Drew B's take on tech PR

My Xmas iPod Shuffle - the 'green light stays on' glitch, and how to fix it

Got an iPod Shuffle from my wife for Xmas, and it didn't work! How shit is that! Apple bastards! I went online and tried to find out how what the glitch was and how to fix it. I thought I'd share my experience, as this seems to be a pretty bad problem which Apple doesn't deal with adequately on its site or in the product's instructions booklet.

Here's what was happening. The green play / on light was not flashing, just staying on, and no controls would work. Forums at VNU, Mac OS X hints and iPod Lounge weren't much help. Then I read somewhere, I really don't know where, that what you should do is the following (and it just worked! My iPod works!! Woohoo!):

1. Download an iPod software update from the Apple website (just google it)
2. Plug in your iPod and put the original software CD Rom back in your PC and it should give you the option to restore factory sttings (it detects that your iPod has different software on it than what the CD has). Follow all the prompts through to the finish.
3. This process will blank your Ipod then put the right software back on it. Now it should work again.

Merry Xmas!

Outage

Since finishing for Xmas a couple of days ago, I've been reading more fun stuff online, and less tech, PR and business stuff. So rayyyy for linkbunnies, Guido Fawkes, Linkmachinego and Merry Xmas - see you in 2006.

Brands enter the blogosphere

Today's FT has an article on big brands and advrtising in blogs. One sentence caught my eye:

"Simply publishing public relations messages does not attract readers."

Hmm. Spoken like a true Ad man. They never did quite understand PR.

Lunchtime jailbreak

This is a funny wierd blog. Written by tech journalist Jamie Milne, it's called Eclectic Boogaloo. How wierd? This much:

"Lunchtime Jailbreak? You're 'avin' a larf intcha guvnor? Strike a light on the Lambeth Walk I should cocoa," I hear my Cockney readership exclaim in between snacking on fun-sized pots of jellied eels and embarking on pie & mash-fuelled reminiscences about the blitz and grand nights out at Walthamstow Stadium dog track with Pearly Kings and Queens and Pete Beale. Well, sweet Cockneys, it is all true.

A typical Eclectic Boogaloo AGM occurrence

What is a Wiki

I was asked in a meeting today what a Wiki is, and I gave an example of Wikipedia to illustrate what one is. Here's a brief description from Nature Magazine that I found through CorporateBlogging.info

One of the extraordinary stories of the Internet age is that of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopaedia that anyone can edit.

Wikipedia has added 3.7 million articles in 200 languages since it was founded in 2001. The English version has more than 45,000 registered users, and added about 1,500 new articles every day of October 2005. Wikipedia has become the 37th most visited website, according to Alexa, a web ranking service.

Blog stats

This, fresh from Pheedo, latest stats on blog readers and RSS:

Standalone RSS ads are far more successful than inline ads
RSS readership is highest mid-week
RSS ads are outperforming similar Web ads
Bloglines is the big daddy. It leads RSS readers in market share at 34% while overshadowing Yahoo, NetNewsWire and Mozilla -- each with about 14% of the pie

Via Steve Rubel

Bloggers bring down business

Worth a read - how bad customer service can bring down your company (when you piss off a blogger).

“In the last couple of days there was one disgruntled customer that posted a blog that caused thousands of people to come out of the woodwork and jam our Web site. They’re basically trying to destroy our business in our busiest month, and they have.”

Hat tip PR Blogger.

Exclusive - Google on Splogs

Exclusive - Google interview on Splogs. Via del.icio.us

Google beefing up PR presence in Europe

PR Week says Google is bolstering its PR in Europe, trebling its size in 2006.

Hemel Hempstead explosion

Just turned on the news and there's pictures of this massive explosion at Buncefield oil depot in Hemel Hempstead, in Hertfordshire. The scenes are just unbelievable, with smoke clouds that are covering a large part of the South East. Here's a load of photos on BBC Online.

I just can't believe how many people from so far away heard and felt the blast. Have a look at some of these online discussions.

Simon Bisson has some posts on this, and needless to say, some photos he's taken from his house of the smoke approaching London.

Simon points us to a Flickr group set up for pics of the Hemel Hempstead fire and explosion.