Andrew Lark

Sisomo | The Future On The Screen

Kevin Roberts has a new book on the future of the screen.

We are living in "The Screen Age." Screens for informing, entertaining, communicating, connecting, transacting and controlling. Screens for every purpose... Where consumers were once passive in the face of the mass market, they are now savvy individuals wired into the greatest information network the world has ever known.

Enter sisomo - Sight, Sound, and Motion, the combination that made television the most powerful selling tool ever invented.

Woz + Drury = International Segway Polo!

Some great photos from downunder as the Silicon Valley Aftershocks (Segway Polo!) visit New Zealand to play the Pole Blacks. Hey, the NZ Polo gang let the Segway riding maniacs onto their grounds! Steve Wozniak turned-up, much to the delight of my mate Rod - one of NZ's hottest tech entrepreneurs.

Burson Blogs...

PR legend, Harold Burson is blogging. (via Joel)

Big Bloggers Move To Big Agencies...

Steve is off to Edelman, the second A-list blogger to sign with a big agency. Having spent many years in large agencies I am sure he will enjoy the scale and scope of the work you get to do. Congrats...

Why I Don't Care...

That Google acquired Measure Map. Their home page sure looks pretty. But given I haven't/can't use it I don't care - why all the buzz about something so little have experienced?

What I do care about though is integrated communications measurement - for that I'll turn to the likes of Biz360. The ability to correlate performance across mediums, competitors, industries and topics is vital to getting a grip on marketing performance.

If Google imbeds Measure Map into it's new reporting tools, that would be great. And then if they launch those new reporting tools, that will be greater. But if Biz360 can aggregate that reporting, that would be better.

And here is a whine, rather than Google running around making "interesting" acquisitions, I wish they would dramatically improve the utility and interface of their current reporting tools - the stuff in the public domain that the rest of us have to live with.

SLI Systems Blog

My buddies over at SLI Systems have their blog up and running... Welcome! Eurekster is over here.

InformationWeek on Gartner

InfoWeek has a piece on Gartner's commentary on it's piece on Gartner. If you get what I mean. The media comments on what the pundits have to say about the media commenting on the pundits. And around and around we go on the old issue of bias, transparency and pay-to-play.

Not alot of new ground in the original InfoWeek story, but they are right - these issues warrant discussion. This is even more the case considering Gartner's power to influence decisions. All of my recent exchanges with Gartner reinforce my view that the analysts are very ethical and bound by some pretty rigid rules of engagement designed to enforce their independence.

What still doesn't make sense to me are many of their models (such as scoring relevance and momentum based on inbound inquiries from clients) and the precious magic quadrant. And, what really doesn't make sense are buyers that make decisions based on where a company is on a magic quadrant. I've bumped into a few CIOs who are doing this inside F100 companies - something that Gartner discourages. The misuse of the research is often as nonsensical and the confines in which the research is created.

What is really good news is that Gartner seems up for the conversation. And I agree, the more teeth they get, the more relevant they become.

More discussion over here and over here.

Branson On His New PR Pro

Finally, some brevity in the world of PR! Richard Branson comments on the appointment of his new PR Pro:

“As my memory is so bad our primary criteria in selecting a replacement for Paul was finding someone who answers to the same name. Paul Charles fits the bill admirably and is apparently not too bad at PR (although we’ll soon train that out of him). ”

Thanks to David Henderson for the link.

The New York Mag On Blogs

A big story from the New Yorker. Steve has a great summary.

As you read it, you see the continued focus on what makes the A-list tick. I wonder how much bloggers really care about whether they are making the lists or not. I could care less. I'm sure some care lots.

What would be really interesting is a story on what makes bloggers tick - what we care about. For me it's about the creation, exchange and archival of ideas. And, the simple utility of staying in touch with friends and folks with a similar interest that aren't in my daily circle.

Great quotes...

Richard Edelman has posted a terrific series of quotes from Davos. Well worth a scan. Here are some of my faves.

"The future is in our hands as journalists. We are in the business of making something special out of a commodity. We are not in the distribution business. We create a beautiful product which consumers are willing to pay for."
-- Mike Oreskes, editor, International Herald Tribune

"The future of news is shifting online. The crowd has come on the field and is trying to get into the game. We need to be open about our news judgment. Our tone must be real, as too much of what we do feels fake."
-- Richard Sambrook, editor, BBC

"The value of news is based on trust. What you produce must be respected. Journalists are in the securities business where success is based on innovation, while aggregators are in the derivatives business. We have a civic and business role."
-- Lionel Barber, editor, Financial Times

"User generated content is the killer application. This new form of editorial is as authoritative as traditional media because of its authenticity and creativity. The definition of trusted content is changing based on consumer preference."
-- Brandon Burgess, CEO of Paxson Media