According to The New York Times, The Communications Workers of America union is seeking to restart stalled contract talks with The Washington Post. The union represents 400 manufacturing workers at the Post. The union is running a radio, print and outdoor campaign that seeks to embarrass the paper's management and bring them to the bargaining table for the first time in five years. …
AT&T Learns About The Two-Way Conversation The Hard Way
Joel Johnson of Boing Boing Gadgets caused a bit of a stir yesterday, appearing on an AT&T Tech Channel online show and changing the subject to discuss AT&T's plans to filter the Internet. As Joel says: As you can see from the video, the crew ended up scrubbing the interview about half-way through. Figuring that might happen, I asked my steely-nerved friend Richard Blakeley to tape the first take. I wanted to make …
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Steve Nash Shows Nike And The Interwebs Who He Is
According to The Wall Street Journal, NBA star Steve Nash went native and produced his own Nike spot. Mr. Nash, who plays for the Phoenix Suns, says he is happy with how Nike has marketed him but felt he could come up with an ad that reflected more of his personality. There was little financial risk to Nike, since the campaign would require no ad buy. He says he got the idea from the young fans who take pictures of …
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The Spending Pendulum
The dark clouds of recession are upon us. People want answers to their quesions. "What's the Fed going to do about this? Can I sell my house in this market? Will my business fail?" Business too seeks answers. The Wall Street Journal looks closely at the key retail sector after weak holiday spending. Chains are slamming the brakes on store openings, cutting back on inventory and girding for leaner times as consumer …
Faux Paparazzi
Time Magazine has a disturbing story about people paying faux paparazzi up to $1500 to follow them around town with cameras. The trend is driven by the twin obsessions with chronicling one's life and experiencing fame. "We live in a culture where if it's not documented, it doesn't exist," says Josh Gamson, a University of San Francisco professor of sociology who studies culture and mass media. "And if you don't have …
Free Idea for Howard Schultz
For any brand that builds community in real life, doing so online is a natural. Starbucks wants to be your community gathering spot. In many cases, it is. But I feel Starbucks has a ways to go online. Here's what I can "discover" about my local Starbucks on the company's site: I'd like to discover more than that. I'd like to see a list of the people working there, with a little bio on each. They know my name. I want …
Studying Silicon Valley’s Higher Math
Microsoft's $240 million investment in Facebook, which bought them a paltry 1.6% of the company, might now be a model for other social media investments. According to The New York Times, Slide, the maker of applications for social networks, has raised another round of funding – $50 million from the private equity funds at Fidelity and T-Rowe Price, two major Wall Street investment houses. The firms have taken a nine …
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Daily Tweet
Evan "Ev" Williams is a native Nebraskan who went on to help create Blogger, which he and his partners then sold to Google. Now, he and Biz Stone have Twitter and whatever else becomes Obvious. …