Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

In the past two months I have known more than a dozen people that have officially upgraded their phone. They didn't just upgrade to a run-of-the-mill rebate phone from AT&T or Verizon, they went all the way, and they bought the super car of phones.

These folks went from owning run down flip phones, one person holding theirs together with a rubber band, to buying iPhones and Verizon's new Droid. When asked why most their responses were, "Why not."

While some have taken to their new phones like fish to water loading apps like it was their jobs, others haven't faired as well. In one case the user of a brand new iPhone has still, after two months, not figured out how to use the phone to get their e-mail.

Should everyone be buying the Bugatti Veyrons of the phone world because they can, or should they be looking for the Porsche Carrera GT? A buyer still gets the rush of owing an "it phone" but one that is just a bit slower and bit less expensive. What a great idea, one problem, these Porche models just don't exist. So we have a lot Bugatti Veyrons sitting in their garages or in this case, gathering lint in the bottom of your mom's purse.

As the mobile business explodes and more users take to interacting with their phones for more than just calls, who will adapt? The users or the phones? I'm not saying we can't still have our super cars of the phone world, but I do think they will have to make a more toned down version of the phones hitting the market. Early adopters are great, but I go back to cars, how many people do you know that own a Bugatti Veyron and how many people do you know that own a Porsche? It is still an expensive market to play in; phones, but I foresee an iPhone "light" in the future.

This blog is inspired by "Top Gear" one of the BBC's finest productions.

For those of you struggling with syncing your iPhone Cal, Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar, I've got a solution for you. I call it the "Hard Way" since there's probably a more elegant and less kludgy way to accomplish this. But I haven't found one that I've been satisfied with.

I'll dispense with any more rhetoric and get on with it. Here's a diagram to follow along with.

 

1. Download and install Google Calendar Sync for Outlook. This is a little program that runs on your local machine. It pushes and pulls calendar data between your computer and Google Calendar. The flaw here, of course, is that it's only effective when your computer is running and connected to the web. But if that's not a big issue for you, keep going. 
2. Backup your iPhone.
3. No, really. Go backup your iPhone, cowboy. You stand to obliterate your contacts and old calendar data, as you will see in the next step.
4. Go to Google Mobile Sync for iPhone. You already backed up your iPhone, so go to Step 2 "Set Up your iPhone." There you will configure it to push and pull data from Google. When you're almost complete it will ask you to confirm that you're ok with the possibility of blowing away your data. It will ask you twice. You backed up, right? If so, take a deep breath and proceed.
   
5. Wait a few minutes for everything to get synced up. If you hosed your old data, I take no responsibility for that. Maybe I should have mentioned that earlier?

Ahhh – Facebook.  Couldn’t live with it, now can’t live without it. For all those out there who do not wish to be part of this world known as Facebook, I completely get it. I was opposed at first because of the lack of privacy, and because I just didn’t want to be tied up with one more thing. Then I got an iPhone, and it just seemed natural to download that little app and give it a shot! I’m still far from obsessed, but I can see how people can get hooked.

I could gripe all day long about the inappropriate things people will post on their walls or as their status. However it is these people that make it humorous for me. When someone is posting their entire day’s activities, they need to be Twittering. Those people care about what you had for breakfast. Many Facebook users like to see just how many ‘friends’ they can come up with. I have been known to deny people that want to be my friend. I’m reluctant to give up all my privacy for people that literally are not my friends, and just want to be nosy! Sorry if I have not accepted your friend request, it’s probably because I don’t want to keep up with what you are having for breakfast everyday!

The structure of society and human behavior will continuously change, and so will the way in which we communicate. It was just the landline when I was growing up and going through that awkward communication phase in high school. I think I was asked to the prom face to face.  I seriously doubt that is the case now. There is a lot to be said about how kids and teenagers are currently communicating. Are they saying too much and talking to people they normally wouldn’t, because they don’t actually have to ‘say’ it? 

Although much of it might seem impersonal (a wall post versus a phone call), people really do want to communicate more and feel connected to others. I have family that live in Florida, cousins that I would normally not email or call on a regular basis. I love that I can see what everyone is up to, and see how their families are growing. It makes me feel connected.  

Earlier this week, a co-worker lost her dog. Within a day or so, many of her friends had posted notes about the missing dog. Three days later the dog was found, via a post on Craigslist.  Although it was not Facebook that found the little pup, it was amazing to see her network of friends pull together to spread the word. The possibilities are endless.

Accepting social media as a way of communicating is no different than we accepted email.  Heck, it's no different than when humans accepted the telegraph line or the printing press!

I bought an iPhone a month ago. Now I join the wanker ranks who are always checking something. Weather in Singapore, got it! A cheap hot dog joint downtown, bingo! Email, check! Texting? Ha! LMAO! Heck, I even check the GPS while driving to work. I know exactly where I am and I know where my office is, too. I guess I want to make sure the iPhone knows where we are.

 

So here’s my dilemma: I’m compelled to destroy my old phone?

It’s the worst phone ever. Half my calls never come through and it has all the convenience of cute little piece of Styrofoam. Mostly I’m tired of being ridiculed like, “Barbie called, she wants her phone back.” Or, “Dude, is that your Hello Kitty lighter ringing?”

With hundreds of cool iPhone applications available, not one will destroy my useless, elfin phone with due flair. Give me some great suggestions and I’ll document it here. *

 

 

* I realize I can donate it. Should I pass along my aggravation?

 

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.