The Sounding Board

I'd add those clients who re-write your press ...

I'd add those clients who re-write your press releases because they know better. The release is then sent back to you full of adjectives and fluff, it becomes an advert rather than PR.

Sevans Network: a new social tool for those new to PR

As a blogger I have had PR agents ask me about mak...

As a blogger I have had PR agents ask me about making something to go viral even - fail. Luckily that is a very small majority.

SpeakerBox Announces New Client: Runaware

SpeakerBox is pleased to welcome a new client to the fold.  Florida-based Runaware, a leader in online software demo solutions and cloud computing services recently selected SpeakerBox as its AOR.  Runaware's flagship product, TestDrive, offers a hosted interactive online demo environment that allows customers to evaluate software in their Web browser.  In addition, Runaware's cloud platform allows independent software vendors to migrate to a cloud or hybrid model and ultimately increase their software sales.

For more information, the full release can be found here.

-- Katie Hanusik

Thanks John! I got a good laugh out of these, desp...

Thanks John! I got a good laugh out of these, despite having heard most at one time or another. Here's another: "Can I review the story before it's printed."

Great article ~ I definitely chuckled with each po...

Great article ~ I definitely chuckled with each point!

Numbers 1 and 2 are dead on!<br /><br />Some corporate &quot...

Numbers 1 and 2 are dead on!

Some corporate "viral" videos make me break out into hives. A sense of humor: good. Social media as a priority: good. Hokey skits, rap videos, and any form of dancing in a YouTube video: bad, oh so bad.

The Five Scariest Things to Tell a PR Firm

It’s almost Halloween, which means steeling yourself for armies of costumed children besieging your home, endless reruns of your favorite TV specials (Disney’s animated The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is my personal favorite) and, of course, loads of technology publications pushing out vaguely-related lists.

So in the vein of the latter, here is my take on the “Scariest [Insert Industry Here]” list – keep in mind, I’ve kept many of the obvious comments off of here, like “You’re fired” and “I’m slashing your budget.”

5. If we give Reporter X $5,000, will they run our story?

Remember when you hired a public relations firm and not an ad agency? That means you’re looking for thought leadership and poignant, well-placed articles filled with journalistic integrity, not blatant sponsorship. Also, good luck finding a reporter from any reputable news organization to take you up on that – it’s essentially bribery, and not even most independent bloggers will play that game, especially if you want to keep the payment on the down low.

4. I want to see all of your pitches before you send them out.

This one isn’t always scary – it’s perfectly reasonable to want to see what your new public relations firm is saying about your company and how they are positioning your product/service/executives when you start the engagement. The above only becomes scary when it is maintained as the status quo – not only are you telling the firm “I don’t trust you” but you’re also acting as a bottleneck. Your firm (should) know what to say to get you in front of the people you want to talk to – don’t hamstring that capability but functioning as a Great Redactor.

3. Microsoft is in the Wall Street Journal; why can’t we be there too?

Want to terrify your PR firm? Constantly compare yourself to competitors that are:
A) Public when you aren’t
B) Led by a polarizing/outspoken/media-darling CEO who is constantly spouting borderline-insane quotes (see: Larry Ellison)
C) Vaguely competes in your market but is actually focused in another, extremely-popular industry

Understand who your competitors are and be reasonable. It’s understandable to shoot for the stars and, trust me, your PR firm is right there with you. But make sure your expectations are realistic, especially when you look at your TRUE competitors.

2. How can we make this go viral?

Before you start throwing around “viral,” understand what it means – it’s essentially content that explodes across a variety of online communities with little to no syndication from the creator. “Manufactured viral” is also highly prone to failure (Jupiter Research tags the success rate of viral campaigns at around 15 percent), so never get your hopes up around a particular campaign. By all means, create content with the hopes of it going viral – just don’t expect the same level of success as Greg the Architect or, God forbid…

1. Let’s make a series of videos like Old Spice! It’ll be just like Old Spice’s campaign only it will focus on ERP and…

Because that worked out so well for Microsoft and Cisco, right? Copying a successful viral campaign isn’t normally the recipe for success – part of the appeal when it comes to a specific viral campaign is the uniqueness. You have your own corporate culture, your own ideas and your own spokespeople – mold them into a campaign that tells your company’s story with all of the quirky bits included. Even if it doesn’t necessarily go viral, it’ll certainly have more of an impact that Steve from Logistics trying to copy Isaiah Mustafa’s well-timed mockery.

And those are my five ways to keep your PR firm up at night – what are yours? Do you have any particularly frightening statements that a PR firm has told you? Let me know!

--John Terrill

Plugged-In Cars: Electrified Vehicles Zoom Into The Mainstream

This week I had the opportunity to attend the Social Media Club - DC (SMCDC) breakfast event with Ford. Dan Pierce, environmental communications manager for Ford Motor Company was on hand to talk about electric vehicles (EVs) and how social media is essential to their efforts to reach consumers and stakeholders.

Ford's commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, along with the growth of efficient EV technologies, spurred the current push for Ford's five hybrid and battery electric vehicles launching over the next three years. The two that were on display and used for test drives that morning were the Ford Transit Connect Electric and the Ford Focus Electric (pictured above). 

Dan Pierce, Ford Motor Company

Pierce noted that government entities and manufacturers are supporting EVs and putting resources behind infrastructure. These groups recognize how EVs can help "smart commuting." For example, those in urban areas who don't drive long distances could charge up their vehicle at home to last several short round-trips. Some other key takeaways:

• According to Ford, there are 220,000 gas stations in the US; there are only 35,000 electric stations
• Some gas cars get 15 cents/mile vs. 3 cents/mile to charge EVs
• The concept of a hybrid electric vehicle dates back to 1901
• Ford's social media strategy for the launch of the Fiesta was well received across consumers and marketing folks alike; photos on Flickr, demos on YouTube, Facebook pages and Twitter demographic and brand-specific feeds all helped engage and educate

The great thing about the new EVs being produced is that it stirs innovation for the manufacturers and the technology community at-large. Soon we'll be one step closer to living like the Jetsons. 

--Pheniece

Digital East 2010: Venture Capital Viewpoint

The Venture Capital ViewPoint featured John Backus, New Atlantic Ventures; Philip Bronner, Novak Biddle; Don Rainey, Grotech Ventures; Mark Rostick, Intel Capital and moderator Andrew Ray, Bingham. Interestingly, this seemed to be the worst attended session of the day with only about 60 people in audience. As John Backus pointed out “how quickly the venture capitalists have fallen.”

The questions quickly turned to financing. The VCs universally agreed that they’re not interested in ideas on a napkin. Especially in the case of first-time entrepreneurs, they’re looking for demonstrated traction. Rostick added that it’s easier to get an A or C round, but harder to get a B round. If you burn through an initial investment without significant progress, it’s really hard to get more money.

However, there is a silver lining. Bronner said he’s seeing more innovation now than he’s seen in a long time. Backus and Rainey agreed saying, “The best companies are born during the hardest times. Companies started during times of distress are not spending money stupidly; they are cheaper and seem to have better DNA.”

The panel also mentioned that they’re looking for companies that can iterate quickly, test often and fail fast. Rainey specifically mentioned HelloWallet’s “Caribou Test.” Periodically, when the CEO wanted to focus test a new idea or feature, he’d wander down to the local Caribou Coffee to get real-time feedback from potential customers. Rainey added that the commitment to testing is critical; “the first great challenge for an entrepreneur is to build a truly great product – and that’s where most entrepreneurs fail.”

So what sectors are the most interesting to these VCs?
• Innovative ecommerce solutions that enable new categories of products to be sold online such as prescription drugs, wine and high-end fashion
• Consumer-directed healthcare
• Mobile as a source for distributed content, commerce and the shift to the cloud
• Artificial intelligence
• 4G
• Socialization on the Web: gaming, coupons and “winning by buying,” such as Groupon and Living Social.

The last question asked was the most interesting question of the day; “if you were an entrepreneur would you take venture money?” Bronner said he’d take seed money but wouldn’t raise VC money unless the market was big enough to result in a multi-million dollar payout for the entrepreneur. He added, that he’d make sure he raised enough money to be the market leader, since the category leader often sells for 3-5x more than the number two player. Rostick added that he’d recommend taking venture money if you needed something from the VCs that you couldn’t get easily by yourself, such as advice, coaching or access. Otherwise, go it alone.

Based on the attendance at the session, plenty of entrepreneurs seem to be following that advice.

-  Katie Hanusik

Digital East 2010: Usability & Design

More than 250 people attended the morning session on Usability and Design featuring usability experts Darren Mauro, CustomInk.com; Kelley McDonald, Navigation Arts; Craig Sauerwalt, Sylvan Learning; Emily Jerome Schroeder, AutoTrader.com and moderator Drew Diskin, University of Pennsylvania Health System.

The session started with the question, "is the site redesign dead?” The panelists seemed to think so and proposed a model of continuous improvement (rather than stagnation and decay). Just as important as the ongoing optimization is the commitment to testing. Panelists suggested tools like usertesting.com, Morae and Google’s Website Optimizer for online usability testing, and pointed out that the ease and low cost enables Web developers to test the same project or page repeatedly.

In terms of content, McDonald pointed out that content is frequently given short shrift. Though Websites are mostly textual content, the content is often an afterthought. The CMS industry perpetuates the idea that content can be automated, leading people to believe that less effort is required.

When asked about designing for the mobile Web, the panelists suggested creating a pared down site that addresses three questions that are specific to your mobile visitors, rather than simply replicating the functionality of your desktop Website.  Sauerwalt also suggested that you design with specific devices in mind, since each platform does different things well.

One audience member asked about the appropriate balance of content to “call-to-action” for an e-commerce site. In Mauro’s experience at CustomInk, high quality product information and product comparison tools are the most valuable content for visitors. Other narrative content is less valuable for CustomInk visitors. Schroeder reminded us that thoughtful content really helps with SEO; it helps get visitors in the door even if it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions.

Next up – the Venture Capital ViewPoint.

- Katie Hanusik

Digital East 2010: Social Media for Government and Associations

Fellow SpeakerBoxer Katie Hanusik and I tag-teamed the sold-out Digital East 2010 Conference today held in McLean, VA,  and I was impressed by how much the event has grown the past few years! It was packed. Standing room only available for some of the sessions and a great representation of the community, both locally and nationally.

Sharing some highlights from a session I attended this afternoon on social media trends in associations and government.

Speakers included:

Sybil Walker Barnes: Director of Social Media, American Institute of Architects
Susan Cato, Senior Director, Web and New Media Strategies, CompTIA
Bob Ellsworth, Senior Fellow of Technology, Republican National Committee
Moderator: Andrea Rose Baker, Director of Enterprise 2,0, NavStar, Inc.

The first thing that struck me about this panel, is that whether it was intended or not, each of these speakers served as a change agent for their organizations, creating engagement and conversations. Each of them found themselves trying to bridge the gap between structured, closed, traditional communications models, and more current ways of engaging.

Each shared successes and lessons learned that have helped propel their organizations forward. Moderator Andrea Rose Baker kicked things off by asking each panelist to provide one word that best describes their deployment of social media within their organization:

Bob: STRUGGLE: After joining the RNC, he came to realize he would need to break the mold of "command and control" and strive to accomplish a two-way message with no command nor control of what is being said.

Sybil: LEARNING: Introducing social media and two-way conversations has been challenging to a very traditional association, but the "aha" moment came when they realized they could use these tools as a learning channel, to learn about member companies, clients, as well as their own internal team. 

Susan: CHAOS: Her biggest challenge was trying to bring chaos into order. At CompTIA there were plenty of enthusiastic folks ready to engage with members and clients (and in fact there were multiple CompTIA-branded social media sites that had grown organically) but the group needed to ensure there was structure at the same time.

The group became relatively interactive, while still responding to directed questions by the moderator. Some of the observations, which tend to be typical of a more traditional, structured organization:

• Bob described how there was little infrastructure or tools available for communicating beyond what they have always done. They've had to change that. For example, he used to personally communicate to primarily the major networks, but that's not the current landscape. They need to engage the hundreds of influencers and bloggers that report on what they do. They find themselves being the target of non-traditional channels, such as The Daily Show, should things go wrong. 
• Susan discussed her challenge with managing their brand amidst other Facebook, LinkedIn and web properties that do not belong to the association, but still manage to be communities of their customers. Her challenge was to find a way to harness the engaged, enthusiastic communities already present online with effective brand management. She had to personally reach into those groups and look to engage or assimilate into her corporate properties. She started with the biggest ones first, and then worked her way down. She also opted not to shut any of them down, as she couldn't risk alienating any of their followers.
• Bob made an observation that in many cases, bloggers and influencers can have more power than traditional media..he has to focus more on grassroots efforts when it makes sense.
• Sybil discussed a lesson learned in the differences between physical and virtual conventions: bloggers can help or hurt you if you don't manage those relationships well. Get bloggers involved early for virtual events to help promote, listen, and engage, and treat them as members of the media when attending in-person conferences.
• All agreed that enterprise 2.0: the term used in this case for internal engagement using social media tools, will be an important new area to fold into a communications plan.
• Andrea discussed the transition from a web-centric world to a social media format for communication, referencing a controversial article from Wired Magazine, The Web Is Dead. Andrea believes the web isn't dead, but rather it has a slow heartbeat, as a strong web property is still important in meeting needs for information. But it can't serve alone as a communications tool.

Unfortunately, there wasn't the focus I was looking for on government engagement, although many of the thought processes hold true for agencies to consider. Thanks to TechMedia for a great program!

Elizabeth Shea (@eliz2shea)

Thanks for the discussion John,<br /> <br />I think you&#146;ve g...

Thanks for the discussion John,

I think you’ve got it absolutely right… our goal is help people pitch less, but pitch smarter and to not have to hear the “Why are you sending me an off-topic pitch?” response.

To correct the previous post, mBLAST's MediaSync does allow the user to enter notes on engagements, private thoughts, and even private contact details and save these as a personal addendum to a media contact's record. These private details are seen only by the user -- not the "crowd" as pointed out. We view these "CRM" functions as a fairly normal “must have” feature in any media product.

There are crowdsourcing aspects to MediaSync – for example you can create your own lists of contacts, sources or opportunities and share them with colleagues, and we always take feedback from users on new or updated contact/source info, which we then vet and incorporate in the database.

What further separates MediaSync from others is the ability to constantly mine new blogs and articles from your relevant sources and contacts – so you are always up to date on what they are saying and writing. That's the real value of the MediaSync service -- not the fact that we have someone's email address. That's readily available on the web these days – it’s just a Google search away in most cases.

The Social 50: Which Companies Have the Most Social Employees

Let's try an informal poll: Do you think B2B or B2C companies have the most connected and active employees across social networks?


If you're like me, you'd have selected B2C companies as your answer, but you would have been wrong. NetProspex, the fast-growing sales and marketing database company, just unveiled the latest version of its Social 50 Report, showing the most social corporations in America, and of the top 20 social companies on the list, more than half are B2B brands. The NetProspex Social Index was determined by research conducted from database of business contacts, and it reflects "a business person's social connectedness, social activity, friendliness, and reach across top social networks, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

They've uncovered some useful data, and it's a report I think every person who is managing, contemplating or heck, even interested in, their organization's social strategy (that should cover all of us, right?) should read. As an added bonus, they have some pretty fantastic infographics accompanying the report (which, as always, means I love it).

So who made the Fall 2010 Social 50?
(Click to make the graphic larger, unless your eyes are way better than mine.)

National Public Everything

Is public media better than private media?

PBS thinks so. (More on that in a bit.)

But first: What's happened to commercial news reporting?

Now that the New York Times has pared its editorial staff down to a lean 7, can we really expect the old standard of journalistic due diligence?

Probably not. As real news sees its profitability declining (thanks again, free sensationalist online portals and 24-hour content holes), the industry has to cut corners, which makes the final product all the more irrelevant. The same thing happened to the auto industry. (Little-known fact: all 2008 Chryslers featured hand-pump windshield wipers.)

In that instance, the government stepped in with public money. Would it ever do the same for private journalism?

Some would argue that a dysfunctional fourth estate is even more toxic than the loss of hundreds of thousands of automotive jobs. After all, the backbone of our democracy is an engaged, informed populace. And right now, 20% of Americans believe the Sun revolves around the Earth. (To which the singed ghost of Giordano Bruno responded, “Are you freaking kidding me?”)

So perhaps the time has come for a news industry bailout. Granted, this is unlikely, considering that the majority of 2010 congressional candidates favor abolishing the Federal Government in its entirety.

And there's another problem: We already have public media, and it can be a bit (to put it mildly) aggressively inaccessible.

(I might be pilloried for that last comment. But there has to be a middle ground between “Tuesday Evenings with Thelonius Monk” and “Fox Action News starring Jennifer Lopez and the Dominos Pizza Noid.”)

Advocates of public media are already making the case for greater government investment. Just last week, PBS’ Idea Lab published a survey showing that 407 Spot.Us users rated public media as having significantly better quality than its commercial counterpart.

It’s admittedly an unrepresentative sampling (and it’s conducted by PBS!), so the findings aren’t airtight. But there does seem to be a groundswell of support for public media expansion.

Personally, I’m not sure more PBS stations are the answer. Rather, I think the government should flex its muscles helping our traditional news industry do what it used to do best.

It’s not as if journalists have forgotten the principles of solid reporting. They just don’t have time to do it in between blog posts, podcasts, and "Happy Friday" tweets.

Not to mention that SEO considerations are making NPR SPEAKERBOX most online news PR FIRM DC reporting bloated NEWS PROFITABILITY with TOP 10 REASONS TO GO SKIING THIS WINTER nonsense.

The problem with the private sector is that it’s obsessed with streamlining and efficiency. Luckily, our government doesn’t even know the meaning of the word efficiency.

So maybe -- just maybe -- it’s a match made in geocentric heaven.

What do you think?

--Jonathan

Facebook Revamps The Social Experience

When Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg calls a press conference, it usually means something big is about to go down. The charitable side of me hoped the announcement would be another multimillion-dollar donation to a troubled school system similar to what Zuckerberg recently bestowed upon Newark, NJ. The consumer side of me hoped to finally hear about the Facebook phone.

At yesterday’s invitation-only press event, the announcement actually centered on what you might call “making social more social” on Facebook. Stay with me here. Facebook has 500 million users who log in to reconnect with old friends, catch up with family and make new connections, whether personal or business. Some of these connections even exist on other platforms, like email, or even (heaven forbid) in real life. So Zuckerberg and his team set out to enhance Facebook to allow more targeted and personal management of your connections and your information. 

To create this targeted experience, Facebook now features a new Facebook Groups that will enable group chat and email lists. The design is much more like a “community” space and you’ll be able to discuss topics through group chat (among group members that are online), as well as have a group custom e-mail address. Groups are automatically set to closed, so only group members will see pictures, links, events and videos you post there. I can see businesses using this as a tool to empower employees to share and provide input on work efficiencies.

There’s also a new dashboard that will allow Facebook users to see how many sites and applications they’ve allowed to access their personal data through Facebook Connect. Given Facebook’s privacy issues, I think this is a great idea for those users who can’t remember every application they’ve signed up for on the site. You’ll also be able to download your information from Facebook into a .zip file, which is really a long overdue feature.

Interestingly, the people behind these new features were allegedly in all-hands-on-deck mode getting the site enhancements ready. TechCrunch notes that the leadership at Facebook actually calls it “Lockdown” and it pretty much means everyone works 24/7. It sounds scary. But what I would give to be a fly on the wall during a “Lockdown” at Facebook. 

--Pheniece

Lets Hear it For the Girls

TMA Event Recap: Software Pricing Strategies

Last week the Technology Marketing Alliance (TMA) held one of its quarterly programs at the Tower Club with guest speaker Jim Geisman, founder and principal of Software Pricing Partners. The topic was spot-on for this group of senior marketers that each face challenges in setting and maintaining pricing models for their primarily B2B and B2G enterprise software companies.

Jim addressed challenges with on-premises vs. SaaS models, typical discounting practices, productizing services and market trends, and the effects of B2C pricing on B2B companies.

We covered a lot of material during the session, which was custom made for our group downsized from a typical full day workshop. Jim was gracious enough to grant permission to post his PowerPoint for our community to digest...it was a very interactive session, however, so the questions and answers provided the most value for many of us in the room.


A couple of key nuggets to share:

• Pricing strategies: people in general don't recognize absolute prices, they recognize relative prices. Be very conscious of what you provide vis-a-vis your competitors to make sure a higher price reflects higher value. Make it apparent. 
• Salespeople may not always be trained on why pricing is set where it is: make them a part of the strategic discussion to help cut down on discounting and keep up profitability.
• Free trials and test runs are becoming more and more important; don't make it hard for customers to see the value! Make it digestible and easy to purchase. 
• If your product can be sold without sending them through a salesperson, make it easy. Don't let your internal sales processes inhibit a customer who is ready to buy. Typically customers have already made their decision.
• Jim recommends three pricing options, with increasing value/offering at each level. He referenced studies that have proven that customers will more likely choose up when three options are presented, versus when only two options exist.
• Rather than price by the user, consider pricing your software based on usage, feature set or item sold. When the metric for pricing for your customer matches the metrics for their business (per claim, per loan, per patient, per bill, per reservation, etc.), there was likely to be a better case of profitability on both sides of the equation, and greater satisfaction overall. 
• One idea Jim proposed for alleviating the standard practice of sales discounting at month end, quarter end, etc., was to set up the sales quotas and incentives to occur at different times. Thus there wouldn't be incentives to heavily discount all at once, affecting ongoing profitability for the deal. 

Many thanks to Jim for taking the time to address our group; the feedback from the attendees was very favorable, and for those seeking additional customized strategies, his workshops would be a no-brainer!

-  Elizabeth Shea (eliz2shea)

Advertising $$$ and the Battle for the Digital Soul of Journalism

I came across a fantastic post by GigaOM’s Matthew Ingram earlier this week on Forbes’ new effort to monetize digital media, particularly blogs. The endeavor appears to be offering “branded blogs” to advertisers – great idea in principle, especially if you’re trying to drive more ad dollars. But the point of the post wasn’t the blogs themselves, but rather if this effort equates to Forbes selling its editorial soul for the sake of more ad money.

It’s a symptom of a wider problem – more and more publications are, at least to outsiders, blurring the line between editorial and advertorial, with specific sponsorships for certain sections, obnoxiously intrusive in-text ads and pop-ups, and so on. And if publication kowtowing for ad money wasn’t enough, advertisers are snapping up respected industry leaders as to serve as community evangelists or social media consultants.

So is what Forbes doing worse than, say, if Microsoft were to hire Chris Anderson as their evangelist or BusinessWeek refused to allow you onto their site unless you watched a 30 minute infomercial for Cisco? No, but it’s getting dangerously close – particularly the way that Forbes’ CFO phrased the effort, stating that advertiser’s voices can “commingle” under the Forbes brand to provider a rich user experience. Commingle sounds suspiciously like “blending” to me…

Through it all, Forbes is adamant that they will clearly delineate paid-for blogs from their journalistic content. So all of this hypothesizing may be moot until we actually see how this shakes out.

What do you think? Is the idea of a branded blog anathema to you on a site like Forbes? Are you getting a ScienceBlogs vibe from this?

--John Terrill

Introducing AOLCrunch?

Now that initial frenzy has died down, I wanted to slide some thoughts into the Internet maelstrom around AOL’s acquisition of TechCrunch. In full disclosure, I have had clients covered by the technology goliath in the past but I’ve never interacted with Michael Arrington, so my opinions of TechCrunch may or may not sync with the general sentiments floating around.

My thoughts on the merger? It’s a great move for AOL…TechCrunch, not so much.

TechCrunch is a powerful, powerful brand – one only has to look at the shake-up around social gaming last winter, all of which started with a single blog post by Arrington. If they aren’t THE bellwether in tech, they’re certainly close.

AOL, on the other hand, seems like a dying leviathan. Additionally, it seems like it spreads the touch of death to any properties it acquires – take a look at the Compete traffic on Engadget (AOL acquired in 2005) versus Gizmodo. Compete isn’t completely accurate (as Business Insider says in the link) but it can’t skew numbers THAT much.

So do I think TechCrunch is doomed? Absolutely not. But I do think that the deal is far sweeter for AOL than it is for TechCrunch. Although TechCrunch could be the media property that pulls AOL out of the limbo it’s currently in.

What do you think?

--John Terrill

Looking For Love In All The White Spaces

Andy Warhol once had a profound thought about Coca Cola. He said what’s great about America is that a Coke is a Coke. No amount of money or status can buy you a better Coke than the one being chugged by a bum on the corner. America started that tradition, he said. A tradition of equal access.

For soft drinks, maybe.

We’ve got another tradition around these parts: keeping beneficial technologies under wraps for dubious reasons.

Back in 1983, the government declassified GPS technology for public use. Amazing thing, GPS, right? Very, very useful. So why, then, did it take seventeen years for GPS systems to catch on with consumers? Maybe because it wasn’t until 2000 that the U.S. Army finally stopped INTENTIONALLY MUCKING UP THE SATELLITE SIGNALS.

That’s right: Your grandmother finding a shorter route to the beauty salon was deemed an intolerable security threat. So we had GPS systems that could only trace locations within 100 meters—when the technology was perfectly capable of pinpointing spots within CENTIMETERS.

Which brings me to our access inequality du jour: Wi-Fi.

You might have seen that the FCC last week approved a new slice of radio space for unlicensed use. The new frequencies are called “white spaces,” and they’re available now because TV channels all switched from analog to digital transmission last year.

What you might not have known (or rather, what I didn’t know until I’d read Farhad Manjoo’s stellar article in Slate) was that these new frequencies are much, much better than the “garbage bands” (that’s literally what they’re called) we’ve been using for Wi-Fi this past decade.

See, all the choice frequencies went to powerful interests like television broadcasters, telecommunications companies, and the military back in 1985. In fact, it’s almost a miracle we have consumer Wi-Fi at all, considering how bad and interference-prone our public-use frequencies were.

Now that we have the “white spaces,” though, we’re poised for Super Wi-Fi—better, stronger signals over gigantic spaces.

Only we could have had it all along. And probably thousands of other things.

Et tu, Flying Humvee?

-- Jonathan