Meeting: Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Gillian Shaw - Journalist

• Time: 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:45 p.m.)
• Place: Alliance for the Arts & Culture, Suite 100, 938 Howe St., Vancouver.
• Cost: CAA Members free; Non-members $5; Students (with student ID) $2

Gillian Shaw will be the speak on social media and its importance to Canadian authors.

Gillian Shaw is a journalist with The Vancouver Sun and Canwest. She writes on Digital Life for the Sun and the Canwest news service, focusing on technology issues and trends online and off that affect our life, whether at work or play. Gillian can be found online at www.vancouversun.com/digitallife or through some of her social media links listed at krunchd.com/gillianshaw.

Since I'm officially and author now, I think it's fitting that I attend the Canadian Authors Association meeting tonight. Well, that and my friend Gillian Shaw is speaking on authors and social media.

Gillian warned me that she's going to point me out as an example of an author using social media. I can only hope that Raul is there too so I won't be the other social media person there to poke fun of, er, point out during the meeting.

While it’s certainly possible that the WSJ decided “about $1,000″ was a good price to quote from analysts, there are at least as many people out there suggesting the device would be more like $600 – $800 — a price that would be much more attractive to consumers. With that in mind, and going along with my little thinking-out-loud-speculation here, I don’t think it’s impossible that Apple could have nudged WSJ towards the $1,000 predictors to temper expectations a bit.

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And there is a flip-side to all of this: Again, going along with my scenario, maybe Apple pointed towards the $1,000 price to set expectations very low in the weeks leading up to the event. That way, if they announce the device at $800, the public will erupt in applause, overjoyed that it’s not $1,000. Classic under promise, over deliver.

This is of course all just speculation, but I’m not so sure it’s that far out there. Certainly, I wouldn’t put any of the scenarios I laid out past Apple, which has a masterful hand when it comes to manipulating the media.

Okay the WSJ came out with a March ship date and something around a $1000 price tag. Regardless of whatever hemming and hawing is going on now, I'm looking at this news two ways.
One, at that price, chances are I'm not going to get one. Sure I'll drool over them, and wish I had one, but realistically, I'm not going to shuck out that kind of coin for an iTablet.
Two, this is going to sell a lot more "regular" eReaders like from Sony, Amazon, and whoever unveils something in the $200-400 price range at CES.
Which is awesome.
eReaders are just one part of the whole tablet continuum, and the more eBooks out there, the better I think.

It’s Apple, they’re trying to hit a homerun. That doesn’t mean they won’t strike out, but make no mistake that they are swinging for the fences. To create a bland tablet in the image of those that existed before it would be the equivalent of a bunt with no one on and two outs.

With all the discussion about tablet yes, tablet no, let's not forget the basic part--Apple is taking a huge risk with a tablet (if all the rumors are true). But this kind of risk is the only way to hit a homerun.

Similar case in point: Gillette Mach 3. Years and years in testing. Disposable razor market eating their lunch. Gillette swung big, swung hard and ... now how many of you buy a razor with only two measly little blades?

Do or do not, there is no try. -- Yoda.

Successful new gadgets always seem to occupy a clearly defined place alongside, or replacing, existing devices. The Flip filled a previously empty niche for a small, cheap, simple video camera. How was the iPod better than existing portable music players? It fit 1,000 songs in your pocket, with a fun interface that let you find them easily. Why buy an iPhone to replace your existing mobile phone? Because there was a clear need for a modern handheld general-purpose computer.

But how much room is there between an iPhone (or iPod Touch) and a MacBook (or other laptop computer, running Windows or Linux or whatever)? What’s the argument for owning all three?

If Apple is known for anything, it's known for innovation and breaking new ground. So if the pundits have been wrong before about the "what's next" from Apple, what will an Apple Tablet really do?

Now for something superficial:

Or, I’d like a t-shirt that says “Not Available for Corporate Sponsorship”
or “My Rights Trump Your Sponsorship”.

Or a Canadian flag, with a legend above and below that reads “Corporate Sponsor Free since 1867″

Or a cute little pair of sweats or shorts that read across the bottom “Insert corporate sponsor logo here”.

Actually, given the tech savvy local population, you might do well to have the magnifying glass logo and search box graphic with a hashtag of your point, like “#vanocsucks”.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• VANOC Censorship
• Thoughts on the Olympic Protests
• Harmonious society
• The Exciting World of South Korean Protests

I used to have a simple system for passwords. The passwords weren't great, but I could remember them. Well I realized that those passwords weren't good enough. I have 1Password on my MBP which let's me have one über-strong password manage a raft of randomly generated, strong passwords.

I'm amazed, however, at the number of times I sign up at sites where I can only use numbers and letters for passwords. So, with Twitter having a list of banned passwords, maybe all other sites should too.

Yeah I know it sucks for some people, but you know it's the people with really weak passwords are the ones who also are the greatest risk of getting hacked and accounts compromised. Funny that Twitter is implementing this, since they have their own password security issues.

I used to have a simple system for passwords. The passwords weren't great, but I could remember them. Well I realized that those passwords weren't good enough. I have 1Password on my MBP which let's me have one über-strong password manage a raft of randomly generated, strong passwords.

I'm amazed, however, at the number of times I sign up at sites where I can only use numbers and letters for passwords. So, with Twitter having a list of banned passwords, maybe all other sites should too.

Yeah I know it sucks for some people, but you know it's the people with really weak passwords are the ones who also are the greatest risk of getting hacked and accounts compromised. Funny that Twitter is implementing this, since they have their own password security issues.

From my perspective, I don’t think it matters if you’re being paid to talk about a client, if you’re just doing it yourself or even if you’re writing about a client’s competitor (a risky task). Either way, trust and relationships you’ve developed online are at play.

The rules never change. You need to be transparent about bias now or you're toast.

Every year the ReadWriteWeb team tries its hand at predicting the future. Looking back at our 2009 predictions, we got some wrong (I predicted that Facebook would sign up to OpenSocial) but others turned out to be on the money. I correctly guessed that the usual suspects would remain unacquired in '09 - Digg, Twitter, Technorati - but that FriendFeed would get bought. OK, so I guessed that Google would be the buyer. But close enough!

Without further ado, here are our predictions for 2010. We'd love to read your predictions in the comments.

My predictions:
More new stuff will come out, but only available in the US
I'll want to buy far more gadgets than I need, and might be able to grab a few of them
I will get married, on schedule, on July 31st
I'll write so much about WordPress I'll start prefacing words with wp-
My mom will still not read my blog

When I hear about the processes companies are using to engage in social media-based conversations and communities, I’m a bit surprised that many lack any kind of strategy or written plan. While I’m a firm believer in the need for both spontaneity and frequency in social media-enabled communications, I also believe that whenever a company decides to adopt new communications tools, they need to start with the basics of Marketing and Communications 101:

How do you plan out your company communications through social media?

You don't start new strategies or tactics without planning, so why would social media be different?