Month: October 2006

The most recent ad for the T3 piss your money up against a wall Share Offer has been shot in widescreen, which is great. But then they (their agency or production campany) went and letterboxed it. That is, cut the top and bottom off by adding a thick black strip. The effect is to make the ad look like it’s in widescreen on a standard 3:4 TV. IDIOTS. If you’ve shot it widescreen, just show the thing widescreen. No one with a 3:4 TV appreciates your efforts in trying to fake a widescreen ad.

More proof that your customers are smarter than your management.

Link: Smarthouse News – iPods.

This is sad. Sad that Choice has fallen to the crappy PR strategy of attacking a big brand for little gain.

Every other product mentioned in this story has failed. Not just one or two of each, but every single one. Can the same be said of every iPod failing? Of course not. I’ve all the people I’ve met I’venever met a single one who had an iPod with a cracked screen or dud battery. Where are all these people?

On the other hand, I would find it implausible that not a single iPOd of the millions produced was a dud. But for Choice to include it in their top 10 is nothing but PR hackery at it’s worst.

Poor show Choice.

Link: iPod wins Shonky award – National – smh.com.au.

Every weekday morning from 9am for thirty minutes ABC local radio Sydney opens it’s phone lines and airwaves to anyone with an opinion about anything.

I have no interest in the ramblings of the ordinary person. I do not care about their opinions, thoughts or issues – unless they effect me. I hate their whinny voices talking about the flag, their neighbours, the government, etc etc. I hate that on the free airwaves of the greatest public radio network in the world I am forced to listen to drivel.

Many years ago I wrote a letter to the editor of The Sydney Morning Herald about an article on advertising. I got a phone call from the editor of the letters page to confirm that the letter (email actually) was from me, that the opinion was mine and that I was a real person. The letter appeared.

And the shit hit the fan. One of the directors of the agency I then worked for read the letters page avidly and was unimpressed with my take on things. I’d never really understood what was so important about free speach until that moment.

You may or may not agree with what you hear or read but the ability for someone else to write or say that thing is something no one should ever argue with.

We can argue quality. Why do the three commercial TV networks offer such rubbish as their current affair programs. They have no excuse bar economics as the ABC and SBS are able to provide high quality programming with less.

I hate the 30 minutes of listener call in on ABC. I love that they can do it.

Another excellent article from Wired that just reinforces the power of podcasting.
Like most new things the growth will be exponential, which is good becuase my work load is already keeping me in the studio and at the office longer than my wife wants me to be.

Link: Wired News: Podcasting’s Reluctant Evangelist.

If you missed the SBS doco on what the current head of Telstra did before he found humself in Australia, get the trasnscript for SBS. This article is an excellent read on the real problem facing Telstra and the communications industry in general.

theLink: The Age Blogs: Barkers Byte / OK. so what about a telecommunications policy? Archives.

Or is this just a Microsoft ploy bcause they forgot refuse to put podcasting in Vista?

Of course not.

But then Laporte (see the story) is at the cutting edge of this and many may follow. Personally, I’ll wait to receive the letter from Job’s lawyers. They are apparetnly really valuable on eBay.

Link: Is It Apple’s Fault? Podcasting to be Replaced by Netcasting – Tech News – Playfuls.com – Science & Technology.