Dear New York Times & Wall Street Journal: How About Some Sensible Digital Subscription Pricing?

by on May 8, 2012

in Newspapers

The New York Times is launching new video ads to convince people they should pay for its content. Here’s a thought. If the New York Times, or the Wall Street Journal for that matter, want to be paid what they’re worth, how about giving subscribers a set price they can depend on? A price that [...]

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Stole My Son’s Phone? We’ll See About That….

by on May 2, 2012

in Uncategorized

I guess I can add a story to the many out there about someone who tracks down a lost phone using a Find My Phone-type of service. In this case, it was my son’s. I tracked it down to the exact classroom where the kid who took it was sitting. My son calls when he [...]

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How I Lost My Hacker News Name

by on April 5, 2012

in Internet

I’m not on Hacker News a lot, but occasionally I do comment. When I do, you’ll see me there as sullivandanny. I’m also dannysullivan, but I can’t have that account. Forgot my password, and that’s that, apparently. When you create a Hacker News account, unlike most places I register with, you’re not required to provide [...]

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Bad PR Pitch #1: “Open To A Conversation?”

by on March 28, 2012

in PR

In hopes of improving the often sad state of PR pitches, I’m beginning a series dissecting the bad one I get. I’ll start with the “conversation” pitch. This one almost always goes in the trash. “Would you be open to a conversation with….” “I’d be happy to coordinate a conversation….” “Would you’d be interested in a conversation with….” No, [...]

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Glad Encyclopedia Britannica Is Alive – Now If I Could Only Find It On Google

March 14, 2012

Like many, I’m sure, I read with sadness the news that the Encyclopedia Britannica was closing yesterday (only the print edition, as it turns out). Then surprise, as I didn’t realize EB still existed. I sure never found it when helping the kids with their science projects. Perhaps there’s a lesson there? Helping the kids during science [...]

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Watching Another News Story Get “Stolen” Without Attribution

February 13, 2012

Occasionally, you can watch how a story you’ve broken spreads to other news outlets. Disappointingly, that can mean watching it spread without your originating story getting the credit. My story last week of the “Spreading Romney” site is a great/sad example of this. Last week, I wrote a story at Search Engine Land about a [...]

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You Can’t Watch SNL’s Hilarious “Downton Abbey” Sketch Legally Online, So NBCUniversal Pirates Itself

February 6, 2012

All I wanted to do was share a funny “Downton Abbey Meets Spike TV” skit that was on Saturday Night Live this week. Unfortunately, there’s no authorized version of the sketch online from NBCUniversal. That made me hesitate, but apparently it wasn’t a problem for iVillage, an NBCUniversal-owned site. Nor was it an issue for Time, [...]

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Dear Rupert Murdoch: Let’s Talk Piracy & “The Simpsons”

January 22, 2012

Rupert, my son had a simple request. “Daddy, can we watch last week’s episode of The Simpsons?” No, son, we can’t. You can blame Rupert Murdoch for that. Rupert, I know you’re all upset about all those SOPA & PIPA protests last week. Why, without them, how will you keep all your shows from being [...]

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The Nutty, Stupid World Of ZoneAlarm Renewals

January 14, 2012

This might be the last year I renew with ZoneAlarm. I like the security software and have used it for years. But they crazy and somewhat misleading renewal process is making me feel less than valued. My subscription was nearing its end, so I got this warning telling me to renew. Clicking through, the price [...]

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The 4G Confusion Of AT&T

January 7, 2012

Want to see what a mess AT&T has made by calling its HSPA+ network 4G? Look at my two “4G” AT&T phones below, one the iPhone 4S, the other the Galaxy S II Skyrocket: The iPhone is reporting 3G speed, even though it’s getting what AT&T would have you believe is its first “layer” of [...]

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