Archive for the ‘marketing’ Category.
16th February 2005, 11:31 am
Wil Wheaton: So, ASCAP plans to *license* podcasts?: “Xeni Jardin:
Wil ‘now starring in CSI‘ Wheaton says:
Your post at Boing Boing about ASCAP licensing just made my blood boil.
Do I understand this correctly? If I love a band (let’s pick The Shins, because that’s what iTunes is playing right now) and want to share a great song (New Slang, for instance) to a large audience in my podcast, and talk about how much I love the album, and encourage all the listeners to go buy it . . . I have to *pay* ASCAP for the privilege? I have to *pay* them for exposing an enormous audience to the music? An enormous audience who may want to *buy the fucking record*?!
Are they out of their fucking minds? It takes me just as much time and effort to put a great song from a Comfort Stand artist into my podcast as it does to include a song from a Warner Brothers artist. Guess who gets the free airtime and publicity from me, thanks to ASCAP?
This isn’t about ‘licensing’ at all. It’s about protecting the status quo (aka payola) for ASCAP and Clear Channel.
Fuck them. Fuck them in their greedy asses.
Link to Wil’s blog, which includes lots of great audio content.”
(Via Boing Boing.)
Amen!
14th February 2005, 07:38 pm
I Have Political Enemies: “
Despite running beautifully designed graphic tees all the time, we still have a big crush on plain black tees with a clever quip across the front.
MadJoe’s ‘I Have Political Enemies’ is a perfect example of one of those kinds of shirts. It pretty much says everything it needs to in four words and gets out of your way. Also, it’s nice and nonpartisan. So it works as much for Markos Moulitsas Zúniga as it does for Mike Drudge. Although after looking at the rest of the shirts on MadJoe’s site, I bet a douchebag like Drudge would get his panties in a wad…
$21.00 | Credit | URL
“
(Via Preshrunk.)
top notch
18th January 2005, 12:29 pm
Looking for Ken Farkash? Me too. Here’s the list of clues so far:
http://www.opticalartistry.com/artist/KF.htm
Hey, Ken! We studied art at Moorpark in 1992-1993. Let’s catch up, and, if you want to permanently park your domain on my server, you’re more than welcome to do that. I saw your work on the page above… it’s top notch… excellent work!
Check out my work here: steve cooley fine art.
13th January 2005, 09:26 am
for $499, you can be free from viruses and hardware driver hassles. You also get around $400 in software loaded up on the box… iLife 05: iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, and iTunes. You also get AppleWorks, Quicken, Nanosaur, and of course Mac OS X Panther.
2nd January 2005, 12:28 am
Don’t buy this brand of deadbolts.
I just spent 3 hours installing hardware only to realize my set is missing the keys. Sure, my fault for not locating them immediately after opening the package, but… I wasn’t aware I should have to ensure all the advertised hardware was in fact included with the package. That’s an inexcusable quality control problem.
Update:I called them and they’re sending me new junk. So, just make sure your keys are there if you go with this brand.
8th December 2004, 02:53 pm
or whatever the fuck that story on boingboing was. I don’t even want to link to it because of how wrong it is. I figured it out:
Matthew 21:12
Jesus at the Temple
12Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
That’s just it for me. Using the bible, Jesus, God, faith, and so-called morality as a premise to sell your brainwashing in the form of Power Rangers look alike action… is probably not what Jesus would have thought to be “cool”. Somehow, it just seems like a subversion of the bible. And a marketing ploy. And a false premise. And brainwashing young impressionable minds. And just plain wrong.
I don’t claim to be a “deeply religious” person, but I have my deeply felt personal beliefs about my existence. Growing up the way I did, I just know in my heart that the concept of Jesus isn’t Jesus Co., LLP or Jesus Industries or even Jesus, Incorporated. These people who think that using the “word of God” to create an LLP, Co, or Inc. might have to have a 1 on 1 with the big dude when the game’s over.
6th December 2004, 07:01 pm
Apple has a student blog now, whee!
6th December 2004, 10:09 am
So awesome. XL for me… an excellent holiday gift.
3rd December 2004, 03:49 pm
Time again for Thirdstone from the Sun.
This Saturday December 4, 2004 at the Aptos Club in Aptos California on Soquel Avenue @ 9:00PM. $8 cover.
Friday December 10, 2004 at Margaritaville in Capitola California @ 9:00PM. Cover?
Friday December 31, 2004. You cannot miss this show. Where else on the planet can you hang out have a great time and hear great music on New Years eve for the low low price of $10. that’s right kids. TEN BUCKS. Show starts 9ish.
January 14, 2005 @ Henflings tavern on Route 9 in Ben Lomond. Cover $8.
Every first saturday from February-June 2005 at Chaminade in Santa Cruz. Usually there is no cover, but every now and then we raise money for charity at this venue, so there might be a $5 cover. Check Thirdstonemusic.com for details.
January 29, 2005. Bring the kids, we are taking the show on the road. We will be at the Iron Door Tavern in Groveland California. We’ll be sleeping over, you might want to make a weekend out of it. Cover ? Again, check the site for details.
And as Blaine-Blaine, bassist and guru for the group says, “That’s all i know.”
Peace, Love, Laughter and Aloha;
-j
ed note:
these guys are awesome!
1st December 2004, 09:49 am
Clever Cactus anyone: “
Om Malik’s Broadband Blog reports:
Clever Cactus anyone
Folks, Clever Cactus, a company I have mentioned in the past is running out of cash. That is a shame. It is a worthy competitor to many of the P2P-sharing applications like Grouper. It is cross platform, and while has somewhat of a clunky interface, is high on functionality. Diego, one of the co-founders is saying that they might have to shutter. What a bloody shame? If these guys were not in Ireland, everyone would be tripping over them offering them cash. I spoke to Paul Kenny, the CEO a few weeks ago, and I just like these guys. Somebody, step up to the plate, because these guys have good technology.
I’ve already learned this lesson: good technology is not the same as a good product.
“
(Via musings.)
I’d maybe only suggest that good technology turned into good products are still on a constant chopping block without a good market. Those markets are so reclusive until they’re explored by innovative products, ie: apple ][, AOL instant messenger, iPod/iTunes/ITMS. They all start off by passionate development of good technology. What the market does is a gamble, ie: Magic cap, Newton, danger hiptop, puppettime. All fantastic, interesting products that faced untimely demises because of perceived market conditions by their corporate executive management. Maybe I’m way off. If I’m guessing right about the example lesson for you, I’d say we had a great product built on a great technology, but we were way ahead of our time. Seems like it’s gotta be: right tech, right tool, right time.
3rd November 2004, 12:19 pm
For those of you who feel extraordinarily alienated, continue to vote with your dollars. The one power you have left is economic.
Reward like minded business owners to promote them to higher standing in the community. Public records show contributions to parties, and even brief conversations with business owners will ferret out an affiliation. Don’t bait the questions you ask to lead the response in any direction. Let the proprietor tell you without biasing their answer for them.
It’s your money, and you’re free to spend it however you please. I urge you to give careful consideration to this idea. Pass it along to your like minded friends and like minded family. Your economic power is real, and with more people putting it to use, it’s a useful tool. A continuance of economic reward to the adversary of our political beliefs only helps them persist in their quest to dominate the legal, cultural, and political landscape.
You still have power, and that’s in how you spend your money on the things you need to live life. Vote with your dollars. Reward like minded business owners.
1st November 2004, 11:10 am
First public release of Services_Ebay: ”
Today, I released the first public version of the PHP5-package Services_Ebay, which provides a very easy way to access the eBay XML API with PHP5.
Although the package is still in devel state, it supports about 50 of the 70 API calls that the eBay web service offers. Furthermore it adds model classes for eBay users, items, feedback, categories, etc. that helps you working with the eBay data. By making use of PHP5′s new OO-features, you may access properties of eBay items as if they were native PHP data structures. The easiest way to demonstrate this, is a tiny example. The following code snippet fetches an eBay item:
<?php
require_once 'Services/Ebay.php';
$session = Services_Ebay::getSession($devId, $appId, $certId);
$session->setToken($token);
$ebay = new Services_Ebay($session);
$item = $ebay->GetItem(4501333179);
echo 'User-Id of the seller: '.$item->Seller->UserId;
print_r($item->toArray());
?>
If you are the seller of the item, you may revise the item and send it back to eBay using the following code:
<?php
$item->Title = 'The new item title';
$item->ReviseItem();
?>
Working with other entities, like users or categories, is also extremely easy:
<?php
$supes = $ebay->GetUser('superman-74');
$feedback = $supes->getFeedback( Services_Ebay::FEEDBACK_VERBOSE, 1, 10 );
foreach ($feedback as $entry) {
echo 'Feedback for '.$feedback->ItemNumber."n";
echo $feedback;
echo "n";
}
?>
All models provide are using methods like __call(), __get() and __toString() so they can be used in several ways.
The Services_Ebay class is loading the API calls on demand and thus reduces the code that needs to be parsed. Each API call may be used in three ways:
- Use it with the Services_Ebay class and pass arguments like you would pass them to a standard PHP function (you need to pass only the most important parameters).
- Use it with the Servcies_Ebay class and pass arguments as an associative array (needed, when sending complex queries)
- Instantiate the object on its own, pass arguments to the constructor.
Furthermore, the API calls are able to describe their parameter list by calling $call->describeCall();
To use the package, you will need to register as an eBay developer at http://developer.ebay.com and then create an authentication token from the token generation tool at the developer site.
More information about Services_Ebay and the eBay XML API can be found in the PEAR proposal and the eBay developer site. “
(Via Planet PHP.)
Hmm, very interesting
27th October 2004, 01:32 pm
Danger to Mac users: “Eat shit and die”: “Cory Doctorow:
Joel sez, “Check this out: A group of developers built an OSX iSync client for the Sidekick II, then didn’t get approved by Danger/T-Mobile, meaning Mac users are effectively cockblocked from syncing because of the locked-down nature of the platform.”
I publicly apologized last year for recommending the Sidekick to people. Danger lied to the press and its customers about the platform, then went on record saying that it intended to sell its customers out to media companies.
Now it’s screwing over Mac users who want to have a means of migrating their own data off their devices. If you do business with Danger after all this, you need your head examined.
Link“
(Via Boing Boing.)
I couldn’t agree with Cory more here. The hiptop is by far the best platform I’ve seen since the newton, but it died a nasty corporate bureaucratic death. If Palm had taken the tack that danger did, you’d definitely not see Palm as the leader in the handheld market. Danger continues to shoot itself in the foot every day they let the carriers dictate the service levels of the hardward platform. Bad decision, folks. My next phone will definitely not be another danger device. Currently it’s looking like the Treo in about a year.
12th October 2004, 11:34 am
ABC News says that if you want to cough up $9.95, you too can put more money in the pocket of Michael Moore. Although, if you really care about seeing this film, you probably wouldn’t have waited for Pay-per-view, and if you don’t care about this film or have some sort of thing against the whole principle, I SERIOUSLY doubt you’re going to pay ten bucks to see it any time soon, regardless of when the screening is.
To be totally, completely, utterly clear. 10 dollar pay-per-view propaganda on cable, versus “62 television stations owned or managed by the Sinclair Broadcasting Group” that will “pre-empt regular night programming, including prime time, on its stations, which include affiliates for all six of the major broadcast networks” … These are two totally different things. It’s about access. 10 dollar pay per view is not the same thing as free airtime in prime-time on affiliates for all six major networks.
12th October 2004, 11:19 am
Great! I’ll totally stand by your call against the use of propaganda as news. So I know I can count on you to call some advertisers up now! Pick a market, call the regional advertising sales manager, complain about the use of propaganda documentaries as “news”, and list off all the advertisers you’re going to call to express your dismay at their choice in Sinclair Broadcasting group. Then call up some businesses and express your dismay at their choice in advertising on Sinclair broadcasting group. Be nice. Don’t back out now! Don’t say you’re against it and call it a day! If you really want to see me support your stance against the use of propaganda as news, pick up the phone right now.
