN and MSNBC combined,” and posted a URL with the majority of news updates and comments on the election from around the Twittersphere. After a quick scan, Fred and I were on the same page. Too close to call. Anderson Cooper can wait.
As I left the office to head home and watch the final results come in, I couldn’t help but marvel at how easily I was able to catch up on the news of the day thanks to Dan and Fred.
Sure, the era of information overload has its drawbacks, but sometimes we forget how sweet it is when it all comes together just right. Thanks guys. And thank you, Twitter.
Blogger comes out, WaPo not amused
As anyone on the receiving end of one of my link filled IMs, e-mails or Tweets can tell you, I love sports blogs. There’s a small circle of about 10 of them (led by Deadspin, Fire Joe Morgan, Kissing Suzy Kolber and With Leather) that have superlative, hilarious writing and style and attitude that is basically a giant middle finger to the traditional sporting press.
And, as a former sports writer, I can say that gesture is very much needed.
The two worlds collided yesterday after Michael Tunison, aka Christmas Ape on Kissing Suzy Kolber, was fired from the Washington Post after outing himself on KSK. This is interesting in many different ways.
For the most part, the vanguard of the traditional sports press despise bloggers because they aren’t trained journalists who went to school for four years so they can be treated like scum by athletes. For the most part this vanguard is a bunch of self-aggrandizing pathetic writers who couldn’t recognize important prose if it hit them in the face. The Washington Post took offense, not to some of Tunison’s edgier posts on KSK, but to the fact that he said he was “totally f**king hammered” in the picture accompanying his post outing himself. Because, you know, no respectable journalist has ever gotten drunk when his or her favorite team went to the Super Bowl. The parrot may have been a bit much.
It’s pretty obvious that Tunison was canned because of the blog.
Anyway, the reaction has been pretty comical. The fairly sizable KSK and Deadspin communities reacted by taking over Dan Steinberg’s blog at the WaPo online.
The traditional media’s reaction to blogs is a constant source of hilarity. For the sports media to get upset over fans writing about sports is the epitome of stupidity – they are, after all, the people the media is (or should be) writing for. What difference does having a piece of paper make when you’re spouting off about sports? Just because I went to journalism school, does that make me more qualified to write about baseball than the guy with an accounting degree who spends his spare time crunching baseball stats? No. If he knows more than me and can write, well…
There are plenty of reporters who are embracing new media and are doing fantastic work, so it’s very unfair to lump traditional media in one big group, but a message to those who are afraid of blogs: Get over it. You’ll be working for one soon enough.
Cooking With Cindy McCain
Cindy McCain wants you to cook with her. As it turns out, though, “Cindy’s Family Recipes,” are apparently, not so homegrown.
The New York Times and The Huffington Post reported that several of the hopeful First Lady’s ‘family’ recipes were in fact lifted word for word from The Food Network Web site.
Campaign officials were quick to blame the interns for being lazy, Rachael Ray chimed in suggesting that her recipes were meant to be “accessible to anyone” and McCain decided that she preferred “lemon chicken and beef stew” after all.
What this bit of news left me wondering about is, what makes an ‘original’ in today’s blogging, twittering, texting and emailing world? Certainly, calling something a family recipe creates the presumption that it’s not in Giada Di Laurentiis’ ammo, but times have changed, no?
My mother used to write down all of her recipes in a leather-bound, yellow-paged notebook that has seen better days. I remember penning my own “apple cake” recipe. Today, I can take a snapshot of that recipe and throw it into my Evernote. Or, I can post the contents of the book into my own personal blog. The amount of information out there seems to be boundless and originality is harder to come by.
How many rosemary chicken breast or chicken noodle soup recipes are truly ‘unique’? Perhaps my mother had one written into her recipe book, which was passed down to her from my grandmother and previously created by her mother.
While I may consider it to be my family recipe, another girl in another town may consider it to be hers. The same was probably true 50 years ago, only today, we know about it thanks to Google, FoodBlogSearch.com, Facebook and the like.
Cindy McCain and plagiarism aside, in my opinion, the Internet has taken a very personal and time-honored tradition into a globally-shared social activity. With cooking social networks, baking blogs and online video demos, the Web has managed to transform a second shift job into a technology-savvy, working professional’s hobby that still manages to honor both its roots and the technology-driven possibilities for its evolution.
