Following up on the Debating Twitter post from earlier this week, this morning found me doing some research and design work for our clients that are targeting the MySpace/ Facebook crowd. Now, a little back story is in order: I have a rather unique last name. It is Eastern European in origin. Specifically Polish, according to most records. Most all of my relatives, those that aren't back in the old country, are based somewhere in and around Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with some having migrated to Michigan, and a little splinter group that went first to DC, where I was born, then to California. That's pretty much it. Suffice it to say that if someone has the last name of Forecki, we're related by blood or marriage.

Also, I'm old. Okay, not really, but -- as the late George Carlin would say -- older. I've been around a while. I predate the Web and email. Back in high school I was using Apple computers that weren't a Macintosh, because those hadn't been invented yet. And I've been in technology and around computers ever since. I know things. Like Google.

Specifically, I know about Google Juice, which is basically the idea of owning your name on Google rankings. Thanks to the fact that I'm in technology PR and that my name (and email address, damn you spammers!) is plastered all over the Internets, I've generally owned most of the Google searches for Forecki. (Except for a certain author who has been my nemesis on Google searches for years and who shall now remain nameless lest I help her rankings.)

All of which to say that I basically pwned Forecki-wannabes on Google. And Facebook. And LinkedIn. In fact, to the point that I stopped really searching a year or two ago, because it seemed pointless (and a little vain, but that's beside the point). Unfortunately, while I wasn't looking my relatives clearly launched a sneak attack. In the form of a new generation of teenagers and twenty-somethings. Their offspring, with the same last name. These kids know things too. And they are suddenly crushing me on Google. There are almost a dozen on Facebook. One has even registered forecki.com for crying out loud.

Sigh. I need to get busy.

-posted by Paul

We've been exploring ways to use Twitter for PR purposes on behalf of our clients, so I was quite interested to see that the McCain and Obama presidential campaigns on having an "online debate" on Twitter. It's an interesting development, if for no other reason than the fact that a 140 character response will hopefully keep the answers on-point. Hopefully.

Stay tuned for our thoughts on Twitter and PR in a future post.

-posted by Paul

As a friend of Melodeo, and someone that came of age in the 80s, today's news that Guns N' Roses guitarist Duff McKagen joined Melodeo's advisory board caught my eye. So now, besides humming Sweet Child O' Mine, I'm wondering what Melodeo has been up to - they've been kinda quiet this past year after receiving new funding. Well....it looks like they've launched a service called nuTsie that lets you move around your iTunes library from your PC to mobile, including blackberry. The cool part is that you access your tunes from your blackberry but don't actually load the files to the device. The service has received some great blog reviews and if it's really as easy as it sounds, me and my berry are going to be stoked.

[Wait, we have someone that works here that doesn't have an iphone? I'll have to look into this... -paul]

-posted by Adrienne

There's a new tech blog in town, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal...

Xconomy.com, a blog devoted to economic issues related to technology, said it's launched its second national site in Seattle. Launched in Boston last year, Xconomy said it's hired several journalists in the Seattle area to cover the area's technology industry. The company said it raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a Series A round of financing last year. Xconomy officials said they've received support from Alexandria Real Estate Equities of Pasadena, Calif., Polaris Venture Partners of Waltham, Mass., the Science & Technology Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, the Washington Technology Industry Association, and the Technology Alliance.

-posted by Adrienne

California-based Glassdoor debuted this week with essentially the same business model as Seattle-based TrenchMice, which closed up shop the end of April. It's a career community where anyone can find and share (anonymously) insider looks at companies. Glassdoor boasts executives from companies such as Zillow, Expedia and TripAdvisor, and its "sneak peek" companies include Cisco, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! But since TrenchMice closed because it plateaued in traffic, it'll be interesting to see how Glassdoor overcomes that problem.

-posted by Rachel

This week, our fearless leader, Paul, was part of a panel presentation put on by Businesswire (www.businesswire.com) about PR during times of recession. A few of us had the pleasure to attend and heard some really interesting insights from a variety of industry experts, including Jennifer Gehert (Communique PR), Amy Bohutinsky (Zillow) and of course, our very own Paul Forecki. The panel was moderated by Erik Elvejord (Holland America Line).

Below are some pictures from the event, enjoy!


The panel (From left: Erik Elvejord, Amy Bohutinsky, Jennifer Gehrt, and Paul Forecki)














-posted by Stephanie

Nice review by Associated Press tech writer Peter Svensson for the new Samsung Instinct, the first real competitor to the Apple iPhone. Sprint Nextel will begin offering the phone on June 20, getting a jump on the new 8-gigabyte iPhone, launching on July 11 and backed by the AT&T network. Apparently, there are also new BlackBerry models coming out later this year for Verizon and AT&T. It's interesting to note that all of these phones are featuring cameras with at least 2 megapixels -- the first thump in the death knell for low-end stand-alone digital cameras.

-posted by Rachel

If you're like the majority of users, "in between activities" is the most popular time to watch mobile TV. Next favorite scenarios include "while waiting in line" and "while in transit." Of the same pool of users, 31% report watching mobile content for less than 5 minutes with only 8% watching for 31-60 minutes. Among the non-watchers, perceived expense is the most popular reason for not trying mobile TV services.

To view the full study, visit Wireless Week.

-posted by Lindsay

The Social Networking Dilemma: Too Many, Too Little Time

Having trouble picking the right mix of social networking sites? Well, the list just keeps getting longer (see FierceWireless' Jason Ankeny break it down). These new sites will no doubt contribute to the social networking overload many professionals and students experience today. I can only hope that consolidation in the marketplace comes soon. Wouldn't it be nice to Twitter from your FaceBook?

-posted by Lindsay

One of our clients is an avid pilot and likes to fly into Gig Harbor for meetings. I'm thinking he might be interested in this story about a Boeing 727 that's been abandoned at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport in Vietnam. It's been there since December, but no one seems to know who the aircraft belongs to nor when/if he or she plans to return for it.

Boeing might want to take note of this -- perhaps there's a new partnership opportunity for installing a LoJack device on future aircraft.

-posted by Rachel

Although it's a competitor's slogan, Clearwire might be wondering whether or not its investors can clearly hear it, along with the tunes its proposed suitor, Sprint Nextel, has been singing. A general investor's meeting is being held this week in New York to discuss the implications of the companies' merger. There might be a lot more news coming out of this conference, since industry rumors are swirling about a reorganization (again!) within Sprint to shore up sales. The Wall Street Journal also reported last month that Deutsche Telekom is "considering" acquiring Sprint...this as a follow-up to its purchase of VoiceStream (now T-Mobile) seven years ago. Might make sense, but this would mean the combined companies would have three different networks, handset supply chains and brand names. Stay tuned.

-posted by Rachel

In today's economic climate all manner of companies are looking at ways to tighten their operations, or simply stated, do more with less. And in the industrial distribution sector where labor is a significant cost, less often means less people. And yet, Inbound Logistics reports that almost 20 percent of warehouse workers responding to a recent Gallup poll describe themselves as "actively disengaged" from their work. As many as half of those surveyed were doing just enough work to get by.

PathGuide Technologies' customer Omni Services is doing more with less by automating its warehouse. As a result, it has decreased total man hours by 18.5% (and lowered costs to pick/receive a line by 7%). Read more in the current issue of Progressive Distributor.

I was fortunate enough to recently represent the Authentication and Online Alliance (AOTA) at their annual summit. This year, Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, Michael Barrett, the Chief Security Officer for PayPal, Tim Callan, Vice President of Product Marketing at VeriSign, Peter Cullen, General Manager and Chief Privacy Strategist at Microsoft, Howard Schmidt, the former White House Cyber Security Officer, Rob McKenna, the Washington State Attorney General, and Hemanshu Nigram, Chief Security Officer of MySpace, among others, all spoke at the Summit. You can take a look at the presentations by clicking here.



(Picture of Craig Newmark, Craigslist and David Daniels, Jupiter Research, on stage at the AOTA Summit)

The summit was a two-day event full of lively discussions on how and why we should make online experiences as safe and secure as possible. Key takeaways from the event; there’s no silver bullet to making the Internet a safer place and it takes more than just technology to ensure online safety and security… it takes people power. Seems I wasn’t the only person paying attention to the summit. With at least 25 unique media stories… you may have heard of it outside of the VOXUS blog. Check out some of the links:

· USA Today (http://blogs.usatoday.com/technologylive/)

· Seattle PI (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/365598_cybersecurity04.html)

· Seattle Times (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004458445_brier05.html)

· NPR (http://publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/news/content/1294129.html)

· KIRO-AM (http://www.mynorthwest.com/?sid=61414&nid=11)

· Computerworld (http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=web_site_management&articleId=9093719&taxonomyId=62&intsrc=kc_top)

· Network World (http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/060508-more-laws-collaboration-required-for.html)

· eMarketing and Commerce (http://www.emarketingandcommerce.com/blog/just-when-you-thought-you-were-safe)

· DMNews (http://directline.dmnewsblogs.com/2008/06/04/aota-focuses-on-trust-on-heels-of-eec-trust-breach/)




(Poster of Craig Spiezle, AOTA Chairman and Founder)

-posted by Andrew

My former coworker-turned-full time blogger, Deb Hamilton, has hit the big time. She was quoted in a Newsweek article this past weekend -- and I can understand why. She's now the leading expert in developing bento lunch boxes for U.S. schoolchildren. (A bento is a Japanese box lunch.) I've written about her blog site before, but you should check it out at www.lunchinabox.net.

This is a shining example of how the media world has changed to enable someone to take a passion (in this case, an interest in healthy and portable lunches) and turn it into a full-time career.

-posted by Rachel

The NY Times has an interesting article up about journalistic ethics on the campaign trail. You may recall a recent flap over Bill Clinton's critique of a Vanity Fair article as "sleazy" and "slimy" during an interview. Or Obama's comments about how frustrated Pennsylvanians "get bitter, they cling to guns or religion."

Turns out that both of these were the result of amateur reporting by a single individual.

The woman, Mayhill Fowler, who calls herself a citizen journalist, wore no credential around her neck and did not identify herself, her intentions or her affiliation as an unpaid contributor to Off the Bus, a section of The Huffington Post. While her digital audio recorder was visible in her left hand during that encounter last Monday, she says, she did not believe Mr. Clinton saw it. “I think we can safely say he thought I was a member of the audience,” she said in a telephone interview on Friday.

This has created quite a stir in journalistic circles, with many opposed to the practice, including Newsweek columnist and reporter Jonathan Alter. Others, not so much...

But to Jane Hamsher, a onetime Hollywood producer who founded Firedoglake, a politics-oriented Web site that tilts left, Mr Alter’s rules of the road are in need of repaving. For starters, she said, the onus was on Mr. Clinton to establish who Ms. Fowler was before deciding to speak as he did. That he failed to quiz her at all, Ms. Hamsher said, was Mr. Clinton’s problem, not Ms. Fowler’s. As a result, Ms. Hamsher said, the public got to experience the unplugged musings of a former president (and candidate’s spouse) in a way that might never have been captured on tape by an old boy on the bus like Mr. Alter. “It’s hurting America that journalists consider their first loyalty to be to their subjects, and not to the people they’re reporting for,” she said. Told, for example, that the Times ethics policy states that “staff members should disclose their identity to people they cover (whether face to face or otherwise),” Ms. Hamsher was dismissive.

To be blunt, I call Bullshit! on this one. As someone who has worked alongside the media for more years than I care to remember, I can say that there are clear ground rules. For example, we counsel our clients to be aware that everything they say in an interview may be "on the record" even if they ask that it not be. But it must, MUST, always be made clear that this is in fact an interview, because on the other side of this slippery slope is Paparazzi journalism. And that's not the type of media environment I want to live in.

The press has enough credibility problems as it is, they don't need amateurs that don't know how to play by the rules. If you want to write and publish for yourself, go right ahead (it's called blogging). But if you're going to tape record someone for an interview that you are using in the article, you make it clear at the start. Period.

-posted by Paul

It takes more than just words to tell a story and VOXUS friend Bellamy Pailthorp, at Seattle NPR affiliate KPLU, has brought a certain event to my attention. Bellamy and a number of other prominent journalists will be taking part in the annual Bellingham Visual Journalism Conference July 18-20 at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. If you’re up for learning about and discussing visual journalism in a beautiful setting, you should check it out.

-posted by Andrew

Sinrod Marketing Group's international opinion panel just completed a survey of 75,000 adults to determine first names associated with intelligence. The winners: Abigail, Alexis, Grace, Leah, Meryl and Vanessa for women, and Alexander, David, John, Kenneth, Samuel and Tim for men. The names most associated with leadership were Ruth, Alexander, Dwight and Lance. You can see the entire results of the survey in The New Baby Name Survey Book.

The fact that none of us at VOXUS have these names kind of puts the validity of this research in dispute.

-posted by Rachel

Remember the old song by the Manhattan Transfer called "Operator," where the singers want to get Jesus on the telephone? Now there's a web startup that's gone a step further. It enables those who are swept up to heaven in the Rapture (according to Christian tradition, this is what happens before the AntiChrist's seven-year reign of terror leading up to Armageddon) to send emails to those of us sinners left behind. For only $40 per year, YouveBeenLeftBehind.com will let you send messages to up to 62 people six days after you've departed Earth, if you're one of the raptured ones. And how does this happen when, presumably, the owners of the site have also zoomed on to their just rewards? There are five gatekeepers for the website, and if three of them don't log on for six days in a row, the emails are sent. I could point out some of the potential security hazards of this, or make any number of witty comments...but I'll just point you toward the article in Wired's blog. It's a good read.

-posted by Rachel

When I first began working in the PR business, late night runs to Kinko's for last minute presentations and copies were the norm. Before Powerpoint, color copiers and whiz-bang office supplies were readily available, it was just me and "Kinky's" that stood between a client's success or failure on the road. So it is with some regret that I noted that FedEx, the new parent company of Kinko's, is dropping the name in favor of shoring up the FedEx brand. I suppose it was inevitable, as thousands of us no longer make midnight runs in our pajamas to fix one final typo in a presentation booklet. Maybe that's a good thing.

-posted by Rachel