FlackLife

Flacklife's first Wordle.

2008-07-17T14:50:00.001-04:00

My first Wordle:

Amazing what you can create in about 35 seconds.

Ciao,
Bob.

Not everything goes Internet speed

2008-07-16T17:57:00.007-04:00

For most of this afternoon, I've been sitting in a meeting room at a City of Ottawa building, watching a Committee of Adjustment meeting.

Why did I take half a day off (and my evening) to do this? For selfish reasons. The house that backs onto ours was sold earlier this year, and the new owner wants to tear it down and build two houses in its place. He needs variances on the lot size to do that.

But it's been an interesting sociological experience. The meeting is now into its ~~fifth~~ seventh hour. There were 33 items on the agenda, and only three were adjourned to another meeting. The members of the committee have taken four breaks, including one to change rooms (because ANOTHER committee is starting their deliberations on ANOTHER set of variances.)

There have been a preponderance of serious looks, huge document books, and many, many boards showing lovely proposed new houses, eaves (seriously, one guy needed a variance because his eaves would be closer to the lot line than allowed by six inches), and in one case a 16-story tower.

I've also been spending time at the Library and Archives of Canada recently, working on a client project that required a lot of photo research.

What both of these cases had in common was ... time warp.

In the committee case, we received a notice (in our mail) that the variances were on the agenda, then we got concerned about having two semi-detached houses in our back yard compared to the one that's been there since we bought, and we got involved. We called the community association, talked to our neighbours, and ... here I am with our community association co-chairs.

In the archives case, I learned that only a tiny percentage of the nearly 4 million photos t he archives holds are digitized, or even catalogued with useful descriptive tags. Material isn't categorized by subject; it's by the person or organization which donated the material! My requests for photos required:

A search online through the anti-Google;
A visit to the archives and two hours with an archivist to define my queries
Doing my queries via MICROFICHE! and a CARD INDEX!
An online request for material
A 48-hour wait for boxes to arrive in the reference room, then a trip to the room to sort through the literally THOUSANDS of images in the boxes..
Another order, this time for copies of the images, which will take TEN WORKING DAYS on rush service.

It's easy to forget that not everything is moving at Google speed. It's exciting to imagine how social media could improve the committee of adjustment. It's intimidating to think of the mounds of material that are being received by the Archives, and how far behind they are.

I'm impressed, mostly, with both the diligence of the committee members, the people who have stuck it out to take part, and with the passion of the archivists. But man, it feels like I got off the autobahn and onto a horse path.

Could there be a way of harnessing the power of the crowd to digitize or categorize 4 million photos? An archival folksonomy?

Ciao,
Bob.

When online advertising doesn't work.

2008-07-15T10:21:00.002-04:00

The big story here in Canada today is the release of video of Omar Khadr being interrogated in Guantanamo Bay by a CSIS agent. Khadr was taken into custody in 2002 after a battle in Afghanistan, at the age of 15.

I find it interesting that when you click on the globeandmail.com video of the interrogation, you get an ad for a carmaker, then a discount stock-trader ad at the bottom of the screen. I wonder if those brand managers are happy with that placement?

A couple of questions for you all out there (I'd give you the answers but I don't have any):

Is there a material difference between the ad at the front of the Khadr video and an ad in a supper-hour newscast? I feel as if there is but I can't get beyond a vague feeling of "yes, there is"
Is this different between ads that appear in newspapers next to a story about something horrible? Again, it seems to me as if it is, but I can't really construct the argument as to why.
If you were doing ad buys on online news sites, would you / could you / do you try to have your ads not appear with certain types of content?

Ciao,
Bob.

A guide to the iPhone

2008-07-14T14:28:00.002-04:00

In Column A: a reality check on the costs of being at the cutting edge (at least Canada's cutting edge)

In Column B: sour grapes that I don't yet have one.

I welcome your input on which is the rationale behind me blogging this iPhone video:

Video tutorial: unlock iphone

Hat-tip: Matthew Good

Ciao,
Bob.

Team Slipstream goes Social media at the Tour de France

2008-07-10T13:10:00.008-04:00

Here's a Tweet from July 8.

Ooops... I just dropped the F-Bomb on Versus, live. Sorry to all the parents out there. It was just really intense today... JV

What is this? It's a Tweet from Jonathan Vaughters, former cycle racer and current race director of Team Slipstream, also known as Team Garmin / Chipotle. This is one of the 20 nine-rider teams contesting the 2008 Tour de France, and as far as I can tell (I haven't visited ALL the team web sites), the only one taking full advantage of social media tools to communciate with their fans.

Here's the video:

Vaughters was working the fourth stage, coaching racer David Millar through an individual time trial, and didn't realize that he was on live TV at the time he dropped the F-bomb.

In addition to its current success at the Tour (riders in the yellow jersey, or first overall, fourth, and fifth), Slipstream seems to be way ahead of the pack in terms of two other aspects. They are probably the most drug-tested team in pro cycling (every rider is tested every two weeks in addition to any other tests required during races), and their Web site is making great use of social media tools.

They've integrated a Flickr stream into their blog-based site; are using Twitter; they've integrated the data from sponsor Garmin into the site showing routes, while Garmin is blogging about their TdF chase cars; and they've got lots of video and multimedia content online as well.

The other team sites I've visited are way behind on this. My one quibble -- it would be great for the Flickr stream to provide for some CC use on the photos; they're currently all rights reserved (Unlike Sylvain Elies, whose photo appears to the right).

I'm hoping to hear from Slipstream about the strategy behind this. If I do, you'll be the first to know.

Ciao,
Bob.

And they say nothing happens in Ottawa.

2008-07-08T14:46:00.001-04:00

Perhaps they'll change their tune now that O-town's been name-checked in Perez Hilton.

Hat-tip: Simon Chen

Ciao,
Bob.

PS: Apropos of nothing at all, I will be missing the Fergie show at the Ottawa Bluesfest, but will be at the Ray Davies show Friday night wearing my orange mChen Wears t-shirt. If you see me, say hi (between songs).

UPDATED: Time to practice what I preach

2008-07-07T16:34:00.003-04:00

I'm scheduled to appear on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning tomorrow at 7:14 or so to talk about the possible passage of Ottawa's long-awaited cycling plan.

Even though I was unable to finish Rideau Lakes this year, I am pretty passionate about cycling. I've got a serious conflict about this plan -- on the one hand, I think it's great that it's finally coming to Council. On the other hand:

It's way behind schedule
I worry that the assumptions that it's based on are already out of date
I'm concerned that there's not money for promotion and education to go along with "facilities" (i.e., bicycle lanes)
and the city has not exactly demonstrated its passion for cycling. For example:

Eliminating the position responsible for cycling promotion at the old City of Ottawa after amalgamation;
Cutting funding for cycling education and tossing Citizens for Safe Cycling out on the street;
Attempting to debone the Ottawa Cycling Advisory Committee at the start of the Cycling Plan process in 2002-2003
Sitting on the draft cycling plan that was first shown to the public in the summer of 2004 (forty-eight months ago!)

I always worry about these things a little given that I'm supposed to be able to advise clients on media interview techniques. Let's hope I do a little better than this guy did.

UPDATE: Ottawa Morning has posted the RealAudio (I know, I hate it too) of the interview with me and with Alayne MacGregor of CfSC.

Ciao,
Bob.

When journalists tread the line between cheeky and cruel

2008-07-06T16:40:00.003-04:00

Caught this video, then read the associated Washington Post article, and had a couple of reactions.

First, why was this gentleman, Mr. Swagel, sent out to do this briefing? Did nobody train or prepare him? Did he want to do it and would brook no objections?

Second, was it really fair of Milbank to do this video? I think it's a bit of a cheap shot, frankly. And all of the soothing talk in Milbank's column doesn't take away from the fact that Swagel took some heavy journalistic shots in this column.

And finally, while I think it's laudable to have thoughts of multimedia in your head as a newspaper, is this the best way of using what the net offers us? Because frankly, Milbank isn't exactly exuding charisma.

Ciao,
Bob.

PenMachine and not me? I want some Zune blogola!

2008-07-04T15:50:00.004-04:00

So Derek K. Miller gets to try out a Zune and I don't?

Awwww? If Matchstick and Microsoft are out there, I'm open, and I've got way more T'rati authority than Miller. I've even got music cred, among tens of people.

C'mon. Please?

Happy fourth to the US readers, and wish me luck at seeing Steely Dan tomorrow at the Bluesfest. I'm hoping for a monster guitar solo on Chain Lightning. That would make my day.

Ciao,
Bob.

Comment moderation going back on for a little while

2008-07-03T13:02:00.001-04:00

Had a couple of comments placed today that were ... disturbing in tone and content, so I'm going to go to moderation & see if a new phase of the moon will settle things down.

Ciao,
Bob.

Age of Conversation coming closer to publication

2008-07-02T11:52:00.004-04:00

I'm really getting excited to see the second edition of the Age of Conversation. A few authors were unable to get their chapters to Aussie Gavin Heaton and American Drew McLellan, the book's editors, so there will be 237 chapters on the rough theme of "Why don't people get it?"

The authors are: Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Looking forward to the final product.

Ciao,
Bob.

Happy Canada Day!

2008-06-30T19:36:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow, we Canadians celebrate the creation of our country. On July 1, 1867, the Dominion of Canada was created.

I'm awfully happy to be Canadian, and very proud of my country of birth. And I like SuzeMuse's idea, so I've changed my Twitter pic to a patriotic one.

Happy Canada Day, all. I'll be here:

for at least part of the day, enjoying, among other performers, Garnet Rogers, Amanda Rheaume, and Bras d'Or, Cape Breton's Stephanie Hardy.

Ciao,
Bob.

McDonna?!

2008-06-27T15:56:00.001-04:00

This is ... different.

Hat-tip: Inkless Wells.

Ciao,
Bob.

Media analysis, Google Maps-style (UPDATED)

2008-06-27T10:38:00.007-04:00

The inimitable Michael Geist, not content with being a full-time law prof, one of the busiest folks in the Internet law world (576,000 Google results for his name; Technorati authority of 1,022!), and mobilizing communities to work for fair copyright, has now branched out into media analysis.

This morning, Geist posted a Google Maps Mashup of the growing mass of media coverage around Canada's controversial new copyright legislation, Bill C-61.

The map has all the coverage he can find geo-tagged and color-coded for positive, neutral, and negative reviews of the coverage.

To my mind, Geist has opened up a new way of representing media coverage. Anyone else think clients would find this interesting? Or is it just geeks like me? And would anyone like to give me a tutorial in making Google Maps mashups?

Ciao,
Bob.

UPDATED: Geist tells me that the mashup tools are pretty easy to get used to, and has pointed me to this Youtube video. I also understand there's going to be some C-61 YouTube action coming soon.

RyanAir CEO blows it at a news conference

2008-06-25T20:47:00.002-04:00

I thought I'd seen just about everything that could happen at a news conference. But then I saw this YouTube video of RyanAir CEO Michael O'Leary at a Dusseldorf news conference.

(This video is not safe for work, so use your judgement.)

O'Leary tells the reporters that business class travelers will get free oral sex.

The miracle is that nobody's called for his resignation yet! I'm stunned. The Guardian, for example, merely put it in their quotes of the week.

Ciao,
Bob.

Cool picture, but ...

2008-06-23T14:34:00.002-04:00

Crappy execution.

They couldn't have posed them in the same orientation? They couldn't have provided a version bigger than 200 pixels? They couldn't have tagged the online photo?

FAIL, Newsweek.

Ciao,
Bob.

Thoughts on PAB 2008

2008-06-23T09:08:00.002-04:00

A couple of quick thoughts about my first Podcasters Across Borders:

Jolts

One of the coolest parts of PAB 2008 were the "Jolts", or short 'in-betweener' sessions between the main sessions.

Among the people doing jolts were Tim Coyne, Linda Mills, Todd Tyrtle, Julien Smith, Chris Penn, Chris Brogan, among others.

What I loved about them was that the need to concentrate on time forced the presenters to concentrate their messages. What I also loved about many of them was the unvarnished honesty and willingness to confront emotional issues in front of 80 people.

Not to say the full sessions weren't great, but sometimes the greater the constraint, the greater the creativity necessary to overcome it. Think about a sonnet, or a villanelle, compared to free verse. When you have a VERY well-defined structure, you have to work to fit your words within it. When anything goes, well, anything goes.

Audio drama.

As a longtime fan of radio drama, the discovery that people are (purely for the love of it) doing audio drama was a revelation for me. I am REALLY looking forward to exploring Quirky Nomads and The Sonic Society and using them to find other sources of audio drama.

Pushing the limits

There's a belief that social media (including podcasting) can be a bit of a mutual appreciation society. I was quite happy to see a LOT of viewpoints on some issues get expressed at the conference, from bill C-61 to the M-word (monetization, GASP!).

If you don't have sensitive ears, you can check out Chris Brogan's jolt on that last topic.

Stage fright.

And speaking of Brogan, I owe him thanks for finding some gold in what was a rather unbelievable set of circumstances for me on Saturday night. I, as well as other folks, had decided to participate in the open mic on the boat cruise, but I had a total brain freeze. I couldn't remember lyrics. It was FRICKING HORRIBLE! In the end, I managed to get through a few songs. But man, I felt humiliated.

Until Chris wrote a blog post late that night about how HE saw it. That post reminded me of two things: (1) that you're only the star of the movie of your life in YOUR head; and (2) that few things are as bad as they seem.

And it also reminded me that I need to do some work on that nasty stage fright. Otherwise I'll end up like Streisand or Robbie Robertson, or Carly Simon. Wait a sec. That wouldn't be totally bad. But still.

In the end: a really great conference for me to have attended. I met great people (for the first time face-to-face or for the first time period), and learned some cool new things. Thanks to Mark and Bob and Andrea and Cat for being the driving forces.

Ciao,
Bob.

Podcasters Across Borders 2008 - rocking in the Limestone City

2008-06-21T13:35:00.004-04:00

Taking an opportunity to quickly blog about Podcasters Across Borders. This is my first time at this conference, and although I'd heard a great deal about it, I'm so happy to be here.

Hearing right now about a "Talking Stick" podcast, which brings people together to take 3-4 different runs at a topic. For example: "who was the teacher who affected you most?"

If you're out there and are interested in following along remotely, you can get into the "back channel by going to Chris Penn's "Marketing Over Coffee," where there's a chatroom set up.

So far, I've been blown away by Sage Tyrtle, who does audio drama (I pledge here and now to be a minion on one of her projects), by yesterday's pre-conference sessions, by Tim Coyne's presentation on acting, and by Chris Penn's "Jolt" on "awakening your superhero."

And it's always nice to meet other folks too, for the first time or again. Dave Fleet, Chris Brogan, Andy and Vivian from the Andycast, Eden Spodek, Michelle Sullivan, Nora Young, Dan Misener, Tod Maffin from CBC (Somebody get me a new gig!) and the list goes on.

Must start listening more fully to the Beatles-themed presentation.

Ciao,
Bob.

UPDATED: I see the light. I SEE THE LIGHT!

2008-06-17T15:04:00.005-04:00

Would you believe that less than an hour after my blog post today about the lack of a light bulb for my desk lamp, a mysterious package arrived from Catalina Lighting with not one, but THREE bulbs that fit my lamp?

Don't know who you are, Reshma Ramsarran of Catalina Lighting, but I SALUTE YOU!

UPDATE: I got a phone call this morning from Grand & Toy's director of customer care, ensuring that I had received the bulbs and apologizing for the hassle. Apparently they had also had some difficulty finding the bulbs and in the end went to the manufacturer. This has led to them looking at better sourcing for bulbs for those products. Good on him for calling me and for getting me the bulbs. Hopefully when I burn through these ones there will be a regular supply in stock.

Ciao,
Bob.

UPDATED: Does Grand & Toy see the light on customer service?

2008-06-16T13:00:00.000-04:00

UPDATED June 16 2008: I'm starting to feel like Captain Ahab, chasing the great white light of a 20-watt bulb. I e-mailed Grand & Toy's customer service e-mail on June 5 with this problem. I e-mailed on JUne 6, not having received a response.

On June 10 at 4:03, I got the following e-mail.

"Hi Bob,

My sincere apologies for the inconvience, our representatives will look into noted query, in order to assist us in providing accurate detail, please provide the product code in question for the lamp recently purchased.

In the event that this matter requires escalation we will also need confirmation of your six digit ship to account number

If you do not have your account number readily available, please reference a copy of a previous packing slip, invoice or e mail confirmation.

We await your reply"

On June 11, I received another response:

"Hi Bob,

Thank you for your reply. I have checked our system and was able to find prod# 04736 - a 20 watt halogen bulb. Please let us know if this is the compatible with the lamps you purchased. If not, please provide us with the part# of the bulb required, and we will be happy to further look into the availability of the product for you.

We look forward to your reply."

I love how I'm supposed to tell them whether the bulb that THEY sell will work with the lamp that THEY sell.

I responded:

"I’m afraid that bulb doesn’t appear compatible. I require simply the small glass 20-watt bulb, not a bulb with an assembly. I don’t know what the product number of the bulb would be. On the lamp, it says:

USE MAX 20W / 12V JC TYPE G4 bulb.

Hopefully that will help."

So now we're at:

Two weeks
Four e-mails
One live support chat
One blog post (which keeps receiving visitors from "Nexus.grandandtoy.com")

Since I tried to get a bulb for my lamp.

By the way, this post is now number 4 if you google "Grand and Toy customer service". I'm not sure they want this that high in the results.

I'll go back to shaking my head in sad disbelief now and reading their statement of what they offer their customers:

Complete selection of office supplies, business furniture and technology products
Expert cost-saving strategies and assistance
Exceptional Customer Service customized to your business needs

Perhaps someone at Apex Public Relations, Grand & Toy's PR firm, might read this and want to help out. Or maybe not. I'll just sit here in the dark for another two weeks.

Bob.

Okay. This is a small thing in the grand scheme of things. Insignificant really. But I'm going to moan about it anyway.

When I joined Thornley Fallis, I was pleased to see I had a light switch that allwed me to shut off the fluorescent lights in my office. I hate those lights. The light sucks energy out of my soul.

So I got Kirsty, our trusty Director of First Impressions, to order me a floor lamp and a couple of desk lamps, since I don't have any other light source.

I found some funky lamps at Grand & Toy, our local stationery retailer. They're red, made by a company called Tensor, they have a gooseneck, they're pretty cheap, and they're halogen. I like that. So I got two.

The bulb burned out of one of those lamps a couple of weeks ago. Does Grand & Toy sell light bulbs? YES. Do they sell the bulb for this lamp? NO!

This is right up there with the lack of communications between the carmakers and the windshield washer manufacturers. Why not standardize the washer tank and the size of the jug? Or the battery manufacturers, who sell four-packs, and the electronics companies who use 4.5 volts (or three batteries).

I thought I'd ask why, so I tried out Grand & Toy's live-chat customer service. Here's what I got.

Please wait...connecting to a Grand & Toy Customer Service Rep.
Hello, You are now Chatting with 'Patrick', how may I help you?
you: hi there. I have bought Tensor desk lamps from you folks, and I love them. However, you don't sell replacement bulbs for them. Why is that?
Patrick: Unfortunately I would not be able to provide with the "Why" as I would not have that information.
Patrick: You will have to contact your account rep to get that information unfortunately
you: is there a way i can suggest that G&T stock these bulbs?
Patrick: Again that would have to go through the rep as we have no control of that on our end
you: okay. can you tell me who my rep is?
Patrick: Account number please
you: sorry, i'm not the one with that information. I'm the end user of the product.
Patrick: I will need that info in order to find out the rep
Patrick: You can contact he person who places your orders and I'm sure they will have that info
you: you can't look up by company name?
Patrick: Whats the company name?
you: thornley fallis communications
Patrick: Nothing comes up with that name
you: okay. I'll follow up on my end.
Patrick: Is there another name you are registered with
you: you could try 76design
Patrick: Sorry nothing with that either
you: okay. thanks anyway.
Patrick: You're welcome, Thanks for using Live Chat and Have A Nice Day.

I've asked Kirsty to bring this up with our rep.

Grand & Toy, if you're out there, please sell bulbs for the lamps you sell. Because now I'm really annoyed. You should also give your live chat operators a little more power to get information or convey that information. Because that was a singularly unhelpful conversation.

Ciao,
Bob.

First the hockey theme, now this ...

2008-06-16T09:21:00.003-04:00

Here's my final column for CBC Radio's "The Business Network", on the topic of how Rogers mishandled the Canadian launch of the iPhone.

You can listen there, or you can also check out the CBC "Money Talks" site. In the meantime, excuse me while I sniffle. I'm a little verklempt.

The last mysterious technology gadget that caught people’s imaginations the way the iPhone has was likely what turned out to be the Segway.

But the iPhone has become as lustworthy an object of desire as the iPod. Full marks to Apple.

However, we Canadians have had to wait almost an entire year to get the good news about a legal iPhone for us – although the early adopters got a phone from the States and “unlocked” it.

Last Monday, Steve Jobs of Apple announced the second generation iPhone, with 3G technology. On that day, a mysterious banner popped up on the Rogers site, saying “something big is coming July 11”, with a silhouette with a familiar shape. And then last Thursday, Rogers, and its subsidiary Fido, announced that they would bring the iPhone to Canada on July 11.

So hurray for Rogers, right? Umm, not so fast. I think that Rogers and Fido could have done a lot better on the release of what should or could have been a piece of unalloyed good news.

You’ve got to wonder why it took nearly a year to bring the iPhone to Canada. You’ve also got to wonder why it took from Monday to Thursday for Rogers to make their announcement. And finally, Thursday’s release left one giant question in people’s minds – how much will this data-hungry new phone cost them? Because there’s still no information on rate plans available.

When you’re thinking about your business and how to announce new developments, don’t dribble stuff out.

Give people the full picture, and get the good news out as completely as you can. If you want to tease people, don’t leave all the “bad news” – like Rogers and their data plans – out as if you’re afraid of it. Fess up and face up.

And if you’re going to tease, then do it better than Rogers did.

In its case, the “something big is coming” was a hyperlink that led nowhere for four days. That was stupid.

For my money, Rogers could have made a quicker, more complete announcement that told the whole story and avoided what will inevitably be a backlash story when they release their rate plans.

For the Business Network, I’m Bob LeDrew in Ottawa.

A couple of things that aren't in the column:

The first time the "something big" link clicked anywhere, it went to a news release that was hosted on the Canada Newswire site which had to be read using the vertical AND horizontal scroll bars.
Just now, this is what I'm getting when I click on the iphone link on the Rogers main page:

HTTP/1.1 500 Server Error

Way to go, Rogers. Way to go.

in response: The Hockey Theme (UPDATED)

2008-06-11T11:59:00.002-04:00

Just when you thought the controversy
over CBC losing and CTV/TSN gaining the rights to use Dolores Claman's "The Hockey Theme" was going to go away, a new blog called in response: The Hockey Theme brings it back to front and centre.

The blog, apparently written by Madeleine Morris, the daughter of the composer, has the goal of setting the record straight on the saga of the theme.

Her points, as summarized by me:

The story has been told by CBC to this point and it's incomplete
From '68-'93, Claman got ZERO licence fees.
Claman's camp offered a dea llast week which as:

We'll drop our lawsuit against CBC for inappropriate use
CBC pays our legal fees
CBC continues to pay the $500 per game licence fee.
They did not accept.

CBC told them the song was worthless and threatened to drop it unless the Claman camp capitulated.
If they didn't capitulate, CBC would go ahead with the contest
Last Thursday, the Claman camp got a CBC email rejecting the offer
Last Friday, CBC announced the Song Contest
Morris believes that when backlash happened, CBC announced that they would negotiate further.
Morris says CBC "really, clearly, didn't give a shit about the theme."

So let's assume that this (a) is Dolores Claman's daughter, and that (b) she's right. CBC is now looking even worse, and some of the criticism I've seen on my blog and elsewhere on the "she's greedy" theme starts to lose some air.

UPDATED: A tongue-in-cheek take on the whole shlamazel by the redoubtable Stephen Colbert:

Ciao,
Bob.

Risk expert Leiss moves to utopian fiction

2008-06-11T10:56:00.004-04:00

Back in late 2007, when the medical isotope supply crisis was underway, I was smart / lucky enough to ask Dr. William Leiss some questions about risk and management of risk in relation to the government's decision to restart the NRU reactor and begin producing medical isotopes.

I expected a few sentences, but got a full essay in return. It was a VERY instructive document.

Well, in last weekend's Ottawa Citizen, I found out that Leiss is not only an academic, but a writer of fiction as well. In his feature "What if", Bruce Deachman profiled the utopian trilogy that Leiss is working on.

Leiss describes the books, known as the Herasaga like this:

"Ever since Plato, philosophers have been imagining future utopian societies. In more recent times many of these fantasies have been about the doings of scientists, because modern science fascinates us with the prospect of changing every aspect of our lives. Hera is one of twelve sisters genetically modified by their neuroscientist parents to have superior mental faculties. During their teenage years the sisters were forced to flee for their lives from the remote Indonesian village where they had been born. Later, Hera challenges her father’s right to have engineered his children, using the Biblical story of creation against him. But one day she discovers that the sisters’ genes contain modifications that their parents didn’t intend."

As a fan of utopian and dystopian fiction, I'm eagerly awaiting the opportunity to read the first two books of the trilogy. And as a fan of Alex Colville, I find the paintings that are being used as cover art for the books to be both enigmatic and evocative.

One wish: a more dynamic web site for the trilogy. Perhaps I should get our own famous author Terry Fallis in touch with the University of Ottawa Press to advise them on guerilla book marketing 101.

Ciao,
Bob.

Bloggasm » 44% of newspapers wouldn’t allow staff writers to blog during free time without prior approval

2008-06-10T10:36:00.002-04:00

Following a couple of high-profile firings, (a CNN producer, a Washington Post reporter) over the issue of journalists blogging for outlets other than their employer, blogger Simon Owens decided to survey newspaper editors. He sent 250 e-mails to newspaper editors with a simple question:

The results, as reported in his post 44% of newspapers wouldn’t allow staff writers to blog during free time without prior approval:

"Of the 250 surveyed, 39 responded. Twenty-two — 56% — said they wouldn’t mind if writers blogged on non-beat issues without obtaining permission. The remaining 17 — 44% — either required disclosure of the blog, issued caveats over what subjects couldn’t be covered, or had outright bans on having personal blogs at all."

I think Simon's got it right in his final paragraph, though:

"What’s perhaps even more notable about my survey is that almost all the editors who responded to my survey said they had no written policy on blogs. This absence will likely provide a good bit of ambiguity in the future, leaving both reporters and editors between a rock and a hard place."

News outlets, like all companies, should be thinking about these things before (to go a bit Yogi Berra on you) they end up between the horns of a dilemma and a hard rock.

Thanks for pointing this out to me, Simon.

Ciao,
Bob.

CBC loses "hockey night" theme; TSN picks it up.

2008-06-09T16:02:00.002-04:00

This -- CTV acquires exclusive rights to 'The Hockey Theme', posted at 3:32 EDT -- will have to go down as one of the more embarrassing moments of management history at CBC.

I suspect there are going to be a lot of hoax entries to the CBC "New Hockey Night in Canada Theme" contest. And I also suspect that ALL submissions will be entirely owned by CBC, with the legal beagles ensuring that the public broadcaster will never find itself in this humiliating position ever again.

Well done, CTV/TSN for a clean open-ice hit; shame on you, CBC, for passing in front of the goalie with the opposing team in your zone.

Ciao,
Bob.

UPDATE: CBC's take on the story. Comments flooding in thick and fast, and they are not pretty.