starting over...

Turns out, there are too many people out there blogging about blogging (and doing a much better job than I ever did) so I think I will refocus my blog (thus the new color). We will see what I chat about now...stay tuned.

Yeah, what Kyle said...

HELP! I am drowning in the kool-aid

I am on my way to the Bluetooth SIG All Hands Meeting in Phoenix, AZ. I have worked on/been involved with the AHM for the past four years, but I have never actually seen it first hand. I am looking forward to several rooms full of folks wearing, but not using Bluetooth headsets.

However, in my current running obsessed state, what I am really excited about is going for a little run in the land of the Ironman Arizona. I am just amazed that people compete in these races (it is 140 miles of biking, swiming and running, in case you didn't know). Anyway, a girl I have never met that runs with the same group in Austin I do has been trainging for this thing and I litterally cannot wait till race day (same day, kind of as Flora in London) where I will camp out in front of my computer and watch both her and Gilbert acomplish amazing things.

UPDATE: A surprising small number of headset-wearers-not-users.

UPDATE 2: It is insanely dry out here. Did a little four miler and my mouth was dry in about two minutes in. Texas may be hot, but at least there is some moisture.

Feed me, Seymour

wow - this is absolutely fabulous. Scoble has a post up talking about how this will someday turn into twittering diapers. I have made no secret of the fact that I don't use twitter, I don't understand the need (or interest) in the tweet, but I can 100% get behind a plant and/or a diaper that twitters - genius, pure genius.

5957 to go...

So Ryan, big dog over at Engadget, has a post on his personal blog that he hit 6000 posts and some 1.4 million words...this is incredible. As you can tell from my headline, I have a ways to go. He also mentioned that aspiring bloggers are pinging him a bit more lately (I am assuming looking for a job). Since Robert Scoble also, apparently, wants to work for Engadget, you have to figure it is a pretty good gig.

About two years ago Engadget had a call for submissions and I went back and forth on if I could work for them AND maintain any kind of credibility as a PR professional. I decided in the end no, so I never submitted. Right choice, btw - but, as Scoble points out, it certainly would be fun to travel the globe hunting down new technology for those guys. Anyway, 6000 posts is incredible.

I've been drinking the transparency kool-aid, clearly...

I know I am a horrible blogger as I post my thoughts a week later, rather than twittering them as I have them - but oh well, right. Take me as I am.

Soooo...last week at the consumer electronics show I tried to swing by a press conference for a new wireless technology trying to make waves by bashing Bluetooth (I work with the Bluetooth SIG). I can't say anyone is really all that concerned about this 'competitor' - Rick Merrit announced they were dead in a roundabout way on Interconnects early last week - but I was intrigued to see what they had to say. Mostly, I was interested from a professional stand point - I am always curious to see where a company that develops messaging based on bashing their opponents goes from the initial splash - I was hoping this technology had something positive to say about themselves rather than just ripping on Bluetooth.

Sadly, I was denied entrance to their press conference. I suppose I have been living online too much lately in that I think transparency is key in everything you do, but I was shocked. I literally could not believe they wouldn't let a rep from the company they are tearing apart on their webpage and in press releases in to hear what they have to say - seems utterly ridiculous. Like calling names behind someones back and then hiding when they come to call you on it. I then asked if I could take a press kit, but the sour PR gate keeper said absolutely not. I pointed out that their press information is all online, and I could just download the information, and was told I could do whatever I wanted, but I wasn't getting the information from her.

I looked at the information online - seems like they didn't really have anywhere positive to go and they are just continuing with their 'better than Bluetooth' line. Sad really. If anyone from this technology (I just cannot give them more online coverage by mentioning their name, but if you are even mildly clever, you can crack the code) had come to ANY of the many SIG events at CES, we would have gladly chatted them up, let them have a press kit, pointed out why things at the Bluetooth camp are successful, and yeah, probably told them why we thought they would fail - but at least we would have had the balls to do it to their face. Transparency is key, not only in successful blogging, but also in not looking like a fool, apparently.

taking the blogosphere seriously...

As I mentioned below, I sat on a panel at CES with the same title as this post. As I was perusing the web today, I came across this prank the Gizmodo guys pulled at the show. This is the number one reason why I hate bloggers - as a PR professional, I go out of my way to work with ANYONE who is interested in any of my clients - bloggers, analysts, journalist, regular joe-shmoes - anyone. My clients LOVE bloggers and spend excessive amounts of time and money trying to figure out how to best help them with their coverage - not trick them, not feed them messaging - but actually help them. And then one of them pulls something like this. If I were Motorola I would hunt down Brian Lam and give him a STERN talking to.



While the prank in itself is humorous, I suppose, it is disheartening to watch a representative from one of the largest tech blogs out there get into CES (after quite a bit of bitching in the years past about not being allowed in because they are just bloggers) and then pull this kind of shit. The good news for me is that as long as there are bloggers out there acting like this, there will be panels such as mine at CES.