IanSchafer.com

Just in Time For Thanksgiving Football, Astroturfing.

There is a burgeoning controversy happening on the top gadget sites about a shill for Motorola haplessly blathering on about the qualities of the Motorola Krave.

It's happening on BoingBoing.

It's happening on Crunchgear.

And it's happening on many other places as well.

Posting as a shill in the comment sections of blogs is a practice commonly referred to as astroturfing. And blog readers are too smart to let it go unnoticed.

Here's an example of what's been going on:

I’m so glad my boss isn’t like that! I’m working with Motorola right now, and became a huge fan of the Krave (motorola.com/krave). I especially like the full touch screen display and html web browser. It’s awesome!

And:

Oh man this looks awesome! I hope they release a version for the Krave by Motorola. Ever since I started working with Motorola I have became a huge fan of the phone (motorola.com/krave). With a full list of features, like a full touch screen, I can’t stop obsessing over it.

This is a PR fiasco for Motorola, at a time when they can't really afford one. Their PR firm (or employee) made the client look bad, which is a big no-no.

Learn a lesson here. Don't astroturf. And don't listen to anyone that makes those kinds of tactics part of their 'social media strategy'. You will get found out in a moment, and it will work against you. Ironically, I mentioned this in the very first post I ever made on this blog.

Full circle. Gotta love it.

Reality Mining

MIT's Technology Review just published it's list of 10 Emerging Technologies for 2008. The one piece that resonated with me is Sandy Pentland's exploration into Reality Mining especially in relation to social networking, new media and interactive.

Reality mining "is all about paying attention to patterns in life and using that information to help [with] things like setting privacy patterns, sharing things with people, notifying people–basically, to help you live your life."

This becomes a hot topic for a few reasons. First and foremost is, once again, privacy issues. Data capture is part of our daily lives – credit card usage, cookies on sites, social network profiles, company swipe cards – and as technology continues to slowly infiltrate more of our lives, we become more tolerant and accepting of what information is divulged and distributed. Everyone has see the movies with the FBI trying to trace the criminals phone call with the criminal hanging up just before being caught. However, most people don't think about that even with mobile phones being on all the time A simple Google search on his/her name would surprise a lot of people.


Reality Mining has been a reality for years. And as mobile phones become more prevalent with WI-FI, Bluetooth and GPS-type systems (ala iPhone,) in addition to the laptops we carry around and use, the continual social network is our daily life. And as mobile technology advances, our blip on the grid becomes more prominent. The Human Cyborg ideal continues to press forward. Professor Kevin Warwick first started research into this in 1998 by planting microchips in his arm for recognition of systems in his lab.


The major benefit of Reality Mining is from an anthropological standpoint. How people interact, where they are and when they are. Tying this information into disease outbreaks, advertising models (when a person sees an ad, what do they do right afterwards?) and general healthcare and "human maintenance." Smartex in Italy is working on clothing that does just that.


It's a bit of the God factor (being omnipotent and omniscient) that is also fascinating. Knowing where your friends are at any time, knowing what they're doing, where to get the food your phone knows your craving. It's bringing the idea of Facebook, Google Maps, Dodgeball and other sites into the physical space. The ultimate social network. Maybe even a step closer to SkyNet.


Real-time in real-time. Very meta.

Watch My Video Highlights From CES 2008.

For the uninitiated, CES can be overwhelming. Heck -- for the initiated it can be overwhelming.

Getting around is a nightmare, trying to find who or what you are looking floor on the multiple show floors can be a huge challenge, and meetings are spread throughout the city.

But there are some amazing sights to behold each and every year, and that's what keeps me coming back. The innovation and the excitement and awe it brings helps me remember why I love what I do so much.

I walked around CES with my Flip Video Camera from PureDigital and got some great footage of innovation in action.

Check out this video playlist, and let me know if you've got questions about anything you see in these videos. I'll let them speak for themselves in the meantime. They are all important.

The Odds on the iPhone Failing.

Nothing is ever really culturally important until it has a betting line.

Well, you can now consider the iPhone officially culturally important.

As reported by LiveScience, BetUS.com has given the odds on the iPhone's failure:


* Consumers are reported camping out waiting for an iPhone—3/1 (IS: it's already happened)
* Initial iPhones get recalled—30/1 (IS: I wouldn't really be surprised if there was a partial recall. I was a victim of a faulty early Xbox 360)
* iPhone sells at least 12 Million units in 2008—5/6 (IS: 10 million is apple's goal.)
* Apple’s stock jumps at least 10% in value in regards to the price on 6/30/07—1/2 (IS: Bet it will, just because.)
* Consumers pay at least three times the original price ($1,500) on ebay—2/1 (IS: Oh yes, it will happen.)
* The screen breaks/cracks like Apple’s first-generation nano (iPod)—150/1 (IS: Apple's always had display issues. Odds are, it will continue here.)
* There are mass reports of the battery life being less than the promised 8 hours—10/1 (IS: Of course this will happen.)
* Someone is trampled while trying to get an iPhone—20/1 (IS: Maybe not a trampling, but someone will hurt someone else.)
* iPhone spontaneously combusts—150/1 (IS: It would be cooler if the "Mac guy" combusted, but hey, the odds are probably the same of that happening.)

Dvorak Hates on the iPhone

In a column over at Marketwatch, John Dvorak explains that Apple should not take a chance on the iPhone because they've done everything right to date. He essentially wants Apple to settle on calling the iPhone a 'reference design', and let someone like Samsung do it. What they did with the iPod was enter a middling market with a killer device. The handset market, on the other hand, is ultra-competitive, with many chances to fail.

It's actually a rather convincing argument.

But until or unless the device gets panned by critics and peers, I'm still willing to give Apple the benefit of the doubt here.

But I swear, I'm going to call shenanigans if all that phone does is attempt to get more people to buy things through iTunes, ala the AppleTV.