AT&T Announces '3G MicroCell'
AT&T is releasing an amazing new pi
ece of hardware: The 3G MicroCell. The 3G MicroCell puts a 3G access point in your home and uses your internet connection to route calls and data to the AT&T network. If you have crap service in your home like I do, you can plop down your cash for one of these miracle devices and have full service in your home instead of having to lean on a window or go outside for better service.
No word on pricing, but if it’s a flat fee, I can see many users grabbing these up. Also, at launch, they aren’t available everywhere (like Raleigh).
Even if you aren’t interested in the 3G Micro Cell, check out the official AT&T site and watch the cheesy videos. They’re good for a laugh or 2.
How marketers manipulate you
Jeff Atwood, a programmer and experienced blogger, recently wrote about Predictably Irrational, a book that attempts to uncover the truths behind why we make the decisions we make. The article is rather long, but worth reading if you’re interested in learning about how marketing-folk do what they do to get you to make the choice they want you to make.
Here’s an excerpt from the book that simply tickled my fancy:
Ariely and Shin conducted an experiment on MIT students. They devised a computer game which offered players three doors: Red, Blue, and Green. You started with 100 clicks. You clicked to enter a room. Once in a room, each click netted you between 1-10 cents. You could also switch rooms (at the cost of a click). The rooms were programmed to provide different levels of rewards (there was variation within each room’s payoffs, but it was pretty easy to tell which one provided the best payout).
Unknown. And Untapped.
Okay, let’s say you’re an advertiser.
An advertiser in tough economic times.
Like, let’s say, oh . . . now.
You’d be happy if you could at least hang on to market share until things started looking up, wouldn’t you?
Because right now, a zero sales decrease is the new growth.
But what if there were a market for your product that you haven’t even tapped into?
A market almost 50 million strong.
And growing.
A market with a buying power of almost $1 trillion.
And growing.
A market that could take your bottom line from flat to flying.
And then some.
Would you be interested?
:: :: ::
Well, there is such a market.
And, beginning tomorrow, I’m going to be talking about how advertisers like you can tap into it.
What’s the market? I’ll tell you next time.*
Stay tuned.
*Okay, there’s a clue in the tags below.
Howard, Merrell & Partners Named Agency of Record for Naughty Bits Software
Howard, Merrell & Partners, a full-service strategic branding firm has been named the public relations agent of record for Naughty Bits Software LLC. As agent of record, Howard, Merrell & Partners will conduct strategic public relations and social media marketing efforts focusing on building brand awareness and visibility across Naughty Bits’ target audiences.
Established in 2009 by Ethan Nicholas, Naughty Bits is a software development company, specializing in iPhone and mobile device gaming. Nicholas created the iShoot application, which has been a consistent top seller for the Apple App Store. iShoot is an artillery combat game in which tanks blast each other with a wide range of high-powered weapons, from basic shells and cluster bombs to the world-destroying Shiva Bomb.
“Naughty Bits Software is quickly growing due to the success of CEO Ethan Nicholas’ iShoot iPhone application,” said Stephanie Styons, senior vice president, public relations at Howard, Merrell & Partners. “We look forward to working with Ethan to keep consumers informed about Naughty Bits’ clever new products and gaming services.”
Over the next year, Howard, Merrell & Partners will continue to educate the gaming community about updates to iShoot and additional applications released from Naughty Bits Software.
About Naughty Bits Software
Naughty Bits Software LLC is a software development company, specializing in iPhone and mobile device gaming. Naughty Bits Software was established in 2009 by Ethan Nicholas after the launch of the iShoot application for the Apple App Store. iShoot quickly became a best selling iPhone application, staying as the number one selling application in the App Store for 26 days in January 2009. Naughty Bits’ products have been downloaded a combined total of over 3,000,000 times. For more information visit www.naughtybits.com.
Fixing SNMP in Mac OS X Server 10.5.7
I monitor our network with PRTG Network Monitor. After recently upgrading one of our Xserves from 10.5.4 to 10.5.7 (server), its status changed in PRTG to “in alarm” and was unable to connect via SNMP to collect any data. It turns out that the default configuration of the SNMP agent changed with the 10.5.7 upgrade, tightening access restrictions for the community string “public”. The fix is fairly simple. Edit line 97 of /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf and restart the SNMP daemon to reload the config file. More »
In-Depth Review of Snow Leopard
John Siracusa has posted an exhaustive review of Apple’s latest OS release, Snow Leopard. Great read if you really want to learn why you need to upgrade.
HM&P Hispanic Marketing Group
HM&P has expanded its services with the formation of a Hispanic Marketing Group. The Group will focus on the development and execution of advertising, direct mail, public relations and social media marketing specifically targeted at the Hispanic market. More »
Jim Stevens-Arce to Lead Newly Formed Hispanic Marketing Group
Jim Stevens-Arce has joined Howard, Merrell & Partners as vice president/director of Hispanic Marketing. In his role, Stevens-Arce will lead the efforts of the newly formed Hispanic Marketing Group at the strategic branding and marketing firm. The bilingual Group will focus on the development and execution of advertising, direct mail, public relations and social media marketing specifically targeted at the Hispanic market. More »
