I'm just now catching up on my reading from last month. Interesting to see that mEgo, a company that was scheduled to debut at Fall DEMO, had to be pulled from the program at the last minute. Seems the young startup got all whippersnappy and unveiled its product the week prior to Fall DEMO at TechCrunch40. That's just a big old no-no, as DEMO has built a solid reputation of giving the world its first peek at the latest and greatest technologies. Frankly, I'm surprised that mEgo chose to ignore the rules, since it had to have ponied up big bucks to play at DEMO...but then again, TechCrunch40 is free and maybe DEMO gave it a refund. Still, it created enough of a hullabaloo to make me want to see just what mEgo does, given that it's name is, well, unusual. And that may have just been the point. No, I'm not going to tell you what it does -- check out the site.

-posted by Rachel

Just in time for holiday invites or to share a picture with Cousin Bob, Yodio is offering free audio postcards. The Bellevue-based startup has simple instructions on its website and it claims that it takes only three minutes to record your voice, upload a photo and send it on its way. Now you can literally send a shout out to practically anyone.

-posted by Rachel

As PR professionals, it doesn't get much better when we have clients who not only have great technology, but hold a lengthy roster of happy customers. Case in point, VOXUS client PathGuide Technologies, a provider of warehouse management systems for industrial distributors. While warehouse management systems might not sound all that exciting, PathGuide customer Red-L Distributors saving $85,000 a year based on one small product feature (lot tracking) certainly is. Read more in this month's issue of Inbound Logistics.

-posted by Adrienne

We're pleased to have lined up the following panelists for the PRSA South Sound Chapter event on Nov. 8. It should be a great discussion on the topic of user generated media.

New Media: User Generated Media & Using it to Your Advantage
November 8, 2007
8:00am - 9:00am
MetroParks headquarters
4702 South 19th Street, Tacoma

Esteemed panelists include:

Mark Briggs, Editor, thenewstribune.com
Mark Briggs is editor of thenewstribune.com, the flagship web site for The News Tribune newspaper in Tacoma, Wash. He has worked in new media for newspapers since 2000 and has contributed to workshops, seminars and textbooks on the topic. He uses his blog to track the evolution of the local webosphere and other emerging trends that are important to the South Sound region.

Frank Shaw, Worldwide President, Waggener Edstrom
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide President Frank X. Shaw leads the Microsoft team at the agency and is responsible for all global PR efforts across the account. Frank is an avid follower of the blogosphere and tracks the impact bloggers have on corporate reputations, stock fluctuations, crisis situations and product launches. Frank began writing a daily blog for Waggener Edstrom Worldwide employees in April 2003. He covers a variety of topics on the agency's intranet relating to innovative public relations and the technology industry, and offers a witty perspective on "water cooler" subjects.

Nathan Kaiser, CEO, nPost
Nathan Kaiser is CEO of nPost, an organization that promotes and facilitates tech entrepreneurship. Nathan brings a unique perspective about new media and the opportunities and challenges facing businesses operating in a web 2.0 world.

Paul Ellis, Metropolitan Development Director, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber
Paul Ellis is the Director for Metropolitan Development for the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, the South Sound's largest local business organization. Paul manages the Tacoma Technology Consortium, the Regional Access Mobility Partnership (RAMP), and divisions of the Chamber throughout the metropolitan area. He also directs the Downtown Tacoma Business Improvement Area, and 84-block assessment district that maintains and markets Tacoma's city center. Paul maintains a number of blogs. He brings real-world insight on what works and what doesn't when using blogs to inform and engage the local community.


See you at the event!

-posted by Adrienne

Rhonda Wickham over at Wireless Week recently posted the top ten shows mobile subscribers viewed in September 2007. Reality shows Deal or No Deal, Big Brother 8, America's Next Top Model, Dancing with the Stars and The Biggest Loser took five of the top ten. NBC edged out other major networks with three of the top ten. See the full list and the top ten YouTube videos for September here.

-posted by Lindsay

Following up on my earlier post about David Pogue's Imponderables blog entry at the NY Times, I'd like to highlight one company's effective use of the comments section of Pogue's blog. Pogue posed the following question as an Imponderable:

Wi-Fi on airplanes. What’s taking so long?

A spokesperson for AirCell, a company that it trying to address that very issue, posted the answer (at least as they see it) in the blog comments. The comment was well written, not overly hype-driven, addressed the question directly and was signed by a company representative – as opposed to the ubiquitous "anonymous" signature line. Pogue in turn took the comment and elevated it to the subject for his next post.

This is exactly the way these things should be done. Well played, AirCell.

-posted by Paul

David Pogue poses an interesting question in a blog post on "Imponderables" ...

Do P.R. people really expect anyone to believe that the standard, stilted, second-paragraph C.E.O. quote was really uttered by a human being?

No. But a well-written quote isn't "stilted" – it should actually have a distinct voice that you can hear in your head when you read it. And it should provide an opportunity to present information that won't otherwise easily fit in the release text. If it is simply a rehash of what does already appear elsewhere in the release, the PR person needs to either rewrite the quote or kill it.

Unfortunately the quote (and the rest of the release, for that matter) sometimes gets dumbed-down as part of the editing process. Which is of course the bane of writers everywhere.

-posted by Paul

Voxus client Sandlot Games has just announced a sweet contest, the Jill Evans Look-a-Like contest. Sandlot is encouraging all the Cake Mania fans out there to send in a picture dressed as Jill, the cake-baking heroine of the mega-popular Cake Mania games. They will be accepting photo entries until November 12, the grand prize winners will receive a Nintendo DS in addition to other game prizes. You can find out more about the contest and how to enter here.

-posted by Stephanie

Our friends at Zynchros just announced a major contract with the Department of Defense. The company has been awarded the formulary management and publication contract for TRICARE, the military's health care system, serving more than nine million active and retired military personnel and their families.

-posted by Rachel

Our friends at Vadium Technology, a Tacoma-based security software company, recently announced distribution agreements in South America, Asia, Europe and the UK. In support of this internationalism, it recently appointed Jose Antonio Rios, the former international president of Global Crossing, to the board of advisors. Hola!

-posted by Rachel

The Wall Street Journal recently picked the top 15 small workplaces in the U.S. -- two companies in the Pacific Northwest made the list. One is Healthwise, an information company based in Boise that empowers people to take charge of their health initiatives. But I found Seattle-based Point B Solutions Group even more interesting. Turns out that the consulting company doesn't offer vacation to its employees; it simply pays everyone by the hour for billable work plus an end of year bonus. If you want to take off for three months, it's not a problem -- you just don't get paid. For some reason, this struck me as a radical idea. And one that I hope is not adopted anytime soon at VOXUS.

-posted by Rachel

Ever wonder how long it takes to launch a new product? In a very interesting experiment last Saturday in Seattle, we learned it could be as little as six hours when a group of 12 Seattle developers spent an afternoon collaborating on a new web application, Tagmindr (the website is still in development). The brainchild of Noonhat founder Brian Dorsey, Tagmindr is an application that allows one to use a social bookmarking site like del.icio.us and a tag to send yourself a message to check the bookmark in the future. For more information on the group, which holds regular meetings, visit here.

-posted by Rachel

Last week, the founders of ClayValet hosted a sneak peek of their company and product at Shinka Tea. Looking forward to seeing the formal launch of this company, which has something to do with an online shopping application.

-posted by Rachel

The Seattle chapter of TiE is looking for a few good entrepreneurs. Here's your chance to pitch your business or business concept to VCs and other investors in the area. Last year, the group awarded prizes worth over $5000 in cash and in-kind. The deadline for business plan submissions is October 23. The actual event will be held on Thursday, November 8 at 6:00 p.m. at the Bellevue Courtyard by Marriott. See the website for more details.

-posted by Rachel

Congratulations to VOXUS client Nextrials, selected as the runner-up in the inaugural Data Innovation Awards competition sponsored by the Society for Clinical Data Management. Nextrials was selected on the strength of a partnership it has established with Z-Tech Medical to automatically collect and transmit patient data from medical devices into a full data management system. Mark Uehling at ClinPage wrote a glowing review of Nextrials' enhancements to its clinical data management program, Prism, which you can read here.

-posted by Rachel

For those of you out there who spend way too much time entering data into your company's Siebel CRM system, our client Knouen has announced OfficeSync, an add-in for Outlook that provides bidirectional synchronization between Siebel CRM and Outlook. Lack of strong ROI and user adoption from CRM systems has long been a problem. Knouen founder Meetul Shah is a Microsoft veteran who worked on CRM alliances, and based on early feedback from the analyst community, his company is meeting a clear need in the marketplace.

-posted by Adrienne

Our client Sandlot Games has rolled its flagship game (and the most downloaded casual video game of 2006) Cake Mania onto the Mac!!! Now Mac enthusiast can take a crack at this wonderfully addictive little game and see what 40 million other people were so obsessed about. That's right, it's not a typo, more than 40 million people have downloaded Cake Mania.

Sandlot already offers a couple of its games on Mac, but after speaking with the CEO, Daniel Bernstein, it looks like they have an internal initiative to migrate most of their great selling games onto the Mac. This, could be an industry shift in casual games. The Mac community is starved for casual games right now, but the emergence of the iPhone perhaps has developers and publishers foaming at the mouth a bit.

If you use a Mac -- especially if you have kids -- try the game out for free. If you like it, it costs 20 bucks! It's a great family-friendly game for the entire gang. I happen to be a pretty hardcore gamer (yes, I got my copy of Halo 3 the second it was released) and Cake Mania is still a great challenge, just a different genre. You can check it out here.

What is Cake Mania?
Cake Mania follows the culinary adventures of Jill Evans – a young entrepreneur. Cake Mania is a time management game where players help Jill open her own bakery, bring in customers and earn enough money to re-open her grandparents' troubled business. Gamers can upgrade and customize their shop to attract new patrons and meet daily sales goals. Jill's world is populated with interesting locales and hilarious characters that make the game engaging and visually appealing for all ages. Players keep the hungry grannies, blushing brides, and picky food critics happy with hundreds of possible cake combinations.

-posted by Justin