Thursday, November 20, 2008

NY Times Rolls Out Holiday Technology Section

The Pogue-o-matic seems to be more of a directory of products than actual shopping advice from David so I'm not sure how helpful this is going to be for those who are in search for gadgets this season. I wonder if this is going to come down after the Holiday's or transition into a permanent page for the Times?

NYTimes.com announced this week its new "Holiday Technology" section with three features in time for the upcoming holiday season that are designed to provide consumers with expert guidance on the vast array of electronic products available on the market.

The Pogue-o-matic (http://www.nytimes.com/pogueomatic) is an interactive product finder with video of David Pogue, the Times's personal technology columnist, offering insights on an array of cameras, camcorders, smart phones and TVs. The Pogue-o-matic guides a gadget shopper through the key feature choices in each category, then generates product recommendations based on the shopper's preferences. The results can be printed, sent by email or relayed by text to a mobile phone.

Gadgetwise (http://www.nytimes.com/gadgetwise) is a new blog devoted to helping readers get smarter about buying and using personal electronics in their daily lives. Gadgetwise bloggers include Rik Fairlie (digital photography), Roy Furchgott (mobile technology), Eric Taub (home entertainment) and Stephen Williams (personal computing) who have each covered technology products and trends for numerous websites and publications. After the holidays, the Gadgetwise blog will continue as a consumer-oriented complement to The Times's Bits blog.

The Technology Gift Guide (http://www.nytimes.com/holidaytech) is an interactive slide show offering gift recommendations from Times editors and reporters for four distinct groups: road warriors; home entertainment aficionados; outdoor and athletic enthusiasts; and preteens. There will be five to 10 gift suggestions for each category accompanied by product details and slideshows.

"Our 'Holiday Technology' section will make it easier for consumers to make the best decisions about their electronic purchases at a time when there is an increasing number of choices," said Damon Darlin, Times technology editor. "The Pogue-o-matic combines David's expertise with his unique sense of humor making the gift giving process accessible, informative and extremely entertaining."

Monday, November 17, 2008

Tech Media's Most Influential Web Sites

Rob forwarded this on to me last week and I'd thought I'd post it here for those that hadn't seen it yet. This list comes from Techmeme's Leaderboard. The biggest shocker for me was to see Engadget drop from 2nd place to 19th. Are there any sites that you often reference that you don't see on here?

"Since the Techmeme Leaderboard reflects the reality that both blog-driven sites and traditional sites define today's news, use it to discover new sources, recommend sites to others, or illustrate where tech news breaks."

1. TechCrunch (still at the top)
2. CNET News (up from 5th)
3. Silicon Alley Insider (up from 13th)
4. VentureBeat (up from 25th)
5. New York Times (down from 3rd)
6. Ars Technica (down from 4th)
7. AppleInsider (up from 49th)
8. Gizmodo (up from 15th)
9. Wall Street Journal (up from 10th)
10. ReadWriteWeb (down from 6th)
11. Reuters (up from 12th)
12. ZDNet Between the Lines (up from 14th)
13. Techdirt (up from 30th)
14. GigaOm (down from 7th)
15. Webware (up from 23rd)
16. The Register (down from 9th)
17. NYT Bits (up from 34th)
18. Boy Genius Report (up from 38th)
19. Engadget (down from 2nd)
20. The Official Google Blog (up from 67th)
21. PC World (up from 42nd)
22. paidContent.org (down from 17th)
23. Boom Town (up from 51st)
24. BBC (down from 8th)
25. Valleywag (up from 99th)
26. TorrentFreak (down from 24th)
27. CNET's Beyond Binary (NEW TO LIST)
28. All about Microsoft (up from 39th)
29. MediaMemo (NEW TO LIST)
30. IntoMobile (NEW TO LIST)
31. Washington Post (up from 56th)
32. Tech Trader Daily (up from 50th)
33. Infinite Loop (NEW TO LIST)
34. Computerworld (down from 20th)
35. Electronista (up from 64th)
36. InfoWorld (down from 11th)
37. Microsoft (down from 32nd)
38. MacRumors (NEW TO LIST)
39. Bloomberg (up from 53rd)
40. BusinessWeek (down from 28th)
41. Search Engine Land (down from 19th)
42. NewTeeVee (up from 69th)
43. Business Wire (down from 29th)
44. eWeek.com (down from 16th)
45. WSJ's Business Technology (NEW TO LIST)
46. CNET's The Social (NEW TO LIST)
47. Laptop Magazine (NEW TO LIST)
48. TechFlash (up from 80th)
49. Epicenter (down from 48th)
50. Gadget Lab (NEW TO LIST)

NPR: Will Obama's White House be Open to the Media?

Interesting piece from NPR this morning on how Obama will handle communication and information dissemination when he’s president.

His campaign used social media very well and he knows that Americans increasingly want to get their news as it happens. However, the traditional media outlets will not be left out the cold, according to a transition team spokesperson.

This does, however, beg the question…will the White House press corps be competing with news outlets who want to deliver the news themselves?

Also, what will these mean for the traditional relationship that the White House has had with the press?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97036391

Friday, November 14, 2008

Just Wait Till he Twitters

YouTube will be the new home for Team O's weekly addresses. Fireside chats on your iPhone=very cool.

It Ain't Over Until I Say It's Over!

For a brief moment, I contemplated hitting Cory with Banhammer and moderating his post just for the heck of causing some drama.


Instead, a state of the union on Fizzle-Pop.

  • Just like we're not in a recession, Fizzle-Pop is not fizzling
  • The fundamentals of our blog are still strong
  • Things are changing. We are "working" (in the liberal sense of the term) towards incorporating the site into the new PN site. Improvements to the RSS feed are being implemented. Excuses to post inane, funny links are still being made so please, keep them coming.
  • The admins at Fizzle-Pop are always open to suggestions, thoughts and hate mail all in the name of improving the site. If you have an idea for the site, let us know!

Fizzle-Pop has not fizzled... It's just in a slow motion pop.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

What the computer pages did for Obama

Worth noting in a NYT piece today how this campaign has changed politics, but more importantly marketing, pr, and online reach. Trippi's quote that online the Dean campaign was like the Wright Brothers and Obama's was more Apollo 11, shows how quickly things are changing. Also worth noting that sites like HuffPo and Politico are giving AP a run for their money.



Monday, November 3, 2008

Coffee for Democracy

I missed the commercial, but always up for free coffee...

A Vote, and Then a Cup of Joe
By Stuart Elliott
First there was Joe the Plumber. Then came “Joe the Biden,” as Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. has taken to calling himself on the campaign trail. And soon from Starbucks, Joe the Reward.
The Starbucks Coffee Company plans to start a campaign Saturday night that will offer a free cup of joe — a k a coffee — as a thank-you for voting. The campaign begins with a commercial scheduled during “Saturday Night Live” on NBC.
The commercial opens by asking, “What if we all cared enough to vote?” The spot ends with the offer — “If you care enough to vote, we care enough to give you a free cup of coffee” — and these words: “You and Starbucks. It’s bigger than coffee.”
The offer is for drip coffee at Starbucks stores on Tuesday, Election Day. The campaign asks for proof of voting like the stickers given in many localities. In places without such measures, “it’ll be a little bit of the honor system,” a Starbucks spokesman, Vivek Varma, said.
The campaign is the first fruit of a new relationship between Starbucks and BBDO Worldwide in New York, part of the Omnicom Group. BBDO recently began working on projects for the Starbucks brand; the agency already creates campaigns for the beverages jointly sold by Starbucks Coffee and PepsiCo like DoubleShot and Frappucino.
Coffee is tied to voting in other promotions. The best-known may be the coffee-cup vote in 7-Eleven stores, this year known as “7-Election ’08.” Customers can buy coffee in cups that carry the name of Senator John McCain or Senator Barack Obama.
In the most recent results of the 7-Eleven poll, shown on a special Web site (7-election.com), Mr. Obama led Mr. McCain, 60 percent to 40 percent.