Category: Web/Tech

While I can’t imagine that encountering an error configuring one of Microsoft’s new Zune products would be pleasant, but at least their error screens leave the curious with a raised eyebrow. It is hard to tell whether there is some hot lip-on-lip action going on here, or some basic mouth-to-mouth resuscitation … as they say, it is a fine line between pleasure and pain.

Unfortunately for FLX, it looks like the pain is set to continue. For the time being, I will be sticking with my iPod … even if I do hate iTunes.

S.

OK … I admit I have only had a cursory glance at Second Life … but I have been very interested in the number of agencies etc that have been opening up a virtual office. It is almost like a gold rush … there is a lot of energy and a lot of scrambling for position — and it seems to me that the majority are replicating the same real world approaches rather than taking the opportunity of reinventing the fundamentals of what they do.

For example, do a quick search for Second Life over at Flickr and you will find countless side-by-side comparisons of real people next to their avatars. There is obviously a strong desire to create a virtual mini-me … and agencies are falling into the same trap. Sure it is good to engage and play with new technologies and online experiential environments, but it is also important to grapple with the underlying structures — and virtual worlds are closer to communities than they are to real world simulations.

Then I found this great quote over at Dino’s blog, by Tim Hayward from NMA:

like everything, else they’re trying to do it by forcing their existing model into it. Brilliant – now the world’s virtual, lets build an ‘agency’ around a ‘creative department’ and get some people in to design us a piece of sexy and expensive real estate… I don’t want this to sound like a Bill Hicks rant (actually I do) but WAKE UP PEOPLE – this is exactly where you screwed up in the old world.
Watching old-school agencies do stuff like this is like watching your Dad dancing at a wedding. You might have a sneaking respect that the old bugger’s still got the gumption to stand up and give it a go – but you really wish he’d sit down before he makes a complete prat of himself.

Check out Tim’s full post here. Dead funny. And serious.

UPDATE: Minutes after first posting this, I am reading David Armano’s blog … and there is an announcement about Crayon — the new mashup agency-type thing about to be launched by Joseph Jaffe, Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz. The aim is to reinvent and learn-on-the-fly, the new practices that are/will be required by communications/marketers in the virtual communities. It will be interesting to see how it all goes.

S.

The folks over at Decisive Flow have renamed their blog and given it a makeover. Now known as Simple and Loveable it still features all the cool toys, technologies and straight shooting advice that Nat and Tim are famous for.

Now I just need to update my own bookmarks!

S.

So it looks like we have our own, Australian rival to Technorati. It is called Gnoos and it launched yesterday. There is quite a strong blogging community in Australia so it will be interesting to see how it all goes!

I was, of course, looking for a story behind the name … but their search did not show anything up. Hmmm … wonder what the news is on gnoos.

OK … I know this is not out of the box … but if you have a bit of time up your sleeve and you want your USB drive to look a little different, then take a look at this. Well it is a little geeky, but nothing compared to building a 15,000 rpm Tesla Turbine using hard drive platters. There really are some crazy projects at Makezine.

I was reading this article on how to demonstrate technology, and I can see the point. However, not all of us are talking technology in a presentation … sometimes the subject of the presentation is less tangible. But no matter whether you are presenting a strategy, a brand identity or a promotional campaign there are some great takeaway points in the article.

There is one thing though that I would add … and that is, find a way that makes the presentation an easy story to tell someone else. The people who are watching your presentation need to be able to tell their friends and colleagues about you, so make sure there are some nice little nuggets that are easy to share.

For example:

• Hit your key message at least THREE times during the presentation
• Make sure that your messages are easy to remember and repeat
• Give away your story — tell it in a mnemonic form so that people can recount it
• Meet and greet before and after

These are just some of the many tips. Got any others? Happy to hear your tips!

S.

So I am thinking about changing the name of the site to Guy Kawasaki shrine. Of course, I would be competing with about 10,000 others who read his blog daily, but stranger things have happened, and indeed, stranger efforts have made money on the web. But I digress.

In case you haven’t seen Filmloop, it is one of the technologies that Guy’s garage.com has invested in – and it is seriously fun. He has added a film loop to his blog that you can add to, check it out here. Each loop can take about 200 photos, and mine is in there somewhere. See if you can pick me out of the crowd.

The thing I like about Filmloop is that it helps us make sense of the chaos that is part of our daily lives. Now, more than ever, we are online, digital, connected – and what better way to demostrate and actively participate in such a world, than through the technologies and devices that are so near and dear to our hearts.

S.