Technology, web, gadgets

Is this the new way, or the wrong way of communication?

I read this story today. It’s actually an article about a marketer named Guy Kawasaki, who told this story on using twitter.com.

The story goes like this:

One customer on a Virgin Atlantic flight didn’t get his meal so he tweeted it. Since in-flight WiFi is offered in all Virgin Atlantic flights the message got posted and viewed by the company’s monitoring team. So the company notified the pilot, who had the flight attendant fixed the meal problem.

Quite a story don’t you think? A perfect example of how a company can utilize the modern technology to server the customer better, right?

And here comes the “but”. Why didn’t the customer just raise his hand and tell the flight attendant that he didn’t get his meal? The problem could have been resolved more quickly. Granted, the story might have more details that we don’t know, but it just seems using the technology in this case, made a simple matter more complicated.

Plus, did the pilot have nothing better to do than fixing customer’s meal problem? He had an airplane to fly, kind of the work that doesn’t appreciate distractions.

Today using technology we have more ways to communicate, but we shouldn’t forget about that good old “howler” that we have been using effectively for thousands of years.

Oh by the way, if you like this article you can tweet it, and I’ll search twitter.com so I know you liked it.

Or just leave a comment.

Viacom and Youtube, fight!

When I was writing this post I had the Street Fighter 2 theme music playing in my head over and over again. Let’s say Viacom is Zangief, being big and enormous, and Youtube is Chun-Li (don’t ask me why), they are putting up quite a show.

Viacom is suing Youtube for $1 billion. Here is the court document.

So basically Viacom says Youtube has used copyrighted content to boost traffic. Oh by the way, Viacom is a big media company if you don’t know, and it owns the copyright of a lot of shows on TV, or movie. They do have the proof. In the emails they manage to obtain, one of the founder (Steve Chen) talked about uploading videos that they knew that they were copyrighted:

“leave these in a bit longer? another week or two can’t hurt;”
“okay the video they upload, first, regardless of people are going to be telling people about the site, therefore making it viral. they’re going to drive traffic. second, it adds more content to the site. third, we’re going to be adding advertisements in the future so this gets them used to it. I’m asking for a couple more weeks.”

Quite a smoking gun, eh?

Chun-li, I mean Youtube is no pushover either. In their own defense, they claimed Viacom had hired people to intentionally upload copyrighted materials from public places that can not be traced back. Obviously this was thought as a smear campaign on Youtube and potentially creating false evidence.

Lots of dramas. And my takeaway is: never use your email to communicate things that never meant to be revealed.

Latest highway nightware in a Prius

I got sweaty palms even reading this latest Toyota Prius incident.

The driver tries several things and fortunately took the vehicle to a halt from 94mph.

Cars are developed so smart these days. It greets you, it shows you directions and it even tells you that your tire is flat, but what’s good with all these if it even couldn’t perform stop and go right?

I bet the car buyers these days put this question first before buying: “could this car have the potential problem that the Toyota has?”.

I bet this is the beginning of the end of Toyota brand.

Type a zip code and find out where it is

If you like to know where a zip code is, this cool zip code tool can help. Basically you just type a 6 digit zip code and search it. The boundary of the zip code area will be drawn out on the map, which is pretty cool.

iPad – I just don’t see it can be as successful as iPhone

Apple Inc, released its long waited tablet device today. It’s called iPad.

You can find more pictures here.

For the most part, you can call it iPod Touch on steroids. Besides the web browsing, emailing and other person apps, it also can be used as a eBook reader. As a matter of fact, Apple also opened its new iBook store, to try to get their feet in the eBook market.

I like the cool and beautiful device – of course by nothing dull and ugly would come out of Apple’s factory. But I just don’t think the device can be that successful. I mean, iPod or iPhone successful.

IPod and iPhone both are exceptional. IPod dominated an existing market, in which portable MP3 players had been around for years; on the contrary, iPhone kind of created a market. IPhone successfully gives everybody something to pass their time. No matter you are on the go, in a meeting, or sitting on a toilet, you can always dig out the little phone in your pocket and start to do something.

However I fail to see how the new iPad fills, or creates any niche:

• It’s not as portable as a phone. You need a bag to carry it around.
• It’s not as powerful as a computer, so besides web browsing and some fun factors you can use it to do to much work so it’s hard to justifying lugging it around instead of a laptop.
• If it’s an entertainment device it certainly can find its way around the house. Let’s say it sits on the side table of my couch so I can read magazine online…well it costs $499 minimum. To me it’s kind of a waste to use a $500 gadget that way.
• The last thing I can think of is iPad can be a serious contender of eBook reader. However, whether it can compete with e-ink technology to deliver good eBook reading experience is yet to be see.

Well that being said, I do see more of these kind of devices coming out in the future. A eMagazine, eBook reader that can also be used to surf the net and check emails, at a much much lower price.

You play to win the game

If you like NFL (American football) and hip hop, this is the video you MUST watch. Enjoy.

By D.J. Steve Porter

A break from Facebook

Some early adopters of Facebook have started to grow tired of the time spent on the famous social network site.

So they choose to “de-friend” the network, or only use it on a very limited time.

Like illustrated in the article above, this is really a unique and interesting phenomena. And it’s not just a break from a social network. I think we all need a break from web, computer and wireless device from time to time. I had to finish some projects around the house during the past weekends, so instead of sitting in front of a computer like I usually do, I ran around and got some serious elbow grease.

I felt great.

Have social games become too additive?

Allow me to tell a story first:

A wife in China burned her home after so desperate about husband’s addition on Farmville.  (If you don’t know what Farmville is, it’s a social network game that you play on Facebook in which one can act like a farmer and plant stuff.)

The husband started playing Farmville and became so additive and every day all he can think of is to log in to his computer and take care his farm lands. He would set up an alarm clock to remind himself “it’s time for watering”; and even mumbled about “need more crops” in his sleep.

Finally the wife had enough after the husband ran back into the house to “attend his farm” before they left for a wedding party. And she set fire on their home…

I have to confess I chuckled after reading the story but it’s a sad story nonetheless.

Oh by the way the husband was a school teacher.

Computer games have evolved so much and today’s social games let you to compete or build status in “virtual world” or “social network”. Because it fulfills one’s ego in some ways players keep coming back to play or just do simple tasks like attending the farm or feeding the fish. I guess how real it feels varies from person to person.  But platform like Facebook definitely makes it more interesting since one can show off the game status to all his/her online friends, maybe even more, easily.

Personally I think the social games like a lot of other online fads, will eventually wear out. However, as one of the major goals of the game makers is to get you hooked and get you stay, The “fad” may become an addition.

Great news for movie lovers

If you love watching movies or mimic famous movie actor(actress) in a scene, here is a great site for you: movieclips.com.

On this site, you can watch hundreds and thousands of scene or lines that have become legendary clips since the release of the movie, such as “I’ll be BACK!” from the “Terminator”, and funny actions in “Rush hour” by Jacky Chan.

This is the ultimate movie buffet that let you pick and choose the best from the best if you don’t have time to watch the whole movie.

The ultimate prank

This Japanese prank show took the TV prank to a whole new level.

A guy was arranged with a meeting and wasn’t aware that the other participants would be “gun down”. Of course the shooting was fake but the guy’s reaction was not.

It’s hilarious. Some serious concern has to be raised. How far can this go?

Enjoy the video.

EDIT: the video has been taken down by youtube for copyright reason.