Dear Reader,

Whichever way you look at it, blogging matters, and that's why we're pleased to announce an exciting new service to our clients. Read on for more details.

For any feedback on our newsletter, or to discuss how we can help you with your technology PR, marketing, copywriting or surveys, please call me on 0208 996 1653 or email me at hbutters@prompt-communications.com. We are always delighted to hear from you.

Best regards,

Hazel Butters
Prompt Communications

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Company Update

Prompt launches Blogger Relations service

We've got some exciting news of our own this week, with the launch of our new Blogger Relations service. As blogs rapidly gain influence and compete with conventional media as trusted information sources, more businesses are recognising the importance of monitoring what's happening in the blogosphere and maintaining good relationships with key bloggers.

At Prompt we have a great deal of expertise in this field. Our consultants have been part of the blogging community for several years, both on a personal level and in a professional capacity. We're putting that experience and know-how to good use by helping our clients to understand the complexities of blogging and other social media. We can cut through the hype and jargon to show our clients how they can achieve real benefits – and mitigate reputational risks - by understanding what bloggers are saying about them and acting accordingly.

At the heart of our new service is the Prompt Blog Centre, an easy to use web-based monitoring service that provides each client with an instant snapshot of what the most influential bloggers in their sector are saying about their company. The service is managed by a team of specialist consultants who ensure that Prompt Blog Centre is kept up to date with the most relevant and important blogs.

To learn more about how we can help your business understand and engage with the blogging community, please contact Fiona Blamey.

Technology Update

By Sean McManus and Lance Concannon

Small gadget, big buzz

Few product launches this year could hope to achieve the same frenzy of media attention that the Apple iPhone has managed to whip up. What's the big deal?, you might ask. The market is already awash with all manner of fancy mobile phones, what could Apple bring to the table that Nokia, Ericsson and a host of others haven't already delivered?, you might further enquire. And of course the answer would be, er... um... ah... We might have to get back to you on that.

Nevertheless, after Apple has enjoyed such massive success with the iPod, analysts, investors, journalists and fanboys alike were all terribly excited to see Apple's take on the mobile phone, and as Reuters reports, by and large they weren't disappointed by the launch at CES this week. It's certainly an impressive looking piece of kit, and it even managed to garner high praise from the fair and balanced reviewers at PC Magazine. However, not everybody is quite so impressed.

Second Life goes Open Source

Linden Lab, the company behind online game Second Life, has opened the source code of its client program. While Linden Lab is retaining strict control of the clever back-end stuff that builds the world, developers will be able to make their own software for navigating it. Linden will incorporate selected enhancements into the official Viewer program available at its website. Although Cory Ondrejka, CTO of Linden Lab, says that going open source is "the most important decision we've made…entirely in keeping with the community-creation approach of Second Life", we can't help wondering why it's taken them seven years to release the code. Linden Lab says that open source projects could include bug fixes, enhanced compatibility with less popular hardware and support for new multimedia types.

UK scientists shoot for the moon

The UK government is being asked to fund two UK missions to land unmanned craft on the moon. Technology firm Surrey Satellite Technology has sent a funding proposal to the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. The firm wants to send an orbiter called Moonlight to launch probes into the moon's surface and a lander called Moonraker, which would identify sites for a manned mission. It's in the diary for 2010 and could make a valuable contribution to NASA's plan to colonise the moon by 2020.

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Marketing Update

By Elissa Fry and Lisa Facinelli

2007 Consumer Electronics Show

This week saw the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas draw over 2,700 exhibitors. CES is the world's largest annual consumer technology event, and as Reuters reports, it is where companies pick up the gauntlet and battle it out to secure product supremacy, in a frenzy to promote the latest and greatest gadgets on offer. According to Lower Hudson's 'The Journal News', the product range is phenomenal with everything from Accufat, which measures fat on a specified body part, to Bill Gates' presentation on Windows Vista.

There are cell phones, flat screen TV's and video game consoles; and of course the usual selection of bizarre hybrid products like internet-enabled refrigerators! With all this new technology emerging, consumers are pushing for electronics that are equipped to share content with other devices, thus putting business deals high on the agenda for many exhibitors at the convention.

Who would you Ask?

With Google leading the way in web search and steadily heading for total internet domination, it seems an impossible feat to create a new rival to the search giant in this sector. Media Guardian reports that in a survey looking at different search engine brands, Google came out as the most popular contender.

However, this has not discouraged search engine Ask from beginning to create a series of tests to create a "next-generation" search engine and greater marketing awareness of its online presence. According to NMA, Ask is determined to provide a genuine alternative to all the big players flying around cyberspace, and intends to create a search platform that "delivers results, news, images and shopping links through an intuitive search engine that pre-empts search queries from characters already entered." Wow!

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US Media Report

By Sally Forge

Wired magazine's new science and tech television show launched in January, with the first episode in the series aired last Wednesday on PBS. Gizmodo reported that the first instalment of the one-hour long, prime-time show included a feature – in the 'Exploded View' section – in which a presenter took a power tool to a plasma TV in a bid to discover its inner workings. The whole programme can be downloaded to view here.

Rex Farrance, 59, senior technical editor of PC World Magazine, has died in a gun attack at his home in San Francisco, after four masked intruders broke in. Rex Farrance's wife, registered nurse Lenore Vantosh-Farrance, was also attacked. The New York Times reports that authorities believe the attack was drug-related. The couple's son, Sterling Farrance, 19, says that he grew and stored marijuana at the house, with his parents' knowledge and consent, for medical reasons.

The three biggest newspaper publishers in the US - Gannett Co. (owner of USA Today), Tribune Co., and McClatchy Newspapers are in talks to create a national online ad sales network. USA Today explains that newspaper online ad sales are increasing, but not enough to make up for the dip in print advertising. If the network is set up, it will be open to other publishers to join. The network is also separate from an online 'help wanted' ads network being set-up by other publishers in conjunction with Yahoo.

UK Media Report

By Annie Kasmai

IT Week has announced some changes to its editorial team. Madeline Bennett, formerly news editor, has been promoted to the position of deputy editor. Bennett has worked at the weekly IT publication since 2000 when she started as an editorial assistant.

Martin Courtney, former Network IT Week editor, will be taking control of the Enterprise section. Courtney will be filling the position that Roger Howorth had before he left the publication last year. Network IT Week has been reabsorbed into the Network section of IT Week following the redesign of the publication in mid-November.

IT Europa has recently launched a monthly magazine entitled 8020 Europa. The new magazine is edited by John Garratt and provides features, news and commentary on the European Channel market.

Best of the 'Net

By Lance Concannon

PodZinger

This Web 2.0 stuff is all well and good, with everybody posting their own videos onto YouTube and podcasting their little hearts out, but the problem is that it's really hard to search this kind of content. Content creators can write descriptions and place tags on their audio and video material, but that's still not as effective as being able to scan the actual content as Google does with text based web-pages.

PodZinger uses speech recognition technology to scan and index the content of audio and video files, enabling users for the first time to perform searches on this type of media based on the actual content, rather than just tags and descriptions. It's still a bit clunky, but it works well enough and at least it's a start.

Of course, the next step is finding a way to identify and index visual content. PodZinger allows you to find a file which includes a person saying the phrase "Mutant Space Dinosaur" – but as yet there's still no way to automatically find a video which features an actual Mutant Space Dinosaur unless it's been specifically tagged as such.