Andrew Lark

Where to Watch Rugby in the US

If you are looking to watch the Rugby World Cup in the US you have a range of options. First, subscribe to Setanta Sports via your TV provider. Second, plenty of pubs will be showing the games, punch in your Zip code and get off to the game. Third, take a look at Mediazone to watch on your computer. No excuses now!

Most Excellent Blogs

Terrific post on a whole range of amazing blogs.

Classic

I love reading Stowe's blog - if nothing the brutal honesty makes me smile. Today he's on to Scoble's video on search. I don't watch too much meaningful video online (but I do watch lots of trash...). Meaningful video is too binary for me. For, Stowe, watching Scoble is "like the Marx Brothers channeling Gartner". Brilliant!

Morons

I watch the ongoing diatribe about the stupidity of PR people pitching bloggers with some frustration. Most PR people I know are very smart and get that this is all about relationships and participation - it's not about pitching. None of them are in the blog spam game. All are overly sensitive to the bloggers wants and needs. Thus, I swing to the defense of PR pros.

Then idiots send me emails like this and I loose all faith:

...reading your blog had always being a great experience in getting the information on the technology and security specifically.

I am working with XXXX a company providing the XXXX based security solutions.We would like to know if you could use the information from our site to write the blog entry for your readers. You can visit us at XXXX to read about our company.

Your time and early response in this regards is appreciated.

name, PR Manager...

First, mirroring the email strategies of scammers and con-artists is never a good approach. Second, before entering the blogosphere, at least spend a minute figuring out how it operates. Third, treat bloggers with the same commonsense approach you would a journalist - unless you have something specific, that they are going to be specifically interested in, don't bother them. Finally, we are not communications outlets for your messages.

What is interesting here is the same goes for 'business blogs'. It's equally offensive to receive pitches suggesting that I pop onto XXXX site and post on the genius of your ways.

I'm not going to paint all PR folks - or even the profession - with the same brush - it's time we we separated the Pros from those who can't seem to grasp the fundamentals of modern communications.

15 Days to Go...

"To what?" most Americans ask. Ahhhhh. The Rugby World Cup mate!

So imagine my surprise when no less than three locals asked me today who I thought would win. I don't think they quite expected the answer to take soooooo long.

Here's how I see it.

1. The All Blacks: The favorites and #1 team in the Universe. Some say they are chokers at this tournament. Reality is, the format of this tournament favors the best team on the day and they have made it to the semis and finals multiple times only to be beaten by a better team on the day. This time round they are incredibly well prepared and born of new professional era that should favor them. And I'll be in the stands cheering - so that will help.
2. Sth Africa (the Springboks): In incredible form this year and capable of stunning any big team. In my books they are equal to the All Blacks who have definitely been off form to date this year. I'm betting on an All Black vs. Sth Africa final. I hope they don't meet before the final.
3. Australia (the Wallabies): Sorry, the Qantas Wallabies. Actually, just like the Qantas plane fleet, great but aging. Some real stars in Larkham, Mortlock and Greegan. They could beat NZ or Sth Africa on the day. I just don't see it happening in this tournament though. But hey, they are the great upsetters of Kiwi aspirations.
4. France: Coached by "The Mouth" Laporte, the French have home field advantage but I just haven't seen them rise to the level of the Sthrn Hemisphere teams. Don't write them off. Laporte seems determined to piss everyone in NZ off and stir the pot.
5. England: Pathetic. Washed up. Only slightly less annoying than English commentators are the coaches who now seem interested in attacking other sides integrity rather than focusing on their woeful preparation and strategy. It's sad - they won last time round after Australia upset NZ to make it to the final.
6. Ireland: Could surprise but aren't looking like doing so.
7. Wales & Scotland: Will be entertaining to watch them duke it out with the big guys and fight minnows - like the USA and Fiji.

As a spectator and rugby fanatic you couldn't ask for a better scenario. Three wickedly talented sides fighting for a slot in the final and the dark horse France looking to raise their game at home. Will be a great tournament. If you want to watch in the US try Setanta sports.

Don't #$%!#! The Customer

Sounds simple right. Yet so many businesses seem intent on doing just that.

Take Salesforce.com. I've been an avid user and fanatic for years. I love the notion of the AppExchange - the idea of integrating more applications with Salesforce as a central window into the soul and activity of customers is very, very powerful. Eloqua is a terrific example of this - you can take every web and marketing interaction and associate it with a contact in Salesforce. Cool.

Now Salesforce has always had a young and aggressive sales team so I shouldn't have been surprised by this but we start getting messages that we're about to run out of storage. Run out of storage? Isn't the concept of software as a service predicated on lots of cheap storage... Really?

No, Salesforce has decided to #$%!#! it's customers with some of the most punitive pricing I've ever seen. guess how much Salesforce wants for 1gig of data? Go on... bet it wasn't $3,000. The only other solution is to upgrade to the "Unlimited Option" - which for 70 users prices Salesforce at over $200k per year. Suddenly SAS isn't cheap, AppExchange doesn't matter, and Oracle looks really, really interesting. Salesforce quickly becomes the last place you want to store ANY data.

One of the universal laws that makes "Don't #$%!#! The Customer" such a terrific operating principle is - customers will #$%!#! you back with an equal if not greater force.

As I look across my spectrum of vendor and supplier relationships this rings true. I fly less with American Airlines because I can't use my miles to fly to NZ or Australia - there is about one seat available on every Qantas flight and pretty much no upgrades.

All companies make mistakes but this is very different from #$%!#! the customer. I wandered into the anarchic Apple store at Valley Fair the other day with my dead iPod. The Genius pointed out it probably needed a "shock charge" - which pretty much seemed to me to involve plugging it in. I pointed out I'd done this and would appreciate it if he would take a closer look. The Genius forgot all about me in this process and it wasn't till 30 minutes later when I asked what the heck was going on that he realized the error of his ways, apologized profusely, agreed that the iPod was dead, and upgraded me to a new iPod on the spot. Love the customer and you'll get loyalty + love in return. For the same reason I fly Virgin now whenever I can - they are quick to correct mistakes and never forget you have a choice.

Don't #$%!#! The Customer as an idea gets at a deeper "evil" or blindness that companies commit with intent. Experiencing what is happening at Salesforce got me thinking that two of the most powerful forces driving a company's inclination to #$%!#! the customer are growth and success. They seem to spawn creed and arrogance in equal portions. Mike at Atlassian is on the right path in incorporating "Don't #$%!#! The Customer"  into their core values. Every day companies need to remind themselves of this truth - or, run the risk of being reminded by your customers.

Insanity turns Silicon Valley back to normal

Ashlee says it all on the VMWare IPO. What a stunner... Citrix, not to be outdone, then turns-up its acquisition machine buying XenSource for what must be the highest multiple paid in the Valley in years... Nuts. It just makes me want to go on a crazy spending spree and buy something.... hmmm... maybe one of those new Apple keyboards?

Loving Wikipaterns - Are you a Gnome or a Leech?

Patterns as a lens through which to look at your Wiki and its users is a very cool idea.

Over the years I've consulted to all shapes and kinds of organizations on social media - on ethe of the things that participating forces is the need for organizations to actually learn how to have a conversation. Within this notion is the need to understand the role you might be playing at any given point - and the role others are playing. This is where the "patterns" come in - things like:

• People Pattern | Leech: A leech takes content out of the wiki and sends it to people another
  way, usually by email. This reduces peoples' inclination to visit it,
  and potentially creates confusion because information is coming from
  multiple sources.
• Adoption Pattern | Magnet: The magnet pattern involves having some content exclusively on the wiki to draw users to it.

Think about using Patterns to educate and manage your next Wiki or blog project - it will definitely help drive its success. Thanks to Mike for the pointer...

Teens & Tweens on the Web

From over at Read/Write Web:

A new study released today by the National School Boards Association shows that 96 percent of students with online access use social networking technologies - defined as as chatting, text messaging, blogging, and visiting online communities such as Facebook, MySpace, and Webkinz. 81 percent say they have visited a social networking Web site within the past three months and 71 percent say they use social networking tools at least weekly. The report also claims that one of the most common topics of conversation on the social networking scene is education. Nearly 60 percent of online students report discussing education-related topics such as college or college planning, learning outside of school, and careers. And 50 percent of online students say they talk specifically about schoolwork.

Feeling Poor in Silicon Valley

Expense is relative. You chat to people in Auckland, NZ - it's the most expensive place in the world. Same for Tokyo or London. The NY Times highlights the real expense of living in the Valley - which frankly is just absurd (not the article, the expense). It's a place where millionaires don't feel rich - because they aren't.