What the hey, Stevie? You got a problem with the ‘tooth?

In the interest of full disclosure, transparency and all the other buzz words that are almost as annoying as blogsphere, I work for a PR firm and we represent the Bluetooth Special Interest Group. I am, without a doubt, biased. I have been working on the Bluetooth SIG account for over three years and I have a huge soft-spot in my heart for the short-range wireless technology.

Seriously, Mr. Jobs, what is your deal with Bluetooth? I know there are all sorts of arguments for why you DON’T include Bluetooth wireless technology in your devices (for those of you who don’t follow this, they range from ‘the white wire is as much a part of the iPod brand as the apple’ to ‘Bluetooth would drain the battery’) but I just don’t get it with the iPhone. I do not understand. You did implement Bluetooth – well done there. But then you pulled a Verizon and crippled the hell out of it – what gives? I suppose the majority of the people that buy the iPhone won’t be concerned with the lack of object push or printing profile, but come on – A2DP? Seriously, what gives? No one cares about the silly white wire, Bluetooth’s battery consumption lessens with every new introduction of the spec and really, everyone wants to wear an O ROKR (well, maybe not, but I love mine), and come on – IT IS A MUSIC PHONE! What are you doing? I just don’t understand. And what makes it even more frustrating is you do such a fabulous job implementing the technology into your notebooks. I am just so confused. I have been telling people for weeks, “Surely it will support A2DP – I mean, how could it not? It is a $500 phone.” But apparently I know absolutely nothing.

Why Mike Arrington is fly and I am not

a) I link back and discover things way too late. The blogsphere (seriously - shoot me) has moved on and yet here I am harping on why fighting isn't conducive to a happy blogging family and linking to week old articles.

b) If I could sell my blog "for 20 million and go live in Hawaii the rest of my life," there is absolutely nothing that could possibly motivate me not to do so immediately. I guess this is why, this is why, this why M.A. is hot.

UPDATE - There are, apparently, many other reasons why I am not hot (hot, in this case, referencing a good blogger)

c) write out Mike Arrington rather than saying M.A.
d) clearly explain it is important for my readers (the many thousands of you) to read the link prior to reading on in my post
e) I need to be more blatant in my mockery of hip-hop music

Jeez - stop telling me what to do

Newsweek has a list of 181 things I need to know now (print and online - the online version sucks a bit). They also have a quiz to test my global IQ - turns out I am a global idiot. I have a bit of a bone to pick with the quiz though, cause I am fairly certain I don't need to know which presidential candidate is the richest. I know they all have more money than me - the rest is just details. I also don't have time to take a 130 question quiz. Well, I have time, but if I don't get a question right every other one or so, my motivation is going to go out the window. Newsweek, stop trying to make me feel stupid so I will religiously read your publication as to not feel stupid anymore. It is mean spirited.

Not to be outdone, PC World has a list of the 100 best blogs. Now, they aren't going so far as to say you need to read all of them, but it is certainly implied. First off, I am not on the list - and that kind of pisses me off (not a lot, cause I understand, but come on - I have been doing this for a week, when does the recognition start?). Second, the list included GeekSugar, which bills itself as a home for tech savvy young women - I would consider myself a tech savvy young woman and the, I don't know, five minutes I spent on the site literally made my skin crawl - so I don't think it would be a home for me (Cari, the one with the curly hair above, validated my reaction by making a face when I mentioned them). PC World, stop telling me what I have to read - it is too much.

Besides, if I spent all my time reading Newsweek and perusing all 100 blogs PC World likes, I never would have had time to read about Takeru Kobayashi's arthritic jaw. Damnit, I know an important story when I see it.

If you give them enough rope...

Over the past couple of months, I have been kind of tracking how things move over blogs or through the blogsphere. Btw, I decided I hate the term blogsphere, but as it turns out, if you are writing a blog about blogging, well, I am screwed. So anyway, my interest was peaked with the Kathy Sierra/Chris Locke/death threats incident - I literally couldn't get enough. I read hundreds of blog posts ranting, raving, supporting and bashing the entire affair. And they all popped up in about 24 hours.


A couple weeks back I became obsessed with the Vimeo kids, the crazies in NYC who invented (I think) a thing called lip-dubbing, all because Mike Arrington thought they were clever and mentioned them on CrunchNotes. Anyway, I kept an eye on this one from the very beginning and sure enough, within a day or so of Mike's post, the ‘flag pole sitta’ video was everywhere. So, my point is, things move fast when they catch fire in the blogsphere (ick).


However, the thing most likely to ignite these days is the ridiculous fights. As of right now, Fred Wilson is fighting two different blog wars (one because he said something about entrepreneurs usually being young and another because Microsoft put out some ads that, apparently, Valleywag wasn't capable of discerning as ads). Of course, Valleywag didn't just take on Fred, they involved Om Malik who apologized and took down the ads, then CNet and their merry band of bloggers jumped on the argument and now Mike Arrington is all kinds of pissed.


It just makes me wonder, if we give them enough rope, do you think they will hang each other?

All the cool kids have iDildos

On occasion, I find that I absolutely love my job and my connection to the silly, silly world of consumer electronics. I love that it is fully acceptable (and even expected) for me to spend a portion of my day reading the plethora of techy blogs and online coverage of a certain wireless technology. I love that the blogsphere is open, and people can comment on this coverage with their ever insightful (and often extremely educated) feedback. And most of all, I love the girl who posted the captured comment on engadget.


Where on earth do I go to get an iDildo?

Chris Locke and Brad Pitt

As I tumble down the rabbit hole of blogging (I’m not sure one post qualifies as a tumble, but whatever), I have gathered about me the blogging bibles (starting with Cluetrain, but kind of reading Naked Conversations concurrently) in an effort to better understand exactly what it is I am getting myself involved in. I have to say I really like Chris Locke. I am not 100% sure I agree with the idea that blogs are allowing real conversation as opposed to just broadcasting company messaging – sure, they are changing the tone of the conversation and the way the message is coming across, but the messaging is still there – and it is still all about sales. Even as I write this blog, I do my best to make it interesting – selling myself, if you will – to recruit readers. Regardless, I like Chris – he has quite a snarky tone to his writing and I am a big fan of snarky. I am also a big fan of my sister-in-law. Jocelyn is a civil engineer, well-educated, fairly tech-savvy girl – she also happens to know her way around a snarky comment. However, the thing I like most about her is that as I told her about my week and mentioned my new blog and the books I am reading, she said, “Chris who? I’ve never even heard of ‘Cluetrain Manifesto’, what the hell is that? OH – did you see that Brad Pitt compared Angelina Jolie to Churchill – what an idiot.”

It is always nice to get some outside perspective on the thing you are obsessing over.

enter with a wimper...

The blogsphere gives me a headache - mostly because in my line of work (public relations - I know, I know) clients are always asking me how to get coverage in blogs, and while I have a few good suggestions, over and over again I am told by those who blog that the only way to understand the blogsphere is to become part of it - so here I am. After years of lurking, I am casting my own line into the blog sea. You win, blogs - you win. Way to claim another victim.