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	Phil's Blogservations Friday, April 30, 2004 Posted by philgomes 1:18 PM Machine Head's Through The Ashes Of Empires Album Machine Head's Through The Ashes Of Empires Album The new record from Machine Head is so intense that I think it just blew out a load-bearing brain cell that once supported the part of my grey matter responsible for long division. Oh, well... Not that I needed it much for PR anyway... Thursday, April 29, 2004 Posted by philgomes 10:36 AM Thurman Flogs Fashionistas Thurman Flogs Fashionistas Gotta hand it to Uma Thurman... This is a great rant about why she deliberately sought a "worst-dressed" nod. The dress didn't do that thing that people are in the mood for, which is what most people had. We've gotten so savvy with stylists that it's like a kind of warfare of defensive dressing out there. Everyone looked the same. Everyone had it down to such a perfect tee in their spaghetti-strapped, sequined or chiffon, body-hugging, gym- hour promoting things. You get bored. That's when you have to say, 'I will be worst dressed. I'm glad it was me they panned. I think I deserve it, and I can take it. I need a good panning every so often or I wouldn't really recognize my life. Courtesy of IMDB. Wednesday, April 28, 2004 Posted by philgomes 11:39 AM They Didn't Call Me "Captain Vocabulary" In College For Nothing They Didn't Call Me "Captain Vocabulary" In College For Nothing I'm going to use this word as many times as possible this week. Kind of describes how some of us PR bloggers look at our profession. Tuesday, April 27, 2004 Posted by philgomes 10:18 AM How Well Do You Know Phil? How Well Do You Know Phil? Do you think you know me? Take this quiz and find out exactly how well! Monday, April 26, 2004 Posted by philgomes 7:00 PM Making The Most Out Of The Drive Making The Most Out Of The Drive I choose to live in Alameda. Save for the presence of Wind River Systems, it's hardly a tech mecca. I live and work here because the pace is nice, it's not terribly expensive, I have a great live/work environment, it's equidistant from the places I need/want to be, and the area simply suits my temprament. In any case, as the cover of an Industry Standard edition once said, "On The Internet, No One Knows You're In Nebraska." In that spirit, choosing to live within one area code of 408/650/415 is hardly isolating. As people familiar with the Bay Area might guess, this sometimes means that I will occassionally take quite a bit of time to hop into my car or BART to get to a meeting, lecture gig, or whatever. Now that CNET Radio is no longer broadcasting on 910AM — a crime compounded by the new management's decision to stop syndicating Larry "The Sage From South Central" Elder in favor of Michael Savage — I no longer have the kind of in-transit access to tech-focused business news and commentary that I was used to. Fortunately, IT Conversations came to the rescue. I download their MP3 interviews with tech opinion leaders regularly. Occasionally, I will burn several to CD to play in the car. Today, on the way to a talk at my alma mater, I'll be listening to: Jon Udell Dan Gillmor Mary Jo Foley Phil Zimmermann All of this fits comfortably into an 80-minute CD, which I anticipate is what I'll need to keep me entertained while driving to Moraga during rush-hour. Anyway... Gotta hop. Back tomorrow. Posted by philgomes 4:42 PM The Cost Of Compliance The Cost Of Compliance Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulations are forcing companies to pony up a lot more for storage than perhaps they've bargained for. This article from IT Analysis, brought to me by Techdirt, lays it all quite bare. However, the costs are not only high for failing to comply with regulations, but may also be in high in actually complying. According to some commentators, the costs of reviewing data on a single hard drive can be as high as $10,000. In a large organisation with a multitude of business information systems in place that cost can rise into the millions of dollars. Plus, companies must review all of the servers and storage mechanisms used in their business, including redundant systems and messaging services, including e-mail and instant messaging. I can see companies in the storage hardware, storage software, and business intelligence software businesses finding a very rich opportunity here, not to mention management consultants and systems integrators. Thursday, April 22, 2004 Posted by philgomes 2:05 PM Perspectives On Gmail Perspectives On Gmail The launch of Google's free gigabyte-class Gmail service — which uses your email's content to deliver embedded contextualized ads along with your correspondence — is shaping up to be a fascinating PR study. It's also inspiring some great op-eds. Here's a humorous take on the whole Gmail privacy flap from Curt Brandao, which I discovered through a link on Paul Boutin's blog by way of Scripting News. I also very much enjoyed Jim Lynch's ExtremeTech opinion piece about Gmail and privacy, which takes a very practical stance. Users have an obligation to accept responsibility for themselves and for their choices. If one does not agree with the terms of Google's e-mail service, one should simply not use that service. If it believes that its policies are threatening the bottom line, Google will have to adjust its policies to attract more users. UPDATE: Jupiter's Michael Gartenberg weighs in as well: This is ridiculous and another example of the clueless nature of politicians. What on earth are the grounds here? That people aren't smart enough to opt into something? that folks don't know that there might sensitive items in e-mail? My ISP scans all my mail for spam. It's electronic and happens in the background. Gmail works on the same principle and folks aren't comfortable with that, they don't need to sign up for it. Posted by philgomes 11:10 AM Windows Media Player 10 Screengrabs Leak, Disappear Windows Media Player 10 Screengrabs Leak, Disappear Now you see them... Now you don't... *8-( Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Posted by philgomes 6:48 PM "Why Are You Wearing That Stupid Bunny Suit?" "Why Are You Wearing That Stupid Bunny Suit?" "Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?" Yup... They're releasing a director's cut of Donnie Darko, one of my favorites. "Twenty-eight days... six hours... forty-two minutes... twelve seconds. That... is when the world... will end..." Tuesday, April 20, 2004 Posted by philgomes 2:32 PM Look Inside My Mind: The Busy Tech PR Person's Desktop Look Inside My Mind: The Busy Tech PR Person's Desktop Thought I'd share a glimpse of my computer desktop with all of you. Note that, day-to-day, the desktop usually has about a dozen or more windows open — several IE windows, lots of emails-in-progress, IM sessions, MS-Office documents, RSS aggregator, etc. These screenshots weren't snapped during regular working hours, and have been pared to provide a simpler view of my digital working environment that, for some silly reason, I feel compelled to share. Here's the plain version: As you can probably tell from this screenshot, I'm a big fan of the movie Hellraiser. I consider it one of the best horror films ever. I use this theme while I'm working at home. I always select something more staid and boring when I'm at a client's location or otherwise out-and-about on business. When I'm doing guest lectures, though, the students don't seem to mind. XP's desktop theme manager makes this switch very easy. 1. Basic Windows Icons: My Computer (I call mine "Cenobite," another Hellraiser reference), My Documents, and Network Neighborhood. Nothing new save for the custom icons. I also have some cool systems sounds. For instance, this plays whenever Outlook delivers a new batch of emails. This plays when I shut down the computer. 2. IE and Outlook: Like I have much of a choice? Anyway, I have Linux running on another machine as my stop-gap between my current full-time computing environment and a full Linux changeover. 3. VNC: This allows me to create a window that lets me see the desktop on my Linux machine. 4. ideas.txt: This is just a plain-text document that I use to put down random ideas I get throughout the day. Some of them even wind up on this blog. This little feature you're reading right now was actually tapped into this file bit-by-bit over the course of a few evenings. 5. My Shortcut Tray: No big surprises here. Based on what I've seen on other people's desktops, though, mine is more populated than most. It takes the burden off of the desktop and helps keep things cleaner. 6. Current Projects: Another way I try to make my desktop as clean as possible is to keep folders (and shortcuts to same) of either frequently accessed information or topics/ideas that I'd just like to have handy. These items range from client-related to artistically related. 7. Game Shortcuts: For the after-hours... *8-) 8. Template Shortcuts And Timeslips: Necessary. 9. Recycle Bin: Empty, of course, 'cause I never make a mistake and, thus, never need to delete anything. Har, har, har... 10. Email: Don't bother squinting at it to get the inside track on my clients' news. It's a totally bogus email to my friend Richard. You'll notice the signature file with the Feynman quote that has been a fixture of my outgoing emails for almost as long as I've been in PR. 11 & 12: Instant Message and Webcam: Working from home, you miss the water-cooler talk. My Yahoo IM and webcam help to approximate this kind of office environment. It's also helpful if I need quick answers to something and the idle timer shows whether the person who has the answer is at his or her desk. As more and more people work from home, I argue that some degree of presence detection (and even some metadata on that person's responsibilities or field of expertise) will become fairly standard. We're talking something like "Is there anyone within my personal network online right now at a certain level of NDA clearance who knows anything about polysilicon deposition?" RSS Aggregator: I use Awasu. Hell... I'll totally say that for free. An RSS aggregator is absolutely essential for a tech PR pro, since you have to get up to speed on the day's news and opinions quickly in order to be as effective as possible. Thanks to my aggregator and the information processing network it pulls to my desktop, I figure I consume more data in the first half hour of my day than most people consume in a week. Please know that I'm not saying this to be arrogant — after all, Robert Scoble famously subscribes to 1,300+ feeds — but I see it as simply just a necessary requirement of my job. Finally, here's a look at Beavis, my Linux box, through VNC. As you can see, I used GIMP to art up these screengrabs. Beavis is not only useful for this kind of noodling, but also stores my MP3s, which I access via Samba. I prefer to listen to classical or ambient electronic music while I work. Sometimes jazz. I save the goth, indie, and metal for the after-hours. Friday, April 16, 2004 Posted by philgomes 2:15 PM Going Into The Weekend Going Into The Weekend Over Yahoo! Messenger: EC: I wouldn't hold my breath for good weather this weekend PG: yeah... to my right is sun and fun. to my left is blecccch. EC: weatherman says it's gonna be cooooooold EC: & since my new 0 degree sleeping bag insn't here yet.... no camping PG: brr PG: weathermen have the perfect job. PG: good pay. zero accountability whatsoever. EC: yes, but you have to have $20,000 teeth Posted by philgomes 2:09 PM The Value Of Analysis The Value Of Analysis Cheers to CNET, which came through yesterday with some very quick, thorough, and insightful analysis of RealNetworks' recent overtures to Apple. The story originally broke in The New York Times. Now... Why am I taking the time to write this? I've always believed that the first 30-60 minutes of every PR person's day are the most important by far. In order to be effective — able to determine the strength and relevance of a client's message in the greater scheme of things — a PR person needs to consume a lot of data per client very quickly. This is why I've been such a fan of RSS, not only as an outbound public relations tool, but an operational one as well. But raw information simply isn't enough. There is a little-appreciated difference between "information" and "intelligence," the latter of which is defined as "actionable information" by professional business researchers. Any attempt to synthesize a variety of thoughts, opinions, and reactions helps achieve this goal. A bunny-trail for you PR folks out there... Have you ever had to assemble a "tracker" for your clients, perhaps when you were just starting out agency-side? Most of the time, this is just a raw data dump from Lexis/Nexis into MS-Word. Did you perhaps fool yourself into thinking, at one time, that a client ever made a decision based on this daily 50-page monster? The broken information-gathering and intelligence processes that I've observed at most agencies is maybe a topic for another posting, but it is an issue that I've run into a number of times. Chief among my problems with how this process is carried out is that 1) there is little attempt to analyze or even summarize this data, and 2) the task is left to the most junior person in the PR team with little involvement by those who can best render analysis. Thursday, April 15, 2004 Posted by philgomes 2:10 PM "Life Is Good!" "Life Is Good!" This just in from a friend of mine. She works in an office. This is kind of like beat poetry, or a haiku where the author forgot to count syllables. pizza & beer... @ my desk! and Brazilian music.. and the UPS guy is due any moment Life is good! Posted by philgomes 1:57 PM Fool Interviews CNET Fool Interviews CNET Motley Fool has an interview with CNET's CEO. An interesting read. Tuesday, April 13, 2004 Posted by philgomes 2:58 PM Lunchtime Thought Lunchtime Thought I want to be Charlie Rose when I grow up. Tuesday, April 06, 2004 Posted by philgomes 8:21 PM Delivering Lecture, GGU Silicon Valley Delivering Lecture, GGU Silicon Valley Just a note that I'll be delivering a lecture at Golden Gate University's Silicon Valley campus at the invitation of Robert Gelphman. The topic will be online PR, blogging, competitive intelligence, and all of the rest of the stuff that I've been yammering about on this site for a number of years now. *8-) Monday, April 05, 2004 Posted by philgomes 8:35 PM Linux Desktop Makes Some Waves Linux Desktop Makes Some Waves Couldn't help but notice that both Dan Gillmor and Chad Dickerson had something to say about the idea of a Linux desktop today. It seems like ever since the giddy days of Eazel, the dawn of the Linux desktop is always about six to twelve months away from today. I think we're getting a lot closer this time, though. For one thing, installation has gotten a lot easier. My Mandrake 9.2 installation was worlds easier than 8.2. (Bad press about Mandrake 9.1 prevented me from trying it out.) It was like comparing a Spitfire to an F-14 Tomcat. For another, the Linux distributions that I've played with strike a great balance between basic no-nonsense functionality for the non-geeks and slobber-generating "featuritis" for the rest of us. I wasted about two hours last summer trying to determine what window manager configuration I liked the most. (And we won't talk about the time spent in my re-education in shell commands, which were long since lost since my sysadmin days ended in 1996.) There's also the joy — as Dan Gillmor hints at — of resurrecting that old piece of hardware. For my part, Red Hat 9 breathed new life into my 750MHz Athlon-based computer. Finally, there are folks like Codeweavers who are looking at making sure that Linux desktops provide Office compatibility. My lack of confidence in this regard has been the main reason why I haven't yet adopted Linux as my full-time OS — my business partners and clients would not tolerate cross-platform formatting and compatibility issues — but this resistance is waning quickly. Once this obstacle has been surmounted, plenty more folks will be moving toward the Linux desktop, I'm sure. Friday, April 02, 2004 Posted by philgomes 12:24 PM Really Slow News Day Really Slow News Day Jupiter analyst Avi Greengart points us to this news release from Verizon. From the release, with emphasis added: Verizon Wireless Helps Customers Monitor Daylight Savings Time, Weekend Plans and More BEDMINSTER, NJ -- It’s time to spring forward! - Daylight Savings Time begins at 2:00 AM on Sunday, April 4. To stay on time this weekend, just take a look at any Verizon Wireless phone. The nation’s leading wireless provider reminds customers that in addition to superior call quality, its expansive network automatically updates each customer’s phone with the local time. "Automatically!" Greengart exclaims in faux astonishment. "Stop the presses!" Thursday, April 01, 2004 Posted by philgomes 5:36 PM Data Visualization Data Visualization I've always thought that data visualization will become the next killer app in the public relations field. I've been experimenting with the trial version of Grokker, and now it looks like I'll have another tool to play with. Thanks to Greg Brooks for the link. Posted by philgomes 1:36 PM Timing Is Everything... Timing Is Everything... ...Especially when you debut a gigabyte-class free email service like Google did today — April Fool's Day. From Lisa Baertlein's article in Reuters: Google's announcement was questioned because of the U.S. No. 1 search service's unconventional sub-heading on a press release and because it also posted a fictional job listing seeking engineers for a "Google Copernicus Hosting Environment and Experiment in Search Engineering (GCHEESE)" lunar outpost. Google's free e-mail service called Gmail, which will offer significantly more storage than Yahoo or MSN, "is not a hoax," said Jonathan Rosenberg, Google's vice president of products. Google's unconventional March 31 press release announcing Gmail helped set Internet message boards alight because the sub-heading read: "Search is Number Two Online Activity -- Email is Number One: 'Heck, Yeah,' Say Google Founders." "It is April Fool's Day. We were having fun with this announcement. We are very serious about Gmail," Rosenberg said in an interview. The announcement — fairly blockbuster-class in the free email space — and its timing did what I suppose it sought to do: Light up message boards, blogs, chatrooms, and so on. However, it's not like Google really needs to leverage April Fool's Day to generate a lot of news, speculation, or interest. Doc Searls put it another way: So, am I the only one who thought this was a joke? Just when I think I've given all the PR advice a former PR guy who's still a journalist can give, here's one more: If you're gonna shake the Earth with an unexpected announcement, don't pick the one day out of 365 (or this year, 366) when everybody's yanking everybody else's chain, okay? HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes[[dot}]com SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.