A few years back, my most erudite #2 son admonished me for spending too much time with short form real-time media. He explained that books — digital and otherwise — offer context that one simply can’t extract from the ephemeral world of streaming media.I thus decided to periodically post links to those books that generated…… Continue reading Holiday Reading For The Geek In You
Category: Amazon
Media Luminaries Bezos & Kamen
Photo: Courtesy of AmazonIn spite of its recent misstep regarding its flawed reporting on Benghazi, CBS News’s venerable “60 Minutes” continues to have the capacity to drive the national conversation. And, sure enough, last night my tech-centric Twitterstream suddenly was consumed by drones — and not the killing kind – following the prolific Charlie Rose’s…… Continue reading Media Luminaries Bezos & Kamen
Jeff Bezos Opens Up
Lots doing from the world(s) of Jeff Bezos this week. First, we learn that Amazon is making a big play to “lure” us away from our eternal dependency on iTunes in favor of the company’s integrated Cloud Player MP3 Store. As The Verge led in its coverage: “Amazon’s Cloud Player for PC is moving closer…… Continue reading Jeff Bezos Opens Up
Those Five-Star Reviews
How important are consumer-generated reviews in your purchase-making decisions? If you’re like me, the answer is VERY. When assessing hotels, the write-ups on Virtual Tourist and Trip Advisor invariably make or break my booking. The reviews on Yelp play the deciding role in tipping the restaurant scales. Same with Fandango for movie reviews.Then there’s the…… Continue reading Those Five-Star Reviews
Trusted Reviews?
Influential veteran tech journalist John Dvorak took Amazon (and the PR profession) to task in a PC Mag piece posted yesterday that asked “Are Amazon Reviews Corrupt?” His beef lies in the system through which so-called third-party reviewers are incentivized to share their so-called unbiased opinions. Dvorak cited a study in which a Cornell professor…… Continue reading Trusted Reviews?
Friday’s Video Views
Kindle v iPadKindle sticks it to Apple’s iPad with its new TV spot. I wonder how Amazon will deal with the product enhancements Apple released today – multi-tasking, printability…?I Want My New Twitter!The big news this week from the social spheres entails Twitter’s simple redesign and enhanced functionality. Not only is the company creating cache…… Continue reading Friday’s Video Views
Amazon and SONY’s Bite of the Apple
Yes. I admit it. I was one of the 8999 some odd Apple-holics glued to Gizmodo’s live feed of Steve Jobs’s latest star turn in San Francisco today. When that feed melted down, I abandoned that gadget blog and re-fired up my Safari 4 to watch the stage show via the Apple.com site. Then, somewhere…… Continue reading Amazon and SONY’s Bite of the Apple
Friday’s Video Views
This week’s edition of Video Views looks at opinion journalism, Woot/Amazon, and a collection of iPhone 4 videos.Op-Ed Anyone?The Journalism of Opinion in which Columbia University hosted a conference on opinion journalism Daily News columnist and author Stanley Crouch, Bitch Media founder Andi Zeisler, New York Times op-ed page staff editor Mark Lotto, and BlueMassGroup…… Continue reading Friday’s Video Views
Caught with My Head in the Cloud
Here’s how last Thursday started for me (via Twitter):PeterHimler Gmail is like so misbehaving right now!11:05 AM May 14th from Power TwitterPeterHimler I’m wondering today what’s worse: a cyber-terrorist attack or a Google tool fail?11:26 AM May 14th from Power Twitter This was the paralysis that I (and millions of others) felt when Google’s productivity…… Continue reading Caught with My Head in the Cloud
Citizen-Kindled PR
This morning Saul Hansell, in the New York Times’s “Bits” blog, draws our attention to Amazon’s “Holiday Customer Review Team,” or as Saul calls it, a “user-generated public relations” program.In his post he describes how the online retailer has deployed ordinary citizens, i.e., prolific product reviewers on the Amazon site, as “third-party” company spokespersons. The…… Continue reading Citizen-Kindled PR