Xbox Not Just for Gamers

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Two Christmases ago our big family gift was Xbox Kinect. Normally with a gift like that I'd put family in quotes because we'd all have known that it was really a gift for the kids, but in this case it was a true family gift that's used more by the kids than the parents. Why's that? Because while the kids (our youngest son in particular) use the Xbox as it was originally intended – to play video games – the rest of us use it as an entertainment center. Apparently we aren't the only ones:

As promised, Xbox has rolled out three big content partners, beefing up its role as a big television player in the living room. Starting today, HBO Go (for participating providers), Xfinity and MLB (for subscribers) are debuting on Xbox Live, adding to Netflix, Hulu, ESPN and many more. And marking today’s announcement, Xbox said more people are now using the console for entertainment purposes (TV, movies and music) than gaming. (Emphasis mine)…

As we’ve written several times before, Xbox is television’s largest social network. While these new apps don’t take advantage of many Xbox Live features, the obvious next evolution is to become more social, engaging and connecting subscribers over voice, video and data. The foundation is built, and the scale is there (Xbox sold 426,000 units in February alone). And now it’s just up to developers to evolve a consumption experience to a social experience, tapping the Xbox Live wiring to make it happen. Stay tuned…

It's been obvious for a while that the wall between most households' primary entertainment vehicle (television) and primary information vehicle (computer tied to internet) has been crumbling, but it's fascinating to see how it's happening. In retrospect it makes total sense that the video game console would become the vehicle, but we've been witness to far too many failed "WebTV-ish" experiments to say that it was obvious to many people beforehand.

Why Business Blogs are Still Relevant

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I've had the opportunity to sit through my fair share of presentations on social media and how it could/should be integrated into companies' communications mix. Over the last year I've heard a disturbing number of people say they've nixed their blogs, and sometimes whole websites, and concentrated solely on their Facebook presence. What's the disturbing number? At least one and that's one too many.

If I were to delve into all the reasons why this is a bad idea I'd be writing a 10,000 word treatise, so let me just point to one reason I think blogs still have a place in every company's communication toolbox. It's a case study from right here in the Piedmont Triad as related by Matt Evans at the Triad Business Journal:

Kestler recently took a trip to visit some of those suppliers, and posted a photo of his trip on the company's Facebook page.

Then came the invective – the company’s page was inundated with ugly and obscene comments that questioned Kestler's patriotism. The photo had to be removed from the Facebook page.

But Kestler didn’t want to leave it at that, and composed a blog post responding to the comments. In it, he traces his family roots back to the Revolutionary War and talks about his company’s history of paying above-average wages and providing good benefits to workers.

To me this case highlights the best that blogs have to offer – they're a great way to have a "conversation" with customers that's more than one or two sentences (or 140 characters) in the comments field of an almost ethereal digital environment (Facebook). With a blog you can provide the kind of context that doesn't work well on Facebook, and more importantly you own it so you can make sure that what you write appears as you want it to. Even better you can invite comments from your customers and retain the ability to review them before they go live on your site – this helps you keep the invective down and prevent the conversation from spiraling out of control. Does this mean you prevent all negative comments from appearing? Absolutely not! Rather, you simply prevent name calling or pointless diatribes from hijacking the conversation. Good luck pulling that off on Facebook.  

Sure Facebook's an important place to be these days, but it's far from the only game in town, or from being the most important for your business.

Why I Should Have a Cold One BEFORE I Play Tennis

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Just about every Tuesday evening I play tennis with a group of guys for a couple of hours before we head to a local bar for a couple of beers. After reading this item on Freakonomics I'm thinking we should reverse that order:

The key finding of the new research is that the intoxicated participants solved more items on the Remote Associates Test compared with the control participants (they solved 58 per cent of 15 items on average vs. 42 per cent average success achieved by controls), and they tended to solve the items more quickly (11.54 seconds per item vs. 15.24 seconds). Moreover, the intoxicated participants tended to rate their experience of problem solving as more insightful, like an Aha! moment, and less analytic. They also performed worse on a working memory test, as you might expect. 

In the past I've found that if I happened to have a drink before playing – say on a Saturday after mowing the lawn I had a cold beer and then headed out to play a couple of sets of tennis – I'm generally much more relaxed and play much better. As a good friend once told me, my brain is my worst enemy on the tennis court, so maybe there's something to this concept. I'll run a little experiment and let you know how it goes.

 

Of Mice (and Fruit Flies) and Men

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As most women figured out long ago, men are no better than your average mouse or fruit fly:

Male fruit flies that have been rejected by females drink significantly more alcohol than those that have mated freely, scientists say…

The connection between alcohol and this chemical, which in humans is known as neuropeptide Y, has already been noted in studies involving hard-drinking mice.

Yet one scientist insists on raining on my "men or no better than fruit flies" parade:

However, in an accompanying article in Science, Troy Zars of the University of Missouri wrote that "anthropomorphising the results from flies is difficult to suppress, but the relevance to human behaviour is obviously not yet established".

Party pooper.

The Wheel Goes Round and Round

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So your wife says some really stupid stuff while your driving through Utah and Idaho. What do you do? If you're this guy you record it while your driving (not the brightest thing to do in and of itself), then post the video online so the world can revel in your wife's dingbattedness. My first thought was, "I wonder if this guy's still married" but then it occurred to me that given the intellect she displayed his wife may not be aware that he'd punk'd her. Enjoy.

SueMo Was Right About Trader Joe’s Coming to Winston-Salem

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One of the problems that newspapers have is that if they want to retain even a semblance of their status as a real news operation they can't just print any old rumor that comes across their desks. That's why it wouldn't be fair to the Winston-Salem Journal to say that they were scooped by a margin of about two months when SueMo, probably the most connected person in Winston-Salem, wrote on Facebook that she'd heard a rumor that Trader Joe's was coming to Winston-Salem.

If you're a Trader Joe's fan then today brought you some welcome news, as reported on the Winston-Salem Journal Facebook page. When they get around to putting a story on their website I'll try to remember to link to it.

Down Goes Print Advertising! Down Goes Print Advertising!

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The Atlantic has a pretty stunning graph showing the decline of print advertising over the last 10-12 years, and worse, the acceleration over the last couple of years. (h/t to Ed Cone for the link).

The decline is stunning. "Last year's ad revenues of about $21 billion were less than half of the $46 billion spent just four years ago in 2007, and less than one-third of the $64 billion spent in 2000," Mark Perry writes. In the next few years — and hopefully, in the next few decades (I like print!) — we'll see papers and magazines continue to invest in their websites and find advertising and pricing models that support journalism independently. Otherwise, one hopes that rich people continue to be fond of paying for the production of great writing on bundles of ink and paper.

The Rich Really Are Different

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Whenever I read something that essentially says, "This group of people is different because…" I immediately think, "Well, I know X person who fits that group and he definitely doesn't fit that mold." And of course it's true; any time you make a general statement about a group you're going to have lots of exceptions, but it's important to remember that those exceptions don't necessarily disprove the general statement. That being said check out this article that explores some research that's been done about the affect that money has on people. The research shows that money changes people, and not always for the better:

In fact, a number of new studies suggest that, in certain key ways, people with that much money are not like the rest of us at all. As a mounting body of research is showing, wealth can actually change how we think and behave—and not for the better. Rich people have a harder time connecting with others, showing less empathy to the extent of dehumanizing those who are different from them. They are less charitable and generous. They are less likely to help someone in trouble. And they are more likely to defend an unfair status quo. If you think you’d behave differently in their place, meanwhile, you’re probably wrong: These aren’t just inherited traits, but developed ones. Money, in other words, changes who you are.

Do We Follow Florida’s Lead?

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Today in my email inbox I found the press release copied below. Why would anyone outside of Florida try to sell the rest of the country on an idea by saying that it started in Florida? Have they not read one of Carl Hiaasen's novels? Whatever. I know a lot of people who'd support this idea, even if the Florida legislature is involved:

For Immediate Release                                                                                   Contact: Ray Wotring

March 1, 2012                                                                                                  Phone: (703) 383-0907

Florida Legislature officially calls for Congressional term limits

Fairfax, VA – The Florida legislature today officially called on the U.S. Congress to pass and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment limiting Congressional terms in office. The resolution, passed by acclamation in both houses of the Florida legislature, will be sent to the president of the United States, Speaker of the U.S. House, president of the U.S. Senate and each member of the Florida Congressional delegation.

"Florida is the first state to take this step, but it will not be the last," said Philip Blumel, president of U.S. Term Limits. "With term limits polling at all-time highs and the Congress at record lows, pressure is building around the nation for Congress to take action."

Sen. Jim DeMint and Rep. David Schweikert have introduced a constitutional amendment (SJR 11 and HJR 71, respectively) limiting congressional terms in the Senate and House.  While the Florida action does not specifically mention any specific legislative proposal, they are the first state to go on record in the past decade supporting a congressional term limitation constitutional amendment.  Voters overwhelmingly supported Florida's state constitutional limits on state legislators in 1992 with 77 percent support. Polling from Quinnipiac University in 2009 suggests 82 percent of Floridians continue to support term limits on public officials.

Nationally, the support for term limits remains strong with 78 percent of Americans supporting congressional term limits according to a September 2010 poll conducted for FoxNews by Public Opinion Dynamics.  Support is strong across partisan lines with 84 percent of Republicans favoring the idea while 74 percent of Democrats and 74 percent of Independents also support limiting congressional terms.

U.S. Term Limits' Blumel urged Congress to move forward with the DeMint and Schweikert amendments saying, "Passage of congressional term limits is a foundational reform needed to re-establish a sense of reality to Washington, D.C., where the entrenched political leadership no longer represents the current thinking or interests of the voters in their former home states."

Passage of the term limits constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate, and ratification by ¾ (38) of the states in order to become part of the Constitution.

The Florida resolution was introduced by State Rep. Matt Caldwell (HM83) in the Florida House and Sen. Joe Negron (SM672) in the Senate.

"The evidence is in. Term limits work," said Rep. Matt Caldwell of Lehigh Acres. "New York, Illinois and Florida have all been faced with tough decisions on how to balance their state budgets over the last few years.  Only one of these states has term limits and only one of these states has cut their budgets to match their revenues and refused to raise taxes."

"Congress is on a collision course with federal bankruptcy and our last, best hope is to bring serious and permanent change to Washington, D.C.," he said.

U.S. Term Limits is the leading national advocacy group supporting congressional term limits.

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U.S Term Limits is a non-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization that works to promote term limits at all levels of government. For more information or to arrange an interview, please call Ray Wotring at 703-383-0907. U.S. Term Limits is a nonprofit501 (c) (4). It is located at 9900 Main Street, Suite 303 Fairfax, VA 22031 info@ustl.org

 

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