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June 27, 2007
Playing "Poker" With Airline Prices
I'm presenting at DEFCON (www.defcon.org) in August. Last week, I started to review pricing on my preferred carrier and was averaging $478 for a flight out of Dulles (IAD) to Las Vegas (LAS).
This week it's running $433 or so, net savings of $45. It's not much, but still, it's real money. So, just like the whole "Deal or No Deal" calculation, do I book now or do I wait for another week or two to see if the price sheds another $50 or so? Fuel prices are relatively stable so I'm comfy there...
Tough choice, yes? After all, Vegas in August isn't like oh, Hawaii any time of the year? I think it's marginally better than Houston in August (no humidity), but once the mercury goes above 100 degrees, it's just HOT, regardless.
Posted by dmohney at 01:29 PM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2007
iPod, iPhone, iHype
Stare straight into the crystal ball. Ignore the world around you. Yes, yes. Apple is Good. Apple Never Fails. Apple has never put out a failure. Ignore that AppleTV gathering dust over there. Ignore the corpses of Macs past. Ignore the switch to Intel. After all, Intel is Faster Than Those Other Chips we were using for many years..
Apple's hype machine is at it again, spinning up the jihad of faithful and the fifth column of media it has cultivated over the years to make sure everyone Really Really likes the iPhone. Ignore that little faux pas over who had the trademark to iPhone. There is now only one iPhone and Apple makes it.
Sprint and others think iPhone is a passing fad, right or wrong. Certainly if you have the need for speed, there's EVDO and EVDO Rev A. Compare that what iPhone is connected to on the Cingular, er AT&T Wireless network.
Ah well. Apple needs the money...
Posted by dmohney at 10:32 PM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2007
Ultra-Broadband used by Ultra Man??
After two days of NXTcomm, I needed several days to recover. One year I'm going to book only an appointment every hour, rather than appointments every half hour from dusk until dawn, as it were....
Skimming through the morass of press releases last week, the marketing wonks have been busy coining new and more better terms to inject into their (typically mundane) prose. I've seen "Ultraband" and "Ultra-broadband" both used in releases last week and almost prefer to see more use of quad-play than the confusion ultra will bring to everyone.
After all, ultra-wideband (UWB) has been around for years/decades and is coming into the market both in terms of wired and wireless applications. Pulse~LINK has been on the UWB bandwagon for ages.
Just when does broadband become "ultra-broadband"? 100 Mbps? 1 Gbps? Call me when we get there, because you already have Verizon saying they are offering 50 Mbps in many markets and are going to go 100 Mbps as soon as product manager decides it's time.
(NOTE TO VERIZON: Watch "Conan the Barbarian" to learn how to crush your enemies. None of this half-step creep of "35 Mbps, 50 Mbps, 100 Mbps if the cable companies are doing it..."
Just go to 100 Mbps in all markets. Period. Make the cable companies play catchup. Then when they start, go to 200 Mbps. Crush your enemies. OK? You know you want to ...)
Posted by dmohney at 11:34 PM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2007
Network Solutions "Renewal" Notice
I just received my renewal notice from Network Solutions for one of my domain names. It's paper. Paper good for these sorts of things.
I'm in danger of losing one of my domain names if I don't renew by September 2008. Yes, September 2-0-0-8. Since it's mid-June 2007, you could say that either A) Network Solutions would like to get my money faster or B) They want to annoy me so I'll just switch over to GoDaddy or someone else.
The IRS, Virginia MVA, and hordes of other agencies requiring regular renewal don't start flogging the horse more than a year out.
What a shakedown. Given the headaches I had the last time I had to "verify" my identity -- fax over a driver's license copy and oh-by-the-way they won't tell you what their data retention policy is on that sort of stuff -- do I need any more reminders from them?
Posted by dmohney at 06:26 PM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2007
Affordable Fault Tolerance
Once upon a time, if you wanted a fault-tolerant machine that would run without interruptions, the price tag started at $500,000 and included proprietary hardware and software. Today, the price tag starts at $10,000, according to some of the vendors I've been talking to.
Industry-standard (i.e. PC and Intel-based) components have driven down the price tag of hardware, so it's easy enough to build a fault-tolerant server for a bit more than you would a single stand-alone server.
Others advocate the tactic of "Lots of cheap" networked at the IP level, so if you lose a component it's an easy plug-and-replace job. The problem with "lots of cheap" is it adds additional complexity. Additional complexity means the potential to generate additional problems and failure points.
The FT camp says rather than buying two (2) servers and the assorted off-the-shelf stuff, buy one (1) FT machine -- which by-the-way may cost LESS than the lash-up for two servers + other gear -- and save yourself time, money, and complexity. One box to manage, one piece of gear, turn it on, it works and keeps on working.
Posted by dmohney at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2007
New cell phones = Latest patent hostage crisis
Sooner or later, the patent lawyers are going to piss off the wrong people and they aren't going to be happy with the final outcome.
In the latest "Perils of Pauline" patent adventure, the U.S. International Trade Commission has banned the import of all future models of cell phones using 3G tech from Qualcomm that have been found to infringe upon a Broadcom patent.
This ruling could leave a laundry list of names, including phone manufacturers Motorola and Samasung and cell operators AT&T, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless, in the lurch.
Everyone wants to sell faster 3G services, but this puts a big roadblock in getting more 3G phones into circulation until Qualcomm and Broadcom can work out some sort of arrangement.
However, why did this have to happen in the first place? We already saw this sort of brinkmanship during the Great BlackBerry Patent Fight. Does BroadCom win anything other than money in this fight? Does Qualcomm save anything other than money (which they will likely end up burning in legal feels and lobbying to get the ITC decision lifted)?
Another straw on the patent camel's back...
Posted by dmohney at 04:39 PM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2007
Intel Capital Doesn't Excite Me
I know people are going to take this the wrong way, but I just can't get worked up with Intel Capital investing in a company. I base my impressions on personal experience from the dot.com era.
Let's deal with the facts: Intel Capital invests into a lot of different things. If memory serves, during the dot.com era, they invested in a company I slaved for (SkyCache/Cidera) and our psuedo-competitor (IBeam).
SkyCache/Cidera ultimately went bankrupt in the post dot.com era and IBeam ultimately ended up in Level 3's hands for pennies on the dollar, if memory serves.
Getting money from Intel Capital doesn't, by any means, guarantee success. It does, however, guarantee you lots of phone calls from the investment to put out a press release saying you received money from them (Yes, this too, I know painfully well).
Intel Capital, the investment arm of Intel, spreads around a lot of money into a lot of different pots with the expectation of "Win some, lose some." They typically like to invest things that will most likely lead to new and more powerful Intel chips being sold in the millions and millions in future years.
Posted by dmohney at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2007
Connect your website and your press releases...
If you send out a press release...
1) It should have a unique place on YOUR website
2) It should go up on YOUR website at the same time it is sent out
3) It should be in HTML format, not Word, not Acrobat.
4) People should be able to find it in three clicks or less
I'm amazed at the number of companies that send out releases and it takes them DAYS for the release to appear on their website.
A few companies don't even put their releases on their website and that just drives me completely nuts. Why do you not want to tout your own news on our own site?
A few companies put their releases on someone else's website, like the PR firm's, a practice that is baffling. You want people to come to YOUR website, not your agency's. It's all about eyeballs and repetition and getting a boost to the mystical Google rankings. If the release is sitting on someone else's website, you won't get Google brownie points...
I've ranted before about HTML vs DOC and PDF. Yesterday, I got a "release" that was a web link to a PDF or DOC file on a third-party website. Guess what I didn't do? .DOC and .PDF files have been known to carry viruses and spyware. Do a Google search on "NY Times," spyware" and "civil suit" and see what might come up....not to mention that you can't read .DOC and .PDF files (easily) on a cell phone or PDA.
Good web site organization and/or design means someone should be able to pull up something in a few clicks --- not 5 or 6. I prefer 3 clicks...
Yes, I sound like a broken record, but there are too many people doing too many of the wrong things.
Posted by dmohney at 04:37 PM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2007
Blogs aren't for everyone
A lot of people have a fond love of the Blog. I'm not really one of them.
Blogging means being a slave to posting things. What did I do today that was so cool? What did I see what was so hip? Who do I want to scream at?
Too much emotion, combine with shooting from the hip. Do you really CARE if I tell you my favorite artist is Stevie Nicks? What does it matter in the larger scheme of IP Communications or PR?
Many corporations have "blogs" but you already know they are not spontaneous shoot-from-the-hip this-is-what-I-really think street creds type info. It's edited propaganda pap, measured for content and sanitized of any real flavor, like going to Taco Bell and expecting to get something that resembles real Mexican cuisine. Let me tell you something, my buddy Jerry at TacoFiesta (www.tacofiesta.com) knows Mexican food and it's a crying shame I can't get his Aunt Liche's chili anymore.
*sigh*
Many news blogs are nothing more than glorified and RSS-ed websites, it being easier to quick-post a blog entry than to take another two seconds to set up and organize web pages.
Certainly, the technology is great to post information, but how much information do you really need? Do you need to post every day? Every single day? Every single day without fail? Oh man, do I ever feel a Sam Kinison moment coming on.
Posted by dmohney at 11:19 PM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2007
Face-to-Face is a good thing - Plan well
In a previous blog-o-rant, I noted the importance of face-to-face meetings. It's what keeps trade shows "alive" despite the advances of the Internet and keeps Jeff Pulver in the frequent flier club with multiple airlines.
A face-to-face meeting at a trade show gives you the opportunity to get your message across in a concentrated settling. You can present the party line, give reasons why the party line is valid, and (potentially) demonstrate new products -- or at least show a pretty painted empty case.
Let's emphasize CONCENTRATED. Thirty minutes or less. Preferably less, around 10-15 minutes for presentations 5-10 minutes for Q&A.
KNOW YOUR AGENDA - Too many times (due to poor prep by in-house or external PR people) I have shown up to meet with someone and they ask ME what I want to know first up. No-no-no-no... You should have a short agenda you can lay out, with pieces you can drop if I go "OK, I already know about---, let's get to the new announcements."
There's a cliche' about having three key points that you need to repeat at the beginning, the middle, and the end. If you have 5-7 key points, well, I'm not going to remember them all, and you are diluting your message...
Be brief, be to the point, and move onto the next meeting. I shouldn't be the only guy (but I'd be flattered if I was) you are meeting at a trade show. There are
People get obsessed with meeting with the Editor-In-Chief. Guess what? I only write a portion of the magazine. And I don't micromanage/assign or dictate who writers should talk to. Occasionally I'll have a discussion with a writer about what they write about, but most of the time, they're adults and they understand what they need to do without backseat driving. Making a good impression with other writers for a publication is just as important as talking to the Editor-in-Chief. Sometimes more so, cuz I'm not writing the piece on IP Video or billing solutions for the August edition...
Posted by dmohney at 07:47 PM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2007
Falling Short on Meeting Pitches - And shooting yourself in the foot
SuperComm 3.0, er NXTComm is coming up and I've been getting a steady stream of meeting requests for the event. I expect that to ramp upward in the next two weeks as PR agencies feed their clients the delusion that I have plenty of time at the last minute to wedge in a face-to-face.
NOT.
The pitches started back about 2.5 weeks ago -- that give you an idea about how people are viewing NXTComm?
Nearly three fourths of the meeting pitches I receive can be boiled down to:
"Hi, we would like a meeting. We have some great news."
To this, the agency adds descriptives such as revolutionary, game-changing, industry-leading. Stuff I see every day.
The agency neglects two basics: 1) What the company does, units shipped, revenues, 2) How the company fits into the market, through amount of captured market share, key/big name customers. Most of them assume that I know who their client is, despite never having met with their client.
Then there's the old bait-and-switch. "Yes, we've scheduled you with our CEO." Get to the meeting and you get the marketing or product manager. A surprising number of people pull the Big Lie and expect to get away with it.
If your PR agency is going to lie to me about who I am going to meet with, why should I trust the press releases they send me or anything else they tell me?
Posted by dmohney at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)