Microsoft employee evangelist Heather Hamilton is my darling today (Please don’t tell my wife!). She writes quite convincingly that “Sometimes, when something looks like a fizzy scoop, it totally isn’t.” Heather responds to a weird story circulating the blogs—soda cans marketing Bing to Microsoft employees. Anyone who works for Microsoft or has visited the campus should know there are fridges on every floor (or there sure seem to be) filled with soda and other beverages. Microsoft coolers pack a better selection than my local 7-Eleven, and for better price: Free. I’ve seen product branded cans in the coolers before, but hadn’t thought much of them. Branded gear of every shape and size can be found at most consumer companies.
Simply Great MSN.ca Ad
One of my favorite blogs is the Canadian Design Resource. I’m a sucker for good design, and I am pseudo Canadian. It’s one of the few blogs I really look forward to finding updates in my RSS feeds. Today, a post for MSN Canada caught my attention.
'I'm a PC, and More Happy Is Coming'
Kylie is back! Everyone’s favorite Windows Photo Gallery youngster pushes Windows 7. (Say, is she a first grader now?) Kylie kicks off what the YouTube version of the commercial calls the “Good News” advertising campaign.
Have Fun, But Don’t Break Windows During Microsoft’s House Party
Microsoft’s Windows 7 House Party—like it’s oh-so new, or silly. Microsoft isn’t running the events or broader marketing but outsourcing them through service House Party, which launched in 2005. House Party’s oldest, archived event is Nickelodeon’s AVATAR launch, more than three-and-a-half years ago. What bugs me about the blogs and news stories is lack of context.
Where the Rubber Room Meets the Road
I have a suggestion for Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City schools: Publish a teaching offenders list.
I must be a slow learner, because until Saturday I hadn’t understood New York City’s losing battle with the powerful teachers union. Once teachers achieve tenure—after 3 years—they are employed for life and damn near undismissible, even for cause. Journalism professor Samuel Freedman wrote about the situation for the New York Times two years ago: “Where Teachers Sit, Awaiting Their Fates.” I missed that one, but not Steven Brill’s shocking “The Rubber Room: The battle over New York City’s worst teachers” in Aug. 31, 2009, The New Yorker.
Nokia and the iPhone Hype Problem
Nokia World convenes for two days in Stuttgart, Germany (local time there, 9 a.m.). It’s an event that many US analysts, bloggers or journalists will look at with disdain. If hype were the only measure of success, Apple would be the world’s largest handset manufacturer. But for all the iPhone bark—much of it coming from the United States—Nokia has got way more bite. Not that most Americans will hear about it.
Katydid Does
This morning, a Katydid temporarily took up residence on our screen door. I used it as opportunity to test the iPhone 3GS auto-macro mode. Pics were all crap. But this one (and others) taken with […]
Netbook Plague Kills 1 in 5 Notebooks
The netbook scourge continues unabated, and PC manufacturers are host on their on petard. Could anything be more putrid? DisplaySearch has ruined the last official day of summer holiday by releasing netbook shipment data. In May, I blogged that netbook US retail share approached 20 percent.
Laptop Hunter Sheila's First Post-Hunt Big Project
Say, do you remember Sheila Dvorak? The filmmaker who bought an HP HDX 16t, in one of those Microsoft “Laptop Hunters” commercials? The stereotypical filmmaker uses a Mac, running Apple’s Final Cut Studio. But not Sheila. She’s completed her first project using the HDX 16t.
My Nokia N97 is Gone
I am mad at Apple and Nokia. Apple has the best mobile software and services platform anywhere. Nokia offers the best hardware platform—granted, HTC closes in. This difference has forced me to choose one company’s smartphone over the other, leaving behind dissatisfaction with the compromise.
Your Next PC is a Smartphone
Last Friday’s Silicon Alley Insider Chart of the Day should scare Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer so badly that he accidentally buys a Japanese car. Sorry, Steve, you missed the Cash for Clunkers program. That’s OK, maybe someday the Obama Administration will offer a clunkers program for Windows PCs.
What Good Is RSS Anyway?
Yesterday, ZDNet’s Sam Diaz harped that RSS was “a good idea at the time, but there are better ways now.” ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick responded on his personal blog: “If you think RSS is dead then that’s your loss and a big one.” Their opposing positions go oddly together, and both make some valid points.