Category: product endorsements

advertising is dead to me

On By Rick McIn Apple, dead to me, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Do you hate advertising as much as I do?

Unless you make an effort to avoid them, you’ll see 5000 ads / day.

… billboards, sandwich boards, TV commercials, radio spots, posters, newspaper inserts, storefront promos, magazine ads, web banners, spam emails, product placements, infomercials, sponsorship logos, advertorials, and so on …

adbusters

Why are you wasting my time?

Advertisers, I promise NOT to buy your product if you pester me.

You might ask, “What about those ads on this blog, Rick?”

… good question.

Well, … the Google text ads are contextual. The least offensive and intrusive possible. And they are supposed to relate to topics on this page.

google-ad.jpg

Or you might ask, about those video ads you post on this site. “Rick, why are you shilling the Apple iPhone?

I might say those are entertainments. Funny. Or interesting. They may or may not inspire you to purchase a product.

The things I specifically recommend are listed under my product endorsement category.

That’s the only kind of advertising I want to see. Specific advice from people who have some expertise in the area. Especially those I know personally.

If you tip me to something I might be interested in buying, I should give you a small commission.

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Adbusters

IAC more admired than Google?

On By Rick McIn Google, gymnastics, internet, product complaints, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I heard an audiocast interview with celebrity CEO Barry Diller.

He was being interviewed because his firm — IAC/InterActiveCorp — had been named America’s #1 Most Admired Company in the Internet Services and Retailing Industry by Fortune Magazine.

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I’m supposed to be following what’s happening on the internet. And I’d never even heard of IAC.

Some of their websites are familiar:

* Bloglines.com
* Excite.com
* Ticketmaster.com
* Match.com

And, of course, their Ask.com search engine:

ask.jpg

It’s “pretty“. But search results are TERRIBLE compared with Google. (Try it yourself on a search term you know well.)

Google search for “gymnastics coaching”

Ask search for “gymnastics coaching”

So far as I can see, Google continues to draw away from the rest of the field when it comes to search. (Thought Microsoft has improved from worst-of-all to 3rd best.)

IAC is getting good press as Google’s up-and-coming rival.

Competition is good. Go IAC!

But Google is my most admired brand when it comes to search.

You will save a lot of time if you use Google to search over any other engine, especially Ask.

TV – Top Chef – Opening Soon

On By Rick McIn food, product endorsements, TVLeave a comment

By complete accident, I awoke from a nap with the Food Channel playing on TV.

Reality show Top Chef was on. Gripping, dramatic. Really fascinating!

It’s a reality TV competition where … (ah, … the usual). I saw the second last episode of Season 2.

It was no Amazing Race, but almost as good.

Reality TV editors must be fantastic at their work. (I suspect they could turn a day in my boring life into an interesting half hour if they tried.)

The audience for Top Chef is passionate. A fan of the show attacked season 2 runner up Marcel Vigneron with a bottle, requiring 30 stitches to close the wound over his eye.

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Next up after Top Chef … was Opening Soon. I LOVE that show!

Bush Is Back! – Colbert gleeful

On By Rick McIn government, humour, product endorsements, TVLeave a comment

It’s getting easier and easier to watch Colbert and Jon Stewart clips on the internet.

Newscloud.com is the best yet.

These are legal clips from Comedy Central.

Here’s a sample:
Bush Is Back! – The Colbert Report – NewsCloud.com

group project management – Basecamp

On By Rick McIn blogs, economics, internet, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Keith joked, “Rick wants everything on the internet to be free.”

Not true.

I want everything to be bought and sold in micro-payments. Like the fraction of a penny Google is paying me for you opening this page on your computer. (They hope you will click on one of their eight advertising links.)

Google is making billion$ on these tiny transactions.

The problem with you or I selling something on-line is that some geek in a basement somewhere will offer it for free.

How do you compete against free?

I store over 6000 photos on flickr. And happily pay US$25 / year. That’s an amazing value / transaction. Some of the best money I’ve ever spent.

There are free photo hosting sites. But flickr is so much superior, I’d rather pay.

You can host blogs for free, but I recommend the US$10 / year WordPress plan including domain name. A much better value than free anywhere else.

There are many free project management websites and software tools. But I’m testing one called Basecamp. It’s got a free limited version — but I’ll likely upgrade to the pay-as-you-go, pay-as-you-need, US$12 / month version if it works as reported.

Project management and collaboration

Collaborate with your team and clients. Schedules, tasks, files, messages, and more.

Basecamp is part of the 37signals suite, considered best in class at what they do.

You can try to convince me to use cheaper (or free) software. But first read this article: Why You Shouldn’t Compete With 37Signals

I’ll check out Basecamp and the other 37signals products. And report back here.

37signals.jpg

Crossfire Off-Roadster

On By Rick McIn product complaints, product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

When finally forced to rent a vehicle in Moab, Utah I could have joined the mob and got a Jeep.

But where’s the challenge in that?

I asked for the car with the lowest available road clearance needing 91 Octane fuel. (Gas was at a record high price at the time.)

crossfire.jpg

The Crossfire Roadster has a soft top and an automatic spoiler that deploys depending on speed.

It has plenty of trunk space (if you are transporting several loaves of bread).

I took to the secondary highways and jeep tracks of the Colorado Plateau with the most inappropriate wheels available.

Good fun.

Crossfire review

first look – Microsoft ‘Milan’

On By Rick McIn good news, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Even people who hate Microsoft are calling their new surprise invention a breakthrough. Perhaps 5-years ahead of its time.

Photos can be easily sorted and shared on the tabletop computer. To resize a photo, users stretch two fingers apart. Pivot the fingers and the photo rotates. More than one person can interact with the computer at a time.

Photos: Reaching out and touching ‘Milan’ | ZDNet Photo Gallery

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I’m not getting too excited. The starting price is US$5,000 to $10,000.

Amazingly, this was kept top secret for 5-years of development.

Microsoft unveils table-top ‘Milan’ computer – PC World

Simply Google

On By Rick McIn Google, internet, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I’ve tried many different default home pages for my internet browsers, most often settling on a BLANK page because it loads fastest.

Currently I am trying a new one called Simply Google (not a Google product). It’s great for getting faster access to image search, news search, Wikipedia and a long list of others.

See what you think.

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Simply Google

Leave a comment if you have a different home page you like.

Trent Reznor – US$29 CD ripoff

On By Rick McIn economics, music, product complaints, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Trent is the much respected lead of the alt band Nine Inch Nails.

He is exasperated with the pricing of his new CD Year Zero by distributor Universal Music Group, the largest in the recording industry.

UMG is one company I want to have far less revenue in future.

From Trent’s blog:

As the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more. …

* The ABSURD retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia. Shame on you, UMG. Year Zero is selling for $34.99 Australian dollars ($29.10 US). No wonder people steal music. Avril Lavigne’s record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 US).

By the way, when I asked a label rep about this his response was: “It’s because we know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out – you know, true fans. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy.”
So… I guess as a reward for being a “true fan” you get ripped off.

nine inch nails: tr

His new album Year Zero is only US$7.25 on Amazon.

Year Zero