The River

Ever since I’ve been trying to download Google Earth (for 2 days), I’ve been informed it’s “temporarily” closed. Bummer.

Google Earth downloads temporarily delayed

Thanks for your interest in Google Earth, but we’re sorry we can’t offer you a download right now. As you know, Google Earth is in beta, and we’re still building out our ability to take on new users. We’re making good progress, and expect to be able to accept new downloads shortly, so we recommend you check back daily at earth.google.com. We hope to be able to welcome you and other new planet surfers soon.

I haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been busy moving, and we barely have Internet access in the new place (read: dial-up). Turns out SBC.com doesn’t recognize my phone number as being active yet, therefore I can’t sign up for DSL online (and that’s the only way I can get the promotional $14.95/month price). And, because our house has never had cable, Comcast has to send out a crew to build a conduit from the street to the house. So, no high-speed for us, at least for now. And no digital cable/ReplayTV, etc. We probably have to get some electrical work done to be able to handle our modern gadgets, anyway. (So far, we haven’t blown any fuses but I haven’t even run the microwave yet.) I’m just considering this a bit of a sabbatical from my digital home lifestyle.

Anyway, to my point. Our adventures in the new house took us to Target yesterday, where we were in search of a shower curtain rod. Being nearly 9 months pregnant, I wasn’t keen on trapising all around the store (this after looking in the seemingly obvious places), so I picked up a red courtesy phone. Customers are to press 1 if they want an associate to come immediately to answer their question, or press 2 if they just want to speak to someone. I was content with option 2, but it didn’t work properly, so a nice recorded voice told me that a sales associate would be there to help me within 60 seconds.

I was impressed. Help in 60 seconds is a pretty strong brand promise. I waited.

Sure enough, a young guy in a Target uniform came rushing around the corner in not too long. Is he coming to help me, I wondered? Yes, he indicated, he is responding to my call. But instead of asking me why I called or offering to help, he rushed over to said red courtesy phone and began tinkering with it, customer be damned. For at least three minutes he let me cool my heels while he pushed buttons, called his supervisor, etc. He was obsessed by the idea that he had to “clear the call” within those promised 60 seconds. If he didn’t, I suppose it would look bad for his, and the store’s, response metrics.

Before he managed to handle the technical difficulties, my husband walked around the corner, holding up a shower curtain rod triumphantly. We headed downstairs and were off, leaving the sales associate wrestling with the red courtesy phone. My husband told me later he’d tried to stop the very same sales associate as he was rushing toward me, only to be told he was too busy “answering a call” to help.

It’s a perfect example of a corporation getting so caught up in the metrics, they forget the point — which was originally to help the customer within a reasonable amount of time. Something to think about.

Posting will likely continue to be light as we continue to unpack and, within the next few weeks, become new parents. Due date in 12 days.

Turns out it’s journalists — and not their readers — who are turning to blogs, according to the Euro RSCG Magnet and Columbia University Survey of Media.

According to the most recent findings of the 11th Annual Euro RSCG Magnet Survey of the Media, done in partnership with Columbia University, the majority of journalists are using blogs to do their work, despite the fact that only 1% believe blogs are credible.

Yup. Told you so. Anyway, obviously the Euro/Columbia study has a lot more data. Really interesting stuff.

As AOL preps the launch of its new Web portal, a few items of note from folks around our company:

It’s a bit off topic from my ordinary posts, but my pal Tom Watson, in his inimitable way, has issued something of a challenge to bloggers, including myself. The story of Mukhtaran Bibi — who has been taken into police custody in Pakistan for speaking out against serious abuses — is well deserving of widespread attention. I urge you to check out Tom’s post and do whatever you can to help — including spread the word.

Blodget on Google (on Bambi’s MarketWatch column):

You would have to be drunk not to be uneasy about Google today. The stock and company are screaming along at half the speed of sound, and everyone involved is just hanging on for dear life. Maybe they’ll get where they’re going (world domination). Maybe they won’t. But it won’t take much of a bump in the road to send the company and stock careening into a ravine.

Stock price at post time: $279.25 (down $3.50 on the day)

UPDATE: Battelle links to yet another story in which Blodget weighs in on the Google valuation.

I’m honored to have been chosen (by whatever process is in place) as Feedster XML feed of the day. Welcome to any new visitors to The-River.net. Blogging here has been, and will likely continue to be, somewhat light, as homeownership happens, pregnancy reaches its peak (36 weeks now), etc., but I’ll be returning to the primary topics of media, marketing, advertising, word-of-mouth, search, etc. in the not-too-distant future. Hang in there. I am.

Thanks to Zach for the heads up.

UPDATE: Feedster’s director of marketing Beverly Parenti just e-mailed me to let me know I’d been chosen. From her e-mail:

“Feed of the Day” is a service we provide for Feedster users, pointing them toward a new or timely or under-appreciated or just plain unexpected RSS feed.

Don’t know exactly where I fit in there, but it’s very nice.

It’s official. As of today, my husband, Michael, and I are homeowners in the East Bay town of Albany. We get the keys after work today. Yippee!

A podcast about duct tape? Yes, indeed.

The publisher of Consumer Reports just showed this fantastic animation poking fun at drug advertising. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s screamingly funny.