Wes sends in a very cool example of someone figuring out a unique way to connect with fans (and giving them some reasons to buy). Character actor, Stephen Tobolowsky, has appeared in a ton of movies and TV shows and many people probably recognize him, but have no idea who he is. For example, he played Ned Ryerson, the insurance salesman in Groundhog Day. Anyway, he’s writing short fiction stories and figured he might as well play up his “who is that guy?” style of fame on Reddit and put up an “ask me anything” (AMA) post at Reddit that also linked to his works on Amazon (which he’s also offering cheaply at $1.99 a pop). And then, of course, he stuck around and answered a bunch of questions. It’s simple, yes, but it’s a great example of someone connecting with fans while including a neat little reason to buy as well.
Being the self-proclaimed music junkie that I am, when I stumble across a cool music-featured site, I feel the need to share it with you. Helloday.tv is indeed one of those sites and you should check it out whether you’re saying hello or goodbye to your day.
Much like what we’ve seen with other music video discovery sites, Helloday.tv simply asks you to pick the genre of music that you want, and then it starts your own video version of something like Last.FM or Pandora.
So what caught my attention? First off, the design. Helloday.tv is beautifully done and worked like a charm with any browser in which I tested it. The videos that are available appear to be of exceptional quality, compared to the typical YouTube releases that we see. In many cases, the YouTube-reliant services will simply take the highest-rated video, even if it’s just a picture and the song. Helloday.tv hasn’t thrown me any of these results yet. Where ever the site is getting its content, it appears to be top-notch.
So take a look at the video, then go watch some videos. Helloday might not change your life, but it certainly will brighten your day.
IDC recently conducted a survey of IT consumerization trends on behalf Unisys. The survey found that consumerization is well underway – among the findings is the fact that 95% of the workers who responded have used technology they purchased themselves for work. However, there is a disconnect between employees and employers about how consumer technologies are used in the enterprise.
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There were 2,820 information worker respondents from ten different countries and 610 employer respondents (C-level executives, vice presidents, director-level IT personnel, and business-unit level executives) from the same countries. You can read a summary of the findings here.
Findings from the study:
Employers don’t seem to know how many or what consumer technologies are in use in their workplace. Workers report using consumer devices at twice the rate employers reported.
Workers are dissatisfied with the level of support IT provides for consumer technologies.
Employees think their employers are more permissive of the use of consumer technologies than the employers actually are. Most workers, 67%, say they can access non-work-related websites, but only 44% of employers say their employees can access non-work-related sites. Meanwhile, 52% of workers say that can store personal data on the company network, but only 37% of employers say this is the case.
Although employers want to increase the business use of social networking in the next year, few are integrating those technologies into existing enterprise applications.
Many organizations (40%) lack guidelines for social media use in the workplace.
Even though 95% of employees use self-purchased technologies for work, 70% employers want to buy standardized technologies for them. Also, 57% employers said they were unlikely to start a stipend program to pay for employee purchases within the next two years.
Tech savvy workers want to work for tech-savvy employers, but only about 1/3 of employers recognize this.
Unisys believes the consumerization of IT is leading to a “fourth wave” of corporate productivity. The waves, according to Unisys, are:
First wave – Henry Ford’s invention of the assembly line.
Second wave – The Japanese model of Kaizen – continuous, incremental improvements in process.
Third wave – The Chinese model of mass production, low prices and global domination.
Fourth wave – Bottom up productivity enabled by constantly connected workers.
According to the Unisys, the results of the survey prove that workers want to use the devices and technologies they are comfortable with, but have little understanding of “the security risks, management issues, and policy and governance implications that arise from mass introduction of consumer devices and applications into the workplace.”
Meanwhile, IT is stuck in a top-down command and control paradigm.
Unisys recommends IT departments prioritize the following initiatives:
Managing and supporting consumer devices.
Securing data from criminals, malware and other threats.
Offering the sort of technology experience users have come to expect from consumer technologies.
Handling a four-fold increase in transaction load that is expected to come with the introduction of new devices and applications.
Attracting and retaining the younger generation of workers.
