Where is your Playlist?

"And I wonder, when I sing with you..." I love the Foo Fighters and their music. They are probably in my top ten of favorite musical acts. I love music in general, and consider myself quite the music junkie. Quite simply, music is life. Though it does not mean too, music affects everything we do from that first song we hear when we get up in the morning, to the song that plays on our drive home, after a long day at work. Music can be used for a variety of effects and many times can reflect the consumer, if you are happy play something that reflects your mood, or do the exact opposite and let out your rage listening to a metal band. If you are lonely, listen to something a ballad. Music has a variety of songs and methods to ways to our varying moods. A comicbook writer I use to read about, Devin Grayson(@Nemone1), would make mixtapes of all of her characters laying out the plot beats. If you are unfamiliar with a Mixtape, it's a series of songs that usually are put together for a particular reason and more often than not tell a story. Just like Mrs. Grayson's characters, we all have our own playlists that play in our head, such as breakup songs or songs of rebellion. Music is a people's medium. It came along way before both the TV and the Internet, and it will be with us forever. But just like society which has had to evolve in the last few years in the recent technological boom, so has music. Gone are the bulky Walkman's by Sony and the CD players, that just barely fit in your pockets. In it's place, we now have Ipods and MP3 players, that are barely bigger than any key that we have on our key chain. The day of the CD is at an end. CD sales have been on the decline for the last few years, and in it's place has been the rise of music purchasing sites such as Itunes, Amazon and even Wal-Mart. The future of music is in online services such as Itunes and Pandora(Pandora.Com), that offer playlists on the go. No longer are we confined, to a radio in a car, or having to carry a bulky player. We can now take our music anywhere we go and traveled with us it has, as even Cellphones are now adding music playing as a standard application. Your playlist now seems to follow you wherever you go. Want an idea of where the technology is going the next few years? Watch the music world, because just as Napster was the beginning of user paid content on the Internet, the music world can boldly predict where technology will be the next few years. It was the first on-the-go technology and it was the first to truly take use of the Internet. Music is no longer that device you listen to in your car, it has definitely evolved into something else. Listening to music anywhere these days is as easy as hitting a play button.

What does your cell phone do?

So I was in a cell phone store the other day and was listening to a salesperson try to sale a cell phone to a mother and her daughter. As the salesmen leaned in, waiting for some commitment from the two, I could not help but smile as the mother stopped and made the comment that her daughter should just get a phone that makes phone calls. Now, a cell phone that just makes calls? Do we really have those those anymore? Texting seems to be a standard feature on phones, these days as most phones require some kind of texting plan on the contract and data plans are becoming more and more prominent as people continue to buy smart phones. The cell phone now does more today than just make phone calls, it's a multi-tool that does a variety of features. This new product not only affects the cell phone market but a variety of products as well. But what products are affected the most, by these new phones? Who wants a GPS when you can have a phone that has GPS positioning on it? Here are a few products that plan on taking a few hits in the next few years, as Cell phones continue to evolve. 1. The phone - The home phone market has changed a lot over the last few years. With cheaper long distance rates, cell phones are slowly taking the place of the home phone. Though the home phone will still remain a necessity for the office, the home phone is slowly dying away. 2. The MP3 player - Most cell phones these days come with the ability to insert flash memory and with memory's price continuing to decrease more and more people will be looking at cell phones to replace their MP3 player. The Iphone was the first to truly offer a music service on a cell phone and most other developers have taken tasks to catch up with the Iphone's MP3 player. 3. GPS - Most phones with a data plan offer some form of Global positioning device. These devices help you find local directions with the aid of Google Maps or Map quest, also add the growing use of Geo-Social networking Apps and one can tell that the GPS will change in the next few years. No longer do we have to carry bulky devices that take up space in our car. We can find directions, simply with the click of an Application and find out where we are and where we want to go. 4. The Camera - It was just about ten years ago, when the camera market took a giant step into the digital world. Soon people were carrying cameras with them wherever they go. Flash forward to today and most cell phones come with some form of a camera. Though the features are still not what one can get from the most standard of camera's, the phone allows for you (with a data plan) to instantly add pictures to various Social Networking sites or to send it to a friend instantly. 5. The laptop - With a data plan, most people can instantly access the Internet or check their mail almost anywhere they are. Instead of having to carry a laptop or waiting until you get home, one can pull out a phone immediately and have access to the Internet and various other mobile devices. The future of the cell phone is forever changing as they develop more and more features. What will the cell phone be able to do in the future? It seems the possibilities are endless.

Why we should not be upset at Rich Johnston.

It's Monday night...I am writing this half asleep, the hour change definitly affected me a lot more than I would of liked. As soon as I put my labtop down I am going straight back to reading the Criminal Omnibus by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Now, the reason why I am bringing Criminal up, is because of the story of how I got it. If you are not familiar by now Amazon had a colossal blunder last week on March 7th. They horribly marked down a ton of omnibuses'(imagine a graphic novel double sized and similar to a Blu-Ray disc, as it is packed with tons of extras), from fifty to sixty dollars down to fourteen or eight dollars. I was in awe when I first heard the news and immediately added three of the books to my cart and checked them out. I mean why not? Nobody knew the true reasoning behind this. Was it an Error? Was it a promotion that we were not quite aware of? Who knew? I just knew that tons of books I wanted were on sale. Eventually however, I got the dreaded letter from Amazon saying that I would not be receiving the items I ordered due to a pricing error that caused the books to be sold out, and that they would refund me my money. So out of the three books I ordered, I had one of them sent to me instead(The Criminal Omnibus). A few days later, I even got a twenty five dollar credit from Amazon due to the problem that this caused, which I used to buy two trade paperbacks. So for those counting at home, I got three books for around sixteen dollars that had a seventy dollar retail value. Now if you are unfamiliar with the man who broke this story, Rich Johnston(@RichJohnston) he is the creator/head-honcho of BleedingCool.Com, a blogsite devoted to Comicbook content. Well Rich caught a lot of slack due to this event. Many people calling for his head and the such, but I want to do the opposite. I want to applaud Rich Johnson. If a friend of mine had called me up and told me the same thing, I would applaud him as well, but with Social Media that friend was replaced with Rich Johnson. Rich did what anybody would of done last week. He simply found a huge gaping error and told people about it. Was it his fault that he has become a public figure and has 4,000 followers on Twitter! Social Media has become such a prominent powerhouse in communication that people fail to realize just how fast a message can go from a secret to a full blown story. Look at what happened with Kevin Smith and the Airline fiasco! So in closing I just want to tell Mr. Rich Johnston thank you again for the free comics from comic fans everywhere. Again, Keep up the good work and the journalism, from a fan who has followed you from your Lying in the Gutter days at ComicbookResources.com, I appreciate it.

What 3D Movies need to do, to fill the seats.

So I broke down and saw my first 3D movie last Sunday night, "Alice in Wonderland" to be exact. I went with Cal and my sister Jessica, who was visiting us on her way to the beach. Going into the movie, I did not know what I was getting into, as I had not fallen into the hype machine that was Avatar, and had yet to truly see a 3D movie. The movie itself was a bit lack luster and involved some flying beast that I did not remember from any Alice tale that I had ever read. But as I sat back in my seat with these funky glasses, resting on the rim of my nose, I could not help but wonder about the future of film making. "Alice in Wonderland" was a decent movie, do not get me wrong, but it was far from spectacular. I would have had the same reaction if the movie had not been in 3D, which did add some nice effects but that was it. The 3D effects were not the reason I went to see the movie, I went to see the movie to see what the combination of Tim Burton and Jhonny Depp were up to. Just like anybody else, I have my own particular movie habits, but I mainly watch a movie, just like everybody else, to escape the reality of my life and relive it in the form of a Mad Hatter, a Paraplegic Marine, an Estranged Cop or as a thousand and one other opportunities that they currently offer. But no matter what, the movie we go and see, the movie audience is there to see a story that allows them to escape their everyday life, so no matter how many 3D scenes a movie has, it is not as overall important as the story itself. This is not to say that 3D does not have a current place in the movie industry. Cartoons and Science Fiction are two strong categories that will rely on this field for years to come. The upcoming Tron:Legacy (http://tinyurl.com/ydocqe9) was born to be a 3D movie, but does anybody really want to see Legally Blonde 3 in 3D? 3D is a cool feature and has given theaters a shot in the arm that they needed to reinvent themselves for the dying movie watcher. However, filmmakers need to watch out of falling into the pitfall of the 3D concept, and remember that the basics come first, because if not the audience will continue to get their movie experience online and at home, instead of in the theater.

The Big 25!

Number 25. Wow! I would be lying if I said I knew that I would make it to 25 posts on this blog. But like anything in life what something starts out as eventually evolves into into something else, or as a friend of mine put it practice makes perfect. So here we are, my 25th posting on a blog that has changed/evolved since it's original conception. Here are a few things I have learned on my way to the 25th posting from my blog and various other marketing ventures, that hopefully will help you as many of you have helped me. -Your first attempt at something new is always a failure. Just like riding a bike, the first time you got on it you fell. Looking back at the original template of this blog, I can only ask myself, "what was I thinking?" -Study your competitors and other people in the field! I once had a great conversation with my Brother-In-Law back in the middle part of this decade on how to create a good website. The Brother-In-Law, whose an avid entrepreuner simply said, you copy from the best. Now I have not copied anything directly, but I did find outside influences that helped this blog become what it is today. -Always advertise! People have a small attention span online and with thousands of things being said on social networking sites around the world, you have to constantly remind your audience about yourself and who you are. -Remember that your brand exceeds your blog. Not only is your blog a reflection of you, but you are a reflection of your blog. So avoid picking fights online or saying something that truly contradicts who you are. -Be yourself! If your blog gets stale so are you. If you're getting tired of writing your blog, take a breather and find out why you enjoy this medium to begin with. Explore other avenues in the field that you write about. -Have a schedule! I try to post a blog every Tuesday...sometimes that happens, sometimes it does not, but at least it keeps the blog fresh and entertaining for many people. It also helps me to keep up with my writing schedule as I juggle my full-time life along with my personal blog. So there are a few facts, that I have learned in the past few months that hopefully will help you, as you start off into your own marketing project.

Facebook and What those Crazy Copyrights actually do.

Copyrights are a crazy thing. Back in the 90's, DC Comics changed Batman's logo and removed the yellow circle out of it. Now if you are not a comic book junkie like me, I doubt you remember the circle. It appeared in the first Batman comic up until the 90s, and then simply disappeared shortly after, without a reason given. Well it seems that the folks at DC(whose parent company is Warner Bros.) could not copyright the yellow oval so they simply decided to removed it. Again copyrights are crazy. Their are copyrights for stuff that most normal people are not ware of. Apple recently copyrighted two finger touch on it's touchscreen devices. Apple has not filed a lawsuit against anybody, quite yet, but they do own the rights. Google avoided putting the feature on the Nexus One to avoid such harassment. The reason why I am bringing copyrights up this morning, is because of the recent patent that Facebook was awarded. Facebook was recently awarded a patent for "news feeds". Now for most people who fancy themselves as non-social media fanboys, this will seem to mean nothing. However, this small patent like most, means a lot more than most people think. Now before I begin this patent does not effect twitter, which is considered to have a status update feed not a news feed, but it will affect other social media networking applications such as the recently launched Google Buzz. This patent could mean the end of Social Media as we know it. Newsfeeds, have become a prominent part of Social Media and taking them away, literally takes away the Social out of Social Media. In a day and age where people are getting more and more of their news from Social Media, this could turn out to be a prominent lawsuit, as it limits where they can get their news/links from on other Social networking sites. This patent truly eliminates a lot of the competition from Facebook, as GoogleBuzz and other social networking applications will now have to take a step back and reanalyze their approach to the Social Media world. This could be a good thing, as it causes companies to reinvent their Social Media approach in the next few years, or it could lead to the dominance and eventual decline of Facebook. Only time will tell. In a world of technology and applications that do just about anything the patent is a very interesting creature, what can be called copyrighted to you might be freeware to another. But one thing is for sure, the copyright might turn the Internet into a very crazy and protected place.

The Business card

The new Business card. What do you think?