Scoble off speed

I’m old enough to remember the time when kids who wanted to look cool and mischievous would talk about “speed”, when referring to the pop-icon of all drugs, amphetamine and most notably its commercial-named version called Benzedrine.

Benzedrine was the stimulant of choice for those living a fast life, both figuratively and not. Barry Newman’s Kowalski gobbles bennies in his mad race against himself until he paints his Dodge Challenger on a Cat blade in “Vanishing Point“.

I think that microblogging is the benzedrine of the blogosphere: instant reaction, careful evaluation is replaced by reflex writing. Uberblogger Robert Scoble called it quits yesterday, on grounds of so much of his knowledge having gone to waste because microblogging is quintessential streaming – finding stuff that’s not absolutely current is difficult, if not outright impossible.

In other words, a lot of what happens on Twitter or FriendFeed doesn’t stick and hence is irrelevant five minutes after it’s happened. I see a lot of people trying to demonstrate that Twitter powered the protests around Iran elections, but I really think that the only thing the little bird contributed was the fact that it was technically more difficult to block.

Blogging is slower, true, but this very interaction with Robert’s own post would be impossible on Twitter or FF – in a way, their conundrum reminds me of Second Life: there, too, interaction required contemporaneous presence – a damning limitation, esp. when coupled with the performace degradation brought by surge in usage.

So welcome down to Scoble, but not for long ! I have something that – take my word for it -  will get you high again !!

Nine reasons your marketing and communications will never be the same again

An expanded version of the “Never the same again” presentation, and with nicer music, the “Là ci darem la mano” duet from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”

more about "Nine reasons your marketing and commu…", posted with vodpod

More talking to EasyJet

Paul acknowledges on Twitter (not sure I understand why there and not here) and says among other things CDG is undergoing renovation – so there’s hope. Thinking about it, I think EasyJet could probably sell me an EUR500/year business package that gives me priority boarding, late check in (where “late” is obviously until such time when technically feasible without delaying flight) and access to lounge-like facilities in their hub airports.

I’d pay gladly.

But if you ever launch it, I want a free membership for the first year for the idea.

Talkback to EasyJet

Unexpectedly, I have found another company that does listen to Social Media. Paul, a representative from EasyJet (probably) noticed my rants and tweeted back, asking for some more constructive criticism – which is a wholly fair point. As it is the case for many, I appreciate the attention I am getting, and will try to repay it with some more articulated comments and a suggestion or two.

Just to complete the picture for Paul, here is a complete list of my posts on low cost airlines:

• beating low-cost airlines at their own game
• day slots
• criticism of CdG

Having to sum up my criticism to EasyJet, I think it mostly falls in three categories:

1. my self inflicted wounds – like the time you denied me boarding on the last flight out of Luton because I was 5 minutes late, and I ended up sleeping on the floor because it was snowing and hotels were packed. It’s my fault, by why not waive this rigidity in exchange for a surcharge? You sold me priority boarding, so why not late check in? After all, I’m traveling for business reasons, convenience has a steep price for me.
2. your choice of airports – is it you who fly to Paris Beauvais? That place ought to be shuttered for public health hazard. Why on earth do you seem to enjoy making the terminals you use so thoroughly barren? I understand that slots there are cheaper, but why not make money out of some comfort? Without being so third-world like Beauvais, CdG T2 has no food or seats in the waiting area: build a lounge and charge for access, goddammit !
3. some of your personnel does not seem to be having much fun – have no idea whether your salaries are lower than average, but this no reason to snap at passengers; herding cattle is a laudable behaviour when dealing with tourists, but whether by design or not, you now fly many slots that are suitable for business use, and suits – out of purely selfish financial reasons – deserve an incentive to help you boost your average revenue per passenger…

Food for thought, Paul?

iPhone 3GS misplaced outrage

Somebody invited me to a Facebook group to “ask Telecom Italia and Vodafone to lower the iPhone 3GS prices to market levels”. I declined because I have a different strategy: let it rot on their shelves for a few weeks, let them miss their commitments to Apple by a mile and then they’ll become reasonable.

Now, if the group was chartered

“I’m NOT buying a f*@ing iPhone 3GS until they lower the f*@ing price!

Hear that, Apple? Your partners’ greed destroys the market you create”

that I’d enroll immediately ! I’m a client. I vote with my wallet.

Augmented reality

I can see myself using this. Really.

Ketchum and Pleon to merge worldwide

Ketchum and Pleon to merge worldwide !!  More information on the merge minisite:

Ketchum and Pleon to merge - click for more information

Forbidden

Forbidden !

Translation: stopping to negotiate prices or terms and conditions of sexual performances or to acquire information about such performances is strictly prohibited.

Indeed !

Words I hate

Is it my cantankerous nature or are there other people that can’t stand some words?

I have no illusions of reforming the linguistic habits of my fellow countrymen, but  I decided to start a list of words I hate, alongside the reason I hate them; now the interesting twist is that I hate ITALIAN words, but this blog is written in ENGLISH – I am sure this will lead to some interesting circonlocutions to explain what a certain word means.

1. SFIZIO – lit. whim; of a dialectal (I think neapolitan) origin, SFIZIO took a life of its own, becoming cool and then mainstream, and spawning a whole family of increasingly disgusting diminutives and derivatives like SFIZIOSO (adjective = whimsical) or SFIZIOSITA’ (noun = something of a whimsical nature). It is guiltily abused in menus of restaurants and pizzerie whishing to appeal to a younger target group and coming across instead as old dorks with a ponytail.
2. ESTRAPOLARE – lit. extrapolate; for some reason, a lot of people confuse it with ESTRARRE (= extract) and misuse it accordingly. I don’t know why that happens, they don’t seem that similar to me. I think a longer word makes people feel they’re using a more accurate language. Or maybe too much TV is reducing our brains to a mush.
3. QUANT’ALTRO – lit. anything else; hatred here is particularly virulent as I have surprised myself inadvertendedly using it. I could not really explain why I hate it so much, I suspect it depends on overuse by dislikable people.
4. SEVERAMENTE – lit. strictly; it s used in official language (signs, statements, government regulation – see an example in the above pic) and it reinforces the stereotype whereby for italians there are things that are “forbidden” and things that are “really forbidden”. Jesus !!!

…more to come…

1,000,000

The millionth word officially accepted in the english language? but

web2.0

what else?