The 463: Inside Tech

Consumer Case Study: Chevy dealer learns a lesson from a critical customer

WUSA9 VIDEO: Sticker shock for local Chevy Volt car shopper

(Fallon Forbush) When 463 Partner Jim Hock looked into buying his first electric car, he wasn’t expecting to pay more than sticker price.

His heart was set on the 2012 Chevy Volt.  He had the features down to the color and even had a charging station installed in his garage before setting out for his local Chevy dealership. But Jim isn’t the only one with a love affair with this machinery.

The Volt has earned impressive industry accolades, including the Motor Trend Car of the Year, North American Car of the Year and the highly coveted recommendation from Consumer Report.

Should Jim have been such a nag when his dealer told him he’d be getting a deal if he only had to pay a $5,000 up charge?

Word on the street is that dealers have charged 50 percent higher than General Motor’s asking price. That’s up to $20,000 over sticker price.

"The price is very fair," Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with IHS Automotive, said in an interview. "The Volt is one of the first modern-day electric vehicles. The products that change our lives always cost more at first."

Whether you think an innovative car with first-time features that is bringing electric travel into the mainstream makes sense of dealers’ demands or that Jim’s shock is justified, there is one certainty.  That is, consumers are savvy and they’ll always shop around.

Such an up charge didn’t keep Jim from getting his coveted car at an advertised price and the media is spreading the word to other consumers who just might have a crush on it too.

Ghostwriting: Should the big names in social media write their own posts?

(Rachael Peli) Have you ever noticed that some of your favorite social media gurus and bloggers seem to post around the clock? I follow a good number of public relations professionals on Twitter, for example, and when I have insomnia, I tend to pick up my smartphone and read the latest PR posts and news. Now I know that these posts aren’t targeted at me because many of these PR pros have a global audience. The 3 a.m. tips on how to write the perfect headline are targeted at the followers on the other side of the world where it’s 3 p.m.

 

I can’t help but wonder how it would feel to trust my ghost-posters while I sleep at night, especially now that Mark Davidson’s Twitter hit the news. (The latest updates from the Davidson Twitter account rant suggest that the entire fiasco was a staged event to get more followers and traffic. Self-defamation for the sake of coverage is perhaps another title for another post.)

 

We would all like to believe that those whom we have deemed important enough to follow are doing the actual writing, but more often companies and individuals are hiring a team of ghostwriters and/or automatic social network posting organizations. These automatic posting orgs will do industry news searches and then post as the writer, often linking back to the writer’s website to make each post personal. For example, three tech bloggers may want 24/7 coverage of tech news so they hire help. One hires a ghostwriter; the other two hire an automatic posting org. The ghostwriter may likely come up with more original and witty posts. The two others may have similar headlines but each will have links included that lead us back to their respective websites.

 

In either case, the person we hope is posting the content is not. In either case, the account owner runs the risk of exposure and embarrassment before thousands.

 

If I were one of these professionals and had a global following, I’d promise to post a certain number of original updates each week. How could I claim to be a great communicator or a social media professional if I’m never even active on my own accounts? The remainder of my posts and updates would come from one trusted ghostwriter that I would treat well and pay well.

 

Assuming the entire event was not fabricated, I’d be interested to know the legal action that someone like Mark Davidson could take at this point. Is this libel even though he gave the ghostwriter access to his account? Is there a clause in the contract that states the ghostwriter must not access Davidson’s account after termination? Was Davidson just silly for not changing his password?

 

Social networks are excellent places to tell your story and learn what your followers want/need. These companies and individuals miss opportunities to educate and respond when all interaction is “outsourced.”

 

Why Facebook’s Timeline Will Help the Online Identity Management Industry

(Kelley Vendeland) Scanning my Twitter feed this morning, you could be forgiven for thinking the only thing going on in the world was the launch of Facebook’s Timeline profile at the company’s F8 Developer conference.

 

Aside from having my own personal “you know you work in tech when” moment and possibly needing more diverse Twitter friends, Facebook’s Timeline is very, very cool. A Timeline profile is essentially one page – a tile – that catalogues your entire life since birth. The concept is a little 1984-esque, but I doubt that will matter to Facebook’s now 800 million users  - the site’s infamous skirmishes with privacy watchdogs haven't dented its growth thus far.  And Mark Zuckerberg is right on the mark that gorgeous visuals are crucial on today’s web. Facebook’s decision to hire non-coding graphic designers to work on profile layout has resulted in a stunning user interface; no other social networking site, not even Google+, can hold a candle to it.

 

What I find most interesting though are the implications of Facebook’s very blatant mission to assemble a digital diary of every user’s life. If you’re above a certain age, chances are you don’t have digitized photos of your high school, college and immediate post-college days. You might have hard copies that you could theoretically scan, upload and tag on Timeline, but are you really going to do that? Probably not.

 

But for users like myself – borderline digital natives – or younger – full fledged natives – who joined Facebook in college or high school, Timeline means that it just became even easier to find and chronologically sort our growing pains.

 

Does that mean we have to be even more vigilant about policing what ends up on Facebook? I’d argue yes. In an ideal world, if 800 million people use a service and a sizable fraction of them have silly party photos from college, those silly photos wouldn’t be a source of ammunition for HR departments and political campaign teams. If everyone has them, why do they matter, especially as the digital native generation gains seniority in the workforce?

 

Unfortunately I doubt it will play out like that.  Instead Facebook’s Timeline rollout and the Timeline copycats that will inevitably follow will likely be a boon for the online identity management industry. In highly competitive industries, people will always look to leverage the skeletons in the closet of the next guy. Now that Facebook has made your past even more searchable, management is more important than ever.

 

 

The Republican Candidates: Facebook Rankings

(Lauren Sacks) During the 2010 Congressional Elections, Facebook tracked the most hotly contested races and found that the number of Facebook fans helped predict more than 70% of the key races. Now, as the race for the Republican presidential nomination heats up, it’s time to examine how the top-tier candidates measure up in the world of Facebook.

For this exercise, the “top-tier” candidates analyzed are: Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and the sometimes forgotten candidate, Ron Paul.

As of 2:30pm on Wednesday, August 17, 2011, the number of “Likes” per candidate rank as follows:

1. Mitt Romney - 1,084,117 Likes
2. Michele Bachmann - 461,312 Likes
3. Ron Paul - 460,650 Likes
4. Rick Perry - 122,647 Likes

Mitt Romney has taken a comfortable lead, but how does his profile picture compare? Does the quality of the profile picture coincide with the popularity of the candidate?

As you can see, we have a variety in the candidates’ selections. Rick Perry captures his ability spend time with citizens, yet fails to highlight that he is a presidential candidate.  Michele Bachmann tries to harness her patriotism by photo-shopping the American flag, but the graphic looks more like she is wearing a striped towel over her suit than a tribute to her patriotism. Mitt Romney is sporting a smirk and the shadow over his eyes casts a bleak tone (could this be indicative of his personality?). Ron Paul leaves little room for critique—he is smiling, the photo is crisp, and he is clearly running for president.  

As the race for the nomination continues to intensify, check back to see the progress of the “Likes” and read more catty comments about their profile pictures.

Internet Memes 101

(Emma Nay) Welcome to INTERNET MEMES 101. This quick lesson will help you learn how to plank, owl, and leisure dive; and learn how to make a demotivational picture.

You’re probably wondering what the hell an Internet meme is, right? Well, according to Merriam-Webster, a meme (rhymes with cream) is “an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.” Now, an Internet meme is an idea, behavior, or style that is spread “virally” throughout the Internet.

Still have trouble understanding what an Internet meme is? Let me show you some examples:

 

 

As you can see here, I am planking on two desks in an old office at work. I must admit, it did hurt a little bit, but it was fun. You’re probably wondering how in the hell would this be fun? Try it out for yourself and you’ll find out how entertaining it really is. How did this strange fad become so popular? Well, no one really knows. I’m assuming it’s because some plankers like to make a fool of themselves by planking in the most awkward places such as balconies, basketball hoops, and even luggage bins on an airplane.

Owling is similar to planking, except the person sits on random objects like an owl. I did find planking to be a bit more challenging and fun compared to owling.  Here you can see a young man owling at in his office space:

 

 

 

Working hard? Or hardly working? You decide.

 

 

Now, let me explain to you about the whole leisure diving phenomenon. LeisureDive.com explains leisure diving as jumping, “…into a body of water (or at least something soft), striking a ‘leisure pose’ in mid-air. Ideally, a photographer captures the moment when the diver has reached peak height above water, when his or her hips are parallel to the waterline.” Here is a photo of two men in Mariachi costumes demonstrating a leisure dive:

You’re probably wondering why leisure diving got so famous too, huh? Well, just look at the picture. It’s hilarious! Be sure to check out www.leisuredive.com for more examples.

Have you heard of motivational posters? A motivational poster is supposed to “motivate” you to do great things, basically giving you a great outlook on life. Here’s one for example:

This one says, “Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice.”

 

Awww, isn't that cute? Well, you can only guess what a demotivational Internet meme looks like:

Brings you back to the good ol’ intern days, huh?

Well, I hope you enjoyed your INTERNET MEMES 101 class. Be sure to look out for INTERNET MEMES 201 to learn how to Rick Roll someone, how to interpret LOLCats, find out what the dramatic chipmunk is, and learn how to make your own EPIC Fail picture.

Lemonade Out of Lemons – How A Crisis Reflects the Best of A Company

(Tom Galvin) Everyday, we are reminded that no matter how noble, smart and well-managed a company is, sooner or later it’s going to find itself under the glare of intense scrutiny. I’ve seen it from all sides; from inside a “can do no wrong” company that had to explain how it stumbled and break a vow never to lay off thousands of employees to companies accused of monopoly behavior to accusations of prostitution to an organization finding out an employee’s child had the H1N1 virus – a day after that child was at headquarters for “Take Your Child to Work Day.”
 
And what always impresses me is how often a crisis brings out the very best in people, and therefore, organizations. I know it’s not the image we see on CNBC. But in most cases -with notable exceptions (re: Enron) - companies that face a crisis truly try to do the right thing.  But that doesn’t mean they don’t make mistakes.
 
Oftentimes, a crisis is simply an issue that wasn’t managed well and has turned into a crisis. In other instances, a company simply doesn’t react fast enough to limit the damage and it spirals. But all crises have some common themes and lessons:
 
-        A crisis is like a book. It has chapters. Some are long and some are short. The basic chapters are 1) what happened? 2) who’s at fault? 3) what is going to happen because of it? 4) how will it be stopped from happening again.

More often than not, the company controls how long the chapters are. For example, when a company that get accused of something and doesn’t respond in hopes it will die down just gets stuck in that chapter.  And the company wonders why the press won’t let go. The simple is they won’t until they can complete the chapters.
 
-      Guessing is the worst thing. It’s important to put out information fast, but only if you are certain it’s accurate. Too often companies panic and put out information, only to have to correct later on. Now they look like liars. Only put out what you know when you know it.

-      As bad as it may feel, a crisis is an ideal time to articulate and project the values of a company. If you messed up, say so (even if it leads to a big fight with the lawyers). If you miscalculated, own up to it. There is nothing more inspiring than an organization that holds itself accountable, explains what went wrong and demonstrates how it is going to become better because of it.

So the next time your organization falls short of its financial expectations, gets called up to testify and get scolded by Congress, or does something harmful, remember that in its toughest moments are its opportunities to prove what’s best about it.

Thanks Daniel Snyder for Seeing the Light.

(Jim Hock) Yeesh, writing that title was difficult.  While it pains me to walk in my son's Redskins painted room or give any kudos whatsoever to team owner Daniel Snyder bc of his gross mismanagement, I do have to give credit where its due.  And that's new solar installation being installed at Fedex Field.

This is great news that demonstrates the power of renewable energy. All told, there will be 8,000 solar panels to generate a "portion of the stadium’s power on game days and all of its electricity the rest of the week."

Great news.  And as a Volt owner, I am also pleased that the 850-space covered carport will feature 10 charging stations for electric vehicles.

For once at least for me: Way to go Danny-boy!

The South Will Rise Again. And Partly Due to Clean Energy.

(Jim Hock)  The title is tongue in cheek of course, but the new report from Brookings on the clean energy economy shows that more than 2.7 million Americans work in the clean energy sector.  That’s not the future.  That’s today.   

And in 5-10 years, it will be even more.  What’s more, these jobs are well paid and are spread in all regions of the country according to Brookings.  It’s more than the fossil fuel industries and the South has the largest number of clean-economy jobs – or 1 in 3.   Roughly a quarter of US clean tech jobs are in heavy-export manufacturing, according to the study. By comparison, less than 10% of jobs in the broader economy are in manufacturing, the study found.
 
All in all, good news for the advanced energy economy and our country.  Check it out here. 

There’s loads of great facts and cool interactive graphics too.

First date? No problem. Research your date with just a click!

(Emma Nay) Remember back in the day when you had a little crush on someone and you wanted to get to know him or her more?  First, you had to build up the courage to ask them out on a date and hope that they say yes. Second, if you’re lucky enough for them to say yes, then you had to think about where you wanted to take them for your first date. Last, but not least, you had to come up with some ideas to keep a decent conversation going with them the whole time. (Hopefully, you found your date to be very compatible and you two eventually blossomed into a wonderful relationship.)

Well, thanks to social media, people get the opportunity to get to someone before they even get a chance to talk take them out, or even meet them for the first time. People can easily get to know a person’s interests through social media sites like Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, assuming that their pages aren’t private.

 If you were to look at my Facebook page, you could easily find some of my favorite bands and movies, what sports I play, my political views, the fact that I enjoy video games, and the fact that I’m obsessed with Jeep Wranglers. Although, my information may be different than most, many other Facebook and other social media users post just about the same amount of information on their pages.

 As fun as it is taking a look at your crush’s Facebook or other social media sites, I feel like it kind of takes the fun out of the first date. Looking through all of their information, their tagged pictures, and recent tweets can spoil valuable time you could be spending getting to know the person one-on-one.  Maybe it would be best to save the Facebook “stalking” until after you get to know the person.

This Isn’t Your Grandma’s Farmville: The Alien World of Content Farming

(Kelsey Kirchmann) Everyone has seen the malformed beasts produced by content farming. Those weird, slinking articles titled “How to Fix a Lawnmower” or “Top Ten Summer Camp Themed Movies” that have little or no valuable content, but will take an unsuspecting netizen to a page filled with pop-up and sidebar ads if he chooses to “read more…” Some people spend hours stuck in the vortex of content farming and come away from the Internet no wiser or at least without an answer to their original query. Welcome to the weird world of content farming.

Most of us have been exposed to content farming when we are performing a routine query on a search engine. We search things like “How to Make Smores” or “LSAT HELP”, and we receive ranked search results by our preferred search engine. Some of the links in the search engine results are helpful and from reputable sources. Others would make our sixth grade English teachers cringe with republished content or a hodgepodge of words and pictures that are merely designed to suck the uniformed netizen into a rabbit hole of farmed content.

Content farms are often dressed up as legitimate websites or come from reputable sourced with broad name recognition. Some content farmers include Associated Content, e-How, wikihow, Cracked, Demand Media, CNN, AOL Seed and Patch, and Yahoo! Answers. These content farmers hire content farm workers for the hard labor.

Content farm workers are actual people who once dreamed of writing the great American novel or winning the Pulitzer for an article on populist revolutions in the Middle East, but are forced by circumstance (the economy, the decline of print media, really bad dates) to produce low quality content for even lower quality salary.

Content farms use computer algorithms which track trending search terms to produce a list of topics that will generate the most page views. Content farmers then work on impossible thirty-minute deadlines to produce bologna content on these computer-generated topics.

The quality of farmed content is not important; the content is merely a backsplash for the ads on the page. The central purpose of content farming is to garner ad revenue through page views. Read this horror story from a former content farmer for AOL and you will understand that the above summary of content farming is far from melodrama.

As a casual netizen, I first truly began to understand the alien concept of content farming a few days ago after reading an opinion piece in the New York Times. This blog post by Virginia Heffernan documented Google’s war on content farming with a new algorithm named Panda. Panda works to send farmed content to the bottom of Google’s page ranking system, making farmed content less valuable to content farms. Being at the bottom of the page ranking system does not equate to a high number of page views or ad revenue.

Google has just released Panda 2.2, the revised second edition of the Panda algorithm created to fight farmed content. Since Panda’s February 2011 launch, Google has been refining this algorithm and quietly releasing updated versions. According to this legal brief, Google Panda has been increasingly effective at weeding out worthless farmed content with eHow and Wikihow being the hardest hit of the content farms.

But Google Panda does not mean cybercitizens and their computers can sleep soundly. There is a new frontier, wild and lawless, that content farmers are beginning to exploit: e-books. A recent article in Salon titled “Spamazon” talks about the farmed content that is beginning to infiltrate the Amazon marketplace for Kindle books. Content farmers buy the rights to popular books or book titles then rearrange the words or completely change the content. Content farmers sell their product for a fraction of the cost of a legitimate e-book. Cybercitizens are then tricked into buying a low-cost, garbage imitation of Alice in Wonderland or The Yogurt Diet for Dummies. It is becoming increasingly difficult to sort the cheap imitators from legitimate e-literature. So Panda may be protecting your Google searches, but Panda cannot protect your Kindle.

I’m not sure if cheap imitations or get rich quick schemes are human nature or a law of the universe, but for now content farming will continue until the entire global community of cybercitizens fully understands the way content is generated and presented on the internet. We should all arm ourselves with knowledge and be our own Pandas. As long as we can recognize farmed content and steer ourselves back to the more reputable sources of online information, we can be responsible and empowered netizens. 

Skype from your couch

(Emma Nay) Imagine that you’re sitting on your couch, watching your favorite television show, and then all of a sudden your show gets interrupted. This time it wasn’t a commercial that took over the screen; it’s your boss calling in to see why you didn’t go to work today.

You guessed it. The cable giant, Comcast, and the Internet video program, Skype, are developing a partnership to help bring the latest bit of entertainment from the Internet to the television screen. Comcast customers who wish to have this feature will need to buy a special adapter box and an HD camera along with an HD television to get the maximum experience. A cool feature is that you can have an option where you can use Skype and watch television at the same time.

Personally, I’m not so sure if I would like to have this feature added to my television set, simply because I’d like to keep the Skype feature on my computer. I like to watch TV when I want to relax after a long day of work or listen to the news, not video chat with a friend to see what they’re doing Saturday night. Another thing that I’m not too fond of is that this will add extra expenses to my cable bill, as if the adapter and camera weren’t expensive enough!

If you do decide to purchase this application for your TV set, make sure to sign out when you don’t want to be bothered from your boss, ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, mother-in-law, spouse, or whoever else that may interrupt your favorite program.  

We’re Gonna Party Like It’s 1999

(Kelsey Kirchmann) In 1999, I was nine-years-old. I had never been out of the country, I had never operated a motor vehicle and I was five years away from holding my first real job as a line cook in a pizza joint. I had barely discovered the Internet past AOL Instant Messaging in the elementary school computer lab.

 

1999 was an exciting year. This new currency called the Euro was established as the official currency of the eurozone (which did not yet include Greece). The world population reached 6 billion people, ExxonMobile became the world’s largest company and this guy named Hugo Chavez became the President of Venezuela.

 

Bill Gates’ fortune exceeded 100 billion dollars with the release of Windows 98.  This amazing new music-sharing site called Napster was launched and the music was totally free (until they were prosecuted for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement). Apple released the Power Macintosh G4. China started restricting the use of the Internet in these things called Internet cafes. We were all afraid Y2K was going to be the beginning of Armageddon, starting with our bank accounts because you just can’t trust those computers.

 

At that time we had no idea about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, Hulu or Groupon. Google was a brand new search engine, a few years away from its IPO. We didn’t use the word netizen and we spent significantly less time on the Internet. Oh, and did I mention there were no smartphones (collectve gasp).

 

Last Thursday, the FCC released a report called “Information Needs of Communities”. This report is the product of the FCC’s examination of the future of media and information launched in 2010.

 

This project was launched after the FTC published a staff discussion draft in 2010 of policy recommendations to “support the reinvention of journalism”. These policy suggestions include massive federal subsidies for the press, a journalism division of AmeriCorps, expanded postal subsidies and taxes on cell phones and consumer electronics to pay for it all.

 

Now please pause for a moment to take all of that in. How different would our world be if those policy suggestions were taken in 1999? I am almost positive I would not be using my iPhone to tweet about Facebook in China after a quick Google News search.

 

The FCC’s report is broad where the FTC’s staff discussion draft was controversially specific. The FCC report focused on an objective overview of modern media. Instead of trying to suggest policy that will most likely inhibit the rapidly-evolving, organic nature of modern media, the FCC suggests streamlining policy and promoting transparency in media online. Instead of a strident regulatory framework, the FCC’s policy suggestions favor a light regulatory touch.

 

The FCC’s approach seems both rational and highly intelligent considering the amazing information revolution that has taken place over the past few decades. It remains hard to say what will become the next Facebook, Google or Twitter and it is even harder to say why Prince wore this sparkling trench coat, but it easy to see we will continue to experience the lightening-fast progress of innovation in the digital age.

 

 

“Infotainment” Systems: A Solution or a Distraction?

(Emma Nay) From smart phones to refrigerators with built-in TVs, technology seems to be creeping up on to just about everything. In fact, technology giants like Google and Intel are bringing the power of the PC right on to the dashboard of a car. As if we didn’t have enough distractions on the road!

“Infotainment systems” is what they are called and they are supposedly going to be on the market this year. Infotainment systems have a variety of features including: 3D maps, HD videos, car and fuel information, and even the Internet. Even though some systems may prevent drivers from viewing videos while the car is in motion, drivers can still access information on the Internet, such as news articles and social media.

I guess these technology giants thought it would be a great idea to bring smart phone-like applications to the dashboard without considering the consequences. “Unfortunately and sadly, it is a continuation of the pursuit of profit over safety — for both drivers and pedestrians,” says Nicholas A. Ashford, a professor of technology and policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

I could only imagine if I bought a new car with a built-in infotainment system. Let’s say I wanted to head over to a local restaurant to celebrate my new purchase. I wanted to see some reviews of this restaurant before I head out but didn’t have enough time to look them up at home. I could easily press a button on the 10-inch screen above my gearshift to access the Internet and find out what this restaurant is all about. Add that to another list of things that could be distracting me behind the wheel (such as my smart phone vibrating uncontrollably, my beverage spilling all over the place, or some friends that are chatting away in the back seat) and before you know it, I’m in a wreck, or hopefully just a fender bender!

Needless to say, I’m probably going to stick with my simple Jeep and leave these infotainment systems to the tech fanatics. As much as a safe driver as I am (knock on wood), I really would not want to jeopardize my safety over something so unnecessary.

 

New Fitness Technologies to Help You Stay Fit

(Emma Nay) Do you have a resolution to stay fit year-round but are having trouble staying motivated? Is exercising slowly becoming more repetitive and boring? Well, with today’s new fitness technologies, people are finding more ways to stay in shape and stay entertained. From mobile apps to gaming consoles, there are so many different fitness tips and routines to help get you the beach body you’ve always wanted.

So, how do we get people to enjoy exercising? Last year, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) did a Getting Fit with Consumer Electronics study to influence consumers to use technology to get them off of their couches to stay fit, instead of using technology to be sedentary

Rhonda Daniel, manager of market research at CEA, states that fitness technologies are ranging from scales and pedometers, to mobile applications, MP3 players, and gaming systems. This helps these technologies reach out to as many different types of people as possible. New mobile applications such as the Lose It! app, can help give consumers an ideal workout schedule to reach their personal goals, track their calorie intake, track their progress, and even see how their friends are progressing with the app. I have used the Lose It! app before and I absolutely loved it! There are other mobile apps such as CardioTrainer Pro, JogTracker, Adidas miCoach, and various other apps to give tips to fit the consumer’s needs.

There’s no need to sit on the couch to watch your favorite show anymore!  Many elliptical trainers and treadmills are now being built with televisions so you can stay entertained while melting off those calories. If there isn’t a television present, there are apps you can put on your phone to watch movies or you could simply listen to music while you work out. Are you a video game fanatic? How about trying some new fitness games for the Xbox Kinect and the Wii? There are tons of strength training and cardio games to choose from such as Zumba and even skiing!

With today’s fitness technology, it seems like there is virtually no excuse not to work out. These apps could definitely help whip everyone into that fantastic, beach body, all while having a great time doing it. So, get up off of that couch and start working on that body that you have been dreaming of all year.

Early 20-Somethings Have Souls Too

(Kelsey Kirchmann) Recently in a Senate hearing on mobile privacy, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) asserted that young people “who are 20, 21, 22 years old really don’t have social values”.  This comment has sparked agreement, derision, discussion, and debate surrounding the changing nature of social values and privacy with the expansion of social media on the web. I personally snorted into my green tea. Now I’m usually a Rockefeller fan, but this supposition was a little bit offending. As one of those early twenty-somethings, I can attest that my peers and I have social values, but the nature of those social values is very different than that of previous generations.

With the advent of Web 2.0 applications, young twenty-somethings have come of age in an era of sharing. Some react the same way their parents or grandparents might, regarding social media with suspicion and reluctance. Others use aliases to protect their careers and aspirations from an errant, incriminating tagged photo or post. Most have embraced the over-sharing nature of broadcasting their lives on the Internet, navigating coming of age and defining themselves in a most public fashion. Engaging in these forums helps young twenty-somethings aggregate information, seek out opportunity and connect with people in their social networks. Social media has become an integral part of life.

Some young people do social media better than others- who can forget the harrowing story of Kiki Kannibal and her failure to utilize social media in a healthy manner. Social media provides everyone with a space for self-expression. Often the most extreme forms of self-expression get all the attention in the press. This does not mean that all young twenty-somethings have no social values. Rockefeller should talk to Barack Obama about young people with social values- I’m pretty sure those values helped elect Obama the last time around.

Young twenty-somethings do have social values. The fact that they are willing to utilize web 2.0 applications with limited privacy protection does not indicate a lack of respect or understanding of privacy, it indicates the changing nature of the world. Young twenty-somethings use social networking sites to promote their social values, to follow their passions, and to engage their friends in discussion. Those who use social media most successfully understand the limits of a virtually (no pun intended) lawless public forum for expression, and they also accept that the lack of regulation opens the door for further innovation and faster aggregation of relevant and pertinent information. Young twenty-somethings have social values, but (shockingly) they have evolved with the increasing interconnectedness of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

New Mobile Healthcare Apps That May Save Your Life

 

(Emma Nay) We all know that using a phone while driving can cause some serious consequences. With new applications coming out daily, it seems as though people have even more ways to become distracted behind the wheel.
 
But who knew that some mobile applications could help save someone’s life? Ford Motors is currently working on a mobile app that could help those with chronic conditions such as diabetes. This mobile app uses Bluetooth so drivers can answer questions hands-free to get information about their personal health records and track low blood sugar levels. This app isn’t only for the driver; it’s for the passengers as well.
 
Coming from a personal experience of mine, I believe that these new apps could very well save someone’s life.
 
Last May, I was driving back to school to study for exams after visiting my mother on Mother’s Day. I started to feel very confused, dizzy, and disoriented and had pulled over immediately on I-95. I was so weak that I couldn’t even lift my water bottle. I called 911 immediately because I was on the verge of fainting and I knew I had to get off the road as soon as possible. After spending a night in the emergency room, I discovered that what I had was   hyponatremia, a sodium deficiency. It definitely would have helped me out if such an app were available at the time.
 
Gary Strumolo, Ford global manager of interiors, infotainment, health, and wellness research, stated that these mobile healthcare apps probably wouldn’t be around for another year or so. Until then, let’s hope that other automobile companies will step up to make the roads safer for everyone, especially for those suffering from chronic conditions.

And Oh, By the Way, Thanks for Your Service

 
(Tom Galvin) I’m sure when Meredith Atwell Baker decided to leave the FCC, she didn’t expect a lot of gratitude for her public service. After all, it’s old-fashioned to actually thank someone for working long hours, taking a pay cut and subjecting themselves to the scrutiny and criticism that comes with being a government employee. But she probably didn’t expect to be kicked in the shins either, and for good reason.
 
Baker is an expert in the field of telecommunications and technology, and she gathered that expertise largely through private sector policy and lobbying jobs.  She then put that expertise to work for the federal government first at the Commerce Department, where she was widely praised by Democrats and Republicans alike, and then as a Senate-confirmed commissioner at the FCC.
 
Now she’s leaving to go back to what she did before, government relations.  She did everything the right way, including recuse herself when she started talking with NBCUniversal about a job. She played by the rules, and gets burned for it. The criticism is she must have been angling for the job when she voted to approve the NBC/Comcast merger in January. If so, why did two Democrats on the panel vote for it as well? Perhaps because they all followed the process and reached a conclusion.
 
And the media is, of course, aghast. Baker didn’t control the timing of the FCC merger vote, or the fact a retirement opened up a great job that she had to consider, but don’t let those facts stand in the way. And what if Baker had instead taken a job lobbying for the newspaper industry? That’s right, the Washington Post and many newspapers hire lobbyists who do exactly what Baker does for a living. But you don’t read much about that in the papers because that’s, well, awkward.
 
Now the FCC has one opening and likely another in coming months. Good luck finding the best and the brightest to fill those jobs now that they know their future employment will be criticized by those who fling arrows from the cheap seats.

The BP Spill and Crisis Communication

(Katie Durkin) Exactly one year ago today, an explosion occurred on BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, just over 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The accident resulted in approximately 4.9 million barrels of oil being dumped into the Gulf over the course of three months as BP struggled to stop the leak.  The disaster is the largest accidental oil spill in history.

 

The spill is an interesting and continuing case study for communication professionals.  BP took a major hit to its public image and financial stability throughout the firestorm of negative press and environmental activists’ protests during the prolonged crisis.  The public was particularly infuriated by the company’s CEO Tony Hayward’s lack of engagement and sincere concern for those affected by the disaster.  At the end of last May, he said on the Today Show,  “There is no one who wants this over more than I do. I’d like my life back.” Hayward’s continuous dismissal of the public’s concern on behalf of BP resulted in distrust of the company’s ability to effectively handle the situation. Again in June, the media attacked Hayward when he was photographed attending a leisurely sailing event and then failed to participate in the World National Oil Companies Congress.  Hayward’s repeated public relations missteps led to his replacement in July. 

 

During the crisis, BP’s stock fell dramatically but has since recovered. The company reported fourth quarter profits 30% above those from the prior year.  The crisis is naturally comparable to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in which the Exxon’s reputation was severely tarnished, while it remained financially strong.  Improving BP’s reputation are its continued clean-up efforts and the several billion dollars it has distributed to business affected by the disaster.

 

A year later, the full scope environmental effects of the spill are still unknown.  Scientists believe it could be many years before all the repercussions of the disaster are understood.  At this point, researchers predict a low probability of continuing devastating consequences on the Gulf’s ecosystem.  However, last year’s disaster must still be reflected upon and learned from by oil industry leaders, policy-makers, and crisis communication practitioners alike. 

 

 

 

 

National Association of Broadcasters Calls for Closure of Patent Office, Proclaims that “All the world’s inventions have happened, nothing is left”

 
(Tom Galvin) April 1, 2011 – In a stunning development today, the National Association of Broadcasters proclaimed that 2011 as the “End of the Discovery Age” and said that there was nothing left to invent. NAB also called for the immediate closure of the Patent Office, since there will be no further innovation in the world.
 
“NAB has a long history of supporting innovation. After all, it was our industry that came up with the Yule Log and Infomercial,” said NAB spokesman Diade Inocente. “But after a long review, we’ve come to the conclusion with the development of the DVR, there is really nothing left in the world to invent, so let’s just stop trying.”
 
NAB also called for the Obama Administration to retract its National Broadband Plan, which it unveiled to great fanfare last year. “We don’t need a broadband plan. Does anyone really think there will an iPhone 5? C’mon!,” said NAB’s Inocente. Instead, NAB suggested that 2011 devices, programming and features be locked.
 
“We have enough programming  to last us 500 years,” added Inocente. “Between ‘Murder She Wrote,’ ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ reunion shows and “Kitchen Nightmares’ we have enough quality programming to last forever. And that doesn’t even include the ground-breaking news coming from local television outlets.”
 
When asked about the need for more broadband to support exciting new devices such as tablets and smart phones, NAB’s Inocente chortled: “Let’s be real. What are you going to do with them? We all know the Internet is a fad, just look at those dot-com stocks from ten years ago. The smart money is in Univision, TNT and other companies that are leading the cutting edge of communications.”
 
“Sure Apple got lucky once or twice, but it’s not like you can go on the Internet and watch videos of anything you want whenever you want,” said Inocente. “And anyway, if you could, what would you even call it? Youtube?”
 
 

3D Frenzy: Just a Fad or Here to Stay?

(Katie Durkin) Has anyone else noticed the bombardment of 3D products from the entertainment and technology industries within the past two years?  Ever since the release of James Cameron’s Avatar in 2009, it seems like everyone has hopped on the 3D bandwagon.

 While 3D technology has come a long way, it is by no means a new concept. In fact, the first form of three-dimensional images was presented in 1856, and 3D films have been popular in amusement parks for decades.  I recall “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience” being my favorite Disney World attraction when I visited about ten years ago.  So why the sudden surge of 3D movies from Hollywood?  After Avatar, came Clash of the Titans, Despicable Me, Tron: Legacy and Jackass 3D to name a few.   I initially thought it was a fleeting trend whipped up by the film industry to revamp interest in movie going.  But now other industries are following suit…

While I’ve yet to try one out, 3D televisions are becoming increasingly popular among early adopters.  They run between $800 and $3,500, but their prices have already started to drop.  Just last week, Nintendo launched its newest gaming console, Nintendo 3DS, which is a handheld console that projects 3D images without the need for 3D glasses. 

 However, the new 3D products aren’t for everyone. Gamers have already complained that using the Nintendo 3DS causes headaches and dizziness.  And I remember hearing multiple fearful shrills as Jake Sully sailed through Pandora on his winged-creatures.   I guess only time will tell whether 3D’s sudden popularity will become a societal norm or eventually be scaled back. 

 

The 463 Timeline – As Measured by our Apple Gifts

(Tom Galvin) Been thinking a lot lately about how the technology community has evolved over the last 6 1/2 years since we founded 463 in late 2004. When we started our firm, YouTube wasn’t invented yet, Facebook just received its first investment and no one was yet atwitter about Twitter. Jim, Sean and I founded the firm on the premise that technology was becoming pervasive and ever more important in everyday life, the economy and society – and that it would become increasingly regulated.
 
All that’s been proven true, but we missed a lot along the way. We (I) were certain that RFID would revolutionize all aspects of life as much or more than the Internet did. And so far, so wrong. It could still happen though, but not like we expected. We thought health-care IT would become one of the most important tech issues in Washington, and while it’s important, it’s become subsumed into overall health care.
 
Actually, the biggest difference between 2004 and 2011 is back then, there were tech issues. Now they are just issues that have a tech angle. Back in the early days, technology stood out as a separate challenge – Internet tax, for example. Now, it’s become such an everyday part of life it’s just assumed to be in the mix of everything. Just look at the never-ending debate on energy and  “green” – tech is all over it.
 
That’s led to another change – back in the day many reporters who had technology as their beat. Over time, many of those technology reporter beats disappeared, victim to the change in journalism, economic downturn and the fact that tech just became an integral part of a broader beat, such as health care or energy.
 
One thing has stayed the same. Our core group of original clients – Cisco, VeriSign, Sun, TechNet and Technology CEO Council – all but Sun are still with us, and that’s because Sun was swallowed by up by Oracle. Along the way we’ve added new ones – Facebook and CEA come to mind - but we take pride in our long-term relationships.
 
But if you want to mark the last 6 1/2 years to see change, one must look no further than the prizes we give out at 463 parties. Those who we count as friends know us as folks who like to do two things – release a dopey holiday video every year making fun of ourselves, our clients and reporters and give out gadgets at our regular happy hours and company parties.
 
In 2004, I recall when we gave away iPods the winners were excited to get them. Nowadays you can get one by subscribing to a magazine.They have become the clock radio of technology – so available as to be barely valuable. But in a sense, that’s success, because it’s about the content, right? Along the way we’ve given away Flip cameras and flat-screen TVs. And Danielle, you can’t win anymore.
 
Which gets me to my finale. We now live in an iPad world, so while it’s still hot, we’ll be giving one away at our next 463 event on April 13th, during which we’ll also honoring CEA’s Gary Shapiro’s new book, “The Comeback.” We hope to see you there.
 
Six and a half years from now, who’s to say what will be hot? Technology will be further ingrained in our society, we’ll have a new president but some of the same old challenges (debt, fear of overseas competition). And hopefully some hot gadgets to give away.
 

Sticker Shock on Chevy Volt

 

 

 

 

 

     
(Jim Hock) As most close to 463 will tell you, I have been super excited to get the new Chevy Volt.  What’s not to love with the eco-friendly features and limited amount of overpriced gasoline you have to buy.  But imagine my surprise after doing a ton of research to be told – when putting my $2,000 deposit down at the dealer yesterday – that there is a “dealer surcharge” that could range anywhere up to $20,000 on top of the MSRP.  Crazy.  The guy at the Koons dealer in Vienna, Virginia said that for me they would give the “reduced rate” of $8,000 down from $12,000.  Thanks, but no thanks.  And this was just thrown on at the end of the conversation and when asked what it was they said it basically was for paperwork and such.  Total BS.  
 
So I come to find out that this is not official GM corporate policy, but a policy that’s up to the discretion of the individual dealers.  Just another example of American car companies screwing up in the short term rather than long-term customer satisfaction.  And promulgating the sleezy reputation of US car dealers.   
 
Message to Chevy dealers – charge what you advertise up front.  Don’t play around. You’ve been in the wilderness for so long.  Don’t you go there again with these stupid practices.  I have been a totally committed Toyota-hybrid-Camry guy and was ready for a change. Maybe that has to wait a bit.
 

Rise of the Robots

(Katie Durkin)  IBM’s supercomputer aka Watson crushed its two-legged Jeopardy! opponents last night in the second part of a three-night series.  Watson fell short of expectations the first night, tying Jeopardy! legend Brad Rutter.  Watson shined on Day 2 though and finished with $35,734, while his contenders Rutter earned $10,400 and Ken Jennings earned only $4800.

 Scientists at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Lab in New York spent over four years designing and preparing Watson for the Jeopardy! challenge.  Watson’s overwhelming victory last night demonstrates the power and rapid advancement of artificial intelligence. 

Not every one is as impressed by Watson as I am though.  Wired reader Anthony Williams commented, “Duh, what a concept.  A computer can locate and answer questions faster than a human big deal.”  Others allude to an eventual machine takeover: “By 2030 we’ll make good pets if we’re lucky,” commented Wired reader ConvivalVisits. 

 However, the triumph of Watson is a truly feat in the name of innovation.  IBM has designed a machine that can analyze and understand complicated human language and wordplay.  The reach of IBM’s accomplishments could span from the military to health care to classrooms. 

The important thing to remember is that whether it’s Watson, Rutter, or Jennings that wins the final game tonight, the power of the human brain will be behind the victory.  

 

National Wireless Initiative: Win-Win for All

(By: Krista Strum) If you missed President Obama’s speech on the National Wireless Initiative and its execution plan, here are a few important highlights. First, he signaled support for legislation to allow the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions to free up 500MHz worth of spectrum. What makes incentive auctions attractive, as proposed in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, is that current owners will get a share of revenue earned from auctioning off the spectrum. It’s a sweet deal that should encourage those “squatting” on idle or unused spectrum to participate.

Second, the plan includes measures to help consumers become more connected, directing $5 billion to constructing 4G networks in rural areas. The effort will also be backed by a $3 billion R&D budget to help guide the rollout. When all is said and done, it’s projected that at least 98 percent of American’s will have service.  This is awesome considering more connectivity and information sharing makes for a smarter America.

The ‘icing on the cake’ is a $10.7 billion budget for a nationwide public safety network.  So during national emergencies, emergency response workers and groups can communicate on a larger scale. Under the plan, “$3.2 billion would be devoted to reallocating the “D Block” (which is a band of spectrum that would be reserved and prioritized for public safety and not auctioned as called for under existing law); $7 billion to support the deployment of this network; and $500 million from the WIN Fund for R&D and technological development to tailor the network to meet public safety requirements.”

If you’re worried about this adding to the federal deficit, don’t! The spectrum auctions, “estimated to raise $27.8 billion,” will help offset these costs -- $9.6 billion of which will go toward reducing the deficit.

Overall, his plan is a win-win for all: “squatters” have good reason to unload their idle spectrum, consumers could enjoy more connectivity and, in times of national emergency we’ll be able to communicate better.

For more details about the plan, visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/02/10/president-obama-details-plan-win-future-through-expanded-wireless-access

Super Bowl Ads vs. Social Media Marketing

(Katie Durkin) On one particular Monday morning of every winter, there’s always three pressing questions Americans will ask each other: who were you rooting for, what’d you think of that half-time show, and which was your favorite commercial? Advertisers spend up to $3 million for a 30 second spot during the coveted Super Bowl airtime.  With viewership climbing every year, it seems like a smart investment.  Last year, 106 million viewers tuned in to watch the big game, and early ratings show that last night’s game will most likely shatter the record number of audience members once again. 

However, in the age of new media, one wonders whether spending millions of dollars for a few seconds of television advertising is wise.  While the Super Bowl attracts millions of viewers each year, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube boast billions of users daily.  Why not just launch a viral campaign that will cost next to nothing in comparison? 

Not to worry, Super Bowl ad fans.  Social media won’t be diminishing the quality of your annual parade of amusing advertisements anytime soon; it will actually enhance their influence.  The buzz around this year’s commercials seems bigger than ever thanks to Internet traffic. 

Here’s how some of the most popular ads from last night are faring so far on YouTube:

Chrysler’s “Imported From Detroit” featuring Eminem: 803,406 views

Best Buy’s “Ozzy Osbourne and Justin Bieber”: 408,572 views

NFL’s “Best Fans Ever”:  170,011 views

And the winner by a landslide is Volkswagen’s “Darth Vader Kid”: 15,662,189 views  (It had just over 13 million when I started writing this post.)