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Writers’ Strike Round-up: Juno for Best Pict...

A lot of news today that relates to the ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike–seems like it’s becoming a bigger and bigger deal.  Therefore, for your reading enjoyment, we present the Writers’ Strike Round-up:

1. Juno for Best Picture!  The 2008 Academy Award Nominations were announced this morning, and everyone’s buzzing about the news.  This relates to the writers’ strike because the writers are currently planning to picket this year’s Oscar ceremony.  And actors and directors, in solidarity with the writers, might not be showing up either.  Academy Award producers say they have a plan in place to hold the ceremony without any of the writers or stars so that the show can go on. 

I’m personally a little skeptical that anyone will care to watch an Oscar ceremony without writers or stars, but then again, I wonder why people watch even when the writers and stars are there.  Sure, I want to know who won as much as you do, but I don’t usually spend 4.5 hours watching boring acceptance speeches just to find out.  There’s this thing called the Internet, and I can usually find out the winners in real time on a variety of websites. 

Anyway, I’m pulling for Juno for Best Picture, for many reasons.  First, it’s an underdog.  It’s this year’s “indie darling” film that critics and audiences are loving.  But it’s still a small-time competitor when you consider the competition.  Here are the nominees for Best Picture:

Juno (yay)

There Will Be Blood

No Country For Old Men

Atonement

Michael Clayton

I’m also rooting for Juno because I really liked it.  It’s quirky and fun and sweet, without having to be outlandish or overly strange.  It’s a much-more straightforward story than I expected, but the performances (especially by the lead, Ellen Page, who plays Juno) are exceptional.  Miss Page is also nominated for Best Actress. 

Lastly, I’m pulling for Juno for Best Picture because I haven’t seen any of the other movies that are nominated.  It’s tough to root for a movie you haven’t seen.  In fact, I think this is the year 0f the under-watched Best Picture nominees, because all of those films are smaller, more “indie-type” films that opened on a limited run.  There’s not a single blockbuster on that list–not a Titanic in the bunch–which means the award could go to any of them.  Let us know which film you’re backing for this year’s Best Picture Oscar in the comments below.

2. More people than ever are watching television episodes of their favorite shows online, according to this report.  This is nothing new.  We’ve covered this before–just recently, when we talked about Comcast’s new site for TV shows and movies, called FanCast.  But we get actual statistics this time: 

The number of broadband users who watched full shows online weekly doubled in 2007 from 8% to 16%, says market research firm Horowitz Associates.

Obviously, the connection here to the Writers’ Strike is that people are probably watching more TV episodes online more and more because there’s simply nothing on the real television anymore.  News, sports, and reality shows are basically all that’s left, as the strike has forced an end to production on new episodes of comedies and dramas.  Also, we’re becoming more wired….so, duh.  Of course we’re watching more TV episodes online.  More of us have broadband, there’s more accessibility as the networks and production companies make content more available.  It’s no surprise whatsoever…but it’s still interesting.  I think that percentage will spike even higher in the next few months if the strike isn’t resolved. 

3. Because of the writers’ strike, Americans are beginning to read more, according to this story (which, interestingly enough is from the UK).  See, without new episodes of our favorite TV shows to watch, we’re doing all sorts of things more often than we did just six months ago.  10% said they are reading more books (hooray for literacy!!), and a whopping 27% are simply going to bed earlier. 

Man, are we that dependent on our TV shows?  Without them we have nothing else we can do for entertainment but… go to sleep?!?!  That’s ridiculous!  Read a book like the other 10%.  Play a video game.  Exercise.  Go online and surf the web (or, as we just pointed out above…you can watch TV episodes and movies online people!!).  Talk to your wife or loved ones!  But just….going to sleep?  Wow, that’s pathetic.  We’re really too tied to our TV shows if the best we can do to replace them is…”Well, I guess I’ll go ahead and go to bed.” 

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Keystone University to Offer Bachelors Degrees in ...

Okay, so our Keystone University doesn’t actually offer a Bachelor’s Degree in anything.  But if it did, it would be in the areas of Fun and Eating.  We have a tenured, experienced staff of instructors who basically majored in those areas themselves. 

What is Keystone University?  Well, I sure am glad you asked, because the whole point of writing this post was to tell you about it. 

Keystone University is a free, hour-long class, taught by Keystone Business Solutions professionals.  Each session covers a different topic in the area of technology like “Everything You Need To Know About Search Engines” or “Why Your Company Needs A Blog.” 

We’ll feed you lunch, teach you something useful in a fun way, and we’ll even throw in a free “Keystone University” T-shirt!  Now how can you turn that down? 

If you’d like to learn more about our upcoming classes, or how you can sign up to be a part of one, stroll on over to our official site.  Classes are limited in size due to the fact that only so many people will fit in our conference room, but we’ll gladly reschedule extra classes when the demand is high.  We want to make sure we’re providing the kind of technology advice our clients find useful, so we hope you’ll check it out.  Maybe you have an area of interest we’re not currently covering, and if so… we’d love to hear your suggestions too. 

Hey, no textbooks to buy, no papers, no final exams.  It’s all the good stuff you remember from college, minus the tuition! 

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Posted by Jeremy Scott | 0 Comments

Comcast Unleashes FanCast Website

Look… I’ve been saying for years to anyone that will listen (which, admittedly, hasn’t been a lot of people) that Big Cable is going to die. At least…Big Cable, as we know it, is going to die.

Digital downloads of TV shows and movies are going to kill the basic business model for companies like Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, and all the rest.

Let me explain what I mean. Here’s my set up at home: rabbit ears for local channels and major networks, high-speed Internet service for downloading individual episodes of all my favorite cable-channel shows. Now, instead of paying a monthly fee to Comcast for a hundred channels–many of which I do not use–I pay a small, per-download fee to iTunes or Amazon, and only pay for the content I want.

And virtually all television shows are available online now, some for a fee and some for free.

Once broadband Internet access becomes the norm (if it isn’t already), there is no more need for a set-top box from a cable company. Period. It’s over. The future is in a la carte content.

This is why I’m not surprised at all with the move Comcast made into offering telephone service. They spent the last few years building themselves into a player in the internet service provider industry as well. But actual cable television? Soon to die a wretched death, by my estimation.

And now we have new evidence: Comcast has unveiled a new website called FanCast. FanCast is basically a TV guide mashed together with a video site. They have content deals with all but one major network, and are working on deals with major movie studios. They clearly want FanCast to be your one-stop shop for information and downloads. And so far, that’s fine with me. Go here to check out FanCast.

They have a TON of television shows–full episodes–already available, with promises of more. And the TV shows are free. I guess eventually there will be shows as well as movie downloads that will cost money. Again… fine with me. A la carte, baby!

And this is why a lot of people are saying the HD-DVD versus BluRay war is now over before it’s begun. It’s only a matter of time (years…maybe months) before digital downloads a la carte are the norm. There won’t be a need for a physical disc of any kind, nor a physical “player” to put those discs in. Instead of a DVD in a plastic case, my $15 will buy me a digital copy of that film–at much higher quality, mind you. There are so many benefits to doing it this way, it’s not even funny: no more trips to the store for DVDs, storage space eliminated as a need, higher quality film presentation, less equipment to buy, etc.

This is a very good, bold move by Comcast. They are the first of the big Cable firms to step into this arena, and it’s a signal that they know the days of monthly cable subscribers are numbered. They want to grow this new revenue stream so that when regular cable dies (honestly, probably not for several more years) they won’t have a huge dip in their profits. Smart.

It’s almost enough to make people forget Comcast’s recent not-so-positive headlines, such as the FCC probe into possibly shady restrictions on some customer’s web access, or thelocal Nashville blog for Comcast-haters (people fed up with bad customer service). Almost enough.

If you have broadband, go check out FanCast and watch a TV show, and ask yourself… do you really need to pay those monthly cable fees?

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Posted by Jeremy Scott | 3 Comments

Ladies and Gentlemen, the $2,500 Car Has Arrived

That’s right. Indian automobile manufacturer Tata has announced its newest model, nick-named “The People’s Car,” the Tata Nano will retail for around $2,500.

The Nano is intended not for heavy drivers, but rather for the masses in India who never had a car, but would use it to shuttle to and from work every day.

In fact, the car would officially top out at 75mph, but anything over 45mph would see the thing deteriorate much more rapidly than intended, because they used cheaper parts. I mean, it’s a $2,500 car, for Pete’s sake… how much wear and tear did you think it could handle? I half expect the thing to be made of aluminum foil.

The car would also fail U.S. emissions tests, so put your checkbook away for now. Heck, it’s likely to fail emissions tests in India when that country adopts tougher standards (as they’re expected to within a few years).

From the article:

“Driving the cost-cutting were Tata’s engineers, who in an earlier project questioned whether their trucks really needed all four brake pads or could make do with three. As they built Tata’s new car, for about half the price of the next-cheapest Indian alternative, their guiding philosophy was: Do we really need that?”

Man, do you really want to buy a car whose manufacturer’s philosophy is “Do we really need that”?! I don’t. I mean, I’m as much in favor of cheaper cars as the next guy, but let’s not forget that “you get what you pay for.” I don’t want my surgeon digging around in my body saying “Does he really need that?” Likewise, I sort of like a lot of the features my car has–such as having all four brake pads–even if it cost me 10 times what the Nano would.

So why am I writing about this mega-cheap car if I think it’s such a bad idea? Well, I think it’s a bad idea for me to buy one. And it’s probably a bad idea for you to buy one too. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea in principle. There are a lot of folks in India who can now afford transportation, and that’s a good thing.

Also, this car is expected to revolutionize the auto-manufacturing industry…forcing Big Auto to completely reinvent the way they build cars. Consumers are likely to demand cheaper and cheaper vehicles, and car makers are going to meet that need.

Of course, this comes on the heels of GM’s proclamation that self-driving cars will be on the market within 10 years. So we sort of have conflicting ambitions here in the world of car makers. On one end, they’re working feverishly to develop insanely low-priced economy cars for the masses. On the other end, they’re working on robot cars from science fiction movies (and, I’m just guessing here, but I bet those won’t be cheap).

Personally, I’m holding out for the best of both worlds. I want a robot self-driving car whose manufacture built it on the slogan of “do we really need that?” so that it’s super cheap. It’d be like the most flimsy robot car on the road, probably made of cardboard….but hey…it’s a robot car!!

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New Years Tech Resolutions to Make your 2008 Great

It’s a brand new year, in case you hadn’t noticed. We thought it’d be a good time to look back at the past year and make some solid tech-related resolutions for the coming year. We hope these will help make 2008 a great year for your business, your website, and how you are able to use technology to better server your customers.

1. I will protect my data and the data of my customers.

This article says that computer breaches hit an all-time high in 2007, and show no sign of slowing in 2008. Those of us here in Nashville might wince a little more at this news, considering the recent theft of our voter registration records from a government building (the thieves used the rather high-tech break-in technique referred to as “throwing a rock through the window.”) If you voted in the last election as a registered Nashville voter, your full social security number is probably in the hands of some small-time crooks. Ouch.

But stories like this are a dime a dozen. Federal government agencies have seen laptop thefts compromise the data of hundreds of thousands. Companies everywhere are still being reactive instead of proactive. Identity theft has tripled in the past year.

Here’s a resolution that can save a lot of strife down the road: protect your computers and the data that they store. Password-protect things, and use a real password, not “12345“. Run a firewall (please, for the love of all things holy, run a firewall). Don’t put employee or client data on laptops. Encrypt your wireless router. Basically, all the security steps you’ve avoided because you thought these things couldn’t happen to you.

Start 2008 off fresh, lock down all your data, and be prepared. The consequences are far too scary to skimp on security. We’re happy to help you get set up.

2. I Will Do My Part to Help Search Engines Rank My Site Properly

The latest numbers on search are in, and guess what… search engines are more important than ever. In November 2007 alone, over 61 Billion searches were performed. That’s an average of more than 10 searches per month for every living person on the planet.

According to Enquiro–a web search statistics firm–56% of people use search engines on a daily basis. 26% of those people will give up their search if they can’t find what they’re looking for in the first two pages of search engine results. So, the point is, if you’re site isn’t listed in the first two pages of the rankings for your target keyword phrases, you’re not reaching the very audience that’s looking for you.

It is simply no longer acceptable to just have a website. If you’re not being found in search engines, you’re business is falling behind. Again, we’re happy to help with this sort of thing, but whether you use us or someone else… the fact remains that if you’re not optimizing your site for search, you’re throwing money away.

3. I will stop spamming my clients with ugly, unsolicited emails.

You type up a wonderfully-worded marketing message, paste it in the body of a new email message, and then carbon copy your entire contact list… raise your hand if you’re guilty of this?

This may be annoying some of your customers who don’t necessarily appreciate SPAM messages. What’s worse, your messages probably aren’t even getting to many of your intended recipients. One of the first things spam filters look for is numerous recipients of a single message–even the most basic filters will often block your message before the customer even has a chance to see it.

What if I told you there was a way to send a marketing message through email that looks beautiful, a message so branded and personalized that the customers actually wanted to recieve it? Would you believe that such a thing already exists? We call it Keymail. Keymail is an email marketing product that conforms to all spam laws. It is custom designed to match your existing website, logo, or other graphics. It has personalization features to make recipients feel like a prized client. And best of all? It’s cheap. So cheap that not using it is almost criminal.

4. I will stop wasting time and money dealing with unwanted spam emails.

Spam costs money. Most of our clients say they get between 100-200 unwanted solicitation emails per day–at least, those not using our Postini email filter. Wading through all those messages to discern the junk from the business correspondance wastes precious time. Even if you only spend 10 minutes a day sorting email, that adds up to over 43 hours a year. I don’t know what you make per hour, but multiply that number by 43 and you’ll see a very real dollar amount for how much money spam is costing you.

Google–you might have heard of them–they own Postini, and use it on their Gmail service. Google says more than 70% of all email to their Gmail accounts is spam. If you’re not experiencing a similar level of spam, count yourself lucky. Oh, and act now, before it gets worse.

You owe it to yourself to free up your time. And like Keymail, Postini email filtering is every bit as inexpensive as it is effective.

5. I will throw my server down a flight of stairs in a cathartic release

Okay, we don’t really encourage you to do that. Servers don’t tend to survive such trips, as our video above shows. Yes, that’s really us, at our real office, chucking a useless and hated server to its death. (Hey, we thought it would be best to end this list of resolutions with something fun). Should you ever find yourself so frustrated with your machine that you can’t help but recreate the above scene–we’ll do what we can to help you get back on your feet. But it’s easier if we set up the new server before destroying the old one!Happy New Year, Keystone clients! May 2008 be filled with technology solutions that see your business grow beyond your dreams.

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