But will they have a radio?

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iPods are helping to drive increased demand for premium audio options in new cars. According to Telematics Research, 80% of 2007 models for sale in the U.S. will offer branded premium audio options from the likes of Bose and Harman/Kardon as optional or standard equipment up from 67% during the ’06 model year.

The most sought after feature in cars is support for Apple’s iPod. Last year, only 12% of vehicles for sale supported true iPod integration, while nearly 50% of the ’07 models support iPods. Meanwhile, auxiliary input is supported by nearly 60% of ’07 models. [Podcasting News]

Should law firm bonuses give credit for blogging?

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“It’s a whole new generation of lawyers out there. Many younger lawyers feel more comfortable online than anywhere else. Law firms who hire some of the brightest and talented young professionals in the world have a hidden treasure of innovative Internet marketing ideas in these young people. It’s time to unleash the talent you have. Law firms who do so will be rewarded in not only increased revenues but also in their recruiting efforts to land the best and brightest.” — Kevin at LexBlog

He links to some very good examples to support his position.

Disclosure: Life-Partner and Best Pal Barb is a lawyer. No interest in blogging. And, as far as she knows, none of the three or four hundred attorneys in her firm are blogging. At least not professionally.

God bless Miss USA!

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Scott Adams asks: “…who would you rather have representing your country – a do-gooder who yammers about world peace, or the hot chick who’s trying to pin Miss Florida against the bar? America is all about freedom, not imposing your views on others. I say let Miss USA be free, like the great nation she represents. If we start restricting Miss USA’s right to party, the Taliban has won”.

Very fast thumb typing

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Because I don’t own a Blackberry or “smart phone,” I have not done any “texting” and have no thumb typing skills (I’m not even sure it’s called that). But many people are very adept at this, including Learfield’s own Tyne Morgan. Tyne is majoring in ag journalism at the University of Missouri and working part-time for one of our networks.

This little clip does not do justice to her amazing skill. She was keying –with one thumb– as fast as many people type with all ten fingers. And she doesn’t have to look at the keys. This might be more useful than the ability to make yourself invisible.

Movie computers

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Computer usability expert Jakob Nielsen has compiled a top 10 list of the most egregious mistakes made by moviemakers. My favorites are:

The Hero Can Immediately Use Any UI
Break into a company — possibly in a foreign country or on an alien planet — and step up to the computer. How long does it take you to figure out the UI and use the new applications for the first time? Less than a minute if you’re a movie star.

Integration is Easy, Data Interoperates
In the show 24, Jack Bauer calls his office to get plans and schematics for various buildings. Once these files have been transferred from outside sources to the agency’s mainframe, Jack asks to have them downloaded to his PDA. And — miracle of miracles — the files are readable without any workarounds.

Remote Manipulators
In Tomorrow Never Dies, James Bond drives his BMW from the back seat with an Ericsson mobile phone that works as the car’s remote control. And 007 drives fast, while also evading bad guys.

You’ve Got Mail is Always Good News
In the movies, checking your mail is a matter of picking out the one or two messages that are important to the plot. No information pollution or swamp of spam.

“This is Unix, It’s Easy”
In the film Jurassic Park, a 12-year-old girl has to use the park’s security system to keep everyone from being eaten by dinosaurs. She walks up to the control terminal and utters the immortal words, “This is a Unix system. I know this.” And proceeds to (temporarily) save the day.

“You can’t Swift-Boat Moqtada Al-Sadr”

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From a blog post titled “Iran’s Smackdown on Dubya,” by Matt Taibbi:

“And we also now can say for sure that the famed cold-blooded ruthlessness of the Bush-Rove-Cheney crew has been proven to be a crock. Those guys are ruthless when it comes to winning American elections. But when it comes to war and diplomacy, they’re a bunch of kittens. You can’t Swift-Boat Moqtada Al-Sadr. When it comes to real enemies, our leaders are useless.”

Taibbi also writes a column (“Road Rage”) for Rolling Stone. In the December 14, 2006 issue, he writes about John Ashcroft’s recent appearance at the Department of Justice for the unveiling of a new portrait of himself.

“Ashcroft sat beneath the infamous “Spirit of Justice” statue –the great lady with the naked stone tit that the religious nutcase Ashcroft once ordered clothed. Now she was unclothed again, her big boob-cone honking at the audience of tight-assed law enforcement officials, and Ashcroft could do nothing but sit under it with a nervous smile on his face.”

If you wonder “who cares?… you’re not alone. Taibbi was the only reporter there.

Results, not ears

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“Who cares if people are hearing the spots unless they’re hearing those spots and acting on them or unless their opinions and intentions are being altered in such fashion that the advertising expenditure is an investment rather than money out the window?

We need to get past the issue of whether or not listeners stay tuned through a break and focus instead on giving the advertiser what they’re paying for: Results, not ears.”

— Mark Ramsey

Now I’m worried about Scott Adams

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Is it even remotely possible that Scott Adams is reading this blog? In October I offered some thoughts on worry:

We know –looking back– that most of the things we worried about did NOT happen. The really bad shit that happens in life is almost always totally unexpected. Out of the blue (or black, if you prefer). Didn’t see it coming at all.

Today, Dilbert’s dad took the idea up a notch or two:

First, I’m not worried about any problem that we can see coming. If you look at the history of the world, almost any time we thought we knew something bad was going to happen AND we had years of warning, things turned out okay.

I’m just saying…

How Google Audio Ads work (PowerPoint slides)

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The folks at ZDNet’s Digital Markets have some PowerPoint slides that illustrates how Google Audio Ads work. And this from Voices.com:

“Google has positioned the Audio Ads system to serve both top-level advertisers, as well as the advertising agencies themselves. The graphic also shows 75% of the transactions coming from the agencies, and only 25% from independent advertisers. This is likely because advertising agencies already have media planning and media buying personnel, not to mention existing relationships with local and regional radio stations.”

The lables in the little blue rectangles are: Radio Stations, Networks and Rep Firms. Which suggests that advertisers will simply have another option for placing their ads on radio stations. And if Google can make it easier or cheaper or more effective (i.e. feedback, reports, etc)… they’ve added value to the process.