Tidbits
by Michael HoffmanTuesday, January 23rd, 2007
Oy. I have been on the road a lot lately and have not written as much as I want, and I actually have what to say. For now, here are some tidbits:
In New York last week I met with the US Fund for UNICEF. These folks are doing the most important work there is – saving kids. On their website you see a simple calculation: 1 child + $17 = 1 adult. Wow. And when you know that so little money can have such a big impact, you take this very seriously. So I should not have been surprised when I saw a sign in their bathroom that said something like: “$180 could save the lives of more than 10 children. But instead, this is what we had to spend on a plumber for this bathroom. Please don’t throw things in the toilet.” You can donate right now and help them get over the guilt created by the stopped-up loo.
Porn in HD? Maybe not. The NY Times reports that the sex industry has some mixed feeling about high def porn. As all of us in technology know, porn has been a major force in pioneering and implementing new technology. High definition will probably not be an exception.
Second Life? How about a First Life. Nonprofits need to know and watch Second Life because it is becoming a significant outlet to reach people, and is therefore no different than MySpace or Facebook in that sense. But every time I talk to clients about this, they say, “Who has time?” Indeed. As if we don’t have enough to do in the real world, we need to create a fake one. The smart people at Social Signal did a good write up of Second Life for those who don’t know what it is. And once you know, check out this parody called Get a First Life.
Seth Godin writes about a contest from the International Thriller Writers (who knew?) where if you sign up for the newsletter you are entered to win a contest. The prize is signed books from thriller writers. This is worth pointing out because what makes it good is that those entering are only those you want to reach – because the prize is not an iPod, it’s related to the content of the organization.
Google just got a lot better. I use Google to follow my blogs and news by having a personalized Google home page. Yesterday they added a feature (AJAX) that allows you to click a little + next to one of the feed links and see the first paragraph of content, without leaving your Google page. It’s smart for the user and smart for Google.
There has been a lot of talk, and some new technology, that will bring online content to your TV. Because, really, isn’t a TV usually a better place to watch video than the small computer screen? There are lots of issues here, not the least of which is that short form content you need a much better way to navigate than you would have with a TV remote. I will write more about this soon. For now, I saw an ad recently that is pushing things in the other direction — improving the online viewing experience. Bose, the speaker people, have come out with a home theater type speaker product for your computer. I am not sure their products are better than much lower-priced ones, but boy these guys know something about marketing.
