Friday, November 30, 2007

RIP Evel Knievel--A Real American Bad Ass

America has lost a legend. Forget toupee-wearing, born again Chuck Norris and his fake movie punches-Evel was a true American tough guy.



If you doubt it. Check out this video--one of the greatest pieces of video of all time.





Need more proof? From the New York Times.....

In 1977, Mr. Knievel was convicted in California of beating his former press agent with a baseball bat and sentenced to six months in a jail. The agent, Sheldon Saltman, had written a book that Mr. Knievel felt had treated him unfairly.

Ah yes, a guy who just hauls off and beats down a flack. Many have thought it, but so few have followed through.





Thursday, November 29, 2007

Google's "RE < C" is < Smart


UPDATE: As of today (December 1st), it seems you CAN search for (the name of the initiative) on Google and Google Blog search. However, it still returns nothing on Google News.




The week, Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, announced a new initiative to promote renewable energy. Worthy enough endeavor, but they inexplicably saddled the initiative with what has to be the worst brand name in recent history.... RE <C.

The first and most obvious problem is that typing "<" keeps messing with my html. It is a pain to fix.

You can't pronounce it: I was going to list various ways to pronounce it, but couldn't even get started.

It's the wrong message: Google says it stands for "Renewable energy is cheaper than coal." I read it as "Renewable energy is less than coal." Shouldn't renewables be greater than coal?

It has zero domain/url potential: bob@re<c.com? I don't think so.

You can't type it:
Quick-without looking try to find the "<" key.

YOU CAN'T SEARCH FOR IT ON GOOGLE!!!
Go ahead, try it. This is unbelievable to me.

It just _s the fact that some people need it #ed into their heads that that, @ most times, mixing PhDs and marketers is "<" ideal.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Maybe this will convince you to shut the F*** Up!!


I spend a lot of time on Amtrak commuting back and forth between Flack U.'s campus and exotic destinations like Metro Park and Framingham. Most of that time I spend on my laptop with my Sprint PCS card. I love the train, but it can get boring. Usually, there is at least one person on the train who sees no problem with sharing is cell phone conversation with everyone around him.

When the conversation sounds interesting, I play a little game to see how much I can find out about this person via Google based on the info they are giving out on their side of the conversation.

Yesterday, there was a guy behind me yammering away. The only two bits of info I had was that he was in the PR industry and the first and last name of an employee of his who just quit. It took about 3 minutes on Google and Facebook to find out that the "talker" is president of a PR shop in Florida, he used to be an editor at a major daily, where he lives, where he was born, and where he went to school, his favorite drink, plus a bunch of other stuff. We started chatting later and he began to tell me about himself. My eyes started to glaze over as I thought, "Dude, if you only knew what I know about you."

Good times.

iPhone = SpyPhone


Yeah, lame title, I know. So yesterday I was sitting at in the audience watching a panel discuss all things digital to a group of Wall Street Bankers. In front of me was was an exec of a not-to-be-named tech company. (hint: they are like Wikipidea, except that they are not). He was banging away on his iphone when I discovered a great new hobby when hanging around these trend setters--password stealing.

It turns out that the iPhone's "exploding letters" are not only useful for letting you know you've actually hit the right key but also makes it a snap for someone near you to steal your email and password. (see picture).

This rocket scientist's password? QWERTY. I guess that is easier to remember than asdfg.