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Followup: The solitary life of an Apple PR staffer
After reading Tuesday's post on Apple unresponsive PR department, a tipster sent us the following juicy tidbit about the miserable life of Apple's PR staff. Apparently, they're kept almost as unenlightened as the press they work so hard to keep away. And a social life? Forget about it. More after the jump:I never ran this myself, but through a friend of a friend I heard that Apple PR teams are not allowed to communicate internally with one another, i.e. the iPod PR people are not allowed to know what iMac PR people are up to. It is totally divide-and-conquer inside the company.Externally, you're also not supposed to cultivate relationships with journalists. It's the complete opposite of other vendors. In fact, my friend said, if you're an Apple PR person and you are seen in the company of a journalist, at a party or any place other than an Apple event, you better have a good reason why.The whole "friend of a friend" aspect has us wary, so we called and checked with Steve Dowling,...

Amazon.com: Silicon Alley Insider blogger Peter Kafka ...
Silicon Alley Insider blogger Peter Kafka thinks e-books are doomed -- even a monolith like Amazon.com won't spark excitement with its new Kindle reader, he argues. The problem, as he points out, is that there's nothing wrong with how consumers read books. Adopting e-book readers would force everyone to change their consumption habits -- a big step that even something the iPod didn't require. [Silicon Alley Insider]

Followup: Auren Hoffman's cynical ploy to set your profile "free"
Rapleaf is bragging that founder Auren Hoffman is an early signer of the Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web. That blustering broadside, authored by Plaxo's Joseph Smarr, Macromedia founder Marc Canter, videoblogger Robert Scoble, and TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington, wants to set your online profiles and friends lists, trapped on sites like Facebook, free. The central tenet of the Bill? That individual users retain "ownership of their own personal information" and that users have the "freedom to grant persistent access to their personal information to trusted external sites." Which could come in handy as people begin to question Rapleaf's scraping of profile data from social networks -- data these networks claim to own and have exclusive rights to. Hoffman, of course, is being perfectly cycnical in claiming he's trying to protect users' interests, rather than profiting from them. Of course, it's not clear whether or not this Bill of Rights would allow Rapleaf's TrustFuse...

Spam: Pfizer's Viagra-hawking zombies
Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company most adept at preying on male insecurities, has come down with a bad case of zombies. For the past six months, its computers have, coincidentally, been spamming the Internet with unsanctioned advertisements for its erectile-dysfunction medication, Viagra. Apparently a group of hackers has taken control of some of the corporation's PCs -- called "zombies" in computer-security parlance -- to hawk penny stocks and fake Rolexes alongside Pfizer's own flagship product. According to researchers at security firm Support Intelligence, who tipped off Wired News, Pfizer doesn't even realize it has an infection. Or perhaps it's just figured out a sweet new marketing campaign. (Photo by Len Peralta)

Confonz: We're from Yahoo, and we're here to help
Please welcome back the ConFonz, our secret correspondent from the world of conferences. -- Ed.CONFONZ -- One of the nicest parts about being me is overhearing the amazing stories told in-between roundtables and plenary sessions. They're rarely newsworthy, but such tales often portend just how utterly fucked a company or entity really is. Take this doozy about Yahoo and its attempts to do something good for the world.Just a scant week ago, a cavalcade of Yahoo -- make that Yahooligans, given how they behaved -- went over to Berkeley to volunteer at the Alameda County Computer Resource Center. Ostensibly, they were there to build PCs and install Ubuntu Linux on some recycled hardware. In theory, these budding young bags of sperm and PHP should have spent about three hours checking RAM, formatting hard drives, stacking monitors and testing keyboards. Instead, the wily "volunteers" just made a big stinking mess, completed only a single Ubuntu install and then complained when they...

Larry And Sergey: Arriba! Googlers' party plane lands in Seville
We've got the answer on what Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are doing in Seville, the recent destination of their converted 767 airliner, the Google Jet. They're attending a massive company get-together, Be Connected 2007, in the Spanish city, along with Google CEO Eric Schmidt. According to this Spanish blog, more than 3,000 people are attending, including a big contingent, tipsters say, from Google's Zurich office. "The restaurants are packed with Googler," reports a besieged Sevillero. They're being entertained with free meals -- no change from the ordinary, pampered life of a Googler there -- as well as performance by French music group Gipsy Kings. The conference runs through tomorrow.

Auren Hoffman: The rap on Rapleaf, the "trust meter" you can't trust
Auren Hoffman, networker extraordinaire, hardly flies under the Silicon Valley radar. But his latest venture, Rapleaf, backed by Facebook investor Peter Thiel and launched more than a year ago, has managed to do so. Until recently. So what is Rapleaf, exactly, and why are people buzzing about it now? Hard to say -- no, really. Launched as a "trust meter," a way to quantify people's business ethics -- like eBay's buyer and seller ratings, but independent of any one site -- Rapleaf's value proposition and stated goals have taken several perplexing twists and turns. And as with Hoffman's party patter, Rapleaf's premise is initially alluring, but leaves you feeling slightly nauseated.Rapleaf began as a competition to eBay's reputation ratings. Rather than being tied to eBay's auctions, though, Rapleaf would track an individual's reputation universally, online and offline. Reputation ratings have been a valuable resource, but proprietary to eBay. The idea of a rating which would...

Surly Adopter: Apple gives early iPhone adopters a $100 money-back guarantee
In an open letter to iPhone buyers, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has promised a $100 store credit to all the suckers who bought an iPhone early, before the price dropped by a third to $399. Steve, Steve, Steve. Why are you caving, after talking so tough? How are these foolish early adopters ever going to learn if you coddle them? Sure, you're not going to take a huge financial hit; after all, it's not like you're really giving the money back. Early iPhone buyers, after all, will have to spend the money at an Apple Store, and with Apple's lofty profit margins, a $100 retail credit will probably cost you $50 or so wholesale. And what are they going to buy? An iPod Touch, when they already have an iPhone? No, more likely the money will get spent on iPhone accessories and the like -- all high-margin purchases which Apple can easily afford to give away to buy some goodwill. But still. It's the principle of the thing. Next thing you know, they'll be asking for refunds whenever you speed up...

E-Books: Book publishers will face the same disruption ...
Book publishers will face the same disruption with electronic book readers as the music industry did with the iPod, says The New York Times. Amazon is prepping an October unveiling of its e-book reader, The Kindle, which will wirelessly sync with its e-book store. Later this fall, Google plans to charge for access to books scanned into its database. [The New York Times]

Online Video: NBC tries to make up with Apple
NBC is hurt, stunned and confused by Apple's recent bitchslap. Apparently the broadcaster didn't think Apple would call its bluff, and refuse to sell its new fall season on the iTunes Store. Initially balking at iTunes's rigid pricing structure -- NBC executives have deluded themselves into thinking consumers will pay up to $5 per episode -- and allowing its contract to expire, NBC is now "hopeful that we can reach a resolution before the existing contract expires," says spokesperson Cory Shields. Is that like trying to make up with your girlfriend before she moves out?

Surly Adopter: Nokia, Apple spar via Google ads
Early adopter? Late adopter? Surly adopter? Nokia and Apple are vying for your affections. When you Googled "iPhone" earlier today, targeted ads for Nokia's Mosh social network showed up, taunting iPhone buyers for having overpaid. In response, Apple placed ads telling "late adopters" that they could get "all the iPhone" for two-thirds the price. The ads no longer appear on Google, but we suspect this was more of a competitive tweak than a long-term marketing strategy. (Screenshot by Search Engine Land)

People Search: Spock labels George W. Bush a terrorist
Spock, the happy fun slander robot people search engine which scours the Web for references to build dubiously accurate profiles, lists George W. Bush among the day's most popular terrorists. A mere 18 votes (granted, that's two more than Osama Bin Laden received) won him a spot on the homepage. But terrorist isn't even among the top 50 Bush labels. Adjectives like "idiot," "miserable failure," and "warmonger" are far more popular.

Feuds: Nevermind stealing domain names from little ...
Nevermind stealing domain names from little girls, Hulu, NBC's and News Corp.'s bid for video marketplace domination, is now accused of "federal cyberpiracy." User-generated content tool provider Lulu.com, which also operates a a profit sharing YouTube clone Lulu.TV, alleges that NewCo has "intentionally attempted to create confusion in the marketplace" and has filed suit for trademark infringement and unfair and deceptive trade practices. [PR Newswire]

Apple: Steve Jobs tells iPhone buyers to drop dead
Maybe New York had it right: Could Apple CEO Steve Jobs be getting too cocky for his own good? In an interview with USA Today, Jobs tells people who shelled out $599 for an iPhone that's now selling for $200 less, "That's technology." In other words, tough titty. It's a heck of a marketing strategy, if you can call it that. Never mind that we basically agree with Jobs, and think smug iPhone buyers got what they deserved -- Jobs could certainly have delivered the message with more tact. Another sign of how out of touch Jobs has become. In the interview, he reveals that he buys songs through the iTunes Store, even when he already owns the CD, out of sheer laziness. Life is rough when you're the billionaire CEO of Apple.

Virtual Economies: First Meta gives Second Life some credit
Not content to let bank runs and and stock exchange breaches be the only financial crises to hit Second Life, financial service First Meta is introducing a virtual credit card. Offered in gold and standard varieties, the MetaCard will be integrated directly into Second Life's interface, allowing gold cardholders to charge up to 10,000 Lindens a month -- a whopping $37. There are only 76 stores currently accepting the MetaCard, but if you can't charge it, you can always take out a cash advance. It's only a matter of time until someone sets up a Linden debt-consolidation shop.

Stats: Who's really winning the gadget-blog war?
Gawker Media publisher Nick Denton, the owner of this site and my worthy predecessor as its editor, has weighed in triumphantly on the battle of the gadget blogs, declaring his Gizmodo site the winner in its heated competition with Engadget, the rival site started by founding Gizmodo editor Peter Rojas and now owned by AOL. The last time I covered this fights, I was working at Business 2.0, and an ostensibly neutral party. And so I got a fusillade from all sides. Scarred from that experience, and hardly neutral now, I'm not going to comment, save to observe that in the days to come, you're sure to hear an elaborate, exhausting point-counterpoint from Gizmodo and Engadget about international licensees, traffic-counting methodologies, and so on and so forth. Trust me, you won't want to hear it. And anyway, I'm more interested in my boss's obvious, embarrassing gaffe.To prove Gizmodo's ascendancy, Denton cites numbers from Compete.com, an increasingly popular Web traffic-research...

Careers: On Facebook, a hunt for the spooks of tomorrow
Spook recruiters are no doubt thrilled by the news last week that Facebook would expand its offerings of targeted ads. The Central Intelligence Agency has already employed Facebook as a "peer-to-peer marketing tool" to advertise openings. Facebook's new direct marketing allows advertisers to target specific interest groups and eventually, based on historical trends and the behavior of similar users -- think of those Amazon.com or Netflix recommendations -- Facebook says it will be able to predict products its users will be interested in. Now the CIA and other government agencies will be able to recruit fresh candidates before they even realize they want to be a spy.

E-commerce: When YouTube met eBay
E-commerce sites are now adding video, as the infomercial enters the age of YouTube. What amuses us about this trend is that it was an early business model, since abandoned, that YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen entertained for their online-video startup. Having previously worked for eBay, Hurley and Chen briefly conceived of YouTube as a tool for embedding videos in online auctions. It's gone from far-out idea to standard practice in the cottage industry for selling-on-eBay tips.

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