Examples for Comm 367 - September 24th

Frederik Samuel blog

Week One Down

So I have gotten through my first week of being a doctoral student. Only 4 years left. Anyway, I think my classes should be interesting and I should have the opportunity to work on some research that I find very interesting and other research that should expand my view of communication. I very much believe OSU was the right decision.

College

Started college. But I stumbled across some interesting news this morning. First, LostRemote is on fire today with a number of interesting stories. Here are some:

-Reuters tests facial recognition video search - Creepy
-MySpace to roll out self-serve advertising system - Amazing
-Google launches PowerPoint clone - Badass, but still not 100% there

Also some funny news. Apparently, Coach Tressel jumped in excitement during last weeks OSU v. Washington game. As far as I know he showed less emotion when his wife gave birth. Full Dispatch Story

Examples for Comm 367 - September 19th

Definition we'll be working off of:
Persuasion involves symbolic communication between two or more people with intent to change, reinforce, or shape attitudes beliefs, and/or behaviors of the receiver.

Starbucks Cups Aren't Recyclable

So apparently the plastic coating on the cup, which prevent the cup from leaking, cause the cup to not be recyclable. I really need to buy a travel coffee mug and not lose it the first day I use it.

Full Dispatch Story

Summer's Nearly Over

On April 4th, I successfully defended my Master's thesis. On April 9th, I turned in the final copy of my thesis to the graduate school at Ball State University. Since then I really haven't done much. Well starting Wednesday that all changes.

It has been an amazing and relaxing summer. I have been able to spend time in New York, Chicago, Washington D.C. and a few other places and I have been able to spend that time with some very good friends and my wonderful girlfriend. Although, this has been a great summer I am very excited to get back to school and get back to a more consistent schedule.

This quarter, yes quarter, I will be taking three courses and teaching one. The course I will be taking are part of the School of Communications core curriculum and will cover comm theory, research methods, and stats. Then I will be teaching one section of persuasion in the undergrad comm program. I should be fairly busy this quarter getting adjusted to the seemingly more rigorous OSU program.

Beyond my coursework, I will be working on a couple of pieces of research and working on other side projects. I will keep everyone abreast of my research and other things as they happen.

My feedback on the iPhone

My iPhone doesn't connect to the OSU wireless network, because OSU only supports 802.1x. The iPhone doesn't current support that. I know they are probably not going to even read my letter, but I must say it made me feel a little better. Also, University of Texas has a link right on their wireless page to go the the Apple feedback section and complain, which is cool. If you feel like complaining about this problem, please go here. Anyways, this is my letter to Steve submitted through the Apple feedback section:

Hey Steve,

I assume Steve Jobs reads everyone of these e-mails. Anyway, I just bought the iPhone and love the hell out of it. I think when it comes to interface design there is no single company better than Apple. My suggestion is that you add 802.1x wireless connectivity and here's why. I am a PhD candidate at The Ohio State University and one of my good friends is a PhD candidate at UT-Austin. These 2 schools represent over 100,000 students and 20,000 faculty and staff. Most of these people are in your target demo and none of us can use our iPhones on the campus wireless networks because of the lack of 802.1x support. IF OSU and UT are the same, there must be a number of other colleges using this style of connectivity, which could really anger users in your target market.

I googled real quick and these schools (2006 enrollment) also use 802.1x:

University of Florida (50,785)
University of Minnesota is in the process of switching to 802.1x (50,402)
Syracuse University (19,802)

Just an idea.

Thanks,

Nick Geidner

Apple appeases early adopters

"...we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store."

Full Press Release

Ron Paul iPhone Page

So I was cruising through the iPhone Application List and found that Ron Paul has an iPhone configured page. How crazy is that? Good work Ron Paul.

Random thoughts

First I am typing this note from my iPhone while sitting at the laudrymat, which is nice. Although I am limited in my linking abilities. Anyway, here are just some random thoughts:

-the "Petraeus" report about the state of Iraq, which the media is hyping as the end all be all of opinions on Iraq, is not being written by Gen. Petraeus, but the White House. So that's interesting. Full Story

-AP, Reuters, and the French wire services are all boycotting coverage of the rugby world cup, due to coverage restrictions...I wonder if they are doing this to show to the NFL they have the balls to do it. Although, I must say it does create an odd prescedence. The whole not covering a bond fide news event to prove a point. Full Story

-LostRemote.com is talking about Microsoft's Silverlight...a new video streaming format I am not familiar with Full Story

-Apple seems to have pissed off investors by dropping the price of the iPhone too fast, but I bought one only because they dropped the price so who know. Either way the stock is down about 2%

That's it for now.

Test blog

This is a test blog. Direct from my iPhone. Hopefully it works.

iPod Reax

The implications of the wifi iPod are going to be big. For multiple reasons, one this is the first mainstream, portable wifi device to hit the American market. Like the iPod for portable music players, it is going to spur other companies to produce other wifi products. The mass availability of wireless devices, which allow for Internet access will have a number of direct impacts on our society.

This further changes the idea of location. What is the importance of the office if I can do pretty much everything I need to do from my mobile device? It also again changes the way newsrooms are going to think about distribution. If wifi devices end up becoming a majority technology, which I assume will happen, newsrooms will be able to go right to the phones. Here is what I am picturing: If there is breaking news in Columbus, I want WBNS to text me and let me know about it. I also want them to set-up a vodcast and have it sent straight to my phone (which hopefully the mobile iTunes will support).

This is the future. The iPod, podcasts, etc. were all pieces of this puzzle. To be able to access my whole life on one mobile device is where we are going. The newsrooms have to catch-up. I want to see iPhone newscasts by the end of the week. I know this is a new technology, but this is were we are going. This is what we have been waiting for and what I have been picturing for the last number of years.

I don't know how to study these trends in an academic setting, but if anyone has got any ideas drop me a line. Over the next week or so I am going to try to put on my futurist cap and think about the implications of mobile technologies on various field (ie. journalism and politics). Hopefully through thinking about the future I can overcover the concepts in this which need studied.

Ohhh...by the way I bought an iPhone.

Apple announcement

Here is my guess...new wifi enabled iPods, but they will only allow for iTunes. I also am jumping on the AppleTV bandwagon and am saying they will release a new AppleTV. This time it will offer DVR features and will be set-up to allow for the addition of a movie ordering feature (ie. OnDemand netflix). This again opens up another revenue stream for Apple, which is what is amazing about Apple's business plan for the last number of years.

In a stock market where you need to increase profits 10-12% year-over-year you can't consistently do just by expanding current operations. You must constantly be looking for new revenue streams. New untapped ways to make money. Itunes is the original example and how much have they made off that. Now you have the iPhone, where they are not only making sales money, but they are also making commissions from AT&T for every user who signs a contract. For example, Apple makes $8 dollars for every new AT&T customer who signs up with the iPhone. Let's say 150,000 new customers come to AT&T with the iPhone. This works out to 1.2 million dollars, which for 186 billion dollar company is not a lot. But it money that came out of nowhere, which cost them nothing. Long story short...I will be kicking my self in the ass for not buying Apple at 91 for a long time.

Check back to MediaDork later today to see analysis of the Apple announcement from a techs effect on society perspective.

Michigan Who?

What a great weekend for college football. First, it was 83 and sunny as The Ohio State University Buckeyes took on Youngstown State University. Being that YSU is a 1-AA team, this game was expected to be a fairly simple game for the Bucks and it was. The final ended up being 38-6, but even with it being a blowout it was still a good game to go to.

It was like watching an 18 year-old guy play basketball with his 13 year-old brother. The fact is most YSU fans are OSU fans. More accurately most YSU fans are Jim Tressel fans. Coach Tressel is still a hero in Youngstown and rightfully so. While at YSU, he elevated the penguins into arguably the best college football team of the 90's. YSU's overall record during the 90's was 103-27-2 and they went to 6 national championship, winning 4. Tressel is still a presence in Youngstown, appearing at a number of charity events and donating over 1.25 million dollars to YSU, since he left. Then most OSU fans know and understand Tressel's legacy in Youngstown, so there is a bit of respect there. A "You produced our hero" kind of feeling. So, unlike every other game in the horseshoe this year, when a fan walked in wearing attire of the oppenent nobody booed, nobody threw beer. It was just a good football game between two clearly unequal oppenents.

Speaking of unequal oppenents, the second reason this weekend was so great is Michigan. Like OSU, Michigan scheduled a 1-AA team for their season opener. So they took on Appilacian State at the big house on Saturday and what happened...arguably the greatest upset in college football history. No 1-AA team has ever beaten a ranked 1-A team. And they not only beat a ranked team, they beat the team that was favored to win the Big Ten and be a major contendor for the national championship. Now Michigan's whole season is messed up. They have no chance to go to the national championship. How can you go to the 1-A national championship if you can't even beat the national champion of the division below theirs? Anyway, what a great weekend for college football.