General, Marketing, Social Media

Historic Agreement between Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians

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For several years, the Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians and several other sports teams have been accused of team names that are insensitive to Native Americans. In a historic agreement, each team will change their official name and mascot simultaneously. The date for this change has not yet been agreed-upon.

Sports Teams Come Together

Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld, Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Mr. Jim Folk, vice president of Ballpark Operations discuss the "Chief Wahoo" battle flag that was flown on the now decommissioned USS Cleveland for nearly a decade. This flag was given to Major League Baseball Hall of Fame Inductee and World War II Navy veteran Bob Feller on August 30, 2006. (DOD Photo By: U.S. Army Staff Sgt Sun L. Vega, Joint Staff)
Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld, Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Mr. Jim Folk, vice president of Ballpark Operations discuss the “Chief Wahoo” battle flag (DOD Photo By: U.S. Army Staff Sgt Sun L. Vega, Joint Staff)

The three teams hope to set an example for other teams. Each will change their name, mascot, and logo. The Chief Wahoo logo has been particularly contentious and will be the first to go.

In some cases that will even include discontinuation of gestures, such as the Tomahawk Chop.

This will involve a complete overhaul of team marketing, including their social media presence. As previously mentioned, the logos are expected to change. However, the team colors will not.

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Customer Service, Marketing

No, I Don’t Like What I See

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When I moved my mouse to logon to Windows 10 I was startled. It wasn’t the new background photo on the lock screen that got my attention, though it was more colorful than usual.

Microsoft displays various nature photos on the Windows 10 lock screen, like the two tropical birds that were displayed this morning. However, that’s not what caught my attention this time.

This is so wrong

The disconcerting part was the text at the top left of the screen that said “Discover Adobe Photoshop Elements 15“. Near the center of the screen another blurb said “Save now on Adobe Photoshop Elements 15“. Assuming Adobe didn’t hack Windows 10, Microsoft was complicit in this commercial advertisement.

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Marketing, Social Media, Technology

15 Minutes of Fame

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Andy Warhol famously suggested that “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” In time, the phrase 15 minutes of fame came to more generally refer to short-lived media publicity or celebrity of an individual or phenomenon.

Lightning Strikes

Out of the blue, I received a tweet from the Think Tank Media Group that I’d made their “list of top 50 Twitter influencers!”.

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Customer Service, Marketing, Social Media, Technology

How Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence Change Everything

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I started to really appreciate futurists Robert Scoble and Shel Israel through their 2013 book Age of Context: Mobile, Sensors, Data and the Future of Privacy . It focused on emerging interactive technologies, and shared some companies to watch. Wearable computing, one of the key focus areas of that book, plays a huge part in their new one.

IN THE BEGINNING, there were mainframes

The book’s introduction starts with an overview of three transformations that followed the mainframes:

  1. From mainframes to interacting with desktop computers using a keyboard
  2. The graphical user interface (GUI), and specifically the mouse
  3. Touch interfaces, including mobile devices

The Fourth Transformation? That would be “Spatial Computing.”

The Fourth Transformation didn’t initially seem especially interested in discussing the actual technology. The focus was more on how retailers and marketers had better get with the program of augmented reality /virtual reality / mixed reality technologies. “If you are part of a big brand, you need to know about this now so you can understand how your customer relationships are about to change and so you begin to adjust course.”

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Customer Service, Marketing, Technology

How Amazon is Taking Over the World and Why You Might Want to Help

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Amazon is taking over the world, or so it sometimes seems. They convinced the US Postal service to bring back Sunday deliveries. Sometimes people casually refer to having “tons of stuff,” while Amazon sells tons of stuff every day. Their building boom in the Seattle area includes everything from conventional offices and warehouses to biosphere domes. Increasingly, Amazon is entering the shipping business as well.

Amazon Prime Air

Prototype of an Amazon Prime Air package delivery drone
Prototype of a Prime Air delivery drone. Photo courtesy Amazon.com

The Prime Air brand initially launched with their delivery drone project. Evolving US regulations relative to UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) have contributed to development challenges.

The brand made it to the real world sooner than anyone expected. Their first cargo aircraft, dubbed Amazon One, is prominently labeled Prime Air. It was revealed to the public with a flyover at Seattle’s annual Seafair festival. The prime number in the aircraft’s tail number is a subtle nod to the observant.

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Marketing, Technology

The Final Countdown for Free Windows 10 Upgrades

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Microsoft’s Windows 10 has been hanging over my head like the Sword of Damocles. On the one hand, a free upgrade is a good thing. Microsoft has been marketing that for months. On the other hand, I had issues while upgrading another PC.

The Edge browser built into Windows 10 has received a lot of criticism for having less functionality than the browsers most people are used to. Browsers like FireFox, Safari, Chrome, and Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer have set the bar. I knew from prior experience that while Internet Explorer still exists on a Windows 10 machine, it’s pretty well hidden.

The Promise of Cortana

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Always asking "What are you trying to accomplish?"