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Phil's Blogservations
Friday, June 28, 2002
Posted by philgomes 2:23 PM
Here Comes The Tablet PC...Again...: Dan Bricklin, the renowned co-creator of the venerable VisiCalc spreadsheet, has a great journal entry about his visit to TechXNY.
I was particularly struck by his description of the Microsoft keynote, which alluded to a launch of a Tablet PC platform this coming November. It seems like every year for the past three, the technology PR machine has tried to convince us that this is the year of the Tablet PC. Remember 3COM's "Audrey?" Didn't think so. Perhaps I'm being pessimistic. After all, there's a lot of work going on that could, when applied to the Tablet PC platform, help make these devices actually useful. Wi-Fi is becoming more pervasive (if still security-deficient), power sources are getting smaller and more long-lived, handwriting recognition is getting better, and components are less energy-hungry. Speaking of Tablet PCs...I will admit that I've been seriously drooling over the PaceBook, a three-in-one laptop/tablet/LCD-PC from a small southern California startup called PaceBlade. I had the pleasure of chatting with PaceBlade founder Eric Djie last summer. Djie—a designer who holds some key patents related to the futon—conceived of the PaceBook from a design perspective, rather than a technical one. When the technology caught up (e.g. the advent of power-efficient CPUs like Transmeta's Crusoe), the design could therefore be realized. It's a tough time for computer hardware right now, but I really hope this innovative design finds some success in the marketplace. Can't wait until they incorporate perhaps a faster Crusoe CPU or maybe on-board Wi-Fi.
Thursday, June 27, 2002
Posted by philgomes 2:02 PM
In Praise Of A Rogue Province: You know. You gotta hand it to the Taiwanese. They are some extremely smart businesspeople.
I mean, not to oversimplify, but how many things in your house have "Made In Taiwan" on them? Actually, more than you might think. In fact, many of the chips you buy—like the U.S.-designed Nvidia chip that might be in your PC's graphics adapter—are actually manufactured in Taiwan. I was moved to write based on this article about how Motorola plans to outsource more of its manufacturing to the grand poo-bah of all chip industry foundries-for-hire, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation. Many semiconductor companies both large and small opt to use TSMC's manufacturing facilities rather than build their own. (So-called semiconductor "fabs" cost a few billion dollars and depreciate quickly as Moore's Law continues is inexorable collision into the Laws Of Physics.) This reminded me of a joke I heard at a conference on Taiwan-based contract manufacturing for the chip industry. TSMC and several of its competitors were in Santa Clara, Calif., talking about the state of pure-play foundries at the time. I think it was 1999. Adding levity to what could have otherwise become a somewhat staid affair, the representative from Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) offered this bit of humor: The director of NASA was interviewing candidates for the very last crew opening on the International Space Station. It came down to a German, Italian, and Taiwanese man.All other qualifications being equal, it all came down to price: How much would it take to get one of these highly qualified astronauts to take on such a potentially dangerous mission? After the German completed his interview, the NASA director asked about his price. "One million of your U.S. dollars," the German said. "Christ!" responded the director. "What makes you think you're worth that much!" "I have expenses, you see," the German explained. "I've got a wife, several kids, my cars..." The German was dismissed and the Italian astronaut was brought in. The NASA director ended the interview asking about his price. "Two million of your U.S. dollars," the Italian said. "Two million? Where do you get off?" "My dear director," the Italian began. "I have a wife, kids, a young mistress in Milan, another in Florence..." The director sent the Italian away and brought in the Taiwanese astronaut. Finally, it again came down to price. "Three million dollars," the astronaut said. "Are you kidding?!" the director exclaimed, at the end of his rope. "The German asked for one million! Then the Italian asked for two! What in the world makes you think you're worth three million dollars?!" "No, no, no," the Taiwanese astronaut began to explain. "You don't understand. One million for you, one million for me...and we send that German up!"
Wednesday, June 26, 2002
Posted by philgomes 8:09 PM
"Welcome To Your New Financial Regulatory Reporting Job. Here's Your Shovel": Knowing a little bit about this company's history with the SEC, I found its most recent job posting kind of funny.
This, of course, came on the heels of Worldcom's space-shuttle-sized accounting fraud.
Posted by philgomes 7:37 PM
"Ben Bagdikian, Where Are You?": Back in high school, and again in college, I read a book called The Media Monopoly by Ben Bagdikian. It discusses the inherent danger that arises when very few of the world's companies own the overwhelming majority of the media. By extension, the book also makes one wonder whether, say, a PepsiCo-owned TV network would ever run a news expose about disgruntled employees who sneak syringes in the cans.
I'm forced to ask a similar question when I see that MSNBC—yes, that's Microsoft NBC—is running a somewhat critical article about Linux. For the uninitiated, Linux is a free "open" alternative to the proprietary or "closed" Windows operating system from Microsoft. By "open," one means that the Linux source code—or "blueprints," really—are laid bare for all in the programming community to inspect, modify, and share at will. Windows, by contrast, is kind of a "black box" in that its guts aren't really exposed at all. So, it's interesting to observe a Microsoft-owned media property running an article that seems to support its own agenda. Understand that I don't think there's any real bad intent here; I am in no way disparaging the writer's journalistic integrity. As a matter of fact, MSNBC has done an admirable job of covering Microsoft's foibles (security problems, virus vulnerabilities, etc.) as well as its successes. Actually, the article is fairly well-balanced, discussing Linux's successes in the server market while rightly mentioning its very high barriers to entry in the desktop PC arena. But it is interesting to observe, though. Bagdikian's vision becomes more true every day, I'm finding. What's next? Exxon-ABC? The Smith & Wesson TBS Superstation? Who knows?
Monday, June 24, 2002
Posted by philgomes 5:32 PM
Phil Finds New Career Path: I'm in the wrong business.
If I had been thinking, I would've started a trade organization and sponsored its related conferences and events. That way, perhaps I could con you into paying money (most likely adding the de rigueur non-member tariff where applicable) to attend some event where blindingly obvious facts are conveyed to you by people with really, really nifty titles. (For members, any entrance fee would, of course, be in addition to the three-figure annual membership dues I'll be hitting you with.) For example, take the National Press Club's cocktail lecture "The State Of Electronic Public Relations," which was co-hosted by the National Capital Chapter of PRSA and sponsored by U.S. Newswire. Get a load of these pearls of wisdom: "You have to reach out to reporters...Target them with appropriate material. Blindly sending (an e-mail press kit) to thousands of reporters will not be welcome." "PR people need to be a better resource to journalists. Just because you can send an e-mail to 1,000 journalists doesn't mean you should." Oooooh. Brilliant stuff, eh? This is why I've never joined PRSA, IABC, or BMA. I attended some try-before-you-buy member recruitment events, but I found the experience to be ultimately profitless from a professional standpoint. Hell, I went to one conference sponsored by a marketing trade organization and I swear it was like being stuck in an elevator with Betty White for several hours. Thank God this NPC event was only $10 for non-members and even free for members. That said, professional organizations aren't entirely without value. I was a member of the excellent Society Of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) for a time, though I ended up not renewing my membership due to 1) carelessness, and 2) other economic priorities. Taking off my agency hat for a bit, there is an interesting nugget from a media consumer standpoint. One executive VP from a PR agency indicated that "publications just run the releases he sends them without calling him or the client first." Frightening if true, isn't it? As a PR person, you'd think I'd be thrilled by this, but I consume media voraciously and, therefore, find such newsroom laziness appalling. Then again, how many EVP's are the ones actively courting the media in the first place? I probably shouldn't get too worried, since it's not likely that an EVP would be very close to the data that comes from an associate's day-to-day contact with the media.
Posted by philgomes 4:01 PM
Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda On The "Slashdot Effect": c|net is running a Q&A with the creator of the über-blog Slashdot. I figured I'd post it since my ExpertPR article on blogging has been receiving some favorable response, based on the letters that have made it to my inbox, anyway.
While I'm not one of those bloggers who beat the "blogging, right or wrong" drum, it's obvious that PR pros can only ignore the power of this highly influential site at their own peril. As I describe more clearly in my article, the day may come when traditional media is charged with covering what matters, and the blogs will take that content and bring what really matters to the respective communities they serve. As technology freelancer and writer Dylan Tweney wrote me the other day, "One thing seems sure—your job as a PR person is only going to get harder." I can hardly disagree.
Friday, June 21, 2002
Posted by philgomes 7:18 PM
Tech World Picks At Jupiter's Bones: According to this article, Jupiter has sold off its events and research division for a mere $250,000—a squeaking end to an analyst firm that once roared.
I remember when Internet startups would beg and plead for their PR reps to secure meetings with this company's analysts, as if not having an audience with Jupiter would forever dash their lofty dreams of selling baby clothes on the Internet. Then again, just as the dot-com boom made every lame day-trading moron a financial genius and every ivy-league MBA student a "visionary," I guess prognosticating on a market that could only go up brought its own group of people who came and went with the tide. (Remember when one firm was saying that B2B Internet commerce was going to reach $1.5 trillion? Remember when one analyst talked Qualcomm's stock to $600/share and set a $1,000/share price target?) While the NYC district attorney is examining the Wall Street analysts who pubicly hyped the companies they both privately slagged and underwrote, tech industry analysts had their own conflicts of interest. This older Wired article talks about how several of these analysts were paid bonuses by their respective firms based on how many times they were quoted in the media. If an analyst's new sports car or yacht is based on yearly clip-count, I bet you can get a few of them to say a ton of provocative things that have little basis in solid research. Some of these analysts will only take a meeting with a company if said company is a client, raising significant questions about the thoroughness of their research. My PR-blogging colleague Tom Murphy has further thoughts on this issue, and I agree with him. Further, I share his experience in that 98% of the analysts that I've engaged with have certainly been straight shooters. The rest? Thankfully, they amount to a rounding error.
Posted by philgomes 1:38 PM
Site Offers Comparison Of Free Operating Systems: This evaluation of BSD Unix versus Linux is completely based on the relative technical merits of both systems, I'm sure.
On a related note, my experiments with Mandrake Linux 8.2 have been going well. I've been authoring Web pages using GEdit and graphics with The GIMP. I even wrote an article using KWord, though I had to convert it to MS-Word to send to my editor. Still looking for a 100% hardware-based modem that hasn't been hobbled by the need for Windows-specific drivers.
Thursday, June 20, 2002
Posted by philgomes 10:08 PM
Yet Another Post About NPR's Linking Policy: As I'm sure you've heard, National Public Radio somewhat optimistically insists that you fill out a formal application on its Web site in order to link to its content. Wired News appears to have the most blogged story on this topic, while Dan Gillmor and others have sounded off as well.
I like NPR. Fresh Air... All Things Considered... Great, thoughtful programs. By many around here in the Bay Area, NPR is treated like the listening choice of either the intellectual elite or those who wish they were. By way of explanation...At any given Silicon Valley cocktail party, you'll have a huddle of people talking about something of media interest. One guy will talk about something he heard on AM talk radio. Another will mention a related item Jennings covered on ABC News. Perhaps the same issue was addressed in FORTUNE, Forbes, or Business Week. But it's always the one who smugly starts a sentence with "Well, you know, I heard on NPR that..." who seems to carry him- or herself as the fire-bearing homo sapien leading the mere conversational troglodytes out of the cave. (NB: If this situation perhaps sounds unfamiliar, note that many Valley types habitually bring their boardroom maneuvering skills into social situations in an effort to make everything competitive. You'll recognize them as the same ones who use the term "strategic" or "value-added" as incorrectly and frequently as possible.) Anyway, I digress. My point is that NPR has fashioned a very enviable place for itself in our society. But, how can NPR pull a maneuver like this and still be able to maintain its status as radio for the cognoscenti, particularly when many among that same set of folks are very Internet-savvy? A bad day for NPR, indeed.
Posted by philgomes 6:12 PM
The New Tooth Phone: This widely circulated story about a British-developed, tooth-mounted phone reminds me of a dirty joke. A French-born, U.S.-based marketing executive from STMicroelectronics once told me this joke during a time when we were in the process of rolling out the company's partnership with Hitachi. The joke is also a comment on chindogu, the Japanese art of uniquely (im)practical inventions.
An American, Englishman, and Japanese man are on a golf course when they hear a cell phone ringing. The Englishman puts his thumb to his ear and his pinky to his mouth and starts talking. After a minute, he says his goodbyes and takes his hand away from the side of his head. "What was that?" his friends ask. "British ingenuity," the Englishman offered. "I have a microphone installed in my pinky and a speaker in my thumb, so I never miss a call." Several minutes later, they hear another cell phone ring. This time, it's the American's turn to show off. He cricks his neck, starts talking into empty air, says his goodbyes, and cricks his neck afterward. "What was that?" his friends ask. "Yankee ingenuity," he replies. "I have a microphone implanted in my lower lip, and a speaker woven into my eardrum. I just have to move my head to turn it on or off." Several minutes later, another cell phone rings. This time, however, the Japanese man runs over to the nearest bush, pulls down his pants, and squats. "What in the hell are you doing?" the Englishman and American ask in unison. "What in the hell do you think I'm doing!?!" the Japanese man says. "I'm receiving a three-page fax!"
Posted by philgomes 1:58 PM
New Spam-Catching Tool Should Keep PR Pros On Their Toes: I've been following the launch of Cloudmark with great interest, as I believe this is the first spam tool that could radically affect the practice of PR and even the careers of PR pros.
Co-founded by a Napster alum, Cloudmark offers a peer-to-peer method of identifying and catching spam. The community of Cloudmark users "vote" about the email in their inboxes, judging whether the message is spam. If an email gets a certain number of votes, that message is blocked for the rest of the community. So, let's say you're a PR pro and you've been sending out email pitches to reporters. Rather than a targeted approach, let's say you decided to ignore Uncle Phil's warnings and blasted said pitch far-and-wide, relevance to the individual journalists be damned. Now, let's say that these reporters have Cloudmark's product installed. If enough judge your pitch as irrelevant—and possibly give you extra demerits for misspellings, poor grammar, or poor understanding of your client—you're then banned from their inboxes. Presumably, other Cloudmark-using journalists you may not have even pitched would never get future correspondence either. Reporters are widely known to have long memories, with or without peer-to-peer spam-fighting tools. Your job just got harder.
Tuesday, June 18, 2002
Posted by philgomes 11:56 AM
"I Blog This Link To Have Your Advice": The Merc's "Modem Driver" columnist David Plotnikoff has authored a brilliant parody of the overwrought language that email solicitors (aka "spammers") use.
It would be funnier if it weren't so damned real. 80% of the emails received at phil@philgomes.com are spam. As it turns out, I've been experimenting with some of the freely available spam-blocking tools at home. I hope to have a full report on my progress sometime this month. In the meantime, check out the one I'm currently playing with.
Friday, June 14, 2002
Posted by philgomes 4:26 PM
"100100011010" = "I'd Like To Thank The Academy...": So, my friend Brian and I are going to see Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones tonight at the Metreon. I've already seen it, but the Metreon has full digital projection capabilities to complement the 100% digital filming of the movie. Susan and I had already seen the movie with our friends Sophia and Michael, but it was a digital-to-film print. I hope to maybe see some appreciable difference between the two screenings.
This article talks about Booz, Allen, & Hamilton's predictions for a tepid adoption rate for digital projection facilities by the movie industry. Converting 36,000 theaters would cost between $5B and $7B. Of the 5,000 theaters that screened Clones, only 60 were digital-ready. The article, however, describes several economic incentives for a fully digital screening infrastructure. Lucas is reportedly holding Episode III hostage unless theaters get with it and change to digital projection. The trend toward digital is inevitable, but it probably won't happen as soon as Lucas would like. I wouldn't count Lucas out, though. The powers of a Jedi can have a strong influence on the weak-minded, or so I'm told...
Thursday, June 13, 2002
Posted by philgomes 4:55 PM
Blogs: Ignore Them At Your Peril: Today, my article on blogging ran in ExpertPR.
Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Posted by philgomes 6:14 PM
Andy Rooney Slaps Dan Rather For "Liberal Bias"...Film At Eleven...; "Hello, Pot? You've Got Mr. Kettle On Line Two..."
You won't read about it in very many places but, apparently, Andy Rooney told Larry King that Dan Rather "is transparently liberal" and "should be more careful." Now, Rooney is fairly liberal too, but his status as a commentator and editorializer gives him that license. At any rate, though, accusing Dan Rather of any bias, political or not, opens the doors to a possible libel litigation. Rooney is the one that ought to be more careful. The writer of this Wall Street Journal article, Bernard Goldberg, also describes some of the blacklisting he received when he accused the general media of bias. If not anything else, I think he just sold me on his book Bias.
Tuesday, June 11, 2002
Posted by philgomes 7:12 PM
Big Agency Or Small Agency? An Enlightened View: "Clearly, there's not enough new business to go around [for PR agencies] these days or we wouldn't have time to write...esoteric, inside-baseball opinion pieces," offers Morrisey & Co. Senior Vice President Ed Cafasso. He's referring to a debate on ExpertPR about the relative merits of small agencies and big agencies.
To see what inspired Mr. Cafasso to write his thoughtful piece about the ultimate futility of the debate, you can read the gunfire exchange on the side of small agencies and big agencies by clicking on the appropriate links. As Mr. Cafasso describes perhaps less strongly than I will, articles describing both sides of the agency spectrum completely missed the point. In other words, "It's the service, stupid." The 'size' debate in our industry is relentlessly self-serving and subjective, and it works to trivialize the decision-making process that propels the circle of life in PR. It's a disingenuous conversation we have with ourselves whenever the bigger firms and the smaller firms find themselves bumping into each other in pursuit of a limited amount of new business.For my part, I found the small agency argument rhetorically unsound, and the big agency argument insulting as hell. As to the latter, from a Ketchum senior vice president: Many freelancers position themselves as being just as qualified as their big firm counterparts. "After all," they say, "I'd still be working there if not for layoffs; but now, you can take advantage of my big agency expertise for pennies on the dollar." But ask yourself a question: When your company has to do layoffs, do you cut your best people first? In the second round? Or, do you hold on to your best people at all costs, knowing that their abilities and experience are what customers want and need? Something to consider...
Friday, June 07, 2002
Posted by philgomes 11:06 AM
How Memories Are Made: No, this isn't a Hallmark ad. Actually, someone posted an informative journal of a trip to an Irish computer memory assembly plant. This firm, Dane-Elec, is apparently in the business of building memory modules for PCs, as well as CompactFlash cards for digital cameras, PDAs, etc.
Okay, so maybe most of Blogservations' readers won't think this is as cool as I do, but my experiences working with National Semiconductor, Hitachi Semiconductor and, today, Matrix Semiconductor have given me a strong appreciation for the world of microelectronics. It's also rare that you find something that takes a fun-yet-informative look at electronics manufacturing.
Wednesday, June 05, 2002
Posted by philgomes 3:14 PM
Ill-Applied PR Will Come Back To Haunt You: Those of you PR folks who think that poor practice of your craft is forgivable and that journalists don't have long memories would do well to read this article about Maryland Public Television's arguably questionable choice of PR counsel.
In the wake of MPT's controversial dismissal of long-time Wall $treet Week anchor Louis Rukeyser, the public TV network decided it needed a spin doctor to elevate its tarnished image. According to this piece, they've hired a guy who is legendary in the Baltimore Sun newsroom for exaggeration, "overwraught" news releases, and even seeking to place fraudulent stories that were embarrasing to the newspaper. MPT says they're getting a "bargain." Hope they're right.
Monday, June 03, 2002
Posted by philgomes 7:40 PM
"You've Got Congressional Spam!": You've read about enlarging your extremities, getting a 0.0001% interest loan, and baking a Nieman-Marcus cookie. Now, here comes Joseph Lieberman!!
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