Straight Talk PR .com

More Sizzle Than Steak at Gannett? Taking It Too Far?

I have difficulty believing this thin report at Jim Romenesko's Poynter blog. File it under "Important If True."

Picking a New Time Tracker

The time tracker I've used for two years is going out of business. The publishers of Log My Task — at that link, at least for the time being — are suspending the product. So I've been in the hunt for a new method to track my time.

I find that even when I don't need to report my time to a colleague or a client, it's still helpful for me to log my time and note what I've been doing. Sometimes, I return to the data to analyze it. But the real motivation is getting me focused on a productive task by forcing me to list what I'm doing. (Anyone who's been part of Weight Watchers knows the zen of tracking consumption of food.)

To cut to the chase, I've chosen Yast as my new time-tracking tool. Before I explain why, here's a quick list of the others I tried during the past three or four weeks since receiving notice about the imminent demise of Log My Task.

• Harvest is a time-tracking and invoicing tool promoted in partnership with Shoeboxed, a receipt-tracking tool I already use a lot (partially because it's based in Durham, North Carolina, and was founded by some Duke University alums). I found Harvest to be hard to use, and strangely unable to record the time of day when I did tasks. The workflow of recording work in Harvest didn't comport with my personal workflow. It made me feel out of phase with myself.
• JumboTask is a promising all-in-one small business tool. It offers time tracking, small business accounting, sales funnel tracking, and more. Right now, it has a spartan interface, but its functionality is robust. For the SOHO market (small office/home office), JumboTask offers real possibilities. My concern is that I thought I caught JumboTask in a launch or pre-launch phase, judging by the paucity of reviews on the web. My personal review is that JumboTask is a comer. But I'm concerned that if it doesn't get off the ground, my entire operation (such as it is) is wrapped up in a beta software experiment. I didn't want to be a guinea pig.
• I almost settled for LessTimeSpent. It worked well for me, but also made it hard to note the actual time of day I worked on a task. However, it is published in conjunction with a sister product, LessAccounting, and I liked the look and feel of both of them.

What did it for Yast? The winning touch for me was the timeline ribbon across the top of the interface. It gives me the ability to see at a glance what (and for whom) I've been working on. I color-code my clients, including my in-house administration time and my business development time. Yast also has good reports built in. I've found I can slice and dice my time however I like, and if I dig around, Yast has the means to report and analyze time however I want.

Yast works on PCs and Macs, and it has mobile apps for the iOS (iPhone and iPad) as well as Android platforms.

One day, I might even find out what the name means.

By the way, I'm a Mac user, and I recommend putting online tools like these (the term, I think, is "SAAS" — meaning "software as a service") into the Fluid browser, which is designed to run one service at a time on Macs in a customizable environment. Fluid makes a website behave like a desktop application.

 

Some PR Savvy: What I'd Like to Hear From Eastern Bank about Buying Wainwright Bank and Trust

I stopped by the local office of Wainwright Bank & Trust Co. at Fresh Pond Mall in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the other day. I was excited to pick up a copy of the bank's 2009 Annual Report and the report's insert, Wainwright Bank: A Social Justice History.

Taken together, the 2009 Annual Report and the Social History portray a bank that is nothing short of wonderful: growing, recovering from the recession, and committed to social justice in its market in areas ranging from affordable housing finance, environmental lending, lending to not-for-profits, equitable treatment of people without regard to class, race, gender, or sexual orientation, and innovation to keep it all going. I'm glad to have accounts at a bank like Wainwright.

The bank's three leaders, John M. Plukas, founder and co-chair; Robert A. Glassman, founder and co-chair; and Jan A Miller, president and CEO; have won numerous personal awards from many politically left organizations.

So how do I feel about all this? I feel sad because in late June, Wainwright and Eastern Bank announced that Eastern will acquire Wainwright later this year. Eastern is a much bigger bank, founded in Salem but now headquartered in Boston, just a few blocks from Wainwright's headquarters office. I'm sad and disappointed because I think Eastern clearly knows what a special bank it is buying.

I think Eastern has been pretty upfront about the business reason for buying Wainwright: the latter's network of retail banking offices in Boston and the immediate surrounding towns fills in a gap with Eastern, which has strong presence in Eastern Massachusetts, but not in the Boston core areas. While Eastern has made its interest known in filling in the hole at the center of its donut, Eastern has not said as much specifically about the social justice aspects of Wainwright's life as a bank. For example:

• Wainwright's devotion to funding social and community efforts is legion. It supports housing projects up and down the housing ladder. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said, "I'm very appreciative of Wainwright for showing how profitability and social responsibility combine."
• In 1993, Wainwright was the first publicly traded company to sponsor Boston's Gay Pride event.
• The bank signed onto Green business and banking principles.
• The bank was named one of the world's Top 20 Sustainable Stocks by SustainableBusiness.com.
• The bank is among 75 socially responsible companies ranked as an "ultimate high-purpose company" in The High-Purpose Company, by Christine Arena.

Is Eastern Bank an unaware slouch in this arrangement? Hardly. It also has an enviable record for lending to not-for-profits (though not as amazingly strong as Wainwright). It wins the Customer Satisfaction Award from J.D. Power. It is a mutual bank, accountable only to its account holders, whereas Wainwright, for all its benefits, was organized as a public company and thus subject to the short-term whims of Wall Street, which boosted the likelihood of an eventual sale. And Jan Miller, the CEO of Wainwright, will become CEO of the new Eastern Bank company. All of this is good and speaks well for what might become of the combined Eastern/Wainwrtigh

So what do I miss? What makes me disappointed? I'd like Eastern to acknowledge that it is doing more than buying another bank. I'd like to receive a letter from Eastern, very soon, that commends me on my decision to bank with Wainwright, for my support of Wainwright's socially responsible banking practices, and promises me that Eastern will change and evolve as it absorbs Wainwright so that Eastern absorbs many of Wainwright's socially responsible practices, too. I'd like to know that Eastern will sign the same pledges and principles that Wainwright signed earlier.

If I, as a customer, received a letter from Eastern saying all that, I'd be very happy and I would look forward to the day that the Wainwright signs come down and the Eastern Bank signs go up. Absent those assurances and explicit recognition of the extraordinary characteristics of Wainwright, I not not happily look forward to the merger. I have too much counted on banking on Values, to use Wainwright's tag line.

Giving Time, Over the Web, in Small Chunks: A Prediction Mashup for 2010

It looks like it'll be hard to get through mid-January without seeing predictions across the blogosphere for the hottest trends of 2010. (And there're lots of expressions of good riddance to 2009, to boot.)

The most interesting prediction I've seen was published on Mashable and written by Ben Rattray, founder and CEO of Change.org. His predictions concern changes in social good behavior for 2010. He's in a position to know.

His predictions:

1. Social activism will explode across the web.
2. Micro-volunteerism will become extensive.
3. Giving work will become as important as giving money.

Mr, Rattray's conclusion:

These three trends – providing new ways of giving voice, giving time and giving work – represent the future of social change on the web.

I don’t mean to imply that giving money will stop being important. On the contrary, the web will continue to be an essential tool for fundraising in 2010, and for good reason – donations are the lifeblood of non-profits and the Internet is a highly efficient means of raising money. There are also an increasing number of effective fundraising platforms that leverage the unique power of the web to enable new types of giving – including well-known innovators such as Kiva and DonorsChoose, and new entrants such as Vittana.

But fundraising isn’t where the innovation will be in 2010. Instead, we’ll see the rise of new forms of participation that move beyond fundraising and make 2010 the most interesting year yet for social change on the web.

Interesting trends to spot. Read his post. Sign up for The Extraordinaires at BeExtra.org

What do these trends need that we can offer? Communications and great content. And training presentation materials. And more...

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Cross-posted to ContentWordshop.com

Game-changer in communications isn't Apple slate or Google phone. It's Skype on TV.

To me, the big news these days isn't the announcement of the new Google phone, or the hubbub over Apple's impending announcement, perhaps, of the iSlate.

Yes, the rise of the mobile screen is news, but also old news. What's interesting is also the rise of the big screen because of the announcement this week that Skype is going to be incorporated into new television sets.

The introduction of streaming video from the Internet onto television sets has already changed my house. I now stream Netflix movies onto my laptop, and even more importantly, via my blu-ray disc player onto an HD monitor.

Yesterday, I read in the New York Times that Skype is working to bring streaming video calls onto televisions from Panasonic and LG, with the minor additions of webcams and microphones suitable for the living room.

Remember the Western Electric Picturephones from the 1964-65 Worlds Fair in Queens, N.Y., or the videophone from 2001? (Refresh your memories here and here.) Skype is finally bringing it home — more specifically, to my home.

That's a communication change.

I'm a Mac, and Here's Why: 'It's All One Product'

Just before Christmas, the Boston Globe ran a story ["Where old-fashioned customer service meets edgy technology," Dec. 20, 2009, by D.C. Denison] that might be considered a puff piece for the bright, white, and translucent Apple Stores. But I found some insight in the article for why Apple technology tools have become a big part of my life.

The story recounts the development of Apple Stores. I've been a fan of the stores since visiting my first, in Indianapolis, about a year before I switched from PCs to Macs in 2006. The stores are an embodiment of the John Naesbitt "high tech/high touch" futurist call for successful businesses, which is also pretty much also the point of the Globe headline. Apple Stores are full of interesting people (and by this, I mean the staff, not the customers) who seemingly just want to help. They are empowered to give answers or get answers. They know their stuff.

When I visit Apple Stores for purchases, for browsing, for training, and especially for in-person technical support from the "geniuses" at the "Genius Bar," I feel like people give me credit for knowing a thing or two. I don't feel as if I'm being put down, and I don't feel as if the staff is so undertrained — as is often the case at other stores — that they are operating several rungs below me.

I also like making reservations for a Genius Bar time slot from my computer at home or inside the Apple Store.

But the true reason why I am an Apple Mac and iPhone fan, including hardware and software, comes at the end of the Globe's piece. It's all one system, one experience.

[A]t the Genius Bar, ... architect Dave Schatzle sat down for a session he was hoping would pay off short-term, as in immediately.

"It's a long story," Schatzle said as he presented his iPhone to Apple "genius" Nick Foh, "but let's just say that a cup of coffee fell off a shelf and splashed all over it."

A faint constellation of tiny, brown speckles gleamed from inside the display. The main controller was no longer responsive, Schatzle said.

Foh took the unit to a backroom workshop.

"It's in pretty bad shape on the inside," he said when he returned a few minutes later.

That was the bad news. The good news was that the information of his coffee-crippled phone could be transferred to a new unit, and since the phone was less than 3 months old, the store would replace it at no charge.

Schatzle looked surprised and relieved.

"The iPhone is cool, but this is really cool," he said, waving an arm in the direction of the Genius Bar.

"If this store wasn't here," Schatzle added, "then this iPhone wouldn't be that good. When you think about it, it's all one product."

I've had a dozen experiences just like this — without a newspaper reporter around. I think architect Dave Schatzle has it right: "It's all one product." And a good one at that.

The Bottom Drops Out of Newspaper Circulation

A disturbingly impressive graphic depiction of circulation among America's largest newspapers from the past two decades. Via Steve Rubel's Lifestream, at which you can read comments. More comments -- and an explanation of why USA Today is missing -- at The Awl, whence this graphic originated. 

While I mourn the loss of newspapers, I welcome the range of communication tools that the lack of newspaper hegemony is introducing into culture.

Tools I Use: TweetDeck for iPhone

I don't Twitter or Facebook enough. But I know from posts like this on a blog I trust -- namely, TUAW.com -- that as I use these services more, TweetDeck for iPhone and for TweetDeck for Mac are the right tools for me to use to best read the traffic.

Below, the developer's video for the newest version of TweetDeck for iPhone:

UPDATE, just after posting: Another useful post is on Mashable.

From the Lonesome Road to the Networked Highway

Now here's a smart new idea to help people communicate better: Connect wireless transponders already in millions of American cars into a wifi network for the highways and byways of the country.

This brilliant idea was proposed today by Robin Chase, founder of Zipcar and Meadow Networks. Universal Hub, a blog covering metro Boston, writes that Chase proposed the idea during a MassDOT symposium today for software developers on possible uses of Massachusetts transportation data.

In a nutshell, all the EZPass and FastLane and iZoom transponders around the country apparently could be turned into wifi hubs that would create a grid of wifi Internet signals over the highways and byways.

From Universal Hub: "Right now, she said, your typical EZPass transponder is in use maybe 30 seconds a month - as commuters pass through toll plazas. 'We have a device, we have a wireless network, and it is so under capacity,' she said."

Great thinking! Did I mention that Zipcar is one of my favorite companies? I use it all the time.

A Wonderful Photo, A Thousand Words and More

I absolutely love this photo. It appears with an article in Thursday's New York Times on nice homes in unfortunate locations. This home in rural Connecticut is in a great location, exception for the 7:30 a.m. daily freight!
(Photo by Jennifer May for the NYT)

Making Thoughts Apparent Globally is Obama's Internet Touch

UPDATED 11:30 a.m. 4 June 2009 -- I also liked receiving an email from David Axelrod, senior advisor to the president, with a link to video of the speech. The White House is pushing this content out beautifully.

ORIGINAL POST:

It is thrilling to see how fluid President Obama and his team have become at making his thoughts and policies apparent to as many people as possible globally using the Internet. The latest piece of evidence comes from the White House's buildup to the Cairo speech today.

According to a New York Times report, "In a bid to make sure that Mr. Obama’s message will be heard, particularly among young people, the White House has mounted an unusually aggressive campaign, including a Web site created in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and English where people outside the United States can sign up to receive the speech via text message. The State Department is to translate the speech into at least 13 languages."

This is a great commitment. I like the idea of people worldwide debating the speech in its original text, even in a U.S.-disseminated official translation text, on their own phones or laptops today. Great move!

New Yorker Cover by iPhone 'Brushes' App Yet Another New Frontier for Publications

We used to mock the idea of painting by numbers.

But when an artist can paint a cover for one of the nation's premier magazines using a telephone handset, well, painting by numbers seems high tech. Even knowing the handset is a smartphone, and an iPhone at that, doesn't make the notion seem any less fantastic.

It also seems crass, but somehow the execution isn't. As explained in a New Yorker blog post, this week's cover was created by artist Jorge Columbo in an iPhone application called "Brushes."

I am surprised by the elegance, evocativeness, and artistry of the outcome.

Query: Looking for Archive of Front-Page Headlines

A friend is looking for a website that displays major news stories (or just headlines) from any day in the recent past. Surprisingly, I'm finding it hard to locate anything that does what I want. I liked the New York Times' front-page archive at its online store. But I found it hard to display the date I wanted. Newseum looked like it had a good archive. Alas, not searchable. Matthew Somerville of Dracos in the U.K., is putting together an archive of the BBC News home page. But it doesn't seem to have enough horsepower vis-a-vis depth of archives yet. But to solve my friend's need, it holds the most promise of anything I found this afternoon. Suppose I wanted to see the headlines from, oh, Sunday, November 18, 2007? Where should I go to find what was in the news that day? (I suspect the answer to this is going to be obvious and sort of a V-8 moment for me.)

LIFE Photo Archives on Google

Anyone who is of a certain age will get a thrill from the announcement that Google and Time Inc. are making photographs from Life Magazine's photo archive available on the web. This includes photos never published. But only photos owned by Time Inc. PaidContent.org reports on the economics of the Time-Google deal.

Clear Discussions of Our Problems with Economy and Environment

Two publications I came across this past week have unusually clear explanations for two of the major problems facing American society now: the economy and the environment. On Saturday, the New York Times published a story explaining the Chicago Fed National Activity Index. This story doesn't make the economy any less unpleasant, but it does provide a graphic that rings true to me and lets me appreciate the economic trend at a glance. (The Chicago Fed has a webpage devoted to the index.) Also, I read the November/December issue of Mother Jones, which is all about a call for a new economy based on saving the global climate from the fossil fuel economy. Two Nobel Prize winners write articles: Al Gore and Joseph Stiglitz. The issue is titled, "How to Rescue the Economy and Save the Planet." (At this writing, the November/December content has not been published to Mother Jones' website. It's still showing the September/October issue.)