why Apple doesn't need a recall.

Obviously, there will be no recall.

Free bumpers and cases for all! Apple's solution to Antenna-gate (the hugeeeeee problem that when you pushed really, really hard on this one part of the phone, it would drop calls!) was announced on Friday, and the responses have varied. Apple decided to give free bumpers and cases to all iPhone users In general, I think most tech bloggers felt like it was a good solution. But the other day, Robbert Scoble made a great podcast about why the whole thing has been blown so far out of proportion.

Look at it this way. The phone is $200. For $200, you get email, web, the best (and newest) apps (and no, "we'll be launching our droid version soon" does not mean the droid has caught up), a video camera, voice recorder, mp3 player, the fastest mobile OS on the market, a GPS, and a video-conferencing center. Oh yea, and a phone. Pretty good deal, I'd say.

So there is one flaw. Which you can fix. By holding it differently or buying a bumper (or getting one for free).

I read somewhere that there was no need for a recall, especially since people weren't having their phones blow up in their hands, and I thought that was a great way of framing it.

A dropped call is not dangerous. A dropped call is not a threat to national security. A dropped call isn't even sad. There's no use crying over spilled milk. Get over it and redial.

I don't have my new iPhone yet, so I can't even honestly tout how great it is. But I will say, my BlackBerry consistently takes 30 seconds to open a text message, and that is really annoying. I pretty much have to hard reset every other day. Plus the thing is broken, so I have to take the battery out, charge it on a separate BB, then put it back in my phone. Annoying? Yes.

Anyway, I think people are just being dramatic. Give me the phone, I'll take the crappy service and move on with my sleek, beautiful, web-app filled life.

P.S. the apps I'm most looking forward to are RunKeeper and TripIt!

My Pizza is Beautiful

My Pizza is Beautiful - Re-Posted from TopRight's Blog, Corner the Market



Domino’s is at it again! The recently launched “Show Us Your Pizza” crowdsourcing campaign gets customers to show the world what the pizza really looks like, straight out of the box. This effort comes shortly after the groundbreaking recipe change, where Domino’s openly discussed complaints and improvements as part of its marketing strategy. True, it’s hard to imagine that “our pizza tastes like cardboard” was ever considered part of anyone’s marketing strategy, but for Domino’s, it really paid off. Let’s be real: Stephen Colbert talked about Domino’s on his show… does it get any better?

With “Show Us Your Pizza”, the assignment is simple: order a pizza, take a picture, and send it to Domino’s. The best pictures will win a cash prize and could be featured in an ad.

Yea, yea. So what? Chances are I’m not going to send Domino’s a picture of their pizza. I don’t even really like pizza. But if I did order a pizza, I would definitely get Domino’s. Why? Because I like feeling like I am at the center of their business model. I like being heard. And most importantly, I like honesty.

Remember the last time you were on the phone with your cell service provider trying to get them to fix your broken cell? “The speaker is broken.” “Ma’am, are you using the device right now?” “No, the speaker is broken.” “Did you try to use the speaker?” “Yes, it is broken.” “Did you turn the phone on before you tried to use the speaker?” “… Really?” “I’m sorry, but I absolutely, positively, definitively cannot give you a new phone. No ifs, ands, or buts. We appreciate your business.” 30 minutes later, after pulling half your hair out, your new phone is in the mail. The truth is, they absolutely, positively, definitively CAN give you a new phone, they just don’t tell you that up front.

Domino’s uploaded a great video to their YouTube channel showing what really goes on in food photo shoots. It’s called “Pulling the Cheese,” but I think a more apt title might be “How Corporate America knocks you over the head with a multi-sensory experience that leads you to believe they have a quality product without necessarily delivering on the promise.” Or something like that. “Show Us Your Pizza” cuts the baloney and skips straight to what actually matters.

I would love to see more companies embrace this kind of transparency. The model is simple: ask, listen, deliver. The best part is, it really works. I may not eat pizza, but I’m definitely drinking the Kool-Aid.

@BPGlobalPR - the best thing on the internet since YoungBro

In case you haven't heard, there is a popular twitter page making headlines: @BPGlobalPR.

The site started shortly after the oil spill in the Gulf, and it has been raising money and raising hell by selling shirts to benefit the cleanup and posting ironic but seemingly true "tweets" about the oil spill. Though the true author is unknown, he writes under the names Leroy Stick and Terry, or BP Terry.

Terry has been pretty vocal with the press and had granted several interviews and press releases, including one today at Twtrcon.

The @BPGlobalPR "experiment," if we're going to call it that, brings up the obvious fact that there is really nothing you can do to protect your brand and corporate image in today's social-media-driven world. But what struck me was Terry's take on the purpose of his twitter site:

"Our main mission with the twitter account is/was/and will always be to distract people from the mess. You know, keep their brains too busy for any thinking. The Internet is full of great information, essays and ideas. But no one is interested in that hogwash, people want to see photos of cats wearing wigs. That’s what gets the attention, that’s what distracts. Our aim is to be that cat in a wig."

Ok, so he was obviously kidding, right? I mean, don't we use the internet for the greater good?

I'll admit, my favorite blog in the world is The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bro, which is essentially just a UVa frat boy writing about the vacuous day-to-day life of, well, a UVa frat boy. But hearing (reading) Terry say that he's trying to be the "cat in a wig," it makes me think that maybe the fact that his twitter has been getting so much attention isn't actually a good thing.

Take the perma-criticism of Twitter as an example. Do I want to know what Justin Bieber ate for lunch today? No. (Yes. ) We're so saturated with dribble all over the internet, sometimes it is hard to remember to use those powers for good and not evil.

That is, if you consider spending an hour reading gossip columns about Danielle from The Real Housewives of New Jersey to be evil. Which I do. Mostly.