Just read this nice little emotional roller-coaster from Wil Wheaton's blog.
February 2005 Archives
Well, Google is courting entertainment marketers apparently. The piece explains how new Google film listings are making studio bosses nervous. There's some classic old-world thinking
If I'm a movie studio, I'd want the official movie Web site to come up as a result, and I wouldn't want to pay for that. It makes me nervous that they're trying to be too much to everybody
I bothered to read the article because I'm still forging ahead with my search for a new advertising. Actually, it's increasingly looking like the agencies are drinking the Cool-Aid and getting on with the new order.
For my part, I'm about half way through (and two weeks behind schedule) building a tool that will allow entertainment marketers to tap their activity directly into their potential fan bases.
More on this one as it happens...
Still waiting to hear back from Fnac (a great place to buy French stuff - iTunes licensing doesn't allow French 'variété' tracks on the UK store grr) re my earlier note to them.
Simply put, I was just about to order a disc when I noticed the digital rights protection label. I wrote in to say that while I'd love to purchase the album (Camille's Le Fil) I won't until they stock a non-drm version.
Sitting here fuming, found this fun piece on how to host a swapping party which I'll forward to the manager when he writes back explaining that home taping is killing music
So I guess I need to do another banner.
- Basic? "no drm"
- Chatty? "Actually, I won't buy that"
- Political? "Sharing is legal and DRM infringes your rights under copyright law" (wow, catchy, that one)
Anyways, having a think...
Cher Fnac,
Je me fais un devoir de vous informer que (bien qu'ayant été sur le point de le commander) je ne vais pas acheter le cd "Le Fil" de Camille car la présence d'un "Dispositif anticopie numérique" est d'après moi illegal.
En bref: il est entièrement légal de copier un enregistrement audio pour ultilisation personel, bien sur.
Si Eddy Barclay crois que je vais me payer un cd pour la voiture, un autre pour chez moi est un troisieme pour le bureau il se trompe.
Merci,
D. Falby
Just had my first roast potato in I don't know how long.
I woke up at four this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I've got a fairly intrusive cold and managed to leave the house without eating breakfast. Oh, and I managed to forget my wallet.
Ok, I guess I was feeling sorry for myself.
Oh, and I had rhubarb crumble and custard.
And an expresso.
(For those not familiar with the church of Atkins' dictates, all the above are big no-nos...)
From thirdworldtraveler.com but all 14 features might fit us western 1rst worlders quite nicely too...
So yesterday, as the train was about five minutes out of Basingstoke...
[intercom:] Is there a doctor or a nurse on the train? If there is a doctor or a nurse on the train, could they report to the last carriage immediately?
...and just now, on the platform in Andover...
[intercom:] If there is a young person called Felicity Mason on the train could she please leave the train now. Felicity Mason should leave the train in Andover.
I hope yesterday's heart attack survived and that Felicity was just held up at school.
(15:57, three stations later, another call for Felicity Mason--the guard is going to walk the train--God I have no idea who this person is but i really hope she's all right. I can imagine her Mum waiting in Andover and slowly falling apart as she waits for news...)
We did a day trip to Manchester this Saturday to pick the little girl up. Clem spent the week with her cousins Holly, Tom and Eve while Nicki was in Hong Kong and it looks like she barely noticed her parents were missing. Saturday was Eve's birthday and I grabbed some snaps at the party. Not meaning to get all Dianne Arbus or nothin but I love this photograph:-)
I just got a link to a slightly strange article over on Clickz. It's titled Consumers Less Satisfied With eBay and Amazon and goes into some depth explaining how big e-retailers are diluting their initially focused product offering and how this in turn is damaging their customer relationships:
"E-retail is undergoing a fundamental shift as some of the industry heavyweights move away from their core focus," said Larry Freed, chief executive of ForeSee Results, which commissioned the study. "Some of the best-known brands are changing business models and changing relationships with their customers. It's tough to do that without eroding satisfaction."
I guess this is pretty sound business thinking, but I have to say I think eBay's popularity with customers is also waning because their support totally sucks.
Let me explain. You start your relationship with eBay on a high note and all goes well until some pre-teen troll gives you a negative rating, somebody doesn't pay for that hair-dryer or you get hit by unwanted bidders and need to filter your bids to ensure your product gets to the right bidder.
Try doing any of the above with the standard eBay interface and you'll quickly go mental. I would explain in detail, but Kevin Cheng and Tom Chi have already nailed it in this fantastic cartoon. I've not had first-hand experience of Amazon's 'help' desk but I wouldn't be surprised to find it uses the same "Cut and Paste Droids" who don't read your question or try and respond...
Just overheard in Waitrose
Do you have any heart-shaped boxes of chocolates?
All the Valentine's Day stuff is down the end of the store where all the packaged cheese is
So I had to wonder, is this simply a helpful direction or a commentary on the rampant mercantilism of our consumer culture;-)
The latest from Andy and Michaela :-)
Dear All.
sorry for taking this short cut, but this is just to inform you that our new addition to the family has arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning, February 8. Luisa Katherina was in quite a hurry and we arrived at the hospital with only 25 minutes to spare. Most trips to the dentist last longer than that (not sure about the physical discomfort though), and both mother and baby were back home by 10.00 in the morning, when daughter No.1 greeted the new arrival with the classic phrase: Hello Babylu, would you like to do a puzzle with me? I guess we are truly blessed.
Best wishes
Andreas
Congratulations !!!
Well, I just received a link to these configuration instructions for Firefox. A minute to apply and wey hey, better performance :-)
Just fabulous, thank you felicity :-)
Great piece on CSS negotiation. Focus on minimal hacks with emphasis on code fragments that can 'wilt' away when negotiated browsers die off...
On the one hand, the deal is an old-fashioned sponsorship arrangement, but Sony's marketers are testing the waters and this could be an early move towards a new kind of advertising that "does" more than "says".
Tradition broadcast messages, however elegantly crafted and delivered just don't hit home like they used to. The digital consumer isn't watching and has most likely made his own schedule on his Tivo. You can be pretty sure that schedule doesn't include your 30-million-dollar spot with George Clooney and a cavalcade of Camargue stallions.
What's potentially very cool about Sony's move is the awareness it shows on their part.
As brands go, Sony probably has one of the busiest online personal publishing spaces. A quick Google reveals that Sony has legions of unofficial fan sites, user groups and forums (fora?) buzzing about them everyday. (For example, agoraquest.com, the unofficial site for Sony products has 60,000 active members cranking out Sony-related content daily).
It looks like Sony is connecting the dots. My guess is that as they begin to interact more closely with these online communities, their ad creative will follow.
Well, Nicki got me the box set of Star Trek (The Original Series) for my birthday and it's been sitting on the shelf ever since... Anyway, I'm here on my own and have just watched four episodes in a row :-)
On a side note, the box set (and dig that groovy packaging) has the episodes divided among the disks in a seemingly random order. To complicate matters further, there is no indication of episode order on the disks themselves, the liner notes or anywhere else in the packaging. To get the episode sequence, you have to load each disk and look at it's menu. I'm still trying to work out if this is a very clever editorial layout (similarly significant episodes grouped thematically or something like that) or just a major cock-up in production?
Family members may find it amusing to know that little Clemmie Falby is appearing on the cover of a promotional music CD thus continuing a long Falby family tradition of using one's children in one's design pieces:-)
Very cool toy by a man called Jim. Colorfields lets you view random flickr images by colour tag. Fun:-)
