Morgan McLintic on PR

Blocking press releases during malware outbreak

Here's an amusing post by Andrew Conry-Murray on the IT Architect blog (formerly Network Magazine) bemoaning the wave of crowing press releases which follow most virus outbreaks.

“A new product is available to block press releases that invariably follow malware outbreaks. ShuTup 1.0 stops 100 percent of press releases that tell you how a product automatically and proactively blocks the latest worm, virus, spyware, phishing, or 'bot attack.

ShuTup 1.0, which is launching this week, is aimed at security professionals, IT administrators, journalists, and editors. These markets suffer crushing volumes of e-mail in the wake of the threat-du-jour.”

Credits: Megan Grenter in LEWIS' DC office for flagging this to me.

Canon PowerShot S2 IS - First Impressions

I recently had to replace my Canon PowerShot A70 digital camera since it started taking entirely black photos for some reason. I'd replaced the memory cards and batteries, turned it off and on, given it a manly shake and exploratory prod, but the shots kept on being pitch dark. Always looking for an opportunity, I decided an upgrade was due, since the zoom was limited and the resolution only 3MB, which isn't great for landscape shots or cropping. I opted for a Canon PowerShot S2 IS - a 5 megapixel, 12x zoom mid-range digital camera.

Now I'm not a photography expert. Far from it in fact. I'm from the school of digital photographers who take lots of shots in the hope that some turn out good. It's the machine-gun approach to photography which is why digital suits me well. I can just keep snapping away until I get what I want.

The PowerShot A70 was my first digital camera (late to the game about 24 months ago). I have found there are two uses for digital cameras - on social or impromptu occasions where you want a quick snap of friends and events to record the moment, and then more set-piece shots of people portraits or landscapes. The A70 was an all-rounder, but I found myself using my cameraphone for the spur-of-the-moment pix, and the A70 is a bit under-powered for the staged photo moments. (Plus mine is broken).

My first port of call when buying products like this is to read the peer reviews at sites like Amazon or on the electrical stores like Circuit City. I figure people who are motivated to post their experiences will tend to be highly involved in the purchase and have done their homework. Many are photography buffs and have reasoned opinions about lens quality, as well as image sharpness, saturation and contrast.

It's worth noting there are also some great review sites out there like this one. I was torn between the Sony Cybershot DCS H1 and the Canon PowerShot S2 IS. Similar price, features, brand values, and specifications. On balance the reviews seem to favor the Canon, which I've just unpacked.

My first impressions are that this camera will suit a range of users from beginner to prosumer. It's a pretty serious piece of kit which automates the process of taking a picture in different conditions for the novice, but allows fine-grained manual adjustment for those with the knowledge and inclination. It's ideal for photographers, like me, who would like to learn more and experiment, but don't want to jump to a digital SLR without the autopilot safety-net. I quite like to change the settings, but I'll always fire a few shots on auto to make sure I have the moment safely captured.

The best thing for me is the zoom - 12x optical zoom, with the option of digital enhancement on top. It also has an Image Stabilizing (IS) technology which limits camera-shake for distance shots (the cause of some of my more blurred attempts). The other criteria I was looking for was the start-up time, which is pretty much instant. My A70 had to warm up a bit before it was ready, which was a bit frustrating. More importantly the S2 IS takes images the moment you hit the shutter button. With the A70, there was a 1-2 second delay which meant you had to predict when to take photos of moving objects. With the S2 IS, there's no such guesswork, meaning fewer shots of the back legs of running animals, the veils of passing brides and the disembodied limbs of those who walk into shot.

A few negatives include the need to manually pop up the flash, which elicits angry red symbols on screen when you forget; the oddly shaped camera bag (an extra designed for this product), which doesn't actually accommodate the camera without inadvertently turning it on amid beeps and grinding lens gear; and the ill-fitting lens cap (which many reviewers flagged).

That said, my trial shots have all been sharp and clear (unsaturated and calorie-free), the grip is comfortable, the buttons accessible, the weight balanced and not too heavy, and the menu interface easy to understand and customize. It even has a rapid-fire mode where it takes continuous pictures. Ideal for a point and shoot snapper like me.

Technorati Tags: camera, Canon, photography, PowerShot

Huh?

This is a great parody site for a marketing consultancy. I know the authors are making money from the Google ads but they deserve it. Hilarious.

“We have really smart people who are always thinking up totally cool shit. We have a meeting room with a big, round, expensive table. When you hire us for marketing and consulting projects, we spend lots of time sitting around the table having meetings.

Our female staff members are all hot, so, even if there's nothing to meet about, we'll sit and flirt with them, and charge you for the time. When one of our new-age marketing gurus or design experts or consultants has an idea, the rest of us look at him or her with serious expressions and write stuff down on paper.”

Technorati Tags: Marketing, fake

Typepad enables Podcasting

Typepad, the hosted blogging service, has enabled its users to start podcasting. The platform will now recognize multimedia files (such as MP3, AVI even QuickTime formats) which are uploaded and distribute them via a dedicated feed.

Credits to Stephen Davies for pointing this out. He also notes that the storage capacity of Typepad Plus accounts (500 MB) would restrict you to about eight hour-long editions, so it's not for the serious podcaster, but good enough for most to get started.

Technorati Tags: podcasting, Typepad

Pitching bloggers - Avoid the Intimacy Trap

Like many bloggers, I often get pitched by companies and PR firms about new products, services and general news. I'm happy to pitched - I learn about new subjects which, on the whole, are relevant to me, and it also gives me an insight into common PR practices.

We're all learning about communicating with bloggers. From the blogger's perspective, one lesson I'd like to share is to avoid the Intimacy Trap. Much is made of pitching irrelevant material to bloggers (and the media), that's PR 101. I think one risk with pitching bloggers is almost the reverse. Unlike the media, a blogger will share much of his or her personal information in About Me sections, recent experiences, thoughts and opinions about a wide range of topics. It's easy for a blog reader to feel a strong connection with the blogger even though the two have never corresponded or met. After all, that's one of the powers of the medium - intimacy.

But when 'pitching' a blogger (for want of a better word), communications professionals must remember the asynchronous nature of their relationship. You may know a lot about the blogger but he or she knows nothing about you. So it's easy to become over-personal, colloquial or even slack in your pitch. This can come across as being forward, lazy or careless, even though that's not your intent.

My advice is that if you are reaching out to a blogger for the first time, it's best to keep the tone business-like. The blogger may reply in a more casual manner, in which case you can lower the register and adjust the tone. In the first instance, I'd accord respect to the blogger by being accurate, detailed and economical with your words. At worst you'll come across as a touch formal which is easy to relax, but if you lead in with 'Hiya mate, thought I'd bung you over this cool news' it's hard to backtrack and reclaim the credibility.

I know it's easy to feel you know the blogger because you read his or her stuff. But until you do, best to avoid the Intimacy Trap.

Technorati Tags: blogs

Unleashing Tiger

While on the subject of Apple, I finally installed Apple's new OS, Tiger yesterday which includes a powerful new search function, called Spotlight, and its much-vaunted Dashboard with Widgets. Widgets are small applications, such as a calculator or stickies, which can easily be accessed using the function keys.

Apple's site claims to have over 1,000 Widgets to try out. So far I've found the best for PR folks to be the standard ones of World Clock, which helps you coordinate international programs, and Unit Converter, for calculating currency exchanges and costing PR programs. I see that lots of blog sites have their own dedicated Widgets as well.

Has anyone found any good communications-related Widgets? Must be some useful ones out there.

Technorati Tags: Apple, OSX Tiger, Widgets

AirTunes - unseen on WiFi network

I was recently given an AirPort Express with AirTunes wireless base station, which is supposed to connect iTunes to remote speakers over a wireless network. I'm having a bit of trouble getting it to work and wondered whether anyone else has encountered this problem.

I can set up the AirTunes base station as a standalone wireless router, connect to it using my Powerbook and stream songs or podcasts to my remote speakers just fine, so I know the connections are all solid.

However, if I join the AirTunes base station into my current wireless network (DSL over a 2Wire HomePortal [NB - 2Wire is a client]), iTunes fails to recognize the AirTunes router is on the network. I need to connect the two so that I have Internet access while also streaming songs to my AirTunes router and speakers. I don't want to either surf or play music and have to toggle between the two.

I've reinstalled the software, updated the firmware, consulted the Apple Support site. Any ideas? Strikes me that quite a few people would want to connect AirTunes to their existing wireless network (and in fact the set-up wizard walks you through it) but for some reason iTunes can't see it on the network.

Technorati Tags: AirTunes, Apple

Dell Hell continues

If you're not following this live case study of how one individual consumer (albeit one with quite a big megaphone) can affect a multi-billion dollar company's reputation, then perhaps you should. It's a great read.

The A-List and the Long Tail

Dave Sifry, CEO of Technorati, has posted the fourth and fifth posts in his State of the Blogosphere series. Part four deals with spam blogs, fake blogs, comment/trackback spam and how Technorati is tackling the problem. Basically the solution is a combination of new technologies, link conventions (e.g. no follow tags) and manpower. Interestingly Technorati along with Amazon, AOL, Ask Jeeves, Drupal, Google, MSN, Six Apart, Technorati, Tucows, and Wordpress are teaming up to hold a Web 2.0 Spam Squashing Summit next month. In the comments, Robert Scoble and Scott Rafer indicate Microsoft/MSN and Feedster's enthusiasm to get involved.

For PR pros though, Dave's fifth post is a must-read since it shows the authority of blogs compared to the mainstream media. This authority is based on the number of inbound links to the sites - and therefore assumed importance/attention being given to the content. In the graph below, MSM is represented in blue with blogs in red.

I think this is fairly self-explanatory. In my sphere of tech PR, it's interesting to note the influence of Engadget and Gizmodo. Obviously people like linking to gadget-related content. Note also the success of Wired News in providing linkable, timely content - the only monthly tech magazine to make the list.

There seems to be some sites missing. I don't see Slashdot on here, which is unexpected. Dave also highlights the absence of the Wall Street Journal with the following explanation:

An interesting statistic to note is the current placement of subscription sites like WSJ.com (the Wall Street Journal). While the WSJ has begun to offer some content outside of its subscriber-only site, the policy is clearly costing them some influence and attention in the blogosphere, as bloggers find it difficult to link to articles in the subscriber-only sections.

Technorati Tags: Media, Technorati

Next Fifteen takes minority stake in Lexis

Next Fifteen Communications, the parent company of Text 100, Bite and now Outcast, has taken a 25% minority stake in UK firm, Lexis Public Relations. Lexis has revenues of £4.7m ($8.3m) and profits of £580,773 ($1m). Next Fifteen is paying £1.27m ($2.25m) for the 25% stake, with a view to acquiring the rest of the company by 2010, and taking a majority share during 2006. The deal is capped at £10m ($17.8m) with at least 25% of the payment being in NFC shares.

Technorati Tags: Bite, Lexis, NextFifteen