Firms We Love to Hate

Lloyd BlankfeinJamie DimonPretty much anyone tooling in the PR biz is keyed in on the latest chapter in Goldman Sachs’ extended trial in the court of public opinion.James GormanWhat is it about this particular company that compels the media, regulators, legislators and general public to pounce on it at every turn?  Are Goldman’s standards and…… Continue reading Firms We Love to Hate

The Analyst Who Erred

I’m really liking my iPad 2, though perhaps less so now that it’s a done-deal for a 4G-enabled iPad 3 come March 7. Oh well. Personal technology marches on, albeit too fast sometimes for my comfort.The one significant drawback with the iPad — something everyone seems to acknowledge — is its inability to efficiently process…… Continue reading The Analyst Who Erred

Don’t Be Evil

Scott McNealyIn March of 1998, the straight-talking CEO of Sun Microsystems travelled to Washington to testify before Congress on the then-monopolistic ways of one famous tech company out of Redmond, WA. Scott McNealy, with whom I sat the following morning in the green room of NBC “Today,” had this to say: “The only technology I’d…… Continue reading Don’t Be Evil

New Spin Spotter at RNC

This just in from the folks at TechCrunch: the Republican National Committee has named a “Director of New Media.” He’s former Microsoft and MSN employee Todd Herman who posted on his new role here. (RNC’s former top techie resigned earlier this month.)Well, I’m not surprised the red-staters moved quickly to fill that vacant slot. Haven’t…… Continue reading New Spin Spotter at RNC

Collaborate or Die

Former Clinton White House spokesman Mike McCurry (at right) offers up his remedy for what ails the newspaper business — collaboration. In a by-lined piece for the RealClearPolitics site, he rightly observes that newspapers, newsweeklies and their ilk simply cannot compete with all-news cable channels and the Internet.He also came to his collaborative conclusion culling…… Continue reading Collaborate or Die

Shoe Circus

I suppose it was the news of Apple passing Google in market cap that prompted Newsweek to take a less-than flattering look at the perennially cool Cupertino company: “In fact, Apple has started looking like what Microsoft was 10 years ago—a company that so controls certain market segments that smaller competitors can survive only by…… Continue reading Shoe Circus

The Blue Mist and Halo 3

At a time when the U.S. was embroiled in another unpopular war, this 11-year-old was summoned along with his fellow summer campers to a giant bonfire presided over by “The Blue Mist,” the adopted name of the camp’s owner. We suspected something big was up, but didn’t realize how big.Sure enough, the Blue Mist solemnly…… Continue reading The Blue Mist and Halo 3

Razr’s Halo Effect

Scanning through the business pages of today’s New York Times, two items struck me as noteworthy. The first had Motorola chief Ed Zander, fresh from his victory fending off interloper Carl Icahn, doing his best imitation of media impresario Steve Jobs at a splashy, multi-media New York City news conference to showcase his company’s latest…… Continue reading Razr’s Halo Effect

The Beet on AP’s Video Dreams

Did anyone notice the video post on Beet.TV yesterday? If you didn’t, take a look. My buddy Andy Plesser, whose Walter Mittyesque existence waivers between PR man and vlogging crusader, caught up with The AP’s head of global broadcast strategy Jim Kathman.Kathman (exclusively) outlined the partnership between the world’s largest news organization and Microsoft in…… Continue reading The Beet on AP’s Video Dreams