Millenium Marketer

Yeah, yeah, new iPad. Great, and rumors have it that there will be a 3rd gen iPad by the end of the year! Steve Jobs (bless his health, he’s only 50!) made a surprise appearance yesterday and says, “Everyone is coming out with tablets, will this be the year of copycats?” I can’t help but think OK, yeah, iPad 2 and hearsay has it there will be a 3rd gen before Christmas.

iPads in the same year can only mean one thing: Jobs must be getting a little nervous. After all, how do you beat perfectionist products? While all the cool kids still wants to get their hands on a new shiny, iPad, there was still some (muted) excitement around the Samsung Galaxy tab. I am reminded it of it every time when I get an announcement in my Gmail box.

I admit, you can only ignore glamor for so long, but I am determined. So how much was it again for a Galaxy tab? At 50% the price of iPad, I can afford the running costs of being Always On in my social networks, too.

I’ll be adding to this blog post over time but namely, I wanted to start building on this idea that listening on the social web can have impact in one-to-one real life interactions too. If you have other ideas about what it means to listen on the web, post your ideas in the comments and I will try to add it to this list.

1. The small act of focusing on what others have to say, whether in a tweet, a Facebook status, or otherwise and really listening to the meaning of their message, rather than their words can have really amazing results. The simple act of responding is the very meaning of gratitude.

Remember when the Palm Pre launch got all the buzz at CES 2009?
Well, Palm’s troubles are not over and not even VC Roger McNamee could save them.

Palm has been trying to solve its troubles in the “smartphone” market for years. They had identified Canada-based Research in Motion as their competitor, until rumors that Apple was coming out with a touchscreen phone started to surface in 2008.

Now the ubiquity of the iPhone has totally crushed Palm to a mere $5 per share. News has it that HP will be acquiring Palm, but will they succeed? iPhone’s core competency is clearly their focus on consumer behavior rather than creating device enablers that function.

Why HP wants to acquire Palm
WSJ’s The Source: What if it’s not about the Phones?
MobileBeat: Acquisition is about Tablets and netbooks too
TechCrunch: Double Down on Palm’s WebOS

Apple vs. HP Competition
Now that Apple has proven that it can crush HP’s Slate as well, let’s just say that there’s no beating this consumer mobile computing giant now. They’ve got the share on music devices, tablet devices and smartphone devices, and even the eBook market!

Flashbacks to my posts on Palm, Apple, Amazon
Dear Mr. Ed Colligan: Reasons why the features of the Palm sucks for blogging
Why Apple is the New Comeback Darling
Strive through the narrow gate: Speculation on devices like Amazon’s Kindle

OK, I will admit. I love Starbucks as much as the next person because they are conveniently right next to my work, and the people there work really hard. I know, because I did my time as a barista in college. But the other day, a friend posted a Facebook update promoting the Starbucks “Make a Difference” April 15 Free coffee campaign. Hmm…I thought. How do you know they are not greenwashing?

So I checked out the site for a closer look. It’s a cool, with lots of touchy feely media, videos and messages like this one: “One person can save trees, together we can save forests.” Wow! I can do that, just by bringing my paper cup?

I sometimes preach that the power of one is all it takes. But, when a company as big as Starbucks does an initiative like this, I have to stop and ask the question. Is this greenwashing? Because, ya know, they use a lot of filtered water, aren’t exactly cutting down energy use as far as can be observed in a regular weekday morning. They absolutely won’t turn down a customer if they want to buy a paper cup and plastic top with their coffee.

On the positive side, it wouldn’t be so bad if customers actually bought reusable mugs in the spirit of saving forests. If Starbucks makes a profit from the mugs, more power to the triple bottom line.

After a little friendly banter on Facebook, I hedged on this one. Social pressure maybe? I have to say that if anything, Starbucks is taking a step forward and not a step back.

What do you think? Green washing or plain ol’ green marketing? Leave a comment below.

Today my husband and I celebrated our 8th month anniversary after 8 years of dating. We spent a day out in Napa and while conversing, we pointed out (to no one in particular) that this is a huge agricultural industry in California.

I had a pretty good time trying to challenge myself to write with more describing words when tasting wine. We checked out Opus One, Franciscan Winery and Beaulieu Vineyards (which if you did not know, is the benchmark for Cabernet Sauvignon in California), and yeah, we didn’t do any of the usual local spots–Californians have a general sense that Napa is too touristy’ but I think visiting Napa in Spring when it is raining down monsoons is quite a local thing to do. We wouldn’t have gotten into Opus One otherwise. It was at Beaulieu that I realized that the winery is having an identity crisis, I mean the place that you usually see BV is in Safeway,–the coastal “value” wines as our sommelier informed us, but actually, BV wines in Napa are quite good.

After BV, and having filled at least five to six small notebook pages, we tried to find a place to eat. We decided on Bistro Jeantier in Yountville, but by no means for its commitment to sustainability or anything. Simply because it is tough to find a place to eat in Napa, and my guidebook didn’t have any info on that subject. I came across the French Laundry’s vegetable garden right across the street from French Laundry itself, and was enamored. I would have hopped from carrot patch to garlic patch to potato patch if I were allowed, but it was raining and he preferred to be inside.

I discovered that Bistro Jeantier had a Veal Osso Bucco French stylie thing on the menu, which we ordered, and turns out they source it from the United Meat Company. That sounded less appetizing at that point, and unnatural. You would have half expected to say they got the bones from a farmer nearby. It was fun to see the waiter get a little bit uncomfortable, though, because maybe they will start about getting meat that isn’t hopped up on hormones. Honestly I don’t know much about the subject, but if I’m starting to think about it, I think high end restaurants at least should start thinking about it too.

We talked about the market size of Napa’s tourist industry and what it was relative to, it was decided it is way huger in revenue per capita in Napa compared to Monterey (yes we talk about stuff like this), and simply tried to pretend that our lives weren’t filled with dishwashing and laundry.

We’ve decided to prolong at a Marriott Inn in East Bay (cheaper), and I had two last discoveries. Some snails came out, and I can’t decide if some hearsay that these were the same snails as escargot is true (doubtful) and the impromptu toothbrush from front desk should be compostable, dammit.

Pretty much a full day.

Did you know that Brussels sprouts only taste terrible when you overcook them? That’s when they release their sulfurous stench! It’s best to blanch them in already boiling water for only 1 to 2 minutes. I actually like them, believe it or not. The bigger ones taste distinctly like wasabi.

As terrible as you might think Brussels sprouts are, they are definitely way less disgusting than the tons upon tons of toxins and poisons in your house released by every day household products. Scary thought to think that there could be something more toxic than Brussels sprouts!

More and more, companies are developing more solutions to absolve us of indoor household toxins, such as better more sustainable wood materials, non-toxic shampoo and makeup, household cleaning products, and more, all to market to a growing business segment of people who are college educated, and most likely have a good income. Unfortunately, we’ve been taught to think about all these products that we use on a daily basis as value products. They’ve been priced down a great deal, so that we don’t pay for negative environmental and health effects within the products that we buy. They are undervalued, much like Brussels sprouts, but for different reasons. Comparatively, these products that market to your better nature, ego, or are simply trying to get you to catch the “green bug,” may seem over priced. And sometimes, they aren’t really necessary (just like a second hair dryer and third curling iron you keep just for emergencies.)

In a few words: Toxins, bad! Brussels sprouts, good! But in all seriousness, it’s really unfortunate that for the majority of the population who can’t afford green, good-for-you, better-for-environment products, being a “green consumer” is still a class of people allowed for only the middle to upper segments of America.

Luckily for us, there are other plants too that will help at least eat up some of the bad indoor quality in your home, and this is one solution that anyone can use.

Sunday tends to be the day where I do non-work related things: eat crepes with my husband, play with the neighbor’s kittens, or visit my brother, all the things that help us slow down and get ready for Mondays. It’s also a day where I take my farmer’s market buys, and my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription vegetables and prepare some meals for the week. Typically, they are very rich and hearty meals, such as stews, that I only have to prepare once on Sunday, and then fill the rest of the days with mac and cheese, or other quick cooking recipes.

The CSA subscription is a way to get vegetables and fruits delivered to a location close by where you can pick up on a per week or every-other-week basis. In my case, my small vegetable and fruit box gets delivered to my house. A lot of people who consider themselves “treehugger” or “green” types, working as engineers or young professionals in Silicon Valley will do this in a heartbeat because it’s a great way for them to say they eat local and/or organic. My brother-in-law is one example: he prefers organic food and biodegradable products over the typical grocery product, his family primarily shops at Trader Joe’s (a different category of people exists for Whole Paycheck ahem, Whole Foods, shoppers) and I think this is really awesome, but as busy people, we hardly have any time to think about why we make these choices. We care about the environment and about sustainable economies but I have been trying to understand the levers that make this work, and what the weaknesses are to make it work better.

I think about this stuff a lot while I’m cooking. It’s true–I might be chopping vegetables, but if I’m chopping organic or local vegetables, then most likely I’m not thinking about vegetables but about local CSA food economies! I’m digging up all sorts of second-hand information about the typical profile of CSA farmers, and the typical buyer, as well. More on that later.

Among the things I bought…

These carrots (they are a lot more orange than in the picture) and herbs are going to go into a chicken cassoulet, with Brussels sprouts, a bit of bacon, and Capay Farms celery. Herbs are from Happy Boy Farms.

This mint, also from Happy Boy Farms, will be the showcase for a vegetarian “summer rolls” or rather, Vietnamese style spring rolls with crimini mushrooms marinated in teriyaki sauce in place of shrimp.

I also bought artichokes, and if you have any thoughts on a local dish for those, I would love to hear about it!

Microsoft: “Yahoo, you just don’t understand. I really need you.”
Yahoo: “Oh, no, you really don’t need me. I’m not really worth it! And anyway, it’s too late! I’ve already promised 3% of myself to Google, so how could you possibly want me now?”

There’s quite an interesting discussion going on at Tech Crunch today about the finagling of Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft. As one commenter said, “These days I have stopped watching movies for entertainment. YHOO vs MSFT and Hillary vs Obama are more entertaining…”

I have to agree that this is one of those very strange soap operas in an age of acquisitions, mergers and where everyone is just trying to catch up with the competition. It’s not absolutely smart for Yahoo to hide behind Google, and I would agree that this is a weird way to go. If it’s to get their name in the news more often, then they’re doing a good job of it, but maybe they need to take a lesson from Google.

Google, interestingly enough, hasn’t been affected so much by any of this hullaballoo. The stealthy giant stands on the sidelines, not saying much, while still having the ability to make deals with Yahoo as if in a back alley way.

But then again…maybe, just maybe…Yahoo’s founders are ready for an exit strategy?

Read the TechCrunch debate

There are some new developments coming up soon on the Millennium Marketer. I hadn’t had time to post recently, so my apologies. There is still some discussion as to what will happen with Yahoo! and Microsoft, so I would love to see some conversation around this.
Here’s a quick preview on what will be posted next:

Last week, I saw something about OpenSocial being used through Google Gadgets.

Open Social still has a lot of kinks in it as a newly released October 2007 source code interface, although as more social networking applications are created, the more important it will be from a developer or marketing standpoint to implement this API. It’s uncertain how quickly adoption of the API will pick up.

Even more astonishing–Yahoo! is combining forces with Google to strengthen the Open Social platform. And then you say, “What? Aren’t they rivals??”

Yes, but according to BusinessWeek, “Yahoo is still fighting off Microsoft’s marriage proposal, but it is still open to making friends.”

Another site, Techtree.com, India, says the plot of the story is like many Bollywood potboilers. “Now Google and Yahoo! seem to be becoming the new best friends for each other.”

As rivals, they have their interests much more aligned than with Microsoft, and it’s no secret that Google is constantly pursuing products to reduce market share for Microsoft. Well, that explains the drama, at least for now.