Hilarious Windows Crash in London

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1277/1264479643_426805ba50_b.jpg

Transmit - much better FTP for the mac

So many folks talk about "Killer Apps," or applications that absolutely are great and key to productivity.

I never, ever thought that this would apply to an FTP program - but I have to say, it does.

Transmit (Panic Software, $29.95, http://www.panic.com/transmit) is a nifty, beautifully simple FTP program for the mac.

But don't let simple fool you - it's also quite powerful. It makes merging files and directories simple, as well as has beautiful drag-and-drop integration with the desktop and finder - and not just when Transmit is open.

You can create "droplets" that you can drag files over and it will automatically upload to the server of choice. Hilariously, the icon is a truck - I'm sure when the graphic designer came up with the logo, they had no idea that in the future they'd have a U.S. Senator tell them us the 'net is not a truck, but a series of tubes.

Another great feature is the ability to open and edit files off of your FTP server by applications and then being able to save back to your server. It makes working off a server a snap, which is critical when dealing with certain shared-asset projects.

I'm sure there are other options out there, I've tried them - but Transmit has my vote.

Great article on Green Business

It's interesting to see the tide change in the U.S. about going "Green." Our country is quite a bit behind on the adoption curve compared to Europe, but that is changing.

“General Electric Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said his ‘green’ ecomagination unit is on track to ‘blow away’ its 2010 sales target of $20 billion as demand for environmental products and services surges.” (Reuters, May 25, 2007)

Here's the full article from which the above quote was pulled.

Good show, Skype.

After the debacle of last week with Skype's outages, I am glad to have gotten and email, showing good customer service.

Skype sent off a message where they're crediting everyone with seven additional days of service on your subscription at no charge. Although a small gesture, I think a good one.

As a goodwill gesture to all you faithful Skype Pro, Skype Unlimited, SkypeIn or Skype Voicemail customers, we're adding an additional seven days to your current subscription, free of charge. And even if you didn't miss out on using Skype last week - you can still have a week free on Skype, on the house!

It's the kind of thing that is PRO-ACTIVE... so key in business. Instead of begrudgingly giving a few days of credit after hours of haggling with customer support, Skype just admitted there was a problem and here is something for it.

Great job from the company in Luxembourg.

Hilarious Design Gangsta Video

My PMS 187 runs deep - much like my "ban comic sans" post, this is a bit of an inside joke for design and ad pros... enjoy!

Why I don't like web scripts that automatically update the copyright year

It's not that I have something against automated updating - I LOVE it. RSS and other technologies have made it so that metapages - pages sourcing others content - are not that difficult to do.

This is more of a philosophical issue.

What does philosophy and the internet have to do with eachother? It turns out, a lot. The philosophy of serving your users - the philosophy of giving to get something back - the philosophy of great user interface. However, this is the philosophy of lazyness.

I was at an event the other week, and heard someone talk about how they can make your site automatically update with the copyright year. First off, this is simple - second off, I don't like the theory.

Why? The number one thing I see companies and clients do is say they need a website, but completely gloss over the fact you need content. Compelling, good, fun content.

Many companies look at automatic things like that as "the sign that their website is up to date." Grand, you have the right year at the bottom. A gold star. Now, how about presenting value to your visitors?

Another great conversation I had was with someone who thinks that an internet presence is useless. And, well, frankly, his is. It's five pages with the standard listing of service driblle - no call to action, no unique offers, no reasons to choose them over someone else. So of course, it's useless. He's not using it. Yes, everyone should be online - but also, you need to be the purple cow.

There is a bevy of great writers, content creators out there - and the extra few hundred or thousand bucks you're going to spend is going to make thousands, if not hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in difference in what your web strategy is going to do for you.

Weekend Fluff - iPhone +iWork?

Here is complete speculation and conjecture, but hear me out.

I think the killer app for the iPhone will be - iWork.

Let me explain why.

1) They new iWork is really easy and fun to use. And, Apple wrote it. Smooth, non-third-party development path.

2) It will encourage Windows people who buy the iPhone to get a mac for it all to sync together and have a seamless experience.

3) It takes iPhone from phone with a lot of great features into a true productivity tool. The experiences on most other mobile devices as far as productivity apps tends to suck, so something that is just easy to work with and can handle some very basic formatting would be great.

iTunes Plus - What an Improvement

Since there are only song by EMI in iTunes Plus, I haven't happened to hit a song that is iTunes Plus in the last few weeks when I've been shopping around.

Well, spending a gift certificate from a friend for my Birthday, I got "Harder Better Faster Stronger" by Daft Punk - and what a difference. The bass is fuller, the high end is much more detailed... I wish all iTunes songs were of this level. Not that iTunes is bad, but this is really nice.

Of course, if you're not prepared to want to rebuy your EMI songs with iTunes Plus (you can for only the difference - 30 cents per song) you may not want to start to buy this option - to me at least, everything else now sounds just a little hollow unless I pulled it from a CD I bought.

I hope that eventually, all the rest of he labels do what EMI did and go DRM-free (no copy protection - you own the song, completely) and double the quality. It is a very audible difference, although the files are a bit larger in size.

Podcast is now available

Here is is...




Also, here is the RSS feed for you to subscribe. As soon as iTunes makes the podcast link available to auto-subscribe, I'll have it here and on the right side of the site.

http://www.portagemedia.com/blog/businessviews.xml

Bits 'n Bytes

Some quick hits...

- Although Europeans under 30 have mixed views about American culture, they find it creative and love the Apple Mac computer....

- 313digital, a great organization for digital advertising, is having their digital day at the ballpark on the 26th of September... which also happens to be the last home game of the year. If you do digital advertising in the Detroit metro, you need to join these guys. Check out the event details - from that page you can find a link to join them.

- Apparently, Yahoo is beating Google in a category, and that's being a portal. I'd do a whole post on this, but well, duh. Google is not a developed portal, but a better search engine. Yahoo obviously has better offers for someone who wants all-in-one everything and is an average user. Good work from the local guys at University of Michigan!

-Andy Inahtko is hilarious, and I'd wax poetic about the ease of typing on the iPhone, but why? The Apple Phone Show covers that subject better than I ever could.

-Digital Views Through a Business Window Podcast comes out tomorrow.... I'm not committing to a regular release day of the week yet, but I will keep it current and not let it go more than two weeks between episodes.

Google Pulls Plug on Google Video - Your Paid For Videos won't work anymore

This is huge news - the first instance of DRM (Digital Rights Management) being used to de-activate people's content on their computers.

According to this email (I am attaching the text below), Google is now offering you credit at Google Checkout for an amount compared to the videos you have purchased. This should be a warning to all of those using Digital Rights Managed music, video or the like that they can turn it off at any time and give you little to no compensation for it, and quite frankly, I have no interest in the five dollars, I want to view the videos I paid for.

This should be a reminder, even though Google Video wasn't the most popular, that anything you own with DRM on it can be taken away from you at any time - and the only thing that you have is a promise that they won't do it. This should remind you on bigger sites, like iTunes, it's completely possible that if a deal with a record label goes south, you may not be able to listen to your music anymore. You might get a credit, but again, I bought the material because I liked it.

Here is the email I received:

Hello,

As a valued Google user, we're contacting you with some important information about the videos you've purchased or rented from Google Video. In an effort to improve all Google services, we will no longer offer the ability to buy or rent videos for download from Google Video, ending the DTO/DTR (download-to-own/rent) program. This change will be effective August 15, 2007.

To fully account for the video purchases you made before July 18, 2007, we are providing you with a Google Checkout bonus for $5.00. Your bonus expires in 60 days, and you can use it at the stores listed here: http://www.google.com/checkout/signupwelcome.html. The minimum purchase amount must be equal to or greater than your bonus amount, before shipping and tax.

After August 15, 2007, you will no longer be able to view your purchased or rented videos.

If you have further questions or requests, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

The Google Video Team

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Return of the Great Home page

Ok.

I've been one of those people who boo-hoos custom landing pages. Usually, I think they're lame, they don't work right, etc. etc.

Well, I have now found one I really like.

http://www.pageflakes.com


Not only can you have a customized home page (or pages) with great content you like, but you can create feeds off of anything that has RSS, rearrange things, and have notes.

As a fan of simple, I love the fact I can put exactly what I want on the page - Detroit events, notes, weather, Digg, stocks - and podcasts if I so choose.

Thanks to Net@Nite - Amber Macarthur for pointing our pageflakes.

Two bits of Xology

Interesting little bit I found in Xology today - about how men and women use the internet differently and some food for thought on your Saturday (I always try to keep it light on the weekends).

Also, an article decrying the lower aural quality of digital music - something that I deal with daily.

You may need to register for free to get access...

Web 2.0 Overhyped in ad world

I was listening to BOL - Buzz Out Loud - and their hosts, Tom and Molly, have a great point.

Every ad exec is obsessed with UGC, being in the social network space - regardless if it works or is a smart strategy for the brand. It's a craze.

And what does that sniff like? Bubble 2.0. It won't be as bad as the dot com bubble - there isn't as much money tied into it - but any company that is just getting into the space, to get into it, and don't think about if it fits in their model is going to get burned.

Check out this article by John C. Dvorak - a little pessimistic for me, and I don't agree with him about the mobile space, but he has really good points. And of course, CD never died, and Web 2.0 isn't going to die - but throwing money out the window at "Yet another Web 2.0 site" which I seem to see everywhere is going to cost people money.

The ones who are successful will be the ones who, instead of creating social networking to create it, do it as it makes sense with their brand or leverage existing networks where people already are. Podcasting that is useful and purposeful and quality - we don't need another facebook, and lord knows a corporate facebook isn't going to work. We need great ideas, and large companies can do that and be part of it - but throwing aroung "UGC" and a sea of other acronyms like so many execs (who, by the way, don't use the internet or have very little clue of what actually is going on) is a dangerous trend for the long-term.

Check out this hilarious video about getting venture capital in the web space...

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-raise-money-from-VCs-4661

The Heart of a Website

This article is great - it relates to me my monthly or weekly occurance - the anorexic writing of websites.

Someone will come through my door - and want a website. But there is no content. And, as much as I'd like to take your money, no content = no website.

We either say come back with content, or pay us to create it for you off of a set of interviews.

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/revivinganorexicwebwriting