Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

Today I heard that the US Congress is to switch from RIM's Blackberry to Apple's iPhone. This is HUGE! Sure, they are simply testing the platform right now but I'll bet you they go toward the light. 

I recently traded my Blackberry in for an iPhone so I know what they are in for.

Now, I am far from being a congressman or a page but I know what the iPhone does to people. It makes people who aren't ADD a little bit ADD. It would make Steven Covey procrastinate. So, to help, I am writing the 7 habits of new creative iPhone owners to share with the US Congress. Here goes:

1.  Be selective. The iPhone comes in 8 and 16 Gig sizes and they fill up faster than you think. Don't put your whole music or phote collection on there. You're going to need to be frugal. Control your device, don't let it control you. Use self-determination, choice and the power to respond to stimulus, conditions and circumstances of all the applications out there. 

2. Begin with the fun in mind. Sure you're a congressperson and you have to look busy and all but this thing is going to blow your mind and you will be caught smiling hunkered over the glow of its illumination.  You're going to feel like you need to concentrate on relevant activities, to build a platform to avoid distractions and become more productive and successful--but it won't work. Accept the fact that this thing is really fun and so usable that you'll wonder what you did without it. That's a promise.

3. First things first and second things first too. When organizing and implementing activities of your day, you'll notice that there are applications (located on iTunes) that will help with this. I use the alarm, the calendar and two applications that are simple as they are life-changing. First is a simple To-Do list. There are 5 of them that all work great. The other one is a simple voice recording tool. "Note to self: Remember to give Dick Cheney the finger today."  I also use the iPod to gather great podcasts in addtion to my kick-ass music collection. There are MIT Open Courseware podcasts that allow you to take MIT classes (I am following Sloan School classes, Neurochemistry classes and Legal IP podcasts.) I am also addicted to Harvard Business Ideacast, Wharton Management podcasts and Real Time with Bill Maher. I listen to these while on the treadmill. Trust me, as a congressperson, you need to ingest a little more creative chit chat.

4. Think Win-squared. Winning is better when more than one wins. Using the headphone with built in speaker coupled with the elegance of the phone interface will enable you to return more calls from your constituents. Because it is so much easier than the Blackberry. AND there is text messaging so easy you can be IM'ing (instant messaging) your house homies in a heartbeat getting more done in less time. I would like to see text messaging play a bigger role in legislation. 

5. Understand and be understood. Twitterific is the greatest tool on the iPhone. It is Twitter for the people on the go. If you aren't aware of Twitter, Mrs. Congresswoman, you will be once you have your iPhone. You will be able to microblog and keep all of us back home aware of where you are on an issue and what we think of what you are thinking. All this with fewer words and immediately distributed to anyone who follows you. Scary at first, then simply revolutionary. 

6. Feel Cool. Spread the Cool. You have an iPhone, dude. Feel creative. Urge your counterparts to be more creative. Dream up ways to communicate better using the phone, Instant Message, Camera, Twitter, the built in Web browser and so on. We could use some fresh thinking from y'all. We also can send a message to the world that CONGRESS is using technology, creatively. 

7. Encourage each other. Use the iPhone to lift everyone's spirits. You need that right now. And God knows your constituents need it from you. There are applications that you can use on the iPhone allowing you to take a picture (the iPhone has a good camera) add a caption and immediately send as a postcard. Share these with the public. We want to know that you are human and that you have a sense of humor in addition to a sense of duty. Sharpen the human side and let us all know a little more about who you are and what you are thinking. There is nothing better than the iPhone to help you with that. 

 

iPhone and iPod touch allow a user to save a WebClip bookmark to your site on their Home Screen.

To specify a bookmark icon for all pages of a web site, place a PNG image named “apple-touch-icon.png” at the root directory of your web server - similar to the “favicon.ico” for site icons.

To override the site bookmark icon on a specific web page, insert a <link> element similar to <link rel=”apple-touch-icon” href=”/customIcon.png”/> within the <head> element of the page.

The bookmark icon dimensions should be 57×57 pixels. If the icon is a different size it will be scaled and cropped to fit.

Safari will automatically composite the icon with the standard “glassy” overlay so it looks like a built-in iPhone or iPod application.

I have decided to raise a point of order with the English language, based on evidence which has recently come to bear. I would like to formally request the immediate and unconditional abolishment of the word 'podcast.'

I have a mondo affinity for words, don't get me wrong. I can write 'mondo' and 'affinity' next to one another in a sentence, and most of you get my meaning. But sometimes, certain junk words can be gummy enough to stick to our regular-usage muscle. Once Merriam-Webster writes them into law, such words can wreak havoc in contexts worldwide for generations.

Sitting around Innovation Station this morning, I was privy to an internal discussion of a client's expectations, as they pertained to a podcast. After several minutes of furious debate, it became clear that 'podcast' brought absolutely no clarity to the scope of the project. In fact, I contend that attaching that handle muddied the waters.

The term podcast was coined in 2004 with the splash of Apple's iPod. The ensuing cultural revolution of handheld entertainment and communication solidified the 'i-' prefix, and '-pod' as the suffix of the compartmentally-hip. At it's inception, the iPod was an mp3 player, designed for portable audio. The term became synonymous with portable, streamable audio cross-media, and soon the podcast was born, a portmanteau of 'iPod' and 'broadcast.' Used to describe organized audio presented over the Web, the podcast separated itself in that one could subscribe to a podcast feed and have installments pulled down to their device automatically. Well that was all great, but in just a couple of rabbit-speed gestational periods, the iPod gave birth to the video iPod, which gave birth to the iPhone...and now you have rich media for nearly all of the senses at your fingertips. And who hasn't heard of RSS by now? You can practically get your groceries via RSS these days. Bloggers everywhere found themselves stumbling over the clunkiness of describing the New Hotness as video podcasts, or rich media podcasts, or vlogs, or...or...

Merriam-Webster gleans the list of words we use every 10 years or so, adding and striking thousands upon thousands of words based on their popularity or obsolescence. The last major revision came in 2003. So you see, folks...WE STILL HAVE TIME. According to M-W (we're tight like that), they receive thousands of letters every year formally petitioning the addition or deletion of all types of words - but they are quick to add that there is no tangible way to directly sway the jury. I would very much like to meet one of these verbal illuminati and invite them to dinner, but that is beside the point. As frustrating as democracy itself, the only way to truly affect change is to encourage others to support you. So today, I implore you. Walk with me. Help our clients understand the Beast. Help us understand our clients. There just is no podcast anymore. There is only the webcast. There is only the blog. Both are the gryphons of our wired world, and no content is off limits. Just add adjectives to describe the nature of your content, and we will build it to perfection.