Yes, there's good hype. See Starbucks.

Nobody ever called Howard Schultz stupid. Yesterday's very public training shutdown got Starbucks gazillions of dollars in media coverage, as befits an iconic company. He got the full attention of all his employees, in the most positive way possible -- attention being paid to them as first priority. I could crow all day about the brilliance of this move. Above all, it's honest. We've got problems: watch us fix them. Take notice, Pfizer. How about a little candor, double-tall.

So long, Dr. Jarvik

It only took America two years and millions of advertising "impressions" to end Pfizer's "Jarvik" Lipitor campaign. But we got around to it. Is this a great country or what? Time sums it up here.

My new Vista Experience.

About six months ago I bought a new Sony VAIO notebook -- latest Intel double-whatever chip inside. Came with Vista. Fresh and snazzy look, I said. Of course I was skeptical--or as they say in the UK, sceptical. I have come to believe I was right to be. My long-held belief has been confirmed by my user experience with Vista--that Microsoft has a whole division whose sole task is to slow down the latest Intel chip. I can't prove it, but this division must be Microsoft's most productive and efficient.

These double-something chips are supposed to be screamers. And yes, this machine and Vista are faster than XP was on my old merely-single-doodad HP. But is my Sony running as rapidly as it can with the weight of Vista to carry? I had a nagging doubt. Now I see that many true-blue MS customers are resisting buying new Vista PCs, and Microsoft, ever customer-responsive, has obliged by giving manufacturers six more months of selling XP equipped computers. I wonder how my VAIO would run XP? But what kind of havoc would I cause if I tried retrofitting it? I don't think I can do that. I'm alone here, a reasonably skilled user with no IT geek down the hall.

Well, I finally bit the bullet this morning. I'm a morning person--at my peak when I first get up. (I know, the rest of the day is downhill, but that's life.) I got an idea and went hunting in the Control Panel for those little option lists that let you turn features on or off. I found it. In System, under Advanced something or other, there was a Performance button, and another button under that, called Visual something. (Sorry, didn't write it down. Go explore.) There it all was, a dozen or more little boxes labeled Animate this or that, Slide this or that, Translucent and Transparent the other. And big buttons at the top, including Best Appearance and Best Performance. I chose Best Performance, hit Apply. The screen said Wait a moment, shuddered and zap! What was I looking at, but Windows 3.0. It was amazing. And was it fast! Wow!

So that was it all the time. I had turned the clock back. Microsoft's been improving the plumbing of Windows, of course, over the years. But mainly, as our President might say, Windows is what it is. And, as I've always known, the Division of Chip Speed Mitigation has grown into the biggest and most powerful arm of the corporation, wielding vast power at Microsoft, albeit not very quickly. They worked on Vista for what, seven years?

I have since gone back and found the System-Advanced-Performance menu again and restored some of the settings. I will play around with this newfound toy until I'm sure I have the Vista look and feel that I want and most of the speed I can get from my double-widget Intel computer. And I'll call Sony again about that funny whine in the hard drive on battery mode.

And, next time, I'm buying a Macbook.

KEEPING MYSELF POLITICALLY SANE.

I watched President Bush's news conference this morning (9/20) on NBC. I found the President clear, cogent, and convincing in his answers and positions, even those regarding Iraq, which I still believe was a blunder. I say this because I, like a lot of people I'm sure, tend to stay in a zone of anger about the Bush administration. I think it was good to watch a news conference live and suspend my attitudes for an hour; to try for something like objectivity. Or at least fairness. Media marketers provide us with abundant opportunities to stay in our comfort zones, reinforcing our rifts. Pandering. Fairness is not in style. I tried it for an hour this morning and I feel better. It was a good workout. I recommend it.

YO, APPLE. WANT MARKET SHARE? HOW ABOUT OSX FOR PCs?

Hobbyists and hackers have done it already, many times since Apple introduced its Intel-based Macs, which can run Windows. And I couldn't be the only person who made the mental connection when I saw this article on nytimes.com, which posits that Apple's missing out on an opportunity to eat Microsoft's lunch after Redmond released the less than extraordinary Vista OS. The NYT article suggests Apple ought to be loosening up and signing more retail chains to sell Macs. I say, a much better idea would be to offer MacOS as a download to PC owners. What better way to get in front of millions of frustrated PC users? I'm sure, Apple guys, you could come up with a properly profitable price to charge us for the privilege. But you'd be smart to make it cheap enough to be irresistible. It'd be a lot easier, too, to sell CDs of MacOS off racks than take orders for Mac hardware through Best Buy or whoever. Heck, you could sell CDs at Costco. The frustrated PC users would get used to MacOS, fall in love, and when they were ready to buy a new computer, what would they do? Buy a Mac, of course. I know this would be hard to sell Steve on -- it's against the purist Mac religion. But, gee, aren't you tired of having a three percent marketshare, no matter how big a deal the iPod is? I'd love to have Jaguar, or even the version before that, on my Sony Dual Core VAIO. Just say you'll think about it, OK?

WE COVER THE WORLD.

What’s going on? The other day the earth shook in Peru. I saw it on NBC’s Today show. They went to a correspondent, monitoring the situation…in London. They showed late-breaking video – from Al Jazeera International – the new English-language TV news channel that no American cable or satellite company will touch with a ten-foot dish.

What’s this all about? Why is Ned Colt narrating a report about Lima, Peru, from London? Well, I assume it’s because NBC has no employee based south of Dallas, Texas, who could cover the story on the scene. So, we get pictures gathered by an employee or correspondent of an Arab-owned, Emirate-based news operation, and the voice of nobody in Lima.

American news organizations, even newspapers, have cut their overseas staffs to the bone. I won’t presume to guess at the business motives that have resulted in the shrinkage of on-the-spot staffing of whole swaths of the globe by U.S. news media. My question for today: why shouldn’t I rely on BBC, NPR, and Al Jazeera for international news, when NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox are focused on domestic ambulance chasing, political shouting matches, and celebrity hijinks? Is this our fault? Are Americans so disinterested in the rest of the world, except to complain about, that we don't want our reporters telling us about it?

THE GREENING OF BLOGGERS CONTINUES.

Here's a nifty AP dispatch (via the Buffalo News): "Bloggers Consider Forming Labor Union." Now, was that inevitable, or what? Pretty soon, if not already, blogging will be considered a mainstream activity. There are already blogger conventions. Last week there was the KOMO-TV-LockerGnome meetup in Seattle, one of the tech hotbeds, hailed by many flattered folks as a true breakthrough in the acceptance of bloggers by the current Mainstream Media.

No doubt there'll soon be a guild, or a union--there'll be a wide range of entities to join, large and small. Some will seek, like the reported effort under way, to just get group health insurance.

And then there's the talk of raising standards. This makes me smile. All human pursuits spawn efforts to create elites. The anarchic among us -- I must be one of them, because I almost didn't use the word "us" for fear of appearing to join something -- are already bristling against organization of any kind. And no, I'm not joining the anarchists association, either.

Remember me? I'm the dude who said he wouldn't go to the KOMO event because I wanted to remain unaffiliated and unschmoozed, to preserve my fragile claim to impartiality. I hear I missed a fun time, and, I'm sure, some yummy hors d'oeuvres. And the thing was well-attended. I'm fine with that. Only a little wistful at missing connecting with a lot of nice people.

I'm happy to trade links with you to broaden the audience for blogs--I suspect bloggers mostly are ending up writing to the blogger audience, thinking wrongly that they're speaking to all the world of civilians.

I don't want to join trade organizations or unions, brotherhoods, or PACs, or whatever you end up calling them. My experience is that such orgs standardize practices in fields where being different is the right path.

THANKS, CHRIS PIRILLO. I GUESS.

Now, I'm not trying to be snarky. That said, my post on the KOMO Seattle blogger meetup drew a comment from Chris Pirillo, the apparent promoter of the event, and the popular Seattle blogger conference, Gnomedex. Chris said of my carping over KOMO's PR schmoozing of bloggers:

You shouldn't stop complaining... in fact, I'd say you should be complaining even louder now. :) Unfortunately, that's the only way companies listen (in reaction to PAIN points).

I'm trying to understand what he meant. I think he's encouraging me. Always dangerous. Anyway, thanks, Chris. You seem to get that I'm not attacking you for promoting. I'm exposing the normal, legal, process of schmoozing communications people to obtain positive coverage. KOMO-TV has a perfect right to do this, and since most bloggers are not journalists, or not professional, or both, there's nothing in their upbringing to preclude their swooning over any attention from anybody important. I come from a conventional old-time broadcaster background, so I'm not available for schmoozing. That's all.

And for this, Mr. Pirillo has earned a genuine dehype link (see sidebar).

SORRY, KOMO, THIS BLOGGER DOESN'T WANT TO BE YOUR BUDDY.

I just got an "Evite". Quote:

"KOMO-TV and its owner, Fisher Communications, has graciously agreed to serve as host for a blogger meet-up at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday August 2nd. [...] KOMO-TV is interested in getting to know bloggers in the [Seattle] area, and what better way to do that than helping facilitate this meet-up? Fisher Communications recognizes the significance of the personal media revolution, and they want to listen and pay attention to what you're saying. I think this is a good way to start."

The "I" above is Chris Pirillo, blogger, geek, Internet entrepreneur, etc. -- you can read his complete list of self-appellations on his blog. He's also founder-operator-promoter of Gnomedex, an annual schmoozefest, ahem...conference for the bloggerati, also held in Seattle. In fact this year's event, the seventh, begins just a week after the above party, which will be held at KOMO-TV's shiny headquarters near Seattle Center.

I think I read on Pirillo's site that Gnomedex 2007 is already oversubscribed, though his post seems to imply that he could be talked into opening up an overflow room and graciously accepting more registration fees.

But getting back to the invitation. I'm flattered that I made a list of Seattle area bloggers, but not starry-eyed enough to accept the invitation to come and be cooed over by the TV people, no matter how sincere they may seem about recognizing my significance. See, I have been, and plan to continue, commenting upon and sometimes criticizing KOMO-TV, and many other media organizations. So, I prefer not to drink their booze and eat their hors d'oeuvres, thanks all the same. I guess I can't help thinking I'd have a harder time blogging about them afterward, and that they--KOMO-TV and Mr. Pirillo, the self-styled self-promoter--would like that very much.

Bloggers have not build reputations for journalistic anything in the first years of the phenomenon, and, as a matter of fact, I think I want to stand over here, away from blogger trade conventions and PR stroking parties and remain free to comment on my blogger brethren, too.

So, enjoy the pop and pupus at Fisher Plaza, boys and girls. Just remember, you don't get to be universally believed if you drink the KoolAid.

P.S.: I'll use the Pirillo-prescribed tag for this post, hoping some of my fellow bloggers drop in, read it, come to their senses, and buy their own drinks.

CURB YOUR PARANOIA. BUT WATCH OUT FOR HYPE.

I don't think most people care much if big media companies control the news. Journalism is terribly upset right now at the probability that Rupert Murdoch will soon run the Wall Street Journal. This may surprise you, but I don't hear my friends bringing it up over coffee.

I mean, how upset can you get, when lobbyists control Congress. What harm can a little self-serving news-stacking do?

Let me give a small but significant example: MSNBC is a joint venture of NBC and Microsoft (though MS may have fully phased out their equity position by now). NBC is owned by NBC-Universal, which is owned by General Electric. NBC News has always been a good, clean news source, and still is. But it's harder for broadcasting companies, which aren't in the news business, to keep their hands off editorial content. Here's a feature story on the MSNBC Web site (last time I checked, it was the top rated news site on the Web) on "The Future of Business" (LINK), about how Boeing's spectacularly successful new aircraft, the Dreamliner, has revolutionized the industry.

Note the photo caption at the top of the page:

"Extensive capabilities in electronic and mechanical technologies are being deployed to support aircraft systems integration through deliveries by GE Aviation for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner."

For me, the eagle-eyed media pro, this translates to: "This slathering puff piece is an example of how a great manufacturing company keeps its clients happy. Do you really think, as the owner of a major cable-Web news operation, we wouldn't use it for our own business purposes? Duh!"

There are other clues in the story. Like the mention that the 787 rollout is coming up soon, and that Boeing has "rented an entire football field to simulcast the rollout, which will be emceed by broadcaster Tom Brokaw [Major General, NBC, Ret.]." No doubt GE's helping pay for the party. I didn't find the usual meaningless disclosure line on the Web page -- "MSNBC is owned by GE."

I bet I can find plenty of examples of corporate hype-news without working my mouse too hard. Except, maybe, in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, or the Washington Post, none of which are owned by companies in other industries. Shall we write our Congresspersons? I don't think so -- believe me, you don't want the FCC regulating news either. I think I'll write GE and NBC. Do you care if NBC thinks GE hype is news. Hope so. Maybe if we stop being passive consumers, news-as-hype could be made to go away.