Free Wi-Fi? Get Ready for GoogleNet

According to Business 2.0 Google may be up to something.

"What if Google (GOOG) wanted to give Wi-Fi access to everyone in America? And what if it had technology capable of targeting advertising to a user's precise
location? The gatekeeper of the world's informationon could become one of the globe's biggest Internet providers and one of its most powerful ad sellers, basically supplanting telecoms in one fell swoop. "

This really makes a lot of sense! Read the rest here.

Want a $50 iBook? - Better Bring Your Brass Knuckles!

Yikes! It's an iStampede :-/

Richmond VA -- A near riot broke out when a crowd of 5,500 to 11,000 people rushed through a gate to buy used iBooks being sold by the school district for $50. Only 1,000 iBook were being sold, and people were in a rush to get to the sales counter first.
See a second-by-second slide-show here.

How To Protect Your Computer

Invariably, the most common question I get goes something like this:

"Jack, I just got a new laptop, and I've been hearing all kinds of things about virus' and spyware. What do you recommend to protect my PC from being infected?"

Well, here is the answer:

1. You need to install an Antivirus program. I recommend AVG Antivirus from GRISoft. It's quick, its small, it updates itself automatically and best of all its FREE! Download it here.

2. You need to install a personal firewall. There are a number of them out there, but the one I recommend is ZoneAlarm from ZoneLabs. It monitors and blocks malicious traffic both trying to get into your computer as well as programs trying to connect to the internet without your consent or knowledge. Download it here.

3. You need to install a Antispyware program. I used to recommend installing AdAware and Spybot to work in combination with each other. (This is still the best free antispyware for windows 98). But lately I have been recommending either installing Sunbelt Software's CounterSpy ($19.95) OR installing Microsoft's AntiSpyware Beta for FREE.

4. You need to regularly install the latest Windows Updates. I recommend setting XP to automatically download the updates for you. You can get the instructions on how to do that here.

U.S. brands have an image problem

CNN reports American icons such as Coke, McDonald's and Disney are losing luster with global consumers. Only 4 brands out of 16 increased their score.

FedEx Miss The Mark

Wired News reports that Blogger Jose Avila is being sued by FedEx to take down his website where he shows how he made all the furniture for his apartment out of FedEx shipping material.

Bad move FedEx! This guy is your biggest fan, you should hire him for a FedEx Ad. Or how about a gift certificate to IKEA instead of slapping him with a lawsuit?!?! Come on!

15 Chapters of Naked Coversations

I will be buying a copy of Shel's book when it comes out, but in the mean time, here are the links to his the drafts on his website:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15

Re:think the Agency

Joe Jaffe has posted chapter 10 of his book. He has some great insights on the state of the agency today. Worth a read...

Future of Advertising - here today

Inc.com has an interesting article on new advertising techniques. I thought the Elevator TV screens for advertising is a GREAT idea! People would LOVE something to focus on while in the elevator.

Another interesting part was the list of new media providers:

Name	Location	Specialty
Claria	Redwood City, Calif.	Behavioral targeting service tracks the online habits of Web surfers and hits them with relevant advertising.
Enpocket	Boston	Sends ad messages, coupons, and branded video files to mobile phones -- in some cases tracking the phone's location.
Pulse	San Francisco	Online tools turn a photo of any person or animal into a lip-synched talking head for viral ad campaigns.
Zebra Imaging	Austin	Produces large promotional holograms that make images of objects or people stand out in 3-D -- no glasses needed.
Experian	Costa Mesa, Calif.	Collates consumer data to predict which people are likely to be in the market for particular products.
Reactrix	Redwood City, Calif.	A motion-sensitive projector turns any surface into a crowd-drawing, brandable interactive display.
Massive	New York City	Inserts ads via an online connection into video games while they're being played. Coming is technology that will adapt the ads to individual players.

Straight Forward Blogging Policy

Many of our clients are either starting a blog or thinking about it. Generally, its a good idea to write up your company's stance on blogging with a clear understanding of the boundaries. Buzz Marketing With Blogs posted the Hill & Knowlton blog policy which is easy to understand and seems to cover all the bases:

• I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly
• I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes
• I will never delete a post
• I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic
• I will disclose conflicts of interest (including client relationships) where I am able to do so
• I will not publish anything that breaches my existing employment contract
• I will distinguish between factual information/commentary and advertising
• I will never publish information I know to be inaccurate
• I will disagree with other opinions respectfully
• I will link to online references and original source materials directly
• I will strive for high quality with every post - including basic spell checking
• I will write deliberately and with accuracy
• I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate, and do so promptly
• I will restrict my posting to professional topics
• I will write on a regular basis, at least once each week

Automated Pinging Service

OK, so you write all these cool blog posts, but how do you promote them? Well one way is to use a pinging service.

There are many weblog sites which keep track of updates for thousands or hundred thousands of weblogs. To announce your weblog updates to these sites you have to ping them. This technique is described here.

Simply put, a ping is only saying to weblog sites: "hey, I have something new for you". After such a ping weblog sites will visit your website and index new content. So, pinging or registering your weblog in as many sites as possible is a very good solution to get more visitors.

I've been using www.pingomatic.com to ping the major weblog index sites such as Technorati and Feedster Well, I found another ping service called Pings.ws that will allow you to add code to your blog template so that it will ping the service automatically.

I'm not sure how to test if it works or now, nor am I sure how they prevent multiple pings in a row, but I am testing it out on my blog and I'll keep an eye to see who comes to visit.

Has anyone else found an easy way to automate blog pings? Let me know.

The latest figures from Nielsen/Net Ratings for the top online news sites

I was just talking to my wife about how I NEVER read a news paper anymore. And it looks like I'm not alone:

• Yahoo! News (24.9 million visitors in June 2005)
• MSNBC (23.8 mln)
• CNN (21.4 mln)
• AOL News (17.4 mln)
• Gannett Newspapers (11.4 mln)
• New York Times (11.2 mln)
• Internet Broadcasting (10.9 mln)
• Knight Ridder Digital (9.9 mln)
• Tribune Newspapers (9.0 mln)
• USA Today (8.6 mln)
• Washington Post (8.5 mln)
• ABC News (7.7 mln)
• Google News (7.2 mln)
• Hearst Newspapers Digital (6.9 mln)

Google News adds RSS feeds

This is very cool! Now this means you can subscribe to your google news search terms and read them in your news reader. You can read more here.

Here are is a few of our client feeds you can add to your news reader:

Bruegger's: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=bruegger%27s&ie=UTF-8&output=rss

New Alliance Bank:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=%22New+Alliance+Bank%22&output=rss

Connecticut Sun:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=%22Connecticut+Sun%22&output=rss

Bigelow Tea
http://news.google.com/news?q=%22bigelow+tea%22&hl=en&lr=&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&output=rss

Free Video Hosting
Check out this site called YouTube . YouTube is 'flickr for videos'. You can upload videos in a number of different formats ( .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG ). Videos can be of any length, but must be less than 100 mb in total size.

The service is completely free to users (publishers and viewers). YouTube converts video to a flash format, and therefore upload and playback is extremely fast.

This could be a quick and easy way to publish and share the Mason PR video library. They include code to include the videos on your own website as well.

Here's an example of a video interview with well-known blogger Halley Suit on how to get noticed in the blogosphere. Video interview conducted by JD Lasica at the BlogHer conference in Santa Clara, Calif., on July 30, 2005.

Adverblog Reports "Search engine advertising will generate more revenue than standard display advertising by 2010"

More good stats to keep in mind as we move forward in the online world!

Jupiter Research forecasts that online advertising will continue to growth in the next five years, reaching $18.9 billion in 2010, compared to $9.3 billion at the end of 2004. Search engine advertising will generate more revenue than standard display advertising by 2010. Rich media spending will grow at a 25% compound annual growth rate (to $3.5 billion) and streaming media will grow at a 30% compound annual growth rate (to $943 million) by 2010.

Fortune Magazine interview with Chrysler Director of Marketing

Interesting snipet from Fortune Magazine:

Julie Roehm has more than $2 billion to spend this year...

...Chrysler's director of marketing communications, Roehm, 34, oversees a budget that Advertising Age ranks as the sixth-largest pool of ad dollars in the nation.

...Roehm rarely misses a chance to talk about how delighted she is with online advertising. Last year she spent 10% of the budget online; this year she is allotting closer to 18%; next year, she says, she will allocate more than 20%. Do the math: In 2006 roughly $400 million of Chrysler's money that used to go into TV, newspaper, and magazine ads will be spent on the Internet. Says Roehm: "I hate to sound like such a marketing geek, but we like to fish where the fish are."