I think the main point Malcolm’s trying to make can largely be summed up by this quote:

…This is the kind of error that technological utopians make. They assume that their particular scientific revolution will wipe away all traces of its predecessors—that if you change the fuel you change the whole system.

While there are those who will tout or defend Chris Anderson at every turn (Seth Godin predicatbly falls into that trap), I believe his thinking ultimately falls short.  Chris makes many good points, but I’ve found he tends to muddy the debate with his overly-optimistic tone and “future is better” platitudes. He never once admits that a lot of this discussion is being driven (via self-fulfilling prophecy) by device makers or technology companies who stand the most to gain. They can wow the industry with shiny stuff and great buzz words and philosophy, but that doesn’t make what they say true.

Oddly enough, Gladwell does the SAME thing (only a different discipline) in his books. None of these guys will ever admit hypocrisy though.

What are your thoughts?

Read more here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/14/AR2009061402241.html

“Perhaps more disturbing to the country music industry is the news that 42 percent of those ardent fans who do not have home Internet access have no desire to remedy the situation.”

But then it happened.  The form letter stating they were no longer a welcome client on the server.  Their hosting was to be cut off, no site, and no way to transition their current site to a new host (due to a proprietary platform on which their current site was built).

This brought up an interesting discussion here at “The Blend”.  Part of our solution for clients was giving them the ability to run the show, first we thought that only from a content perspective.  But in the long run, we’re learning that setting them up with their own hosting is equally as important.  When you own your own hosting solution, there is no doubt that you’ll have an active site (as long as you pay the bills).  It’s the difference between renting and owning.

No matter how secure you think your web solution may be, when you leave it up to another company… it’s only as secure as that companies future.  You’re merely renting that server space.  If the company goes, then, too, goes your site.  If that company decides to refocus assets, change direction, or sell outright, your website could be a casualty.

So the Strategic Blend solution is to set you up with your own hosting.  It’s cost effective, 99.99% up time, and best of all… only you can turn it off.

Own people, the time of renting is over.

We can’t stress this enough OWN YOUR CONTENT, own your site, own your hosting…. don’t leave it up to a company that could go out of business.

If you need help setting that up.   Shoot us an email.

Check out the brand new ChuckMead.com here

http://www.thetravelingvegetarian.tv/on-the-cover-of-the-nashville-scene

check out MusicAndMetrics.com

There are a lot of ways to lose money these days.  The last thing you want to worry about (when you’re finally seeing the needle move) is bandwidth charges to your site, or worse yet, exceeded bandwidth and your site shut down.  The largest blood sucking ticks to your bandwidth are video, audio, and flash files.

Video is a great feature on any website, it gives the user an experience that simply reading text will never replicate.  However, hosting video on your site is completely unnecessary.  With embedding technology every site has the opportunity to defer some bandwidth.  For instance, if you are interested in showing a video on your site, consider Vimeo or YouTube.   Once you upload the video, you’ll be given the embed code, and it’s (usually) as simple as plugging it into your site. (and if it’s not, you should give us a call)

Several of our clients use audio on their homepage, whether it be to showcase their latest single, or just some mood music while you browse the site.  Having music on your site is great, and it’s not a huge blow to bandwidth, but if it proves to be an issue, a quick fix may be to utilize a music player from a social network.  Not only will this let you maintain control of your playlist, but you won’t have to worry about someone popping out the player and keeping playing all day (and night).

Finally, flash video is a huge consumer of bandwidth, and sadly… there’s no workaround.  Not only does flash incur load times, it’s also not 100% search engine friendly (although this has gotten better recently).  There isn’t much you can’t achieve through JAVA and HTML from a content perspective, and if you’re concerned about chewing up bandwidth, flash is not the direction for you to go.  A strong focus on quality content will out-wow any flash nuance, especially on the second visit to the site.

The overriding factor here, is that if you can add media on your site, there is potentially a way to work around the downsides.  Give them a try before you pay through the nose.

In a recent conversation, I realized keeping my plate constantly full is a good way to keep motivated.  When I have idle time, I have a tendency to get lazy, or have trouble getting motivated.  When I’ve got a laundry list, I take the challenge to conquer everything, and many times, gets me motivated to keep on truckin’ once the list is through.

Here are some helpful time managers to keep you on task.

Google Calendar:
Not only does it allow you to create multiple color coded calendars (all on one page), but it syncs to the iPhone!  That is, if you’re iphone inclined…. if not, and assuming you’ve got a web-capable cell phone, the new mobile features to google are fabulous.

Make a list:
Using a handy “notepad”, whether a physical piece of paper (I like jumbo post-its) or opening a document on my computer and making a list.  There’s something nice about being able to cross off tasks.  This also gives you an opportunity to break down big tasks into smaller more manageable tasks.

Project Management Software:
For really big projects, where you have to worry about lead time, or several moving parts, I like to use project management software.  This gives you the chance to map out the entirety of the project, get a good timeline, and manage expectations (even if they’re your own).  GnattProject is a great (and free) program.

Ideally, you’ll use each of these time management and planning tools in conjunction with one another to keep the momentum and finish tasks as efficiently as possible.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a schedule to plan, a project to manage, and a list to tackle.

What’s that?  You want to see it now?  We got you super excited now and you probably won’t remember it or be as excited in 5 months?  Well too bad because ITS COMING!

How many times have you been in a movie theatre and a movie trailer like this comes crashing onto the screen?  The “hurry up and wait” approach has been the movie industry’s #1 marketing gimmick for 30 years.  The “wait” portion can vary, sometimes 2 months, sometimes 12 months.  This strategy has been successful, which is why they continue to use it.

However, it is NOT a strategy that should be applied to any and every form of  entertainment and media.  In fact, I will argue it actually hinders sales.

Take music.

You hear a song on the radio for the first time.  You like this song.  You think to yourself  “this song is fantastic - I want to own it now so I can listen to it multiple times.”  You venture online and fire up iTunes only to find its not there.  You go over to Amazon and find its not their either.  After hours of searching you learn the single was just released to radio and won’t be available to buy for at least 3 more weeks.

Almost 100% of people faced with this situation choose one of two options: A. They go to the PirateBay or use g2p.org and find the song for free, or B. give up, move on and when the song actually does come out, don’t buy it.

In both instances, the consumer is NOT PURCHASING THE PRODUCT!  Why in God’s name wouldn’t the record label or artist have new music immediately ready to consume?  Answer - because they think the movie promo strategy is cool and that it can apply to any industry.  Clearly it can’t.  This is why almost every album is leaked before an official “release date.”

People simply don’t have the time anymore.  They don’t have the patience to be teased and baited and forced to wait.  If your content isn’t ready to consume the moment its first promoted or talked about, then you might as well give up.  You’re purposely leaving money on the table and have no business being IN business.

How about TV?

Same story.  If an episode of a TV show airs, then it should be immediately available to buy the very SECOND it has finished airing.  This goes for domestic and international TV.

Here’s a personal case in point.  I love the new series of Doctor Who.  I don’t live in the UK so I can’t see episodes when they originally air.  Because the BBC has the business sense of a goldfish, they don’t make these episodes available to buy OR to stream after they air.  So I, as a loyal fan, fire up the Pirate Bay and choose from among the many seeded torrents containing the newest episode - download it for free and enjoy it the same day everyone in London does.  I would GLADLY pay $1.oo - $3.00 an episode if I could get them immediately after they air.  I repeat, I WOULD GLADLY PAY!  Why is this option not available to me!?!  It’s so bewildering that I’m almost speachless.

People are no longer going to wait for  a lame-ass strategy of “baiting and waiting.”  There is simply too much competition.  The MOMENT your product is being talked about, it should be ready for purchase.  Not 3 weeks later.  Not 6 months later.  Make the release date the start of your marketing campaign, not the end.

You don’t get a second chance in the new economy.