Jeffzilla

This evening a film crew from the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), a Japanese TV network,  came to my apartment to interview me for a “60 Minutes”-like news segment for  Japanese TV. They’re doing a piece on Panasonic’s corporate name consolidation, and wanted to get my take on Japanese electronics brands, etc. I talked to the producer a bit about my electronics, what I thought of the industry, what brands I liked and disliked.  They are sending me the segment once it’s completed, so I’ll be sure to post it up…

Check out this film crew in my apartment! Thanks to Elsye for taking the shot of me in front of the camera!

Talking to the camera...

The Tokyo Broadcasting System filmcrew...

***Update- Just heard from the producer at TBS that the segment is airing on September 27th in Tokyo, Japan. Stay tuned for the video clip…

A friend of mine recently asked me about whether or not she should make a Wikipedia page for her company. Here’s my response…

Choose carefully. Having a corporate wikipedia page can be a mixed blessing. On one hand, its great to have public info out there descibing all the wonderful services your company offers, interesting history about the beginnings, etc etc. However, since wikipedia is community-editable by design and principle, anyone who knows anything (true) about your company can add to it. This includes both positive and negative items. So, by having a “your company” wiki page, you’re opening yourself for “public outing”, etc. Additionally, it’s somewhat against the ethos of Wikipedia to make a page for yourself.

Wikipedia is not meant to be a venue for self promotion, so they shun making articles about yourself or your own commercial ventures. While Wikipedia articles themselves are traditionally very SEO-visible, links within the articles are not. So if you’re trying to boost YourCompany.com’s page rank by having a link from wikipedia, it’s not going to work. Wikipedia links carry a “nofollow” tag, so search crawlers don’t click.

Remember Jed Yachman from Yelp.com we all heard speak at the eTail conference? He had an interesting perspective on Yelp.com’s very own review listing on Yelp.com - embrace the good and bad, be transparent to the community, and they will embrace you. That’s one way to go about it, but not the only way. (check Yelp’s writeup here… http://lburl.com/dlca8 )

I’m NOT saying don’t do it at all. I’m just saying that you should consider all angles and implications before you go for it. Also, check out this article about what to do when your company’s Wikipedia article goes bad. I’d be happy to discuss further anytime.

Cheers

-Jeffrey

Update** Just stumbled upon this faq page on Wikipedia, addressing this exact concern.

A colleague of mine recently got a shiny new white Macbook, and came to me for advice on how to protect it.. here’s what I told her:

Ok, protecting your Macbook.. here are some cool products i know of to keep i

t nice and shiny…

First of all, if you want ultra minimal, but arty and cool scratch protection, Gelaskins makes some cool giant decals for your stuff.. pick out a cool design, and its just a big, removable decal to put on the case of your computer… will keep it from getting scratches, but thats about it.

Moving up, Speck makes these hard plastic snap on cases for the Macbook.. will offer you wrap around scratch protection for the Macbook, and minimal impact protection too.. and it stays on your computer. Doesn’t protect ports etc from dust, etc, though, so you will need another case if you want to throw it in your bag.

Now, onto what I personally use now…. for tossing my computer into my messenger bag for the day, I have this ultra minimal and suedey soft Tucano Second Skin.. its jus

t a sleeve, and is fairly thin, but def protects from bumps, scratches, and dust.

For when I want to just carry the laptop and not inside another bag, I use an Incase Nylon Sleeve.. its about as minimal as you can get for a full featured case with handles, shoulder strap, and accessory pockets.. it even has a little detachable key cord.

So, thats what i use.. I also have AppleCare, which is key….

-Jeffrey