Archive for September, 2006

Time Suck Alert!

Wednesday, September 20th, 2006

Get ready for some serious brain teasing

Click Drag Type 3 is one of the best online brain teasers I’ve encountered in a long time. Here’s a blog post that gives you some more info about it.

Mac vs. PC

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006

He's a PC and he's a Mac -- not as scripted by Apple

I really like Apple’s Mac vs. PC commercials (this one and this one are my favorites). Of course they’re ripe for parody, and there are many out there. Here’s the best one I’ve seen so far.

Universal vs. YouTube (and Maybe MySpace)

Monday, September 18th, 2006

Free advertising or copyright violation?

As the New York Post reports, Universal Music is rattling legal sabres at YouTube. Here’s another article from Playfuls.com about all this indicating it’s about a lot more than just YouTube.

This was certainly inevitable, and will be interesting to watch. Will a copyright suit against YouTube create an anti-Universal backlash among YouTube users?

Companies like Universal really need to think through their relationship with the online world. If someone gets a copy of a CD from a friend and makes MP3s of that CD available online for free or sells them for profit, then sure, that’s a clear case of copyright violation and they ought to get nailed.

But does a YouTube video like this of some kid lip-synching to a song that gets viewed 350,000 times take money out of someone’s pocket or serve as free advertising for that song to those 350,000?

Comedy Central really gets the online world, and programs like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report understand how to interact and welcome the online audience as opposed to antagonizing and shutting them out. Smart companies, I believe, will follow their example.

Takeaway for marketers: Place customers first and serve their wants and needs, you have a chance for a win-win. Place your company above your customers, it’s almost a guaranteed lose-lose.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Questionable Statistics

Sunday, September 17th, 2006

Look what I bought today!

According to this survey reported in AdAge, 58% of men spend more money than they make each month, even as this study claims that men are smarter than women. Go figure.

Two Beeeeeelion Emails!

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

I can rule the world through spam!

Any way you slice it, that’s a lot of spam for one guy to send.