Refuting the "Content is King, but a King w/o an army is nothing" claim

Just read the statement in the header on Twitter, a quote from some conference or another.

I can understand where they are coming from, as I assume whomever came up with that statement is a developer of apps/technical solutions/whatever. Code, gadgets, widgets, the stuff that will take the story to the audience. Or they are marketers, specialized in the bringing of the story to an audience and engaging said audience.

As a developer in transmedia and cross media, however, I just think that they are missing the point. If there is no content, there is no king. If there is no king, there is no rallying point.

For sure, the Content (or the King) needs an audience (followers). But a truly great story always has an audience. And that audience is the main delivery channel of that story. Ergo - I still believe Content is the most crucial factor in any development process.

My 2 cents, which seem pretty obvious to me; anyone disagree?

Yahoo Customer service FAIL

A year and a half ago, I had a minor computer crash. All the automatically stored passwords were lost, amongst them the pw for my Flickr-account. Now, I had not been such an avid user of Flickr, granted, but I still liked the possibility to upload stuff. This, btw, is my account - or WAS my account, should I say.

Below is the correspondence with Yahoo Customer Service. I think I've lost some mails along the way, but if you want a good example of NOT to handle a case, read below.

DISCLAIMER: yes, it was my own fault for not being able to remember my Yahoo ID. Yes, I believe I might have entered some faulty info during registration (I have a vague feeling that something, like my postal code, was messed up and I though "what the heck" and just pressed Sign Up anyway). Still, it shouldn't have to be this difficult, surely??

Yeah, and... sorry for the line breaks below, mail systems messing things up. Hope your eyes do not start to bleed (at least not heavily).

[This is the last mail I got from them, except for a later mail asking for feedback on the customer help experience which I promptly ignored]

Hello Simon,

Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.

Thank you for taking the time to share your comments and experiences with us. We are always looking for ways to improve our service, and we consider your feedback a valuable resource.

We appreciate your comments which we have forwarded to the Yahoo! Mail development team for review.

If you would like, feel free to use the URL below to provide feedback directly to our product and development teams as well:
http://ymailuk.com

If I may be of further help, please reply to this message and I will gladly assist you.

Please let me know if I can help you further.

Regards,

Anna
Customer Care - Yahoo! UK & Ireland


[This is the mail conversation, starting with my answer to the post at the bottom. You'll get the hang of it. Some info blotted out.]

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Serena,

Thanks for replying. Just the short thing - I've given up, and created a new Flickr account.

Below is most of the conversation I've had with you guys at Yahoo!
regarding
this extremely frustrating affair. If you want a good example of how NOT to resolve anything as a Customer Service, please read. (Top to bottom)

/Simon


Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

>>REDFRMCON Case ID: 74785832

Mail-Id:
w2.help.ukl.yahoo.com-/l/us/yahoo/edit/alternate_email/general.html-1222
106428-9281

Name: Simon Staffans

Yahoo! ID: sstaffan at yahoo.com

Email Address: simon.staffans at abo.fi

Date of Birth: 0xxxxxxx

Zip Code: 6xxxx

Alternate Email Address:

If yes, check here: Not set by user

Subject: Sign in & Registration - I need my password reset

Additional Information: I've apparently entered some wrong info while registering - birth date, postal number or whatever. Now, years later and a newly updated computer without the automatic firefox login, I can't get back in.
Assistance would be great.

While Viewing:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/edit/id_password/edit-20.html

Form Name:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/edit/alternate_email/general.html

Yahoo ID: sstaffan@yahoo.com : NOT verified, authorized by CAPTCHA Yahoo id from form "https://amt.yahoo.com/amt/dosearch?.token=.ojcyzSoTalpxJqZQnULWyTWqG2EH
QLPpMEHZDRJkP5V8o7zfMSxig--"


Other ID:

Browser: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; sv-SE; rv:1.9.0.1)
Gecko/2008070208 Firefox/3.0.1

REMOTE_ADDR: 85.157.154.75

REMOTE_HOST: y75.ip6.netikka.fi

Date Originated: Monday September 22, 2008 - 11:00:28


------------------------

Hello Simon,

Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.

We have received the account information you have provided and understand that you are unable to login to your Yahoo! account.

The Yahoo! ID 'sxxxxxn' does not appear to be yours since the verification information you provided does not match up with the
information on the account.

We have manually searched our database for a Yahoo! ID associated with the alternate email address and verification data you supplied and have found a match.

The Security Question listed on this account is:

What is your fathers middle name?

Please supply us with the Secret Answer you entered at the time you set up your account. We will then be able to verify and update your information.

Regards,

Customer Care - Yahoo! UK & Ireland


------------------------------

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Hi there, and thanks for the reply. The answer should, if it's my account your looking at, be "Hxxxxxx".

I mean, I can see my own page on Flickr - that of Simon Staffans, on http://www.flickr.com/people/57971491@N00/?search=simon+staffans but as I said, I cannot log into it.

here's hoping it works!

Simon

------------------------------
(24.9.2008)
Hello Simon,

Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.

In order for us to proceed, please reply to this email and provide us with your desired new alternate email address. Please note that this cannot be a Yahoo! Mail address.

We will then be able to update your account information.

Regards,

Customer Care - Yahoo! UK & Ireland

-------------------------------

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------
(24.9)
Hiya,

Please use simon.staffans at gmail.com as my desired new alternate email address!

Cheers,

Simon

--------------------------------
(22.10)

Dear Simon,

Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.

First of all, on a personal level, I sincerely apologize for the delay in answering your email. It is definitely our intention to reply to your query within 24 hours, however, due to an increase in email volume, our response time has been delayed.

Should you still be experiencing this problem, please provide as much detail as possible in your response, if you haven't done so yet, in order for us to investigate.
Also, even though we might have asked you before, if required for our investigation we need your permission to test your account, send/receive/delete messages etc so may we ask you to kindly provide this in your reply to us.

To efficiently support Yahoo! Services, we provide a wide range of "How To"
and troubleshooting questions and answers on our Website 'Yahoo Mail Help'.
Please visit our help pages at
http://help.yahoo.com/l/uk/yahoo/helpcentral/

Apologies again for any inconvenience caused.
We appreciate your feedback and suggestions, which help us to consistently maintain and improve our services.


Regards,
Luisa

Customer Care - Yahoo! UK & Ireland


--------------------------------

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------
(22.10)
>>REDFRMCON Case ID: 76148498

>>REDFRMEUR Case ID: 43276305

Dear Luisa,

No problem, let's just try to get this sorted out now. I'll repeat my
problem briefly:

- I've lost / forgotten my Flickr-password
- apparently I can't find my Yahoo-account password either
- I'd be needing to have my password reset

In the conversation below is the reply from you service earlier on -
this is
the core of it:

> We have received the account information you have provided and
> understand that you are unable to login to your Yahoo! account.
>
> The Yahoo! ID 'sstaffan' does not appear to be yours since the
> verification information you provided does not match up with the
> information on the account.
>
> We have manually searched our database for a Yahoo! ID associated with

> the alternate email address and verification data you supplied and
have
> found a match.
>
> The Security Question listed on this account is:
>
> What is your fathers middle name?

The answer to this question, as I stated below, is "Hxxxxxx".

Could this be possible to rectify now?

Thanks, best regards,

Simon


------------------------------------------

(18.11)

Hello Simon,

Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.

You have previously written us with a request to have your account
details
changed or help you obtain access to your account again. We are unable
to
action your request until you have sent us your account information and
we've been able to verify your account.

Please reply to this email with a brief summary of what it is you want
done
to your account and include these details:
- Yahoo! ID
- birthdate
- alternate email address (non-Yahoo! email address) - this is required
if
you need us to send you a new password
- postcode
- secret question and answer

Regards,

David
Customer Care Abuse Team
Yahoo! UK & Ireland


----------------------------------


(18.11)

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

>>REDFRMEUR Case ID: 43276305

>>REDFRMCON Case ID: 76310295

>>REDFRMEUR Case ID: 43276305

Hi again David,

missent the earlier mail. Here we go again!

So, I have a Flickr-account, this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57971491@N00/

Lots of pictures of me and my kids and my trips etc etc

In July I lost the stored passwords on my laptop. I could remember some
of
them, but for instance the yahoo-ID for the Flickr-login (as that is the
only place I use a Yahoo-ID) I could not remember at all.

I tried to find out what the ID might have been, but one thing
complicated
matters. I had - at some point, probably just to check it out - created
an
earlier Flickr-account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/82603779@N00/

So the only login I managed to get hold of was the login for this
earlier
account.

I then contacted you for assistance and tried to explain the situation.
This
is now the... seventh? time I'm writing you, let's hope we can get
something
sorted now.

What I need is the login for my account at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57971491@N00/

To answer your questions below:

> - Yahoo! ID

This ID I, as explained above, do not know

> - birthdate

9xxxxxxxxxx

> - alternate email address (non-Yahoo! email address) - this is
required
> if you need us to send you a new password

simon.staffans at gmail.com

> - postcode

6xxxx

(I have a nagging feeling I might have written something else here at
the
time of registering, but I'm not really sure)

> - secret question and answer

"What is your fathers middle name" I think it was, and the answer is
"Hxxxxxxxxxx"

best regards

Simon


------------------------------------

(20.11)

Hello Simon,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Account Services.

In order to assist you further, we need to verify the Secret Answer
associated with your Yahoo! account.

The Security Question listed on this account is:

What is your fathers middle name?

Please send us the Secret Answer you entered when you set up your
account.
Then we'll be able to verify and update your information.

We look forward to your reply.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Account Services.

Regards,

Sam

Yahoo! Account Services Customer Care


----------------------------------------
(20.11)

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

>>REDFRMCON Case ID: 76328628

Dear Sam - the fifth person I've mailed to at your place so far - I
already
wrote the answer to that question a bit further down in this mail.
Sometimes
it pays to read through a mail.

So, for the third time...

The Security Question listed on this account is:

What is your fathers middle name?

Answer: Hxxxxxxx

Mmmkay?

Thank you

Simon


----------------------------------------


(21.11)

Hello,

Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.

In order for us to proceed, please reply to this email and provide us
with
your desired new alternate email address. Please note that this cannot
be a
Yahoo! Mail address.

We will then be able to update your account information.

Regards,

Customer Care - Yahoo! UK & Ireland


---------------------------------------

(21.11)

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

I'm starting to think that you are making fun of me.

In my PREVIOUS MAIL, as can be read below, I pointed out that I had
ALREADY
ANSWERED your question about "My secret question" and that, should you
guys
bother to read through the mail, you would've found the answer in said
mail
below.

In the EXACT SAME MAIL, which is a part of this correspondence and CAN
BE
READ BELOW, I stated my desired new alternate e-mail address.

This is the address: simon.staffans at gmail.com

So, for the SIXTH TIME - could we please get this sorted?

/Simon

--------------------------------------

(21.11)

Hello Simon,

Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.

We have prompted our system to generate a new password for your Yahoo!
account. This password will be sent to your alternate (non-Yahoo!) email
address and will help you restore access to your account.

Once you've received the new password and signed in to your account, you
will immediately be prompted to change it to something different. Please
also verify your alternate email address so that you may utilise our
automated password request form should you experience future sign-in
problems. You will only be able to receive a new password via email if
your
alternate email address is verified.

To change your password after you sign in, just enter the password you
received from us in the Current Password field, and enter your new
desired
password in the New Password fields. Then click the Save button for
the
change to take effect.

Please use the guidelines on the page to help you in creating a new
password.

To verify your alternate email address, please follow the steps below:

1. Sign in to your account on one of Yahoo!'s personalised services
(Mail,
Chat, Groups, Message Boards, etc.)

2. Click on the "Account Info" or "My Account" link usually found at the
top
of the page. You will be asked for your password again.

3. Click the "Edit" button next to the "Member Information" section.

4. On the next screen you will see the alternate email address you have
listed on your account. (If your email address has changed, simply make
the
appropriate changes on this page and click "Finished." Then click the
"Edit"
button again to return to this page.) If your email address is verified
it
will say so. Otherwise, click on the "Click here to verify" link.

5. Next, click on the "Verify Your Email Now" button on the following
page.

6. Check your alternate email address for a "Verification Code" and
follow
the instructions.*

*Note: if you do not receive your code right away, you do not need to
request a new one. There may simply be a delay in receiving this email.

Regards,

Customer Care - Yahoo! UK & Ireland

---------------------------------------

(21.11)

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Hi again,

I received a new password from the customer service in Sweden. As I
stated
on a number of occasions in this conversation though, I do not have my
Yahoo-ID either. So if you could provide me with that, it'd be a whole
lot
easier to log in with the temporary password.

thanks

Simon


------------------------------------------
(27.11)

Hello Simon,

Thank you for your email.

The email address you are referring to is a Yahoo! US address.
Unfortunately, we do not have authority on these here at Yahoo! UK and
Ireland. Please forward your query directly to Yahoo! US at
mail@cc.yahoo-inc.com.
We apologize for the inconvenience.

Regards,

Laetitia
Customer Care - Yahoo! UK & Ireland


------------------------------------------
(28.11)


You've got to be kidding me. I've now spent TWO MONTHS trying to get
access
= to MY OWN ACCOUNT and NOW you're telling me that it's out of your
area?
=
Screw you! I'll start using Picasa instead! And I'll post this
RIDICULOUS =
thread all over the net, for everyone to see. Happy thanksgiving. S. =


[I believe I might have been a little tipsy while writing this, I am normally more civilized. And no, I never started to use Picasa.]

------------------------------------

(29.11)

Hello Simon,

Thank you for your email

The email address you are referring to is a Yahoo! US address.
Unfortunately, we do not have authority on these here at Yahoo! UK and
Ireland. Please forward your query directly to Yahoo! US at
mail@cc.yahoo-inc.com.
We apologize for the inconvenience.

Regards,

Laetitia
Customer Care - Yahoo! UK & Ireland

------------------------------------
(29.11)

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Hi again,

Just so I get this straight, you cannot TELL ME what my yahoo ID is, as
it
is registered in the US?? IS this correct?

Thanks

Simon

---------------------------

(1.12)

Hello,

We apologize for the miscomunication caused.

Your Yahoo! ID is 'sxxxxxxxxx'

We have prompted our system to generate a new password for your Yahoo!
account. This password has already been sent to your
'simon.staffans@abo.fi'
email address and will help you restore access to your account.

Once you've received the new password and signed in to your account, you
will immediately be prompted to change it to something different. Please
also verify your alternate email address so that you may utilise our
automated password request form should you experience future sign-in
problems. You will only be able to receive a new password via email if
your
alternate email address is verified.

To change your password after you sign in, just enter the password you
received from us in the Current Password field, and enter your new
desired
password in the New Password fields. Then click the Save button for
the
change to take effect.

Please use the guidelines on the page to help you in creating a new
password.

To verify your alternate email address, please follow the steps below:

1. Sign in to your account on one of Yahoo!'s personalised services
(Mail,
Chat, Groups, Message Boards, etc.)

2. Click on the "Account Info" or "My Account" link usually found at the
top
of the page. You will be asked for your password again.

3. Click the "Edit" button next to the "Member Information" section.

4. On the next screen you will see the alternate email address you have
listed on your account. (If your email address has changed, simply make
the
appropriate changes on this page and click "Finished." Then click the
"Edit"
button again to return to this page.) If your email address is verified
it
will say so. Otherwise, click on the "Click here to verify" link.

5. Next, click on the "Verify Your Email Now" button on the following
page.

6. Check your alternate email address for a "Verification Code" and
follow
the instructions.*

*Note: if you do not receive your code right away, you do not need to
request a new one. There may simply be a delay in receiving this email.

Please let us know if we can help you further.

Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.


Regards,


[The problem here was that it created a new account when I tried to use the info above. It did not link to the old one at all. And, I was unable to delete the new account in any way that I could think of.]

-------------------------------------

[AT THIS POINT I CONTACTED FLICKR TO SEE IF THEY COULD HELP ME OUT, AND
SO THE SAGA CONTINUES]

---------------------------------------

(1.12)

sxxxxxxx,
Just a quick email from Team Flickr to let you know that we've
successfully
received your recent Help by Email query and we hope to respond shortly.

We'd also like to take an opportunity to remind you that one query is
sufficient and multiple queries regarding the same issue make the Magic
Donkey cry.

Lastly, you may not be aware that our FAQs and forums are full of help
goodness:

http://www.flickr.com/help/faq/

http://www.flickr.com/help/forum/

The Flickreenos


----------------------------------------

(1.12)

Hello Simon,

Thank you for contacting Flickr Customer Care.

I'm sorry to hear that you are having problems with your account.

Merging refers only to the linking one Flickr account with one Yahoo! ID
for
the purpose of signing into Flickr. This action usually applies only to
accounts created before Yahoo! acquired Flickr and, therefore, had to be
"merged" with a Yahoo! ID. Each new Flickr account created after August,
2005, has been created with a Yahoo! ID already associated with it.

If you want to use the Yahoo id simon_staffans with your account you
will
need to go to this page:

http://www.flickr.com/account/transfer/

and select the option to use a different Yahoo ID for your Flickr
account.

Thank you again for contacting us. If you have any other questions,
please
feel free to reply to this email.

Regards,


John
Flickr Customer Care

--------------------------------------

(5.12)

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

feedback for Support Case: 76571117
(KMM138912265V44771L0KM)

Hi,

My problem is still not resolved. So, I'd be happy to discuss it
further..

/S


---------------------------------------

(5.12)

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Flickr Customer Care.

I'll be happy to look into this matter for you. To do so, I'll need the
following information:

- a detailed description of the exact steps taken that led to the
problem
you're experiencing

- the full and exact text of any error messages you may have received

- the web address of the page you are seeing the issue on

- please let us know if you have received the previous email and
followed
the instructions.

Thank you again for contacting us. If you have any other questions,
please
feel free to reply to this email.

Regards,


John
Flickr Customer Care


------------------------------------

(5.12)

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

feedback for Support Case: 76571117 (KMM139201538V2899L0KM)

Dear John,

To answer your questions:

>- a detailed description of the exact steps taken that led to the
>problem you're experiencing

In August my computer broke down and I lost all the automatic logins
stored
on said computer, amongst them my Flickr login. As I had created a
Yahooo ID
for my Flickr account, and ID I don't use anywhere else, I could not for
my
life remember the details of the ID or the password.

In September I contacted Yahoo customer service to try to sort this out.
Cue
an extremely long and frustrating period, where I was in contact with
5-10
different people, all asking the same questions I'd already answered two
or
three times before - readily readable in the history of the
mailexchange.

So, finally, I got a new Yahoo ID and a temporary login.
But, as this of course was not meant to be easy, I apparently could use
this
login only to create a new account, not access my original account.

I got an answer from you guys, basically saying that a "merger" between
my
Yahoo ID and my Flickr account was impossible - and I did get some
advice
from you guys but unfortunately it does not work out.

See - THIS is my account that I cannot get access to:
http://www.flickr.com/people/57971491@N00/?search=simon+staffans

THIS on the other hand is the account I just created when I tried my
Yahoo
ID and new password, and which I now cannot delete as it always bounces
me
back when I try to delete
it:
http://www.flickr.com/people/32922635@N05/?search=simon+staffans


So pretty pretty please, with sugar on top, can I gain access to my
account???

Best regards,

Simon Staffans


------------------------------------------

(8.12)

Hello Simon,

Thank you for contacting Flickr Customer Care.

We are really sorry for this situation. I understand your frustration.
I have analyzed your message and it is best addressed by our Account
Verification team. To protect account security, this team requires
specific
information about your Yahoo! account that you provided during sign-up
or
when you last updated your account, so I will need to ask you to contact
them directly to provide the necessary info to resolve your issue.

The Account Verification department offers two ways to contact them:

1) Call 866-850-4303 (Open Monday - Friday, 6 am - 6 pm Pacific Standard
Time)

2) Cut and paste the link below to send an email with all of the
information
an agent needs to respond within 12-24 hours:


http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/edit/alternate_email/general.html

NOTE: Please do not reply to this message. Calling the number above or
submitting an email through the form is the best way to get your answer.

For more information about Yahoo's privacy policy, visit:

http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/details.html

For more information about Yahoo! ID registration, please
visit:


http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/edit/registration/edit-03.html

If you have any other questions, please feel free to reply to this
email.

Thank you again for contacting us.
Regards,


Marta
Flickr Customer Care


---------------------------------------

(January 2009, to Yahoo! again as the Flickr solution didn't work )

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

>>REDFRMCON Case ID: 76769866

Mail-Id:
w2.help.ukl.yahoo.com-/l/us/yahoo/edit/alternate_email/general.html-1228
814816-9141

1. What is your name and Yahoo! ID?
------------------------------------
Name: Simon Staffans

Yahoo! ID: sxxxxxxxxxxxx

2. What is the email address where we can contact you?
-------------------------------------------------------
Email Address: simon.staffans@abo.fi

3. What is your date of birth? (mm/dd/yyyy)
--------------------------------------------
Date of Birth: 0xxxxxxxx

4. What is your zip or postal code?
------------------------------------
Zip Code: 6xxxxxxxx

5. What is your alternate email address on file?
-------------------------------------------------
Alternate Email Address: simon.staffans@gmail.com

6. Do you have more than one question?
---------------------------------------
If yes, check here: This box was NOT checked.

7. What are you writing about?
-------------------------------
Subject: Sign in & Registration - Other not listed

8. Enter additional information here:
--------------------------------------
In August my computer broke down and I lost all the automatic
logins
stored on said computer, amongst them my Flickr login. As I had created
a
Yahooo ID for my Flickr account, and ID I don't use anywhere else, I
could not for my life remember the details of the ID or the password.

In September I contacted Yahoo customer service to try to sort this out.
Cue
an extremely long and frustrating period, where I was in contact with
5-10
different people, all asking the same questions I'd already answered
two
or three times before - readily readable in the history of the
mailexchange.

So, finally, I got a new Yahoo ID and a temporary login.
But, as this of course was not meant to be easy, I apparently could use
this
login only to create a new account, not access my original account.

I got an answer from you guys, basically saying that a
"
between my Yahoo ID and my Flickr account was impossible" - and I did get
some advice from you guys but unfortunately it does not work out.

See - THIS is my account that I cannot get access to:
57971491@N00/?search=simon+staffans" target="_blank"
http://www.flickr.com/people/57971491@N00/?search=simon+staffans

THIS on the other hand is the account I just created when I tried my
Yahoo
ID and new password, and which I now cannot delete as it always bounces
me
back when I try to delete
it:
32922635@N05/?search=simon+staffans" target="_blank"
http://www.flickr.com/people/32922635@N05/?search=simon+staffans

I was directed to this form by the Flickr customer service staff. I do
hope
it would be possible for you to help me.

best regards

Simon Staffans

While Viewing:

Form Name:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/edit/alternate_email/general.html

Yahoo ID: simon_staffans : NOT verified, authorized by CAPTCHA Yahoo id
from
form
"https://amt.yahoo.com/amt/dosearch?.token=wPWuRFV0qUCFFqvCv2b9mgOC3YwID
1Q_A_mT1ON3D7iz6WNI"


---------------------------------------

(31.1.2009)

Hello Simon,

On behalf of the Yahoo! Customer Care Team, I would like to apologise
for
the delay in answering your email.

We wanted to let you know that we've received your message, and more
importantly we want to thank you for your patience. Yahoo! Customer Care
is
committed to answering your questions as quickly and accurately as
possible.
Please know that your email is important to us and we sincerely
apologise
for the delay in responding to your message.

Could you please reply to this mail letting us know if you still need a
password for your account "sxxxxxxxxxxxx"?

Please let me know if you still need help.

Regards,

Corina
Customer Care - Yahoo! UK & Ireland


------------------------------------

(31.1)

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Hi Corina,

To answer your question, NO, the problem has not been resolved.

This is me:
http://www.flickr.com/people/57971491@N00/?search=simon+staffans

But it seems it's impossible for me to get hold of my login and password
to
this profile.

I don't understand why, but it just, apparently, is. See problem in
detail
below, in the submission form.

NOTE: I DO NOT NEED A PASSWORD FOR MY PROFILE sxxxxxxxxxxxx!!!! That
profile was one I created by mistake, following advice from you. Now I
cannot delete it.

This profile I would want deleted:
http://www.flickr.com/people/32922635@N05/?search=simon+staffans

THIS profile I want access to:

http://www.flickr.com/people/57971491@N00/?search=simon+staffans

So, yes. If I now, half a year later, could get access to my own
profile,
this would be very good.

Thank you

Simon Staffans


--------------------------------------

(10.2)

Hello Simon,

Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.

We understand you have issues affecting your Yahoo! account. We're glad
to
be of assistance. To help us get a better understanding of the issue,
please
reply with the following details:

1. Please describe all the actions you took leading up to the problem,
and
include what functions you had wished to accomplish.

2. If you're seeing an error message, please include the exact text of
the
error messaging. It's important that you include the entire error
message
for our analysis.

3. Describe how often the issue occurs and provide any other relevant
information.

4. Are you using our new Mail or do you work with classic Mail?

5. Have you tried switching to Mail/Classic Mail to solve the issue?

Once we get your response, we'll be happy to look into the issue


Please let me know if you still need help.

Regards,

Sadie


Customer Care - Yahoo! UK & Ireland


------------------------------------------

(April 2009)

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Hi,

please read about my problem below. I've been asking you to correct this
matter since SEPTEMBER 2008!!! And nothing has happened yet.
PLEASE do something!

Simon


------------------------------------------



-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo! UK & Ireland Login Support
[mailto:uk-account@cc.yahoo-inc.com]

Sent: den 1 april 2009 12:12
To: Simon Staffans
Subject: Re: Yahoo! Team (KMM83633921V13257L0KM)

Hello Simon,

Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.
I'm sorry to hear that you experience with Yahoo! hab't been a positive
one.
In order to reset the password for the account simon_staffans we need
you to be able to pass our verification procedure which according you
email history has not been successfully passed. In the same way we need
to verify the same detaisl for the accountt hat you wish to delete.
In order to avoid further delays and misunderstandings please reply to
this email providing every single verification details relating both
accounts:

1. Your Yahoo! ID

2. Your zip or postal code OR date of birth you entered when registering
your Yahoo! ID

3. Either the secret question(s) and answer(s) you specified in your
profile (If you specified 2 secret questions/answers, you must provide
both OR Alternate Email Address you specified when registering your
Yahoo! ID

For security reasons, I regret you will not be able to view the secret
question and answer or the date of birth associated with this account.
However, you may determine/modify your alternate email address or zip
code via the Account Information screen by signing in at the web URL
below:

http://edit.yahoo.com/config/eval_profile

As an alternative, I suggest that you sign in to the Yahoo! Mail help
page using the Yahoo! ID in question and resubmit the help request from
there. This way, your account will be verified upon signing in.

You may use the web form below to resubmit your request:
http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/mail/cgi_feedback

Please understand that these requirements exist only to protect the
privacy and security of your account.

I'll be happy to assist you after matching this info with our records.


Please let me know if you still need help.

Regards,
Serena
Customer Care - Yahoo! UK & Ireland

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email and any attachment is confidential
and may be legally privileged. It is intended for the named recipient
only.



[And, so, this was the point where I just plain gave up and created a new Flickr-account, and mailed the message that was at the beginning of this thread. Three days later I received the following:

Dear Yahoo! User,
Please tell us about your recent experience with Yahoo! Customer Care in a brief online survey.
You’ll find the survey here:
http://survey.confirmit.com/wix/p407622488.aspx?r=11342743&s=YOHYFOLM
Thanks so much for taking the time to give us your feedback.
Yahoo! Customer Care

Needless to say, I did not enter the survey.]

Social media success - all we have to do is BARF!

There are as many recipes for success in the sphere of social media as there are bloggers and tweeple out there. I personally think the only thing we need to do to be successful with social media is to BARF!

B. - Be creative and original, be knowledgeable and interesting
A. - Accept other's views and opinions, without necessarily backing down on your own
R. - Read between the lines, and find new lines to read, search for what you want to know and for new people you want to get to know
F. - Fear not! You are original, you are creative. You have your knowledge and you are interesting. But never stop learning!! And never stop teaching that which you now.

/rant :)

The Space Trainees

A trailer of our language training cross media game show for kids, The Space Trainees. It's a bit neat.

The social media currency

One thing I've been thinking about. Comments appreciated. I think this is pretty naive, in a way. Would like to ponder more, and discuss.

In today’s social media world, there is only one currency that matters. That currency is Time. The Time your followers devote to reading and ReTweeting your tweets on Twitter. The Time your Fans give you on your Facebook Fan Page, the Time they spend commenting on your stuff, reading your messages, interacting with you, watching your videos and sharing everything onwards.

Money will come and go. That Time is something no one will ever get back.

Now you might say that “so what? They’d be spending that time on something else instead, probably something a lot worse or, *shock horror*, something my rivals have produced.”

That might very well be true. But these people have actually chosen to give a certain amount of their Time to you, for some reason. It could be because of who you are, it could be because of the message you’re conveying. This Time should be treated with respect.

This Time is the one thing that you can sell onwards, to sponsors, brands, ad agencies etc. In the end, this Time is what will make some bigger company buy your start-up or some bigger company come in for you as a consultant or hire you right away. New amounts of Time can be given again, and again. But they will not be given, if the earlier amounts of Time have been squandered in one way or another.

Treat the Time given you with respect, and never take it for granted. After all, it’s Time that you’ll never get back, either.

SIRI - what's next??

Well, I am dying to try this out, although I suspect that living in Finland will sort of lessen the experience compared to if I was situated in New York or anywhere else in the US.

I mean, it looks and sounds and feels like an app that actually does what it promises to do, and work as an interpreter, interface and personal secretary for you. And to think what this could mean for social gaming and social networking in general... Geo-caching using some of the features of Siri? Being able to unlock "secrets" by getting clues and finding out secret phrases that will make Siri do some funky stuff in connection to a certain happening or a venue - say that Green Day's web site will give you the clues to roam the Internet to find the correct 10 words that make up a sentence that, when spoken into Siri, will give you two ring-side tickets at the next Green Day gig in your hometown? Goddamit but we could have fun with this app!!

Anyone need ideas, you know where to find me :)

Siri - The Personal Assistant in your Phone from Tom Gruber on Vimeo.

Mediespråk 2010 kommentar 1

Mediespråk 2010 går under underrubriken "...Ut med språket", första talare är Marit av Björkesten från Hufvudstadsbladet. En kommentar, att papperstidningen står för fördjupningen och bakgrunden, tror jag inte riktigt på.

Papperstidningen förnyas varje dag och den gamla går i papperskorgen. På nätet finns artiklarna för alltid, och en ny artikel kan hänvisa tillbaka till en gammal artikel eller tidigare statistik osv osv, på ett sätt som papperstidningen inte klarar av. Över tid kanske alltså onlineartiklarna står för betydligt mer fördjupning och bakgrund.

Happy new year 2010

Been a while - decidedly more active on Twitter at the moment, and on the MediaCity Posterous blog (if I find something interesting to share...)

Still, a happy new year 2010 to everyone! I can't help but think that this will be the year when we see massive upheaval somewhere in the world - what with Spain, Greece, Iceland, Vietnam, Japan etc on the brink of disaster, with the US markets spiraling out of control along the massive amounts of debt they are accumulating, what with terrorism on the rise, what with new currencies challenging the dollar, what with unemployment reaching record levels around the globe... something will have to give. And I don't think it will be pretty.

I would think/hope that Finland is far away enough not to be drawn into anything that will occur. Still, it will affect us, of course. And if it's big enough, there's no avoiding it.

And yet - lots of people, most people in fact, are busy living their lives, creating marvellous stuff, laughing with friends and raising their children. Why can't it continue like that? We would need to eradicate greed from the face of the earth....

My New Years resolution will be just that. I will not be greedy, not ONCE, during 2010. I will give. Simply because giving enriches you in ways taking never can.

Have a good year. Let's all hope for the best.

It's not what we do, it's who we are.

...or, "My take on social media, pt II".

See, it occured me the other day, that people have been for a very very long time defined by what they do. Sure, there have been royalties and icons, celebrities and famous people, who have reached a pinnacle where what they did didn't really matter anymore, just THAT they did it, whatever it was.

Most other people were, to a large extent, defined by what they did. Not to their family and friends, of course, who knew them intimately, but to any stranger they met on the street, at a convention, at a party or wherever. "Hi, I'm a manager at the Bank of XYZ!" "Oh, ok, I'm actually one of the janitors at Bank of XYZ".

Or "Hi, I develop cross media formats!" "Yeah, me too!".

I think you can see where the discussion would flourish and where it would probably end with a quick "cheers!" and parted ways.

I know, I'm being a bit stereotypical, just bare with me for a second... :)

But now, eh? Twitter being the most obvious example at the moment. What got me thinking was that the other day I commented on a friend of mine doing a speech at a conference. He referred to a policy of an online web shop service, saying it gave bad experiences. I tweeted that, with the name of the service. A couple of hours later, the CEO of that service tweets me, asking about what had been said. In this particular case it didn't matter what profession I had, not at all. Same goes for most of my followers at the moment. Some follow 'cause they are friends. Some follow because I've followed them. Most follow because of who I am - someone who likes to fish, someone who's interested in media, someone who tweets silly links every now and then, someone who goes to conferences once in a while and tweets eagerly from them, some follow because we all like writing... Yes, some follow because I've got "format developer" as a job title, but to me that's more of an interest than a profession.

Can I draw a conclusion here? I'll try. See - anyone has the opportunity to be themselves online. They can even be the better parts of themselves, should they wish to. There's no need to define oneself along the lines of ones profession, if one does not want to. So now, finally, people can be interested in YOU. Or not interested, which also might be the case. Just don't take it personally :)

PS. I should also add that the "what we do"-tag, when it comes to social media, is a lot more about how we use different social media, than what we have as a profession. For instance, someone who just uses Facebook gives a different initial impression of him-/herself than someone who is on Twitter exclusively. Or a Blogger/Waver (if Google Wave can be called a social media? I'd argue yes) is a totally different person than a Twitterer/Beboer. I'll delve into that argument later on. DS.

Conference AHOY!

The Eyes on UX conference will kick off tomorrow in Vasa, Finland, with quite a renowned lineup of speaker (including your humble servant, myself that is). Read more about it at the conference pages.

Dr Jeffrey Cole promises to be quite interesting tomorrow morning. Looking forward to that.

Not only will I do a small presentation (and unless you're already using Prezi to make your presentations, you should start NOW), I'll also be mr DJ at the dinner party! Been a while, let's see if I still got it... :)

NaNoWriMo

With all things going on in economics, with the world ending in 2012 or so... it's good to do something completely different once in a while. Spurred on by how fun it was to do the #BBCAWDIO writing thing on Twitter, I decided to try my hand at NaNoWriMo, the annual writing effort where you win if you create a 50.000 word novel during the month of November. Doesn't matter how well you write, doesn't matter what you write... that you put down that many words, that's the key.

So, I'm now 2000+ words into my novel, and I'm happily following the main character - Adam - on his trip to... well, wherever he's going. I have a slight inkling of where it might be, but really, I do not know yet.

Here are the first two paragraph of the story:

He could never quite shake the feeling that there was something wrong with him. Something that was a bit odd, an out-of-the-way, not-really-as-it-should-be kind of thing.

It didn’t matter if he was riding his bike to work – and it sure was not his bike’s fault, even though it was an age-old bike, a pre-historical bike with wide tires and a weight like a full-grown buffalo, a precious bike inherited from his grandfather who had ridden it during the War – or painting his part of the fence at home, or preparing what would pass for dinner when it was his turn to cook the food… it didn’t matter what he did, he always had the feeling that people passing him or people that he passed looked at him much like you would look at an unfortunate flamingo without any sense for balance, or a recent, fairly harmless car crash. Like he was… not really proper.

So, we'll see what happens! :)

BBCAWDIO thoughts

(Another slightly off topic post)

#BBCAWDIO musings

What if…

What we are seeing is a power struggle in another universe, the mirror world. The key to the power struggle – which could be between a) the Queen, the Prince and their cohorts and b) the Resistance, fronted by Finnegan, perhaps the original Puppet, perhaps Pinman etc – is one person from our world, i.e. Sam.

The struggle begun ages ago when the siblings – toymaker sister and prince brother, who incidentally were not nice persons at all – found out that they were, in fact, siblings. This they found out when she was commissioned to make him a puppet.

Through magic means (I think the magpie is sort of the fairy of this tale, granting wishes or making things happen) the toymaker is given the opportunity to bring the puppet to life. Still, bad person as she is, she tries to trick the magic. She ends up in the Mirror World, and finds that some of the things she has brought there – items and skills – give her power over the things residing there. At last she has a chance to be a queen in her own right! Eager to bring her brother along and rule this domain together, she struggles to find a way to do so. She realizes the only way is to bring him through the mirror, which she manages to do.

The original people of the mirror world take up the fight against the Queen, who manufactures armies. But the longer she’s in the other world, the more diminished her powers become. What she would need to finish the fight is the powers of one special person in the real world – Sam.

The Queen tries to ensnare her by her love of her brother. But, even though she made the promise, Sam recoils and runs from the fate she sees beckoning. The Queen is furious and traps her unfortunate Brother in the body of a magpie, but doing it so clumsily she left parts of him out, like the voice Pinman now has – perhaps mocking the original magpie, perhaps “on top of” the original magpie’s personality? – until she’ll get a chance to get her hands on Sam again.

Now, the Resistance is in trouble, as the Queens armies are overwhelming them. They see that the only way to get to the queen is through Sam, so they arrange, through the first puppet and through Finnegan, to have her transported into the mirror world. One last throw of the dice, so to speak. The mirror-Sam is a doll who became alive when she entered the real world. She’s not evil per say, just to keep Sam on the right track, worrying about her family.

Incidentally, I think Badger is the one who will turn out to be a traitor in the Resistance. Never quite trusted that fellow, much too quiet.

So – evil people are the Queen, the Prince and their cohorts. Good people are Finnegan, Pinman, the original Puppet, the magpie, mirror-Sam. I think the whispering voice could be the original Puppet, driving her along, trying to get her on the right track.

So now, just get rid of the evil people, get Sam back, wrap things up?

BBCAWDIO loose threads

(first of all, this is a kind of off topic post, since I'm involved in the #bbcawdio venture on Twitter - look it up, it's great fun! This is just a place to put loose threads and I'll delete this and coming posts later. You probably won't make much of what is written here unless you're involved, so feel free to ignore)


Here we go, the loose threads for the first four chapters, at least the ones I found. Could be that some were tied up later on, let me know! (my comments are in italic)

Scene One

"You've been a disappointment to us, Sam. We always thought you were the one." via (paulcrilley) (“The one” meaning what exactly?)

The woman looking across the divide certainly resembled her, yet the lines of her face told a far older story (so Sam in the mirror is much older? How come? Is it a future Sam?)

"It's our turn. You promised." (said by the Sam in the mirror – what promise was this? The same as is referred to later?)

(then, her brother “went away”, “they had taken him” and she “begged to follow” and “had promised”)

Scene Two

Where Sam sees her mirror-self, “the imposter”, cuddling with her mother.
“remember your promise”, the mirror-Sam says, again referring to the promise.

(Upon meeting the puppet) The puppet raised its hand and twitched a finger. As it did so, Sam was horrified to feel her own arm respond. (how come? Does someone have that power over here in this mirror world? And will this puppet make a comeback? Perhaps Sam will falter in her resolve later on, NOT annihilating the Queen, but the puppet appears and takes control over her limbs, making her do it?)

Scene Three

Sam stared at the city that seemed to be made out of wood and wax. (made of wax? Why? Perhaps it’ll melt at some point?)

(Someone started to sing the “heart of stone” song, after which..) "Shut up!" Sam screamed and she started to run towards the city, hoping to leave the whispering voice behind (so, who was singing that song? It’s been coming back a lot, that invisible singer should be back at some point methinks)

Scene Four

(introducing Finnegan, who has this line) "Her Most Excellent Collector of Things requires a trinket from all that attend," he said as he stepped from the carriage. (so, a Collector of Things? Does she collect any which ever things? Like hearts, brothers etc?)

(Sam finds the egg in her pocket when asked for a trinket) Where had that come from, Sam wondered. (yes, where HAD it come from? Was it the same mysterious voice? Was it the first puppet that put it there to get her on her way?)

(a bit of a strange line from Finnegan to Sam) Aye. You're not more than two hundred, if that." Finnegan replied. "And didn't I tell you to say nothing?" (now, why would he think she’s 200 years old? Is this an old world? A slow world? Or does he need new glasses?)

(Also: ) "She collects all sorts of things. Doors too, and memories, and dropped intentions." He sighed. "This is all I can do." (so she is really a Collector, right? How can we weave this into the equation?)

When developing cross media content...

....remember that the story that is being told is the single most important ingredient in the whole of the project. It MUST be compelling, nice, engaging, entertaining... and suitable for 360 exploitation.

Now "exploitation" is not a nice word in itself, but exploitation is exactly what a cross media concept needs to be just that - cross media, engaging, entertaining etc. Just as long as the exploitation is done in the right way!

THe story told must in and of itself be strong enough to withstand the tear and wear of different storylines or parts of the story pulling it towards different platforms - be it television, the Internet, social media or whatever.

If the story turns out to not be strong enough, it is perhaps kindest to just put it out of its misery right away.

Mu two cents for the day.

Required reading, and some other stuff

With a lot of people going on about "GREEN SHOTS" and a recovery in the financial industry, please read the following article by Karl Denninger which pretty much sums up the situation.

If you can't be bothered to read it, please just take this advice - exit the stock market you're in, NOW. There's no point playing in a rigged game.

On a side note, this might be one of the funniest things I've seen in a while:


until next time, be well

If you read anything today...

...read this, required reading for anyone interested in a) the economical collapse, b) their own strategies for the future and c) getting themselves fired up with righteous anger a little bit. Read Karl Denningers ticker from yesterday here.

Hedge your positions, plan for the future. Be safe.

Not the easiest of times for a format developer...

...seeing as I was, before vacation, wondering why Distraction Formats hadn't returned any of my previous mails. The last exchange was them explaining how we could proceed, with them distributing some of our formats - especially a football quiz show, GAME ON, that some of their clients were interested in.

I had replied and was awaiting a response with a more concrete offer, when the news broke, in late June, that Distraction had gone bust. Shocking news, as they had always been extremely present at the MIPTV:s and MIPCOM:s etc, giving a very solid impression.

Well, best of luck to all the people formerly of Distraction. I am pretty convinced that I'll see them again in the not to distant future, in some fairly similar capacity...

Back from vacation + Miniwebs new effort

So, back at the desk then, quite a lot of projects in the air at the moment (and one of them going to be ON air as well, next month, more about that one when I have some links to post).

Trying to get to grips with how the economy is affecting the tv and media industries at the moment. It's quite clear that revenues are way down. Still, channels and broadcasters must fill the schedules with SOMETHING. Some shows are being extended (Dancing with stars nowadays 2h show for instance, in the US that is), also reruns, and non-scripted (cheap) formats. The latter category is where we fit in, I believe.

Just read a bit about Miniweb and their partnership with Metrological, bringing yet another new effort in the field of interactive television to the market. What differs this time around is the fact that their effort is looking pretty good... :) TO quote their press release:

"The combination of the Miniweb platform, Metrological’s middleware and hardware platform with the Intel CE 3100 provides, for the first time, an end-to-end platform for the delivery of a fully converged high-quality broadband and broadcast experience. This platform will be as equally attractive to Internet Service Providers looking to converge broadcast content with their existing broadband offering as it will be with cable, satellite and DTV operators that want to combine broadband enabled OTT video with their existing broadcast services. This platform includes support for web-style interaction; centralized video search & recommendations, community functionality as well as advertising and payments services. The platform is now integrated and ready to order now on a 2 month delivery."

The key might be that this works, looks good, is (hopefully) easy to use and possible to produce for. I'd dearly like to try it out, so any Miniwebpeople out there, gimme a shout :)

Humanity and social media

These thoughts have been in my head for a while now. I thought it best to write them down, before they disappear :)


Humanity and social media

When I was ten years old I, for a brief moment, regained my faith in Santa Claus. See, it’d been a Christmas Eve like all others, with family and dinner and pestering siblings and watching traditional Christmas shows on TV, when there came a knock on the door. In stepped Santa – well, it was a neighbor in a Santa costume, but I did not pay any notice. My eyes were glued to the big Christmas present jutting up from the bag slung over his shoulder. As the presents were being handed out, I could barely contain myself. When the turn came to me, I tugged it from the hands of the Santa-wannabe and frenetically began to tear the paper wrapping off. Finally, there it was.

64K of raw processing power, a CPU of a stunning 1MHz, three (3!) channels of sound, it was the ultimate computer. This Commodore 64 would be my entrance to the world of computers. I wanted to shout my joy to the rooftops… or at least to my closest friends. I did not, however, call them on my iPhone. Nor did I send an sms via a battered Nokia. I didn’t open Skype or MSN Messenger or Gmail chat or even an IRC channel. I had no way of letting the humanverse know my excitement through Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, MySpace, Bebo or any other forum. I couldn’t take a picture of the shiny new toy with my mobile phone and upload it to Flickr. What did I do? I ran over to my friend and asked him to come over, of course.

Now, 25 years later, it is hard to grasp just what changes have happened during a quarter of a century. The birth and growth of the Internet, the development of faster-than-fast processors, graphic cards and hard drives, a quality we couldn’t dream of back then… Not to mention all the programs, all the social media and the goatxe hype, for instance.

A question that is constantly raised as humanity becomes more and more of an online race and less and less of a face-to-face race, is a simple one. Is it good or bad? Many have pointed out the obvious – with less “real” interaction, there is less of that which makes us human involved; touch, smell, facial expressions, closeness, social interaction. Others, on the other hand, point out the equally obvious; we now have possibilities previously unheard of, to connect with people around the globe who share the same interests, beliefs or goals as we ourselves.

So, it’s good in some ways, and bad in some ways. As life in general is, I’d argue.
One of the fastest rising social media forums, Facebook, has allowed us to get in touch with old friends, has let us be constantly updated with info, photos, thoughts and silly links, keeping us in contact with our friends (yes, and also our “friends” of course), which in most ways is a good thing. Another social media, Twitter, brings the matter even closer. Within a space of 140 characters anyone, from Britney Spears to a 12-year old in Kuala Lumpur can say whatever they want to say, to anyone who cares to listen.

As I’ve been following and engaging in Twitter, and gotten in touch with wonderful ideas like Twistori, I’ve started to lean more and more towards this being a good thing. No, it’s not good that people communicate only via computers and mobile platforms. No, it’s not good that there is so much noise that the few clear notes are hard to hear. No, it’s not good that anonymity gives spiteful and angry people the chance to spew venom at unfortunate victims. But there are upsides as well.

See, I believe that Twitter, in all its’ simplicity, is the first step towards the great equalization of the species. Twitter is the first media that lets everyone compete on next-to equal terms, where ideas and thoughts, art and prose, genius and creativity is given the exact same amount of space to thrive, and via ReTweets find bigger and bigger audiences.

Agreed, a simple Tweet is a scream for recognition in a sea of screams. But at least all the screams are 140 characters long, and in the same font and layout!
Furthermore, I believe that Twitter is a great possibility to promote understanding between nations, people, genders, religion and races. For every spiteful xenophobic, there are thousands of normal, loving, caring people. For every rash thought and provocative comment, there are many more thoughtful and considerate tweets. And when you look at any given hot Twitter topic, what strikes me the most is how similar we all are. We’re all the same, at least when constricted to 140 characters.

Such a realization can only be a good thing. Right now, I’m looking forward to seeing what the next step will be. I sincerely hope for a step in an even more equal and thought-provoking direction. I hope my hopes won’t be dashed.

Have a good summer everyone, see you in Twitterverse – or somewhere else!

Workshop at EuroITV 2009

Talking about experiences the whole day, which is interesting. No matter if you're a designer, a developer, a researcher or a producer, what you are aiming for and looking to research into is a desired experience amongst the users.

To put it briefly, what we've come up with so far is that you have a content accessible via an interface. Accessing this is an action that causes a reaction in or even an interaction from the viewer / user. This reaction or interaction is then influenced by all the personal aspects - preferences, gender, needs etc. All in all, this generates the experience - good, bad or neutral. Then we also of course have all the external factors, from the world around. And the key question, at least for us as developers, would then be how to make money (or rather a viable business / revenue plan) from all of this.

Let's see what the afternoon brings :)

Meanwhile, in Germany...

...visiting my sister in a small village in western Germany called Dornholzhausen. Funny, the village has some 1000-1500 inhabitants, but there is absolutely NOTHING here. Well, a local butcher, and someone repairing computers. That's it. Anything else, you have to get your car out and drive to the next village (which admittedly is only a few kilometers away, but still). And absolutely NO ONE uses a bicycle around these parts. Small differences, but still.

Thought I was going to have a day off, but alas, no. Hours of work still to be done, I think. Phew.

EuroITV 2009 on wednesday, which should be interesting.

Google Wave, looks promising

Check out this presentation of Google Wave. It looks like it will be something really nice... Looking forward to testing it!



Also, another interesting projekt is MyHandle. Have a look!

Updates? What updates?

Been a month or more since I've updated anything here. I'll try to get on to it, but Twitter / Facebook are my social media of choice at the moment.

I've just finished a report on the development and marketing of television and cross media formats, which will be published shortly. I'll link to it as soon as it is available.

If you haven't got much else to do next week, why not show up at EuroITV in Leuven, Belgium? We'll be hosting a workshop there on Wednesday, and the conference itself is on Thursday and Friday. There should be some interesting stuff - I'll blog about that as well, hopefully.

A story

This one came into my head the night before last. Hmm, shall I continue on it or let it slide?

THE GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD
There was nothing out of the ordinary this day. It was a fine day, with high clouds, a shining warm sun and larks practicing their aerial skills hundreds of meters above my head, small specks against the blueness of the sky.
How can you do this? He asked, concern in his voice as I felt his gaze on me.
How can I not? I answered, trying to sound as cool and uncaring as I believed a girl of the world would have to sound like, or boys as handsome as him would never ever dream of talking to her, much less agree to climb the highest tree in the yard and sway lightly in the breeze while watching the sky.
Now, what I hadn’t counted on was his severe vertigo, which had almost hindered him from climbing the tree with me, and now forced his arms into cramps as he held tightly on to the branch beneath him.

....to be continued?

OK, now this is interesting

... I'd REALLY like to see this documentary - "We Live In Public" by director Ondi Timoner. "We will be trapped in virtual boxes..."

Scary. Best shut this computer now and go have some real interaction with some real people :)

Quite right

Mish Shedlock puts it to us quite nicely in his latest blogpost. "...the current generation now in high school is likely going to be the first generation in America's history with a lower standard of living than their parents for quite some time to come."

Please have a read. Over in other areas the situation might be worse, or better. Still, it's going to be a new brave world, and you'd best better prepare.

So little time...

... so no time to write any blogs. Will do though, as soon as I get some time to spare.

News - The Space Trainees is in production as we speak, which is nice. Game On, the football quiz show with cross media aspects, is gaining momentum, hoping to get it into productions soonishly. And we'll shoot a pilot on the cross media celebrity personality testing show The Naked Truth later on this spring - it's all happening! :)

Some other projects going on as well - along with our paper being accepted for the Edutainment 2009 conference in Banff, Canada... so the Rockies, here I come!

Until later

MIPTV Day One

I always forget the feeling of gearing up to MIPTV mode. It's meetings meetings meetings pitches pitches pitches, a rumbling stomach and too much coffee. Still, a lot of fun.

Weather slightly off, lots of rain - not at the moment though - but more on it's way I've heard.

A mere couple of dozen of Twitterers so far, seems like the TV industry isn't quite up to scratch yet. And the question everyone is asking - how can we make money in new ways, with ad revenues shrinking... If I hear a good solution, I'll post it here.

Still, people are interested in our formats. All good, next meeting in 15 minutes.

Jam

I must admit, this is a TV show I am not really sure if I could watch. I'd LIKE to watch it, but could I? Time will tell...

GAME - a pretty cool-looking movie

Well, this here looks interesting. Filmstalker talks about the new Gerald Butler movie GAME, this time with a leaked trailer.

It's about a future where people control other people in MMORPGS. Only thing is that the people they control are REAL people... and one of them is about to realize what's going on.

Pretty neat, check out what there is to check out here.

Hectic spring

...or, spring is perhaps not the correct term, seeing it was -12C when I woke up this morning. Still, hectic is the right adjective methinks.

The Space Trainees will go into production in some weeks, lots to do before that (and during that). MIPTV 2009 in Cannes is up next week, much to do before that as well. Then there are other projects - interactive cross media quiz shows, a green media social web thing for young people that should be initiated ASAP, a workshop in Belgium on it's way... Looks like it'll slow down sometime in July. I hope.

Will try to update this blog with interesting stuff, not promising anything though. But will probably Twitter from MIPTV, when I find the time to go to something interesting...

/S

Down, down, down....

Buy and hold, the callsign for generations of investors who couldn't be bothered with the day-to-day trade of stocks, futures, bonds etc, is definitely not the thing anymore.

Everyone, from Warren Buffett to my mother, is saying that this recession is going to last, last and last some more. This is what the ones I believe in - Mish Shedlock, Karl Denninger, Barry Ritholz et al - have been saying for the last 2 years as well.

Well, here we are. With the dismal news of the biggest banks in the US and their economic state of affairs coming out late last week, the Asian markets are at this moment some 3-4% down, Europe is opening in the red and I do not believe the bailouts of AIG and the banks by the US government will do much to help US confidence and the Dow Jones later on today.

We're looking at a stock market that has lost more than 50% of it's value in 1½ years. It's going to lose a lot more. the S%P 500 is projected to land at about 250, from the 700+ it's now on. If you have stocks, either you're in for the LOOOOOOONG haul (2015-16 or something) or you should cut your losses now.

These are interesting times. I do hope we'll all get out unscatched in the end - singed, but not burnt, hopefully. Although I'm not betting on it. The last time the outlooks were this bleak, a chap named Adolf saw hos opportunity...

The Twestival

If you're on Twitter, you could do worse today than follow the Twestival. All good, all fun, all for charity... and all bringing together the Twittersphere in a whole new way (I think :)

(is it just me, or is anyone else already looking for the next thing - what will happen after Twitter?)

Interactive music videos ... well...

hat tip Ms Paeonia :)

So, the interactive music video is finally here. The music video that - as interactive television was hailed as - allows you to watch a video and click your way to all the products you see in the video, be they cars, clothes, sunglasses or whatever.

First out is the Irish band The Script - here's their MySpace page - where you during 255 seconds can click on 242 different articles. From a marketing point of view, it is a bit interesting. But to call it "enriched music video"... well, let's just say it might be "annoyingly distracting music video".

As with all new technology, it's all in how you use it. There's no point just slapping on these clickable things (well, for The Script there was a point, seeing as they were first and got their fair amount of publicity) as they don't contribute to the whole, instead just act as a distraction. Once the novelty wears off, it's no use.

My suggestion would be to carefully develop a music video where this marketing tool is a natural way of the story in the video, supporting the music, supporting the visuals, and in turn being supported by them. THAT'S something that would keep them coming back, methinks.

Anyone want to hire me to do it, gimme a pm :)

Interactive television breakthrough?

Well well well, what do we have here?

InformiTV informs us that this will be the year for interactive television to make it's big breakthrough in the US. Why is that then, when this breakthrough was promised some 7-8 years ago the first time? Well, apparently television networks are now feeling the pressure from online and telcom competition, and have decided to embrace interactive television offerings, and the estimated amount of iTV-connected people is somewhere close to 50 million, by the end of the year. This, then, really could be it.... or can it?

We still have the problem of different standards available - Tru2way and EBIF being a couple of them - and the question of what kind of content can be offered that would be good enough to lure the consumers to interact.

As William Cooper on InformiTV states - "Despite, or perhaps as a result of, the dominance of cable television in America, interactive services are around five years behind those in Britain, where ironically most of the action has now moved on to the web."

Quite :)

Well, I suspect we'll see. I, as a developer, will not yet go rushing off trying to create formats for iTV in the US. I would dearly like to see a sound market and some ratings first...

Some stuff about the global economic crisis

Today, Monday, Geithner of the US Treasury will put forth the "rescue plan" that will "save the US economy". Problem is, there really is no way to save the economy - not as such an economy as it has been for the past 20 years at least.

This housing based credit bubble has been the largest credit bubble ever. The crash in the economy will therefore be, and actually IS already, the largest crash ever. To try to prop it all up with hundreds of billions of US taxpayer money is just plain silly.

The reason I'm interested - and you too should be interested - is that the theory of decoupling (the theory that it doesn't matter what happens in the US, the rest of the world will continue to trade with each other or internally and will not be affected) has been proven utterly wrong. Everything is connected, and the better I, and YOU, know the real deal, the better we can prepare for what will come.

Here are some links to my favourite pages to keep track of what's happening. Have a look, have a loooong good read, and make your choice.

Ticker Forum, Mish's Pages, The Big Picture, Calculated Risk.

Well.

This blog might be a bit hard to keep updated regularly (which you may have noticed) this coming month. This due to a LOT of deadlines approaching FAST. Trying to evade them is to no avail, as I've realized.

Be getting back, but infrequently, as I said.

Be well! Hope the Credit Crunch don't hit you too hard.

Power up Ideas, captain!

Ah, almost forgot to mention this one - the annual Content 360 competition, to be held at this years MIPTV festival in Cannes on the 30.3 - 3.4. This year the people holding the competition - the BBC, the KCC, MSN, NFB, Ogilvy and OpenAd.net are looking for ideas on some interesting topics.

The BBC are looking for ideas like "TV Entertainment over Broadband" and "Factual content via your mobile" whereas MSN wants "Original Comedy for Multiple Platform" and the KCC wants an "Interactive Educational format for Cross Media", amongst others.

Deadline is 19th of January for the BBC categories (that's next Monday! Get going!) and for the others 2nd February...

Best of luck!

The future of Interactive Television??

...or, rather, one POSSIBLE future for iTV.

This year it looks like it's all about forgetting tv to PC:s and laptops, or digital interactive set-top-boxes. No, what you want to do now is connect your 42" flat screen full HD television directly to the Internet. By then offering a host of widgets you're on your way to real real interactive television.

But, of course, this would be just too easy. So instead we have as many solutions as there are tv-manufacturers - "Sony announced support for widgets in its latest Bravia displays, referring to them as Bravia Internet Widgets. Samsung refers to its version as the Internet@TV Content Service. Vizio calls it Connected HDTV."

Good for them. Can't you all just gather around ONE solution and then us contentmakers could do great content for THAT solution, not a hundred different versions of the content for hundreds of different technical solutions.

Still, it sounds kinda neat. I don't have the time to delve into it atm, but it sounds like something that could have potential. We'll see.

Long Tail Fail Alert!

I've been an advocate of the Long Tail-theory - you know, Chris Andersons theory that if you have a near unlimited amount of virtual shelf space, you can offer all sorts of niched content, and the amount of niched content sold will exceed the amount of the most popular items sold. I.e., you can make money out of obscure stuff, as long as you have enough of it. This, to me, sounded entirely plausible.

Now, though, recent studies from the UK show that this just might not be the case. InformITV reports that the studies, conducted by the MCPS-PRS Alliance, showed that of all music sold in the UK, 0.4% of the songs made up 80% of the revenues. That's totally contradictionary to the long tail theory... On the other hand, might music be a species apart in this, seeing as people download, LastFM-listens etc, to the music they like? I don't know.. but read up on the report here, and be prepared to ditch the Long Tail from your next marketing-powerpoint, ok? :)

Have a good 2009!

..unlike the Palestine people of Ghaza, that is. Now, I do not have anything against Israel, and definitely no prejudices against anyone of Jewish heritage. But goddamit, that lunacy HAS TO STOP.

Now a whole world is clamoring for Hamas to stop firing rockets at Israel, injuring two people at the last instant - while Israel is carpetbombing the Ghaza strip killing hundreds... anyone else see a slight discrepancy here? Or is it just because the Palesine people are "terrorists"?

Dear me, someone talk some sense into these people. Here's hoping... and hope no more children have to die. Foolish hope, I know.

Happy 2009 everyone.

How to use YouTube

Just read this article from The New York Times, a real sunshine story amidst all the doom and gloom of failing companies and huge national debt. Just goes to show that it doesn't matter who you are or where you are, as long as you have a good story to tell - or good content - and a way to distribute it, you will make it.

So, what are you waiting for?? Go do it!

Adobe or Silverlight?

News in from the UK, where both Sky TV and ITV have been relaunching their online tv players with new versions based on Microsofts Silverlight. At the same time BBC are trying, and succeeding to a certain extent, to get people excited about their Adobe-based iPlayer. William Cooper over at informitv has more on the subject, but I can't help but thinking that there are just too many options whenever we're talking about online or mobile video - and it won't be resolved until one company has grown big enough to buy up all the others... Which then again leads to that company becoming too big to be efficient, and new open source etc projects jumping up, and then we're here again.

My point? Well, the only one worth making is probably that it was easier back in the old days, without alternatives. But a whole lot more boring as well!

Dear me...

... if China is really going to devalue their currency by 30-35%, the shit will hit the fan, and not in a good way. We could see all manners of odd behaviour - new tolls, trade wars, massive unemployment, the works.

On one hand I just can't imagine what the world will look like in 12 months time. On the other, I'm convinced it's inevitable, and may turn out to be a good thing in the end. So, buckle up everyone, we're in for a bumpy ride. And to friends and relatives in the US - hope you'll be OK. If not, cosy on over here to Finland, at least we've got enormous amounts of wood, so heating should be no prob :)

Congratulations Strix

...on getting your format The Farm commissioned to Brazil and broadcaster Rede Record. As has been concluded before, the format market is going more and more global, with more and more formats coming from territories outside the traditional ones - UK, US and Holland. It makes me very happy to see Scandinavia doing well with a number of formats worldwide (partly because it makes it easier for someone else from the Nordic countries, well, yes, like me, to be taken seriously with our excellent ideas and formats).

So congratulations! And happy anniversary Finland, independence day tomorrow. Whee!

New series over at ABC, CBS

What's happening over at the US broadcasters will soon find it's way over here, at least when it comes to scripted drama or comedy. So it's with interest I note that Boston Legal, Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone will be axed from ABCs schedule to make way for three new series - Cupid, Castle and The Unusuals. Should be interesting.

Over at CBS, a fun show to watch could (and should) be Game Show in My Head, where contestants have to live their ordinary life and carry out secret orders from an earpiece to win money. Degrading? Probably. Funny? We'll see.

A couple of the coolest things around

Just saw this video above, and it's brilliant. See, what they do is they reflect an image or a stream onto a mirror that rotates reallyreally quickly... An "interactive 360 degrees lightfield display", as they call it. (They should call it something c00l though, like "MEGA 3D MACHINE!" or "3DATRON") Thereby you get that funky 3D effect that is just stunning.

Well, stunning from my point of view at least, as I'm a format developer by trade. This little thingee would fit perfectly into a couple of the projects I'm working on, as a really cool gadget or to create that spacey futuristic feel. So, developers, do you have one spare?? :)


This on the other hand is plain funky - the Fi-Fi (Fin-Fish). THe developer must've thought that "well, if it works for a shark in water, why shouldn't it work for a shark-zeppelin in pure air?". And quite rightly so! It's something that I would love to be able to use in one of our projects...

Now, none of these things would be essential for anything that we're working on. But dear me, they would add something a little bit extra to them!

Nokia N97 - the "social phone"

Well, here we are. Continuing the fight for supremacy in the mobile phone market, Nokia just released the new N97 model at the CCIB in Barcelona today. Just looking at it it seems like a nice, modern phone. It also has most things you could want, or as Nokia themselves put it, it's a product that "carves a new space in the otherwise blurred realm between smartphone and laptop".

Quite.

No, but seriously, this looks like a really up-for-it phone. If phone is the correct word to use anymore, that is. It's also clear that Nokia are tapping into the whole social media market - Facebooking, Beboing, Twittering, what have you, it's all done better with this phone than with any previous Nokia phone. The step to a full fledged laptop is still quite substantial, guess you'd need an inflatable screen and keyboard to bridge that gap.

Other than that, I'd be happy to get my hands on one. The pricetag might just be a little bit prohibitive, in Finland it's estimated at 550€ pre-tax. With the current economic climate, the timing could perhaps have been a bit better. On the other hand, this product probably just goes to show how on-the-edge Nokia is. The real money is in the cheap phone market.

But, well, if you happen to have one spare, do send it this way :) I promise to evaluate it thoroughly!

Joost on iPhone, iTouch

Joost was seen as "the next big thing" when it opened up it's P2P television venture a good while back. And yes, it was a bit exciting, and a bit like no one had done before (although there was, and are, quite a number of competitors with the same idea atm, like Babelgum, Vuze, Veoh etc etc, including the real competitors like Hulu or the BBC iPlayer).

But it was not really meant to be, at least not as the creators had intended. It's since evolved from a download application to a purely online and Flashbased videofeed, and it did seem as if it was meant to go out with a whimper at some point, sooner or later. Alas, perhaps not.

Joost has now teamed up with Apple, designed an interface specially for iPhone and iTouch (since the iPhone as of yet does not support Flash) and is now offering the full Joost experience on iPhone as well.

This is definitely a step in the right direction. What remains to be seen is if Joost can up their content to something a little bit more engaging and exciting than what they have on offer now - if I as an iPhone owner have 10 minutes to watch something, I don't want to spend 4 of those searching for anything watchable... so, more premium content, thank you! :)