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Fri, 03/04/2011 - 9:03pm — AndyMarken

Andy Marken


Andy Marken is president of Marken Communications and has been involved in the marketing of storage technology for more than 15 years. His experience includes work with Panasonic, Verbatim, Matsushita, Plasmon, Nikon, Mitsubishi Chemical and a number of hard drive manufacturers. Andy can be reached at andy@markencom.com.

 

NAB Wrap Deux

Fri, 05/18/2012 - 6:38am — AndyMarken

This week's Nvidia GPU Technology Conference gave us yet another peek into why the GPU (Graphic Processor Unit) still matters.  Jen-Hsun Huang runs a high tempo aggressive team that is always pushing the envelope and his latest announcement was no exception bringing tears to our son's eyes because he so wanted one of the $1K units but no way!  It may be all about gaming power but the pixel processing power took us right back to NAB and how their latest offerings and technology announcements is keeping pace with movie and broadcast producers demands for better quality video content and faster/more comprehensive encoding.  And yes you still have to store it all somewhere!!  Read more... 

NAB Wrap

Fri, 05/11/2012 - 1:35pm — AndyMarken

NAB is the second most popular event for us to attend because we like to see how prehistoric our years in TV were compared to today and it's like light years. This year we're way beyond pushing stuff to the tube. The content people are sending stuff to everything. We know that's not a brilliant observation but what literally blows us away is how the industry is now able to do it so precisely to your mobile device, in the right format, even at the right time and BAM!!! with the right ads around it that are of most interest to you. It is so elegant. Oh sure they're not exactly certain what your threshold of pain will be for the volume of ads but they're working on that.

Horizontal Marketing

Fri, 05/04/2012 - 1:31pm — AndyMarken

A friend voiced the need for Best Buy to go outside to find a new boss but he was countered with "they need someone who knows what's going on."

Maybe he's right, maybe they're right but whomever the board selects he/she will probably be a specialist in turn-arounds.  That's what's wrong with most marketing organizations - specialists in print, online, video ads; specialists in research, sales support, tradeshows; specialists in Facebook, Twitter, media relations, crisis management.  A whole bunch of silos.  They don't  talk to each other, they don't talk to the customer.  Gee maybe that's the problem!  Let's get over ourselves, our titles, our areas of authority and focus on reaching out to, touching, working with customers because that's what we're in business for...aren't we?  Read more...

Has Your Password Been Cracked?

Tue, 05/01/2012 - 12:00am — JimDinkey
SIRs has already had several members’ accounts compromised. I was asked to set forth what went wrong and how to stop the ability of outsiders to use SIR members’ computers for spamming purposes.  This is the explanation, and a reminder to SPAUG members.
 
Once you make up a password, probably years ago, that password is available to those you have consented to have service your account.  Then there are outsiders who do not have that password but they gain access by either repeated trials or password cracking. The symptom that you have been cracked is a friend telling you that you have sent out either SPAM or nasty emails to that friend, or URLs to some advertising site.   In actuality, the salacious email or SPAM has been sent to ALL those on your email list – but not to you – so you are unaware of what you sent and to whom. 

Game Migration

Fri, 04/27/2012 - 9:37am — AndyMarken

Go out and play.  It had a totally different meaning when we were growing up.  Back then it meant get outta the house and figure out what you were going to do by yourself or with your friends.Today it means take your **** phone go outside and play, tired of seeing you playing in your room.  And that's great because there are so many free games in the app stores.  Yep lots of folks (of all ages) download the freebies and then they add items, add features, upgrade and BAM!!! you suddenly have a lot invested in those games.  But it's ok because our son says it beats the dull lectures at school and friends say it gives them something to keep them awake in the staff meetings.  Just hope your battery doesn't get too low you may have to listen or even take notes...OMG!!!  Read more...

Invisible Money

Fri, 04/20/2012 - 3:59pm — AndyMarken

They're at it again giving us a gazillion good/great even reasons why we might as well forget our checks, cash, credit cards when it's all so fun, easy, rewarding to go with mobile wallets, mobile cash mobile whatever.  And you have to admit it sounds fantastic!!!   But no one has yet been able to tell us (to our satisfaction) who makes up the difference when some dude/dudette rips us off for our social security number, driver's license, birth date, pin numbers, life. We're pretty trusting for most folks.   We're dumb...not stupid.   We know Bonnie & Clyde really existed and we're not in a good enough financial shape to let them steal from us to give to themselves. Read more...

Game Time

Fri, 04/13/2012 - 3:36pm — AndyMarken

Now we like video games as well as most folks even though we're terrible at it and have the gaming attention span of a goldfish. But seriously we know what the bed is for (yes that too) but seriously ...play videogames?

We admit that our ancient Atari 2600 was a little clunky to lug from the living room to the bedroom (and the big tube TV set) and it's nothing to grab our smartphone and iPad to dash into the bedroom and play an hour of Angry Birds with the wife. Sorry just don't see the point. Maybe we skipped that lecture in our family harmony class but playing video games in bed doesn't get our adrenaline going or relax us. Sounds a little...boring!   Read more...

Blending Life

Fri, 04/06/2012 - 1:48pm — AndyMarken

We don't know anyone who sent his/her boss a note saying "I'm sorry, you know I Love You."s Or sent their significant other the contract paperwork or confirmation he/she would meet the headhunter to discuss the job offer...overseas.
But it's happened and probably some a lot worse...don't say
it! BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) can be a blessing in disguise
because you can now download all those cool games to play in dull meetings on the iPad/iPhone-smartphone/notebook because hey it's yours.

After all you do check your email/handle work while watching TV and on your holidays so you're entitled.

There's no turning the clock back to yesteryear. You're plugged in 24x7, 365 days a year. It's the strong willed person who can actually turn the smartphone/tablet/notebook off and have a life. We're workin on that, so can you... Read more...

Notes for April 2012

Sun, 04/01/2012 - 12:01am — JimDinkey

XP and Office 2003  Support Ends in 2014

In April 2014 Microsoft will no longer support Office 2003 and with the cessation in July of 2014, two months later of the support of XP’s anti-virus updating also ceasing, XP will effectively be dead.  No one can maintain a computer without a steady stream of anti-virus patches – so the combination will be dead. My personal plans are to migrate on or about January 1, 2014 to a new computer – most likely Win7 and either a later office than 2003 (presumably upgraded), or possibly an office suite of a competitor.  As long as I can read and write a common format for the letters and newsletters I write, all can be worked out without Microsoft Office.  TBD!
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