![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Early adopter: check. (Well, I think it's more fostering, given that I don't keep most of the tech I try out; journalists - fostering today the tech you'll want to adopt tomorrow?)
Shop at Walmart: sometimes. Their clothing line has some nice stuff sometimes, but I'm more of a Trader Joes/Whole Foods gal.
Am I more a Google searcher? Target and Amazon? Well, I bought a dinner set at Target and dragged it back from Cincinnati... certainly not a Yahoo users and my views on AT&T are, well, frank... (capex down in almost direct proportion to increasing revenue? file under shortsighted)
AdAge has some fascinting demographics from a study by Wunderman ,BrandAsset Consulting, Zaaz and Compete: I'm not sure about the search engine users but they are *spot on* about the AOL demographic; that chip on the shoulder, 'I'm comfortable here and I'm staying but shouldn't there be more' attitude - they have always been the core AOL audience. They were often obscured by the transient wave of people using AOL as training wheels to get online, check out the walled garden and hike out into the wild Internet. Part of me is thinking I'd never want to build a brand on that demographic, but if you can pitch them, keep them and sell to them - why not? The problem for AOL is that it's a market that isn't sexy, doesn't look good in headlines and somewhere along the line tech and online services have become all about what looks good in the headlines...
What Your Choice of Search Engine Says About You
"What does your search engine say about you? Well, if it's Bing, you're probably an early adopter, but you also visit, shop and ultimately make purchases from Walmart more than other search-engine users. Google searchers, on the other hand, are partial to Target and Amazon, and Yahoo searchers have a strong preference for wireless service from AT&T and Sprint.
Google users are more likely to book a flight online at JetBlue or make a reservation on Hotwire. They are also more likely to do research on a Lexus, while Bing users tend more toward Toyota.
For instance, AOL customers feel less intellectual than their peers, are 55 and older, spend their money more responsibly, want to blend in to the crowd, feel like they've gotten a raw deal out of life, expect less from their future and, believe it or not, still use dial-up modems. Bing users are middle-aged, highly educated tech-savvy individuals who consider themselves to be average and spend more than 10 hours a week online.
Googlers tend to be the average internet Joe, according to the study. The search leader's loyalists are conventional people yet open to trying new things, believe in following rules and don't consider themselves any smarter or less intelligent than the person next to them. Yahoo users tend to be 55-plus, reserved and a less-independent group with little faith in imagination. They feel they have little control over their future and are skeptical and cautious of new or untried ideas."
Feb. 7th, 2010
(no subject)
Feb. 7th, 2010 12:20 pmoh goodie; something else to cram into my carry on that will make the TSA unpack the whole bag at security...
Proposed battery restrictions could crimp e-commerce, air travel
Posted using ShareThis
Proposed battery restrictions could crimp e-commerce, air travel
Posted using ShareThis
I followed the arguments about the TechCrunch intern who asked for (note - not was offered but asked for) a MacBook Air in return for covering a company with interest: between the FTC demanding that bloggers declare when they get gifts relevant to their blogging, the site that collected the name of everyone loaned a laptop to test the M3 build of Windows 7 so it could declare all their coverage biased and the US paper that sacked a writer who accepted travel expenses for a piece in another title, there's plenty of debate on what are the ethical limits for journalists. The US rules - at least for 'main stream media' - have long been: no gifts, expenses paid by the title. We have a slightly different approach in the UK; don't be biased.
With freelance rates that haven't really gone up since the late 1980s and no expense payments to speak of, many writers can't afford to pay their own way to important events that are outside London; if they invite a journalist, companies typically offer to cover expenses for events. Don't think all-expenses-paid; think, they'll probably cover Internet access costs and buy you a drink... I've never met a company that expected paying for a train ticket or lending an item for review to be rewarded with anything more an honest writeup. And yes, maybe after a long loan for comparison with other products that you review, maybe with the journalist saying how much they'll miss it - but sooner or later, the kit goes back. We don't expect anything else.
Editors (should) make the point clearly when they start working with someone; don't expect freebies and don't allow any freebies to influence your judgement. That's what management and mentoring is for; that's what discussing the meeting and the angle of the story is for; that's why editors should go to events with new in-house writers for a while, to make sure everything is on track. With a 17-year old intern, that should apply in spades - but the pile-em-high-and-sell-em-cheap approach to online journalism doesn't seem to have time, funds or sometimes even the desire to do that.
The apology from the intern mentioned the Teens in Tech conference; I picked up a recent copy of Fast Company this morning and spotted it in their diary for the month, with this gushing write-up: "Any parent seeking to make a kid feel inadequate need only point to 17-year-old Daniel Brusilovsky. The Californian is founder and CEO of Teens in Tech Networks (for young media producers), a TechCrunch writer, and a marketing manager for mobile-video startup Qik. The whiz kid, who's cochairing this San Francisco conference, says his generation has the power to lead technological innovation, citing Facebook as inspiration. Does he hope to be the next Mark Zuckerberg? "I'm the kind of person who doesn't look far ahead -- I live in the moment," he says, channeling his inner adult. "But if I wasn't doing what I loved, I wouldn't be doing it." And then he put down his iPhone to go network at a conference. In Rome. Where he was a featured panelist. Again, he's 17."
Living in the moment, with minimal editorial mentoring; that's not the way to do journalism. I have no personal animus towards Daniel and I think he was badly let down by the people who should have been teaching him (he was an intern, not a journalist), but I'll worry about our industry if he just goes charging ahead, speaking at all those conferences, without some serious re-evaluation. It's called adult supervision for a reason...
With freelance rates that haven't really gone up since the late 1980s and no expense payments to speak of, many writers can't afford to pay their own way to important events that are outside London; if they invite a journalist, companies typically offer to cover expenses for events. Don't think all-expenses-paid; think, they'll probably cover Internet access costs and buy you a drink... I've never met a company that expected paying for a train ticket or lending an item for review to be rewarded with anything more an honest writeup. And yes, maybe after a long loan for comparison with other products that you review, maybe with the journalist saying how much they'll miss it - but sooner or later, the kit goes back. We don't expect anything else.
Editors (should) make the point clearly when they start working with someone; don't expect freebies and don't allow any freebies to influence your judgement. That's what management and mentoring is for; that's what discussing the meeting and the angle of the story is for; that's why editors should go to events with new in-house writers for a while, to make sure everything is on track. With a 17-year old intern, that should apply in spades - but the pile-em-high-and-sell-em-cheap approach to online journalism doesn't seem to have time, funds or sometimes even the desire to do that.
The apology from the intern mentioned the Teens in Tech conference; I picked up a recent copy of Fast Company this morning and spotted it in their diary for the month, with this gushing write-up: "Any parent seeking to make a kid feel inadequate need only point to 17-year-old Daniel Brusilovsky. The Californian is founder and CEO of Teens in Tech Networks (for young media producers), a TechCrunch writer, and a marketing manager for mobile-video startup Qik. The whiz kid, who's cochairing this San Francisco conference, says his generation has the power to lead technological innovation, citing Facebook as inspiration. Does he hope to be the next Mark Zuckerberg? "I'm the kind of person who doesn't look far ahead -- I live in the moment," he says, channeling his inner adult. "But if I wasn't doing what I loved, I wouldn't be doing it." And then he put down his iPhone to go network at a conference. In Rome. Where he was a featured panelist. Again, he's 17."
Living in the moment, with minimal editorial mentoring; that's not the way to do journalism. I have no personal animus towards Daniel and I think he was badly let down by the people who should have been teaching him (he was an intern, not a journalist), but I'll worry about our industry if he just goes charging ahead, speaking at all those conferences, without some serious re-evaluation. It's called adult supervision for a reason...
Amazing architecture without architects
Feb. 7th, 2010 07:08 pmI've been spending a little time clearing off the memory cards by importing a year's worth of photos I didn't have time to publish while we were on the road the last couple of years. After the Windows 7 PDC and before the Windows 7 WinHEC we went to Watts Towers, on a beautiful sunny day; it was closed for some renovation but we could still walk around the outside and enjoy the mosaic. It was made of concrete, broken cups, 7 Up bottles, impressions of tools and whimsy. It reminds me a little of Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia...
Even more pictures of Watts Towers on Flickr
In turn, Thunder Mountain monument in Nevada reminded me of Watts Towers. We passed it on our epic Thanksgiving week road trip (passed it gong 'what is that!?', turned around and drove down the dirt road to take a look. It was built by a Cherokee who stopped there and didn't drive on, from salvage and trash, as a place to live and a commune and a commemoration of the things that have happened to the American Indian tribes in the last couple of centuries. It's an oddly moving place - and a fascinating contrast to the planned Arcosanti we visited on the same trip.
Even more picture of Thunder Mountain on Flickr
The bottle windows also remind me of the Hundertwasser toilets in New Zealand
Although some of the bottles there are side on, which gives you more light!
Even more pictures of Watts Towers on Flickr
In turn, Thunder Mountain monument in Nevada reminded me of Watts Towers. We passed it on our epic Thanksgiving week road trip (passed it gong 'what is that!?', turned around and drove down the dirt road to take a look. It was built by a Cherokee who stopped there and didn't drive on, from salvage and trash, as a place to live and a commune and a commemoration of the things that have happened to the American Indian tribes in the last couple of centuries. It's an oddly moving place - and a fascinating contrast to the planned Arcosanti we visited on the same trip.
Even more picture of Thunder Mountain on Flickr
The bottle windows also remind me of the Hundertwasser toilets in New Zealand
Although some of the bottles there are side on, which gives you more light!