Welcome

Welcome once again to the Prompt Newsletter!

It’s a bumper edition this week. We examine Bill Gates’ predictions that touch and movement will control devices in the future, reveal some guidelines for navigating green messaging, and examine why UK retailers have experienced a sales slump this Christmas.

The newsletter is also tinged with sadness this week, as we lament the loss of Yahoo! Picks.

If you enjoy reading this newsletter, why not take a look at our blog too?

For any feedback on our newsletter, or to discuss how we can help you with your technology PR, marketing, social media and blogging consultancy, copywriting or surveys, please email me. We are always delighted to hear from you.

Best regards,
Hazel Butters
Prompt Communications

Technology News

Privacy, probably quite important after all
By Lance Concannon

Outspoken British journalist and TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson was left with egg on his face this week after claiming the public outcry following the government’s loss of discs containing private details of over 25 million citizens was misplaced. To prove his point, Clarkson published his personal bank account details in his column in The Sun newspaper, claiming that the details could only be used to deposit, and not withdraw funds.

Clarkson was proven wrong, however, when an unknown person used the details to transfer £500 ($1000) from his account to a diabetes charity. Ironically, the UK’s data protection laws, intended to protect citizens' privacy, prevent the bank from revealing who was responsible for transferring the funds.

In a separate story this week, a con-artist managed to defraud the UK’s Barclays Bank of £10,000 by posing as the bank’s chairman and persuading its call centre to issue him with a credit card, after finding the real chairman’s details online.

Gates says it’s time to touch
By Duncan Heaney

Bill Gates has been speaking to the BBC about his vision of the future. According to the insanely wealthy Microsoft man, mice and keyboards could soon become a thing of the past.

Gates suggested that the success of the iPhone and the Nintendo Wii controller demonstrated that consumers were embracing control methods that let them directly touch and manipulate items. During the interview, Gates took the opportunity to demonstrate the Microsoft Surface computer, which is described as a ‘large table-like machine with a multi-touch interface.'

It has been widely reported that Bill Gates is leaving Microsoft later this year. At the opening of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas Gates delivered his final keynote speech. As well as showing a video in which he dressed up as an X-Man (see the blog for a run-down of that gem) Gates took to the stage to further emphasise his vision of natural interfaces being the way of the future.

Is he right or wrong? It’s hard to say, but his clout in the industry ensures that when Bill Gates speaks, people listen.

US Media News

By Tarryn Morley

US

Janet Whitman has left her role as business reporter at the New York Post to become the U.S. business correspondent for National Post, a Canadian daily national newspaper. Prior to joining the New York Post, Whitman was an advertising and media industry reporter for Dow Jones Newswires. She began her new role on January 7th.

David Berlind recently resigned as technology executive editor at ZDNet. Berlind is also no longer writing for the blog Between the Lines. No replacement has yet been named.

Mary Jo Nott has resigned as editor in chief of DM Review. She had worked for the publication since 1995. Nott has been replaced by Julie Langenkamp, who began her new role at the beginning of the year.

Gabriel Sherman has moved from staff writer to contributing editor for Portfolio and is also joining The New Republic as staff writer. Prior to joining Portfolio, Sherman was a media reporter for The New York Observer. He has also written for The New York Times, The Guardian, Outside magazine, National Geographic Adventure and on Slate.

UK Media News

By Tarryn Morley

UK

James Harding, who replaced Robert Thomson as editor of the Times last month, has reshuffled his editorial staff. Ben Preston has moved from the role of deputy editor to editor of international editions. Former executive editor Keith Blackmore is now deputy editor. Former foreign editor Roland Watson is now head of news for the Times and the Times Online, while former diplomatic editor Richard Beeston is now foreign editor.

There have been several recent changes at CNET Networks UK. The news editor of ZDNet.co.uk news, Richard Thurston, left the publication on December 31, 2007, to begin a freelance career. Thurston will continue to cover business technology for a number of publications, including ZDNet.co.uk. No replacement for Thurston has yet been named.

At Silicon.com, another CNET publication, Andy McCue has been promoted from chief reporter to deputy editor. McCue has worked for a variety of titles before joining Silicon.com, including Computing magazine, IT Week and Computer Reseller News.

Mark Chillingworth has replaced Janice McGinn as editor of CIO. Chillingworth was previously editor of Information World Review (IWR), which he left at the end of 2007. Peter Williams has since been appointed editor of IWR.

Goodbye from Yahoo! Picks
By Dave Wilby

Because it is one of the largest and longest-running mainstream content providers in Internet land, Yahoo! tends to be regarded as part of the old-school establishment, and therefore somewhat uncool in this hip new post-Web 2.0 deconstructionist online eco-bubble. However, we're sorry to see that one founding stone of Yahoo!’s service, Yahoo! Picks, received its very last update on New Year’s Day after 12 years showcasing some of the most original and interesting websites out there. We’ll miss it, not just for the great links, but for some frequently brilliant summaries and tight site reviews. Why would anyone stop telling the world about Airborne Cats, Disapproving Rabbits, Liquid Sculpture, 1000 Places To See Before You Die, The Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments Of All Time, Transportation Futuristics, Faces in Places, Skeletal Systems of Cartoon Characters and all those other gems?

Cleaning up ecoporn
By Tarryn Morley

These days, it seems one cannot get through an entire day with being bombarded with news about impending environmental doom. In response to our growing fixation on all things green, everyone from airlines to grocery chains is touting their environmental credentials. And it looks like green marketing is only going to get bigger in 2008. But with so many organisations claiming green practices, it has become difficult to differentiate between the ones that are accurate and the ones that are so full of hot air that they're actually contributing to global warming.

One of the biggest problems facing those in public relations is the adverse effect greenwashing has on public perceptions of green claims. Greenwashing (a portmanteau of green and whitewash), or ecopornography, is when an organisation makes environmental claims that contradict its actual activities and policies.

Greenwashing can damage an organisation's reputation and investor relations. Misleading messages can also make the media and public more cynical about green claims in general. This kind of counterproductive communication only makes it harder for those who actually care about environmental issues to make their messages heard.

To increase awareness of the issues surrounding green communications, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, a leading professional body in the UK, is developing the Environmental Sustainability Communications Best Practice Guidelines. As CIPR members, we at Prompt thought we would share some CIPR tips for navigating the minefield of green messaging:

  1. Ask if the story is just PR for PR sake.
  2. Use transparent and jargon free language.
  3. Support all your claims with evidence and have it verified by independent industry leading standards where possible.
  4. Don't greenwash.
  5. Think about how your organisation can make further environmentally friendly changes.

As with any communications activity, it is always advisable to consult media or industry experts, and to use industry respected standards and methodology.

Just as it is our individual responsibility to safeguard the environment, it is also our professional responsibility not to pollute the world with ecopornography and messages that undermine our integrity and the ultimate issues at stake. As a wise frog once said, it's not easy being green, but at Prompt, we're up for the challenge.

BT Vision back on?
By Dave Wilby

BT is gambling that a new partnership with Microsoft announced this week will expand its broadband TV service by tapping into the popularity of the Xbox. To date, BT Vision uptake has been disappointingly slow, with just 100,000 subscribers signing up to the on-demand content service since its November 2006 launch. (Not for want of trying though, I’ve had BT telemarketers bothering me two days running this week). Films and sports content will be available from the summer for BT Broadband subscribers with Xbox 360s, but unlike the official set-top-box, the console won’t be able to receive or record live TV. Jupiter analyst Nick Thomas told the BBC: "It will definitely make its broadband service more attractive but there are challenges. People have to sign up to a 12-month broadband contract and not all Xbox owners may want to do that," he said.

Give it time, says Wikia’s Wales
By Lance Concannon

After the alpha launch of Jimmy Wales’ open source search engine last week, the service came under a barrage of criticism from users and the press, most notably TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington who described the service as a total letdown.

Wales defended the service robustly, however, pointing out that the search engine was still in the very early stages of testing and development, and that since the project is heavily dependent on community support it will inevitably take some time to achieve its goals.

CES means wacky gadgets
By Duncan Heaney

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) offers electronics companies the chance to show off their latest gadgets. Some of these are innovative, some are misguided and some are just plain weird.

MSN has posted a fun article that runs through some of the more offbeat products demonstrated at this year’s show. Among these is the Sony Rolly, an egg shaped MP3 player that jigs around to the music its playing. The device apparently rolls around the floor, wiggles its speaker covers, and flashes lights, all in time to the music. It’s completely and utterly unnecessary, yet somehow enticing.

Another highlight is the Guitar Hero Air Rocker. The device consists of a magnetic guitar pick, a belt buckle and a small amplifier. Players choose one of 10 riffs and as the pick passes over the belt buckle, the amp broadcasts the riff.

The magic happens because the belt buckle contains magnetic coils which react as the magnetic pick passes them. Once again, it’s impressive, pointless, and tempting in equal measure.

These are just two of the fun gadgets at this year’s show. Some other examples can be found on MSN and here.

Hark the tills just didn't ring
By Reshma Raghavani and Beth Godfrey

This week, the British Retail Consortium revealed that UK retailers had experienced the slowest December sales growth for 3 years. Flagship retailer Marks & Spencer reported poor performance at Christmas, as did other high street retailers, including Next and Debenhams.

The slowdown in Christmas spending is being blamed on customers tightening their belts because of changes in the financial markets last year and this year’s expected economic downturn.

Surprisingly, one reason for slumping high street sales does not seem to have been picked up - many of us did our Christmas shopping online. Although Marks & Spencer’s like for like sales fell by 2.2% in the last three months of 2007, there was a 78% increase in its online operations.

So, should high street retailers, or any company for that matter, slash their marketing budgets due to the impending economic downturn? Waitrose doesn’t think so, having announced doubling its advertising spend for this year.

In fact, now is the time to differentiate your products, reinforce brand values and ensure you have an efficient stock system to capture your competitors’ market share whilst they reduce their marketing activity.

What’s more, during an economic downturn, media space and positioning can be negotiated to your advantage.

Website of the Week

By Sean McManus

Openstreetmap

The vast majority of mapping data is protected by copyright. If you want to use maps to promote your business or create an artwork, you’ll most likely have to pay a massive licence fee or map the area yourself from scratch. When I wanted to include a venue map on a party invite last year, the Ordnance Survey wanted to charge the equivalent of a pound per invite.

The Openstreetmap project aims to solve that problem by compiling maps which can be freely used by anyone for any purpose. Contributors use GPS to record the roads they drive or walk along, and then tag and name them before uploading them to the database. Obviously, the maps are patchy: while London is reasonably well covered for major routes, my home town only has a few roads recorded – the ones people use as they drive past it, as a rule. But the project will grow over time, and the routes people travel while recording the data can be seen as fascinating abstract artworks.

We hope you find the Prompt Communications newsletter an interesting read. For any feedback on our newsletter, or to discuss how we can help you with your technology PR, marketing, social media/blogging initiatives, copywriting or surveys, please contact us using the details below. We are always delighted to hear from you.