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Today's Topics:
1. Arab news channel looks to Internet TV (George Antunes)
2. Confusion over high-def TV dampens enthusiasm (George Antunes)
3. Free software bypasses attachment limits (George Antunes)
4. Hawthorne, we have a problem... (Williams, Gregory S.)
5. Microsoft: No Shutdown Switch for Office 2007 (Rob)
6. Parents Still Freaked Out About Health Effects Of WiFi (Rob)
7. Opinion Thanksgiving thoughts (Rob)
8. Microsoft: No Shutdown Switch for Office 2007 (Rob)
9. Commercial Break In a risky experiment, Chevrolet asked Web
users to make their own video spots for the Tahoe. A case study
in customer generated advertising. (Rob)
10. Confusion over high-def TV dampens enthusiasm (Rob)
11. OnStar will be disconnected from some cars (Williams, Gregory S.)
12. Re: Microsoft: No Shutdown Switch for Office 2007 (Rob)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:18:33 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Arab news channel looks to Internet TV
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed;
x-avg-checked=avg-ok-4F6C56B
Al Jazeera?s New ?Net?-work?
Jilted by U.S. broadcasters, Arab news channel looks to Internet TV.
Red Herring
November 20, 2006
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=19847&hed=Al%20Jazeera%E2%80%99s%20New%20%E2%80%9CNet%E2%80%9D-work?
It has been shunned by virtually all U.S. cable and satellite operators,
but that hasn?t stopped Al Jazeera English, the international edition of
the Qatar-based Arab news network, from taking aim at Internet TV.
Al Jazeera, which claims it reaches 80 million households around the world,
launched its English language network in the U.S. last week, but
French-owned satellite service GlobeCast has been the only broadcaster to
distribute it so far. Other cable operators have declined to carry the
network, claiming it would have little interest to subscribers. The U.S.
government has vociferously criticized the Arab language network for being
a mouthpiece for Al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden.
In response, Al Jazeera English has signed agreements that will enable it
to stream broadcasts over the Internet in hopes the network can steal a
chunk of the so-called ethic Internet TV market. Al Jazeera said it has
agreements with Fision, an IPTV service that will soon be available in
Houston, Texas, as well as VDC, which offers Internet TV to 10,000
subscribers in the United States. Al-Jazeera also signed a contract with
Jump TV, provider of ethnic TV content over the Web.
Danny O?Brien, activist coordinator at the Electronic Frontiers Foundation,
said Al Jazeera?s U.S. Internet strategy could help them target niche
audiences as well as advertisers. ?The question is, does it benefit them to
package [information] out to certain demographics?? he asked.
Dave Gardy, chief executive of TV Worldwide, a corporate web TV specialist,
thinks the strategy could work. ?The expatriate community is one of the
hottest sectors in streaming media,? he said.
Al Jazeera is taking its Internet presence seriously. Lindsey Oliver,
commercial director for Al Jazeera English, said the network "turned down
several cable deals around the world" because cable companies tried to
restrict streaming on the Web.
?This is a democratic model for a democratic international news source and,
to my knowledge, a first to offer a live feed online,? said Mr. Oliver.
So-called ethnic Internet TV?referring to content from around the world
viewed by expatriates living in the U.S.?is expected to reach 1.2 million
native Africans this year. Some 10,000 Chinese viewers in the U.S. already
subscribe to KyLin TV for about $25 a month.
?Advertising has not yet started in earnest [but after 10,000 subscribers]
the advertising and sponsorship revenues will kick in,? said Chris Wagner,
executive vice president of marketplace strategy for NeuLion, which owns
KyLin. ?You have very specific demographics?and that becomes pretty
interesting for targeted advertising.?
However, online marketing is still a pittance compared to advertising
overall. It will grow to $26 billion by 2010 from $15.7 billion in 2006,
according to Forrester Research?but that will represent just 8 percent of
all ad spend.
Mr. O?Brien pointed warned against expecting too much from Al Jazeera too
soon. He predicted the Arab network and others would likely start out
streaming clips rather than continuous broadcasts over the Internet in the
early going.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 10:51:05 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Confusion over high-def TV dampens enthusiasm
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed;
x-avg-checked=avg-ok-4F6C56B
Confusion over high-def TV dampens enthusiasm
Updated 11/22/2006 2:57 AM ET
By David Lieberman
USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2006-11-21-hdtv-confusion_x.htm
NEW YORK ? Consumers seem to like everything about HDTV ? except TV shows
in HD.
Only 47% of people buying a high-definition TV set in the past year say
they did so looking forward to watching TV shows in HD, according to a
study out Wednesday by Frank N. Magid Associates. That's down from 63% two
years ago.
"Some people are content to watch DVDs, and we saw a decent number of new
HD owners who are also focused on video console gaming," says Maryann
Baldwin, director of Magid Media Futures. About 15% of all homes now have
an HDTV set, Magid reports.
Dampening enthusiasm for HD shows: Most cable systems offer only about two
dozen HD channels, including local stations. Pricing can be confusing. The
technology can be intimidating.
That may not affect holiday sales of HDTV sets. Overall, they should cost
about 25% less than they did last year. Some discounters will have a 40- to
42-inch model for less than $1,000.
Yet, with so many owners feeling "not tremendously satisfied" with program
choices, Baldwin says, potential buyers "are not hearing any word of mouth
or buzz" about HD programming.
A majority of HD owners in the September survey of nearly 1,200 adults
rated satisfaction with programming at seven or less on a scale of one to 10.
"That's pretty mediocre," Baldwin says. "Part of it is because they have to
work to find the channels. They're being placed ... in the 600, 700 or 800
channel numbers. Not only did they have to work to buy the set, and work to
make the programming arrangements, they have to work to actually tune in to
those channels."
About 30% of HDTV owners haven't even signed up with their cable or
satellite companies to get HD channels. Many of them were turned off by an
extra fee they'd pay for HD ? or thought they'd have to pay. There's a lot
of confusion, because some operators charge for HDTV. Others throw it in
for anyone paying the extra monthly fee for the digital tier. And some
don't charge extra for the channels but charge more per month for an
HD-capable cable box.
Then there are folks who wanted a sleek flat screen on the wall but didn't
think about wires and gear needed to use it for HD shows. "It's tough for
some people to go the extra mile to get all the hardware to mount a set on
the wall and then say, 'Where am I going to mount a set-top box?' " Baldwin
says.
The study found widespread HD confusion. Many consumers think all digital
TV signals give them an HD picture. They don't.
It also found that many consumers believe that only cable or satellite
delivers HD signals. In fact, local stations offer network, and sometimes
local, HD shows over the air.
Broadcasters "have not done a good job" of promoting their HD offerings,
Baldwin says.
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2006-11-21-hdtv-confusion_x.htm
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 12:29:56 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Free software bypasses attachment limits
To: [email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed;
x-avg-checked=avg-ok-4F6C56B
[I've been using the stand-alone Windows version for several months here at
Media Manor. It works as described, and it is free. If you need to move big
files to specific locations you should check it out.]
Free software bypasses attachment limits
Posted 11/22/2006 9:14 AM E
By Anick Jesdanun
Associated Press
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2006-11-22-pando-attachment_x.htm
NEW YORK ? There's a new way to send large movie, music and other files
without worrying about whether the e-mail systems can handle large attachments.
Free software from Pando Networks automatically converts your attachments
into a small file that your friend or relative can simply open to download
the original file from Pando or elsewhere. Beginning Tuesday, Pando is
offering plug-ins to work with most Web-based mail services.
Major e-mail providers generally limit the size of files you can send or
receive to 10 megabytes. That's fine for text and even small photos ? but
try sending an entire photo album, music or video, and you run against the
caps quickly.
And even if your provider lets you send the large files, the recipient's
service provider might not accept them.
"Everybody has experienced problems of, 'I want to send something but it's
too large to send by e-mail,'" said Robert Levitan, Pando's chief executive.
With Pando, files larger than a specified size are automatically converted.
A copy of the file is sent to Pando's servers, and only a small attachment
gets sent to the recipient, who must have or obtain the free software from
Pando.
Microsoft's Windows operating system and Internet Explorer browser are
required to send files using the Web-based plug-ins, but Mac users can get
the free standalone application to open them ? as well as to send their
own. Windows users can also send files with the standalone program or a
plug-in for Microsoft's Outlook e-mail software.
Pando accepts files of up to 1 gigabyte ? 10 times the free offering from
YouSendIt.com, which isn't integrated with the Web-based mail services.
Pando plans to make money from ads and a premium version with higher limits
and longer retention ? files are deleted from Pando's servers after 14 days
under the free plan.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 12:26:51 -0800
From: "Williams, Gregory S." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Hawthorne, we have a problem...
To: [email protected]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain
Truck Crash Closes SB 405 Freeway In Hawthorne
http://www.nbc4.tv/traffic/10381240/detail.html
LOS ANGELES -- An overturned truck closed the southbound 405 Freeway
Wednesday near Rosecrans Boulevard.
More than 20 drums containing hazardous chemicals fell from the truck in
Hawthorne. A hazardous materials crews is at the scene.
Authorities said the cleanup might slow traffic throughout the afternoon.
The California Highway Patrol said the cleanup might continue until 4 p.m.
The northbound 405 Freeway remains open, but traffic is slow.
With all southbound lanes closed, holiday traffic en route to Los Angeles
International Airport backed up quicky. At 11:30 a.m., the backup extended
into the San Fernando Valley.
The crash occurred shortly before 10 a.m., north of Rosecrans Avenue, said
German Aguilera of the county fire department. The truck crashed with
another vehicle and overturned on an embankment on the shoulder of the 405
Freeway.
The liquids in the 55-gallon drums were described as "corrosive and
flammable," Aguilera said.
Fire officials said the substances remained in the drums.
The truck driver suffered a minor injury and was taken to a hospital,
Aguilera said.
Gregory S. Williams
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 16:49:27 -0600
From: Rob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Microsoft: No Shutdown Switch for Office 2007
To: Media News <[email protected]>, Dean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Tom
and Darryl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Microsoft: No Shutdown Switch for Office 2007
Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20061121/tc_pcworld/128007
Microsoft has no plans to add a controversial Windows Vista antipiracy
feature directly to its Office 2007 suite, but will consider offering it
as an add-on system, the company said today.
In an e-mail through its public relations firm, Microsoft said that
although it has not built its Software Protection Platform (SPP) into
Office 2007 as it has in Windows Vista, it is considering adding it to
its Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) Program, a validation system that
checks whether a user has a legitimate copy of the software.
How the Vista Feature Works
Windows Vista's SPP feature requires users to activate the software with
a valid activation key within 30 days of purchasing the OS. If that does
not happen, the OS goes into reduced-functionality mode, which lets
users browse the Web for an hour before the system logs them out. To
browse more, users must log in again, but they will have only another
hour before the process repeats itself.
Office 2007 has a product-activation feature that acts similarly to SPP,
but it is not based on validating the legitimacy of the software and it
is not new to the application, Microsoft said. Office has had a
product-activation feature since Microsoft Office 2000 SR1. Product
activation requires the system to be activated with a product key after
being started 25 times. If it is not, the application will enter
reduced-functionality mode.
Office Checks Will Be Mandatory
Microsoft is going to make validation checks for Office 2007 mandatory
for users of Office Update through its OGA program. Starting in January,
users of Office Update will have to validate that their Office software
is legitimate before they can use the service.
OGA is a sibling program to Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), launched in
July 2005 as a program that automatically checks a user's version of
Windows to ensure it is not counterfeit or pirated. WGA evolved into
SPP, becoming an inherent part of Vista.
Checks Unpopular
Microsoft's antipiracy checking systems have been unpopular from the
start, meeting with some resistance from users. WGA was especially
unpopular at first when early bugs in its checks were tagging legitimate
software as counterfeit or pirated.
Microsoft also was forced to turn off a notification feature in WGA that
sent information to Microsoft from users' PCs when some complained that
the feature was acting like spyware.
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 16:51:12 -0600
From: Rob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Parents Still Freaked Out About Health Effects Of
WiFi
To: Media News <[email protected]>, Dean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Tom
and Darryl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Nicole Fiedler
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Janet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Parents Still Freaked Out About Health Effects Of WiFi
from the this-again? dept
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20061121/213052.shtml
Back in 2003, we wrote about parents suing a school district over plans
to offer a WiFi network for the students. Apparently, some of the
parents believed that WiFi networks would somehow be dangerous to the
kids. We hadn't heard much else on the topic, but the Times Online has
an article claiming that plenty of parents are now pushing to have
school districts remove WiFi networks -- and many schools are complying.
The article quotes plenty of worried parents, but the reporter
apparently couldn't find a single study that suggested there was any
harm whatsoever in WiFi networks. The article mentions some completely
unsourced research saying the risk is even greater to kids because of
their thinner skulls (no, seriously). It also quotes one teacher who
insists that WiFi made him too sick to teach, though again, no one
suggested any possible alternative explanation (or why his thicker skull
didn't protect him). Instead, parents complain that until WiFi is proven
safe, it shouldn't be near kids and one other parent says it's the same
thing as having a phone mast in the room -- despite the fact it's
nothing like that at all, and even the health effects of cellular
wireless signals is in question (though there was one silly study that
actually suggested proximity to a tower could make you smarter). We've
also discussed the fallacy of saying that you can have no innovation
until things are proven to be 100% safe. That would kill plenty of
useful (potentially life-saving) innovations just for the sake of a few
that also have adverse effects. It's certainly important to keep
studying the health impact of WiFi and other wireless signals, but to
completely ban it until it's somehow proven safe (as opposed to proven
unsafe) seems a bit extreme.
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 16:53:13 -0600
From: Rob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Opinion Thanksgiving thoughts
To: Media News <[email protected]>, Dean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Tom
and Darryl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Janet
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Nicole Fiedler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Opinion Thanksgiving thoughts
USA TODAY
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20061122/cm_usatoday/thanksgivingthoughts
American pie. Thanksgiving has always been about food: The Pilgrims, as
any grade-schooler knows, savored their first Thanksgiving feast with a
profound sense of gratitude that they had enough to survive the winter.
But as families repeat the American ritual on Thursday, the traditional
Thanksgiving spread - turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and more -
represents a different kind of family survival: psychological, not physical.
How so? For today's harried families, the idea of sitting down together
for a home-cooked meal can be at worst an impossible dream and at best a
scheduling triumph. Thanksgiving is a scarce opportunity for millions of
nuclear and extended families to set aside time to do just that.
Shopping is already being done, grandma's turkey-basting instructions
and pie recipe have been unearthed, children and teenagers gathered, all
for a meal to be enjoyed together.
For the truly time-pressed, there are services to help with everything
from housecleaning to delivering a fully cooked meal. And some families
will opt to get away from it all, celebrating the holiday on a cruise
ship or at a resort. But even then, chances are they'll sit and dine
together.
Which is why, in the 21st century, Americans can be most thankful that
the rituals and recipes derived from the Pilgrims' legacy continue to
connect us to them and to each other. For one lengthy meal, we can
relate face-to-face rather than by e-mail or a hasty note left with a
microwave tray on the kitchen counter after basketball practice or a
late-night presentation to a client.
Family togetherness, of course, doesn't guarantee family harmony. Even
for those who strain to escape those renewed psychological bonds,
however, the awkward silences, dietary differences, tense relationships
and eccentric uncles are also part of being a family. And the rare time
together is just as worthy of being thankful for as the feast and the
football games.
American export.
It may feel to Americans these days as if nobody in the world admires
the USA the way they used to. Just this week, mass demonstrations greeted
President Bush on his trip to Asia. Polls register a low regard around
the globe, particularly over the
Iraq war. The anti-American mood is both depressing and unmistakable.
For a glimmer of hope that U.S. popularity will rebound as it has from
lows in the past, look to
Kosovo, the tiny province of Serbia seeking, with U.S. help, to be the
last part of the former Yugoslavia to gain independence.
Pro-American feeling there is running so high that university students
have organized three days of Thanksgiving festivities devoted to
celebrating America. "Thank you USA," reads their website, which is
replete with Americana from stars and stripes to shots from the NBA.
Kosovo's pro-Americanism, while intense, isn't unique. It's shared in
countries in Eastern and Central Europe that have recently broken away
from communist repression, though the euphoria in some of those nations
has been tempered by the realization that democracy doesn't bring
instant wealth.
Kosovo's long wait for independence isn't over yet. The Yugoslav wars of
the 1990s began in this small Serb province. Though it is 90% ethnic
Albanian, it is considered the cradle of Serb civilization, so the Serbs
did not want to let it go.
President Clinton authorized airstrikes in 1999 when Serbian forces
began driving the Albanians out.
Although a
United Nations vote on Kosovo's independence has been put off until
after January elections in Serbia, its self-rule is almost a foregone
conclusion.
The pro-USA gratitude in Kosovo provides some proof that, if the United
States pursues policies promoting and reflecting U.S. values, the list
of nations giving thanks to America would surely grow.
American heroes.
In Iraq, 140,000 U.S. troops who were told they would be greeted as
liberators are bogged down in a troubled effort to bring some stability,
if not democracy. They won't be getting much Thanksgiving downtime. In
the Green Zone in Baghdad, turkey and trimmings will be served from noon
on. But it will be a working day. "This is a war zone," Army Maj. Vince
Mitchell says.
Some extra efforts are being made to get troops in touch with their
families. The Freedom Calls Foundation, a non-profit organization based
in New York, is helping to connect troops with their loved ones in Maine
on Thanksgiving night on a giant video screen.
But it's hard to disguise the reality that for the troops in Iraq and
for their families back in the USA, holidays such as Thanksgiving are
emotionally tough - particularly for those on second, third, or fourth
tours of duty.
That's reason enough to be grateful to them. But there's another reason,
too.
A generation ago, many people spurned troops coming home from Vietnam.
Angry protesters failed - disgracefully - to distinguish soldiers
honorably serving their country from the policymakers who so foolishly
sent 58,000 of those soldiers to their deaths. War supporters stoked the
anger by insisting that support for the troops and for the war were one
and the same. War atrocities, particularly the My Lai massacre in which
dozens of innocent women and children were killed by rampaging American
GIs, deepened the problem.
Thankfully, that doesn't seem to be happening today. Though opinion
polls show that most Americans now believe the Iraq was a mistake, there
is no similar anger at the men and women fighting the war.
It's important that it stays that way. For the most part, the U.S.
troops in Iraq have acquitted themselves well (the
Abu Ghraib prison scandal and two distressing murder cases are glaring
exceptions). They signed up for various reasons, but patriotism was high
on many of their lists. The blame for Iraq war failures should go where
it belongs: to the political and military leaders, not the troops who
find themselves in an increasingly difficult and ill-defined mission.
Talk at many tables this Thanksgiving will likely turn to the Iraq war.
Debates may become heated. But it's worth also remembering those
enduring the holiday in combat fatigues in a forbidding country far from
their families, and giving thanks for their sacrifice.
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 16:54:00 -0600
From: Rob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Microsoft: No Shutdown Switch for Office 2007
To: Media News <[email protected]>, Dean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Microsoft: No Shutdown Switch for Office 2007
Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20061121/tc_pcworld/128007
Microsoft has no plans to add a controversial Windows Vista antipiracy
feature directly to its Office 2007 suite, but will consider offering it
as an add-on system, the company said today.
In an e-mail through its public relations firm, Microsoft said that
although it has not built its Software Protection Platform (SPP) into
Office 2007 as it has in Windows Vista, it is considering adding it to
its Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) Program, a validation system that
checks whether a user has a legitimate copy of the software.
How the Vista Feature Works
Windows Vista's SPP feature requires users to activate the software with
a valid activation key within 30 days of purchasing the OS. If that does
not happen, the OS goes into reduced-functionality mode, which lets
users browse the Web for an hour before the system logs them out. To
browse more, users must log in again, but they will have only another
hour before the process repeats itself.
Office 2007 has a product-activation feature that acts similarly to SPP,
but it is not based on validating the legitimacy of the software and it
is not new to the application, Microsoft said. Office has had a
product-activation feature since Microsoft Office 2000 SR1. Product
activation requires the system to be activated with a product key after
being started 25 times. If it is not, the application will enter
reduced-functionality mode.
Office Checks Will Be Mandatory
Microsoft is going to make validation checks for Office 2007 mandatory
for users of Office Update through its OGA program. Starting in January,
users of Office Update will have to validate that their Office software
is legitimate before they can use the service.
OGA is a sibling program to Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), launched in
July 2005 as a program that automatically checks a user's version of
Windows to ensure it is not counterfeit or pirated. WGA evolved into
SPP, becoming an inherent part of Vista.
Checks Unpopular
Microsoft's antipiracy checking systems have been unpopular from the
start, meeting with some resistance from users. WGA was especially
unpopular at first when early bugs in its checks were tagging legitimate
software as counterfeit or pirated.
Microsoft also was forced to turn off a notification feature in WGA that
sent information to Microsoft from users' PCs when some complained that
the feature was acting like spyware.
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 16:56:16 -0600
From: Rob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Commercial Break In a risky experiment, Chevrolet
asked Web users to make their own video spots for the Tahoe. A case
study in customer generated advertising.
To: Media News <[email protected]>, Dean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Tom
and Darryl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
Commercial Break In a risky experiment, Chevrolet asked Web users to
make their own video spots for the Tahoe. A case study in customer
generated advertising.
By Frank RosePage
http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.12/tahoe_pr.html
The thinking went something like this: Chevrolet is all about being
revolutionary, right? (That's debatable, but since Chevy's tagline is
"An American Revolution!" this is where all discussion starts at its ad
agency.) And if Chevrolet is revolutionary, then its advertising ought
to be, too. Ergo, the Chevy message needed to escape the tightly
controlled, painstakingly monitored, woefully predictable confines of
the 30-second TV spot and roam the online jungle. But everybody's doing
that now. So, Chevy marketers thought, let's take this thing a notch
further ? let's have an online contest to see who can create the best TV
ad for the new Tahoe. The wikification of the 30-second spot ? what
could be more revolutionary than that?
Almost nothing, as it turned out. Last spring's campaign for the Chevy
Tahoe broke every rule of marketing. The MBAs who populate ad agencies
and corporate marketing departments spend years learning the art of
control ? what their cleverly calibrated messages should (and shouldn't)
say, where they should appear, how often they should appear there, and
what should appear nearby. Chevy decided to chuck all that and invite
people to post their own commercial messages about America's
best-selling SUV online, where the ads would be free to migrate to
YouTube or anywhere else. Chevy supplied the video clips and music;
users could then mix and match the material and add their own captions.
The contest ran for four weeks and drew more than 30,000 entries, the
vast majority of which faithfully touted the vehicle's many selling
points ? its fully retractable seats, its power-lift gates, its relative
fuel economy. But then there were the rogue entries, the ones that
subverted the Tahoe message with references to global warming, social
irresponsibility, war in Iraq, and the psychosexual connotations of
extremely large cars. One contestant, a 27-year-old Web strategist from
Washington, DC, posted an offering called "Enjoy the Longer Summers!"
which blamed the Tahoe for heat-trapping gasses and melting polar ice
caps. An entry called "How Big Is Yours" declared, "Ours is really big!
Watch us fuck America with it." The same contestant (hey, no rules
against multiple entries, right?) created an ad that asked the timeless
question, "What Would Jesus Drive?" On its own Web site, the Tahoe now
stood accused of everything but running down the Pillsbury Doughboy.
Anyone could see how Chevy got here.
TV advertising has been losing its impact for years: McKinsey projects
that by 2010 it will be barely one-third as effective as it was in 1990,
thanks to rising costs, falling viewership, ever-proliferating ad
clutter, and viewers' TiVo-fueled power to zip through commercials. Big
national advertisers like General Motors, which has an annual TV ad
budget of $2.9 billion ? only Procter & Gamble's is bigger ? are
demanding something different, and the rise of Web video offers just
that. Internet advertising of any sort promises powers that marketers
have long lusted after: the ability to target people who might actually
be interested in what they're selling and to engage those people in
conversation. Web video can be as emotionally involving as TV, and when
used in consumer-generated campaigns, as crowdsourcing efforts like
Chevy's have come to be known, online clips come with a bonus ? people
see them less as advertising than as peer recommendation, which
countless studies have shown to be far more influential.
But as the Tahoe example demonstrates, all this comes at a price. Users,
not marketers, control the dialog online, and never more so than when
they're invited to contribute their own thoughts. For Chevy, and for
Madison Avenue, it led to a moment of truth. With attack ads piling up
on its site, spilling over onto YouTube, and spinning out into the
blogosphere, what would Chevy do?
DETROIT IS NOT A PLACE you associate with revolution, in advertising or
anything else. It's been three-quarters of a century since the spirit of
innovation held sway here, and the decline of the US auto industry is
writ large in the streets. To drive from Chevy's ad agency in the
white-flight suburb of Warren to General Motors' headquarters downtown
is to pass from car dealerships and fast-food chains to collision
centers and pawnshops and finally into a dead zone of boarded-up
buildings and overgrown lots. Rising Oz-like out of this wasteland is
GM's towering Renaissance Center, a glittering '70s-futuristic office
complex that looks like the last bastion of an embattled civilization.
And at the entrance to RenCen, proudly displayed in a glass-enclosed
pavilion, is one of the most profitable vehicles in GM's lineup: a
massive, strapping Chevy Tahoe. "It's such a strong brand," says Kim
Kosak, Chevy's ad director. "And it's a loved brand."
Out in Warren, in the offices of the Campbell-Ewald advertising agency,
they have to figure out how to channel this love. The firm has handled
Chevy's advertising ever since Mr. Campbell and Mr. Ewald met Louis
Chevrolet in 1914, and it is understandably sensitive to suggestions
that its approach has gone stale. "When the consumer carries the
message, it's really powerful," says Ed Dilworth, one of
Campbell-Ewald's top execs. As proof, he cites a recent study from the
Pew Internet and American Life Project, which shows that more than a
third of all Internet users have posted something on the Web. What's
more, the people doing all this uploading come from every income level
and ethnicity ? a big change from four years earlier, when such activity
was largely restricted to a male technophile elite. "Right now,
consumers are engaged with new forms of media in a way they haven't been
before and probably won't be forever," Dilworth says. "That is an
opportunity."
The Tahoe campaign was a bid to seize that opportunity. "Chevrolet is
one of the most aggressive experimenters in our client base," says
Dilworth, who led online advertising efforts for Electronic Arts and
Genentech before he moved to Detroit. "They have an appetite for risk.
They want to shake things up."
Not that Chevy was the first advertiser to invite the consumer into the
creative process. In spring 2004, Burger King brought people partway in
with its "subservient chicken" campaign, which let visitors to a Web
site type in a command and watch a guy in a chicken suit do anything
they asked ? as long as it corresponded to one of 400 prerecorded moves.
That summer, Converse got in the game as well, but instead of a gimmick
it offered a challenge: Make a 24-second video about us and it could end
up on our Web site or even on TV. "We were all quite nervous," says Mike
Shine, creative director of Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, the tiny
Marin County, California, agency that came up with the idea. No one knew
whether people would participate or, if they did, whether they'd send in
anything good. The answer, some 2,000 submissions later, was yes on both
points.
Converse ? best known for its Chuck Taylor high-tops, the sneaker of
choice for nonconformists from Jackson Pollock to Kurt Cobain ? was an
ideal candidate, an antibrand whose passionate followers could have been
alienated by conventional advertising. "There are not many brands that
have that connection," says Shine, who lives north of San Francisco and
goes to the hippie-holdout town of Bolinas to surf. "I would be stunned
if people felt really attached to the Tahoe brand. There isn't a
community there." Oh, and another thing: "I think brands should move on
and stop asking people to participate. It's been done."
Back at Chevy, however, people thought the potential of
consumer-generated advertising had barely been tapped. True, Tahoe
drivers don't much resemble Converse wearers: The Tahoe is a mass-market
SUV that appeals to outdoorsy types with large families and boats,
particularly in the Midwest and the South. But everybody likes being
asked for their input, and Tahoe got nearly 15 times as many submissions
in four weeks as Converse got in two years.
Chevy had already enlisted Internet users for its 2005 introduction of
the HHR, a retro-style SUV along the lines of Chrysler's PT Cruiser.
After almost 1,300 people submitted photos and videos promoting the new
vehicle, Chevy decided it was time to try this stuff where it really
mattered ? on the Tahoe, whose astronomical profit margin (about $10,000
per vehicle according to one estimate) makes it critical to the success
of Chevrolet and its parent, GM. The Tahoe had just gotten its first
makeover in years ? serious styling, luxury seats ? and its relaunch was
at the top of GM's agenda. So they decided to pull out all the stops:
"The Apprentice, for prime-time brand awareness," explains Kosak, the ad
director, "and digital, because everybody is into digital."
Consumer research showed a high correlation between Apprentice viewers
and potential Tahoe purchasers. So Chevy bought an episode ? not just
commercial time but the entire show, which would feature a cutthroat
team of Donald Trump wannabes plotting ways to sell dealers on the many
virtues of the new Tahoe.
The real-life job of figuring out how to tie that in with an Internet
campaign fell to Stefan Kogler, Campbell-Ewald's creative director for
new media. "If you think about the program," says Kogler, a 42-year-old
Detroiter with a degree in new media from the Art Institute of Chicago,
"it's people participating in a task, and we all get sucked into that.
Is there any way we can translate that online?"
And so began the Tahoe's Web-based ad contest. In spots that aired
during the special episode of The Apprentice, viewers were urged to go
to a newly built microsite, Chevyapprentice.com, and create ads of their
own using the video and simple editing tools posted there. "The
'subservient chicken' was a trailhead, or maybe a rabbit hole," Kogler
says. "It empowered people, and this was sort of the same thing. You get
an immediate emotional response. You get the bragging thing ? 'Look what
I did!' They want to share it with you."
Once Tahoe-bashers discovered that Chevy had handed them a bully pulpit,
they quickly went to work, posting attack ads on the Chevy site and
spreading them to YouTube and other outlets. It didn't take long for
bloggers and reporters to realize that something weird was going on over
at Chevyapprentice.com. At first, everyone assumed it was just another
case of a big corporation not "getting it" about the Internet. Then,
when the ads weren't yanked down immediately, they figured Chevy was too
clueless even to notice what was happening on its own site. Only
gradually did it dawn on people that Chevy had no intention of removing
the attack ads.
In fact, Kosak and her team had assumed all along that they'd get some
negative responses, and they decided they'd lose all credibility if they
pulled any of them down. Ed Peper, Chevy's general manager, pointed out
in a post on GM's FastLane blog that the Tahoe can run on ethanol and
gets better gas mileage than other large SUVs, but as far as Chevy was
concerned, that was that. As Kosak puts it, "We don't take uncalculated
risks."
BY ANY OBJECTIVE MEASURE, the Tahoe Apprentice campaign has to be judged
a success. The microsite attracted 629,000 visitors by the time the
contest winner, Michael Thrams from nearby Ann Arbor, was announced at
the end of April. On average, those visitors spent more than nine
minutes on the site, and nearly two-thirds of them went on to visit
Chevy.com; for three weeks running, Chevyapprentice.com funneled more
people to the Chevy site than either Google or Yahoo did. Once there,
many requested info or left a cookie trail to dealers' sites.
Sales took off too, even though it was spring and SUV purchases
generally peak in late fall. Since its introduction in January, the new
Tahoe has accounted for more than a quarter of all full-size SUVs sold,
outpacing its nearest competitor, the Ford Expedition, 2 to 1. In March,
the month the campaign began, its market share hit nearly 30 percent. By
April, according to auto-information service Edmonds, the average Tahoe
was selling in only 46 days ? quite a change from the year before, when
models languished on dealers' lots for close to four months. Even the
hooting among marketing pros died down after Scott Donaton, the editor
of Advertising Age, asked in a column for a show of hands from all those
who think the campaign proved the dangers of user-created content. "Ah,
yes," he wrote, "there's quite a few arms raised ? you're all free to
go, actually; the marketing business doesn't need your services anymore.
We have a toy railroad set as your lovely parting gift."
Donaton was taking aim at central tenet of "golden age" mass-media
marketing: that by controlling the ad message, Madison Avenue can
somehow control perception of the product. "When you do a
consumer-generated campaign, you're going to have some negative
reaction," Dilworth says. "But what's the option ? to stay closed?
That's not the future. And besides, do you think the consumer wasn't
talking about the Tahoe before?" They were, of course; the difference is
that in the YouTube era, the illusion of control is no longer
sustainable. "You can either stay in the bunker, or you can jump out
there and try to participate," he says. "And to not participate is
criminal."
The only real problem with the Tahoe Apprentice campaign was that it
couldn't bring down the price of gasoline, which has devastated sales of
all large SUVs. In four years, the category has shrunk by 40 percent ?
one reason Detroit is in such trouble. This may explain Chevy's latest
tack ? not promoting specific models but talking up its commitment to
alternative fuels. GM may have killed the electric car, as a recent
documentary has it, but more recently it has been pouring money into
high tech initiatives like flex fuels and hybrid engines. Now it's
eagerly trying to promote itself to a young, hip consumer as the
ecofriendly auto manufacturer. Even before the Tahoe Apprentice effort,
GM sponsored Who Is Benjamin Stove?, an online alternate-reality game
that hinged on a series of mysterious crop circles that turned out to be
in the shape of an ethanol molecule. This summer, Chevy launched
Reduceuruse.com, a YouTube-like site where owners of fuel-efficient
Chevys (not so much the Tahoe) could post videos of what they do with
all the time they save not pumping gas.
Technologically, the Reduceuruse experiment showed where
consumer-generated advertising may be headed. Rather than giving people
a limited set of tools to create TV ads online, it encouraged them to
post their own videos on a microsite larded with Chevy ads. People could
link these clips to their Web site, blog, or MySpace page; visitors who
clicked on a link would be whisked off to the Chevy microsite. So any
video that was posted there would be surrounded by Chevy branding,
regardless of what it said.
More and more, however, consumers are doing this stuff on their own.
YouTube is full of unsolicited Chevy "ads" that are far more
sophisticated than anything the Tahoe Apprentice campaign yielded, pro
or con. There's "Chevy Lowrider Commercial," which shows vintage Chevys
hopping down the street, and "Chevy Ridin'," a slide show of custom
Chevys set to the gangsta rap hit "Chevy Ridin High." There's even
"Chevy Tahoe Memorial," an elegant video that shows a young man jumping,
drifting, and ultimately wrecking his much-loved SUV.
Consumer-generated advertising has led to some seriously upside-down
behavior. Brands that once yelled at us now ask what we have to say. No
longer content to define our identity (Gap kids, the Marlboro man), they
ask us to help define theirs. But none of this is stranger than the idea
that you can sell a product by sitting back and letting people put their
own spin on it. "Everybody says they want to hear from consumers,"
Kogler says. Well, be careful what you ask for: Now they won't shut up.
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 16:58:14 -0600
From: Rob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Confusion over high-def TV dampens enthusiasm
To: Media News <[email protected]>, Dean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Confusion over high-def TV dampens enthusiasm
By David Lieberman, USA TODAY
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20061122/tc_usatoday/confusionoverhighdeftvdampensenthusiasm
NEW YORK - Consumers seem to like everything about HDTV - except TV
shows in HD.
Only 47% of people buying a high-definition TV set in the past year say
they did so looking forward to watching TV shows in HD, according to a
study out Wednesday by Frank N. Magid Associates. That's down from 63%
two years ago.
"Some people are content to watch DVDs, and we saw a decent number of
new HD owners who are also focused on video console gaming," says
Maryann Baldwin, director of Magid Media Futures. About 15% of all homes
now have an HDTV set, Magid reports.
Dampening enthusiasm for HD shows: Most cable systems offer only about
two dozen HD channels, including local stations. Pricing can be
confusing. The technology can be intimidating.
That may not affect holiday sales of HDTV sets. Overall, they should
cost about 25% less than they did last year. Some discounters will have
a 40- to 42-inch model for less than $1,000.
Yet, with so many owners feeling "not tremendously satisfied" with
program choices, Baldwin says, potential buyers "are not hearing any
word of mouth or buzz" about HD programming.
A majority of HD owners in the September survey of nearly 1,200 adults
rated satisfaction with programming at seven or less on a scale of one
to 10.
"That's pretty mediocre," Baldwin says. "Part of it is because they have
to work to find the channels. They're being placed ... in the 600, 700
or 800 channel numbers. Not only did they have to work to buy the set,
and work to make the programming arrangements, they have to work to
actually tune in to those channels."
About 30% of HDTV owners haven't even signed up with their cable or
satellite companies to get HD channels. Many of them were turned off by
an extra fee they'd pay for HD - or thought they'd have to pay. There's
a lot of confusion, because some operators charge for HDTV. Others throw
it in for anyone paying the extra monthly fee for the digital tier. And
some don't charge extra for the channels but charge more per month for
an HD-capable cable box.
Then there are folks who wanted a sleek flat screen on the wall but
didn't think about wires and gear needed to use it for HD shows. "It's
tough for some people to go the extra mile to get all the hardware to
mount a set on the wall and then say, 'Where am I going to mount a
set-top box?' " Baldwin says.
The study found widespread HD confusion. Many consumers think all
digital TV signals give them an HD picture. They don't.
It also found that many consumers believe that only cable or satellite
delivers HD signals. In fact, local stations offer network, and
sometimes local, HD shows over the air.
Broadcasters "have not done a good job" of promoting their HD offerings,
Baldwin says.
------------------------------
Message: 11
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:44:12 -0800
From: "Williams, Gregory S." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] OnStar will be disconnected from some cars
To: [email protected]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain
OnStar will be disconnected from some cars
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061121/AUTO01/611210362/
1148
All models before 2002, and some newer, will lose service due to old
technology.
Ken Belson / New York Times
Veronika Lukasova New York Times
OnStar will soon become obsolete in Michael and Vickie Farris' 2002 GMC
Yukon, because the cell service will drop their analog technology the system
uses. See full image
For the last decade, OnStar has promoted itself as a paragon of convenience
and peace of mind for car owners. Best known for its ability to bail out
customers in a jam -- and even make an automatic call for help when an air
bag has been deployed in an accident -- the service has about 4 million
subscribers.
OnStar makes its pitch in a series of alarming radio advertisements that use
recordings of actual emergency calls to demonstrate how operators in an
OnStar call center are standing by to summon an ambulance, open a car with a
child locked inside or track a vehicle that has been stolen. At the push of
a button, the operators give directions or act as concierges, pointing to
the closest gas station or Chinese restaurant.
But the operators will soon be signing off for some of OnStar's longstanding
customers. The dropped connection is a result of a little-known decision by
the Federal Communications Commission in 2002 that allows cell phone
companies to shut down their analog networks beginning in February 2008.
The decision will affect not only mobile phone users in rural America and
other places where digital networks have yet to be built, but also hundreds
of thousands of subscribers with older cars whose OnStar systems rely on
those analog networks. Some subscribers with 2002 model year or newer cars
can have their cars converted to digital equipment, or their cars may
already be equipped with the needed hardware.
OnStar, which was a $199 option when they bought their vehicles, will become
largely obsolete in 15 months in some 2002-04 models, as well as all models
before 2002, because the OnStar electronics cannot be upgraded. Some Acura,
Audi, Subaru and Volkswagen owners will also be affected.
Verizon Wireless, the network of choice for OnStar, has not said how or when
it will dismantle its analog network, though it has not ruled out shutting
off the service all at once. More likely, industry analysts say, the
networks will be turned off in stages.
That's cold comfort for Michael Farris. His wife, Vickie, drives a 2002 GMC
Yukon and uses OnStar for routing help in unfamiliar areas and to talk
hands-free with her cell phone using OnStar's connection to the truck's
audio system.
The truck has about 40,000 miles and runs well, so Farris wants to keep it
beyond 2008. He must consider whether to sell it, find aftermarket
alternatives, or go without.
"This thing we paid for is going to turn into a pumpkin," Farris, of
Purcellville, Va., said. OnStar's decision to use analog-only technology
"was like putting an eight-track tape player into a new vehicle."
OnStar's decision to use analog networks made sense a decade ago when the
service was started because they were the most pervasive and reliable. Even
as digital networks expanded in recent years -- their greater call
capacities for a given amount of wireless bandwidth made them attractive to
phone companies -- analog networks were often the only ones working in rural
areas.
Critics say OnStar was negligent in continuing to install analog-only
equipment before and after 2002 when it was clear the phaseout might be
coming.
OnStar declined to make an executive available, but in a statement said, "We
at OnStar sincerely regret that we will not be able to provide OnStar
service to vehicles with analog-only hardware after Dec. 31, 2007."
Dealers will upgrade some 2002-04 vehicles to work on digital networks if
customers buy a three-year subscription to the Safe and Sound package at
$199 a year.
Gregory S. Williams
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
Message: 12
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 17:09:14 -0600
From: Rob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Medianews] Microsoft: No Shutdown Switch for Office 2007
Cc: Dean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Media News <[email protected]>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
For some reason this got sent twice. I sent it earlier but Mallard was
down. (and it gave me a 404 can't send error)
Please ignore the repost.
-Rob
------------------------------
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End of Medianews Digest, Vol 100, Issue 1
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