Wednesday, March 31, 2010 Cloud computing - your votes please!

I'm doing some work for the Business Software Alliance around their Cyber Security Forum in Brussels on April 13.

(It's an event taking place in the European Parliament where members of the forum, cyber security specialists and policymakers get together and discuss topics like emerging threats, privacy and business problems, and how the industry should respond.)

Anyway, we're going to be running research up to - and at - the event, in line with the subjects being covered. First up, it's everyone's favourite - cloud computing...

Lots more info coming up on speakers, announcements at the event and more research. Keep an eye out for the hashtag #csf2010.

One good reason for buying an iPad: the iPADD

Mashable is right to point out that the iPad looks like the PADD - the Personal Access Display Device used by countless characters throughout every series of Star Trek. Now someone has launched an app to make your shiny new iPad work like one too.

Surely this is the kind of thing every geek needs to attract quality crew members like Deanna Troi or Seven of Nine?

(Via @mikeyjhay.)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010 The second best use of Chatroulette so far (which also ROCKS)

I've got three words for you. CHATROULETTE POP VIDEO!

Via Jonathan Hopkins.

Here's the chap who is still in first place. Just.

Monday, March 22, 2010 Poll: Is SamCam pregnant with a capital PR?

So Samantha Cameron is pregnant, and Twitter is erupting with a flurry of tweets suggesting it's the strongest tactic yet in the election battle. True, the news is taking the focus off today's leaking of her modelling shots and the hacking of the 'Cash Gordon' website... But based on what you know - do you really, really think this was in the PR plan?

Update: Here's an interesting viewpoint from The Guardian, referencing Cherie Blair's similar announcement (and the truth behind it). Then again, I'm not sure we're talking about the actual act of getting pregnant here... Isn't it more about the timing of the news being released?

Thursday, March 18, 2010 ShortList's '20 Greatest Rock Moments' was a hilarious start to the day

Today's ShortList has got a fantastic feature on the 20 Greatest Rock Moments. Sid Vicious, Ozzy Osborne and Nikki Sixx feature their classic escapades (as expected). Also worthy of note are Kurt Cobain's Reading festival appearance and Robert Smith's naked tennis.

But Keith Moon's story had be laughing out loud on the tube:

"The Who's drummer of DIY demolition eventually burst onto the small screen on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967, when he filled his bass drum with explosives in order to end My Generation with a bang. The detonation was far bigger than anticipated though: Moon caught a piece of cymbal shrapnel in his arm and Pete Townshend suffers tinnitus, supposedly from the explosion, to this day."

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 Diane Birch pop video gives OK Go a run for their money

Loving the increasing use of pop videos that are designed to go viral. Be prepared for one of those "How on Earth did they do that?" moments.

IBM: "We can actually begin to hear the planet talking to us"

This video from IBM is a worthwhile way to spend five minutes. If you're into internet fridges and pavements talking to you, anyway.

What do you think? A smarter planet to help us run things more efficiently (to a soundtrack of light piano jazz), or too much data out there that could be repurposed for evil (to a soundtrack of goth metal)?

Talking of which, it does remind me a bit of The Terminator.

"The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug."

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 The best use of Chatroulette (so far)

Chatroulette - the online game where you are connected to a random person's webcam - has enjoyed a fast-burn hype cycle. Now it's almost old news (it's been in the Daily Mail) I didn't think it could kick up many more surprises. Then this happened.

WARNING: Do not play Chatroulette unless you're completely unphased by the sight of random folks' genitals. Most people on there are NOT talented improvisational musicians.

Monday, March 15, 2010 Who broke Twitter AND Foursquare?

Now what am I supposed to do?

(I blame SXSW.)

Genius viral video from Samsung

This has been around for a while but has only just appeared on my radar.

Such a brilliant idea, nicely done. [Jealous.]

Fly in the ointment: Guardian swats Rentokil's PR

If you haven't been following the twitterstorm, The Guardian's Ben Goldacre wrote on Friday that a Rentokil story on how 'Commuters share trains with 1,000 cockroaches 200 bedbugs and 200 fleas' was not all it appeared to be. (Guess what? The study wasn't, as reported, based on real-life tests. It was based on a theoretical model.)

What's interesting about this is not the story itself - extrapolating news from theory is a classic PR approach. The work its agency did got picked up in The Daily Mail, Evening Standard and Telegraph - also known as 'a good day's work'. Rentokil may be teetering on the edge of truth, which is not big or clever, but it's done on both sides of the PR divide.

The really compelling stuff (for me, at least) is how this has unearthed weaknesses in Rentokil's social media strategy. Having dug back through the story, it has had a rocky time of it. Questionable following tactics, an odd tone to their responses on Twitter (we've been 'busy'?), and the blog going down mid-crisis really haven't helped.

Rentokil has missed the most vital ingredient of all to a social media campaign - trust. Their blog lacks personality and a clear, human owner. Their tweets are fake-friendly (leading to accusations of being self-serving sales messages, even though they're generally not). None of their employees or agencies seems to have someone working there who is trusted by the online community its trying to engage with, with a good and established following, who could step in and calm the waters.

The lesson here is simple. Using social media to promote your product or service is fine. But using it to *only* do that is not. PR is relationship-based. The only way to avoid an escalating crisis like this is to already have trust with the public, which could have helped diffuse this story before it became so big.

Instead, we've got a swarm of people baying for Rentokil's blood.

Friday, March 12, 2010 Tech PR after party: "Tell me more, tell me more..."

I've just seen Peter Hay's writeup in PR Week on the 'after party' that followed Will Sturgeon's recent, and awesome, Tech PR Drinks (thanks again Will!).

For those of you who felt that karaoke and a 3am finish was unwise for a Wednesday (you're right, by the way), I thought I'd fill you in on the fun a little bit more...

The venue? The wonderful Gallery Rendezvous (three tatty rooms above a Chinese restaurant in Soho). Lucky Voice it ain't.

The attendees? Communications big-hitters including Kath Pooley, Nadia Saint, Louise Waller, Anna Longstaff, James Warnette and Peter Hay.

The playlist? (Note: This is pieced together from various emails / tweets based on some rather fragmented memories.)

Don't Go Breaking My Heart: Peter Hay + Girls

Bed of Roses: Jon Silk + Nadia Saint

Summer Nights: Boys vs. Girls

She's The One: James Warnette + Kath Pooley

Four Minutes: Anna Longstaff + Jon Silk

If I Could Turn Back Time: Peter Hay + Nadia Saint

Paparazzi: Jon Silk + James Warnette

California Dreaming: Louise Waller, Nadia Saint + Kath Pooley

Promiscuous: Kath Pooley, Anna longstaff + James Warnette

Total Eclipse Of The Heart: Peter Hay + Louise Waller

How Deep Is Your Love?: Kath Pooley + Peter Hay

Fernando: Peter Hay (solo finale)

Make sure you're there next time!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Latest Tron Legacy trailer = WIN

[Shivers.]

Tuesday, March 09, 2010 Video: Paddy Power's banned TV ad

Here is bookmaker Paddy Power's TV ad that they're seeding online after the script was banned.

(If anyone wants to explain it to me, please do.)

Slate vs. iPad: HP / Adobe video blatantly throws down the gauntlet to Apple

This video would have been no more obvious had Alan Tam eschewed his painstaking demo of Flash on the HP Slate and just jumped up and down shouting 'Up yours Apple!'.

Looks pretty good, doesn't it?

Monday, March 08, 2010 Iron Man 2 trailer on YouTube

Mickey Rourke as a baddie?
Don Cheadle as a goodie?
A cheeky chappie hero driving an Audi?
Scarlett and Gwyneth being all pouty?

No groundbreaking cinema to see here. (OK, OK. It looks pretty good.)

Daily Mail reader comment takes irony to new lows

The Daily Mail's roundup story of the James Bulger case is a long, detailed and (unsurprisingly) dramatic retelling of a story that has risen again to haunt our headlines.

As usual the reader comments section is extremely busy, representing a reasonable split of informed comment and ill-informed rage.

Quite far down the page, this happens.

Other people in the stream, and Charles Arthur at The Guardian, picked it up pretty quickly. I think it might be a joke though, based on Pritesh's later comments...

First iPad TV ad

Unbelievably awesome 1995 Newsweek article about the internet

"Try reading a book on disc. At best, it's an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. And you can't tote that laptop to the beach. Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we'll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Internet. Uh, sure."

This Newsweek article, written by Silicon Snake Oil author Clifford Stoll, is wonderfully inaccurate. He also didn't predict we'd be using the phrase 'EPIC FAIL'.

(Thanks to @geekygreen for the link.)

Friday, March 05, 2010 Music + graphics + numbers = another mindblowing internet stats video

The best medicine: Job opps in our London healthcare PR team

The Waggener Edstrom healthcare team in London is fighting fit (sorry). But to stop it suffering from growing pains (sorry) it needs a shot in the arm (sorry) in the shape of some new blood (sorry).

If you're a mid-level healthcare PR person and think a job with us is just what the doctor ordered (sorry) then drop me a line or speak to HR.