Looks like Yahoo! isn’t the only online player to go cross-media with Mark Burnett. My colleague, Zach Rodgers, breaks the story of a content/advertising deal between the TV production house and Microsoft’s MSN. It’ll be interesting to compare/contrast how Yahoo! and MSN differ in their approaches to a similar challenge/opportunity.
So… rumor has it that our own Gary Stein has received a challenge from Forrester’s Charlene Li. Does it involve analysis maybe? Blogging maybe? Nope.
What I’m hearing is that Charlene’s thrown down the gauntlet to Gary, challenging him to a swim across the San Francisco Bay to Alcatraz (and back?). Gary’s big on cycling, and apparently Charlene is training for the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. As if the online advertising/marketing world isn’t exciting enough, we’re getting swimming races thrown into the mix. Gotta like that.
Overwhelming. Yes, that’s the main word that comes to mind here at Ad:Tech. As a reported 6,500 people mill about the Marriott (God forbid you are staying at this hotel and not involved with the show in some capacity.), I’ve heard reports of one exhibitor serving beer on tap out of their booth. And the folks next to them upped the ante by offering minibar-sized bottles of vodka. All this before noon. (Hey, it’s after 5 somewhere!) I can only imagine what the scene will be like next year, when this event is scheduled to be held in the Moscone Center. Most likely, the extra space will lower the intensity a tad.
We’ve transitioned from what I described as “intense house-hunting mode” to intense house-buying mode. In this SF Bay Area marketplace, we were amazed to find that our first offer on a house was accepted — after a bit of back and forth. (Hopefully this doesn’t mean that we were suckered into paying too much!)
So, I’ll spare you from my musings about inspections, woefully inadequate electrical systems (aka not ready for TiVo or WiFi), mortgage loans, and gardening in the Albany, CA microclimate. Things on this blog might be quieter even than usual.
Looking forward to meeting with and seeing folks at Ad:Tech next week. Apologies to anyone who has reached out that I haven’t been able to get back with. Things have been crazy with conferences and travel (not to mention house buying in my off-hours). Still, it looks like there’s plenty going on so I’m sure I’ll run into a lot of people. I plan to be there all 3 days.
I’m trying to cover the whole state of California this week and am checking out the Kelsey Group’s “Drilling Down on Local” conference in Santa Clara. Returned from LA last night. The Super Shuttle driver took me down the Pacific Coast Highway on the way back to the airport, so got some great views of coastline, Malibu, the Santa Monica pier, etc.
So far so good on the Kelsey Group show. Have already seen quite a few familiar faces and also got to shake hands with someone I’ve met through blogging — Tony Gentile of buzzhit blog, who is apparently blogging the conference. Looks like it was worth the trip.
I’m headed to Los Angeles to talk e-mail marketing to a group of folks from AGI. Will be there this evening and tomorrow. Looking forward to discussing interactive marketing with folks with a lot of experience in direct. Change of scene will be good, too.
Don’t think I squeezed in a blog entry yesterday, due to the deadline for a column that ended up being called The Inventory Issue. Really enjoyed doing the reporting on it, as I got to talk with some interesting folks, including Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson, Majestic Research’s Seth Goldstein and About.com’s Peter Horan. I blabbed on plenty in the piece itself so I’ll shut up here.
In keeping with the Internet Axis of Evil theme appearing here and here, I’ll report that the Axis power iSearch toolbar (among other things) has vanquished our Windows XP-running laptop. Luckily data is recoverable and all we have to do is reformat our hard drive. Yep, that’s all. Just more than a week of battle, during which time the computer was un-useable.
On our side: Spyware Doctor, Microsoft AntiSpyware (Beta) and Webroot Spy Sweeper. On their side: Pure evil.
We suspect infection occurred when we were searching for gambling odds for the Pope’s successor. Be careful out there.
The things you happen upon while doing product research on Amazon.com… (for an ice cream maker, in this instance)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4 out of 5 stars This “Iced Cream” stuff is good!, April 12, 2005
Reviewer: MusicalGenius “Jeremy” (Minneapolis, MN US of A) - See all my reviews
I have led a very secluded life. I grew up in a very prominent New England family, (I’m sure you have heard of them, but I will not say which family. Just know that I’m a multi-millionare who has never worked a day in his life except at my Mashed Potato bar)
When I was growing up, I had never heard of Iced Cream. I hear that many children enjoy this treat. I was not so lucky.
Most of my childhood was spent in my extremely large room playing the latest videogames on extremely large television sets. If you have seen the movie “Richie Rich” starring McCully Culkin, that is the closest experience to my childhood I can explain. Except he had nice parents.I did not.
My parents didn’t let me have “the devil’s energy” (sugar).
It wasn’t until recently when I wanted to upset Mother, that I tried my first taste of Iced Cream at a local Mall. It was WONDERFUL! I was hooked.I bought this immediately, I needed my Iced Cream all the time, I didn’t care if it was 4am, I would need it! Now I can make it myself! And there is no greater treat than something you make yourself. No matter what Mother says.
The best part about this machine is you can make whatever kind of Iced Cream you want. Some of my specialties include “Tuna and Anchovy Iced Cream” , “Turkey With Stuffing And Gravy Iced Cream”, “Tequilla Iced Cream”, “Whiskey Sorbet”, “Onion and Baked Bean Iced Cream” and of course “Mashed Potato and Gravy Iced Cream”.
Ah, there is still some serendipity on the Net.
Tom Watson posts on this week’s New York cover story and James Wolcott chimes in. No time to comment but wanted to link to this thought-provoking stuff.
