I didn't know what I was missing.

I recently got a new iPod Nano. Actually I won the darn thing in a drawing. A nice surprise, and the even better surprise was about all the Nano does. It's about half the size of my iPod Classic which I've had for a few years now. The "old" model has video, games, music etc and it stores over 3-thousand songs, several seasons of Entourage along with other videos and gobs of pictures. It works great and frankly, there was no urgent need to upgrade it. I know, all this stuff is also available on the iPhone, but until Verizon makes them available I'm living a non-iPhone life. I dislike dropped calls.

What I like about the iPod Nano:

1. Size. It fits comfortably in a shirt pocket.
2. Capabilities. Not only does it play music and videos, it also has a built in video camera, FM radio tuner (with pause functions) and even a pedometer!
   
3. Storage. While my iPod Classic has 160GB of storage, the Nano comes in 8 and 16GB models. The Nano can't store everything I have on the Classic, but more than enough for "on-the-go" usage and I can shoot a video of anything interesting I might come across.
   

This morning I hit the treadmill, tuned in a local sports-talk radio program and kept track of steps taken and calories burned. Pretty cool. Last week while visiting family, I shot several videos, plugged it into my laptop and uploaded everything to YouTube.

I'm old enough to remember the first Sony Walkman. It was amazing for its time when it came out in 1979. A portable device that played an entire audio cassette tape! Believe it or not, some of the devices are still around. On a flight recently, a gentleman across the aisle from me was listening merrily to music on his. Far out.

Today we take technology pretty much for granted. Not me. The challenge is simply keeping up with the next thing to come along. Which likely will be as early as this afternoon.

Recently I had lunch with a senior marketing executive for one of the nation's top television programmers. She told me they literally have a tech lab where they look at, and play with the latest digital toys to see what they do, and how her company can monetize results providing content for them. Employees take the devices home then come back with ideas.

It's a digital world changing almost, at the speed of light. The little Nano in my pocket is proof.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We star the conversations about you"

News you can use.

A few online articles caught my attention this morning that I want to share with you. The first is from columnist Al Lewis of Dow Jones Newswires. I've known Al for several years and frankly have no idea what his personal politics are But his points about the recent IPO of Tesla Motors are biting...and hit the mark. He's an equal opportunity shamer and goodness knows there's plenty of shame to go around these days.

Al has an uncanny way of sorting through the hype and delivering facts in a way that make you think...and laugh at the same time. (Ok, maybe cry too)

I should note that I read Al's column on my iPad,* later switching over to this article on Bloomberg Businessweek about the growing use of the device by companies like Wells Fargo and SAP. It took some of these companies years to figure out the iPhone was a must-have for staffers. It took them just weeks to start issuing iPads.

It's no wonder when you see the growing number of iPad Aps that are strictly for business. I recently was talking with a realtor who has a PC-based business and while liking the iPad, was hesitant to buy one because of compatibility. I think she'd like Remote Desktop.

Personally I'm finding more and more business uses for my iPad. Not the least of which it being a great way to demo videos and the like to clients. It's handy in a one-on-one session, and for larger groups you just plug it into a video projector.

Anyways, as Ellen Degeneres would say, a few articles worth sharing with you this morning.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We get the conversation started about you!"
* (I own Apple Stock)

The Art of the Sale(sman)

Just read (twice) this great article in the June 14-20 edition of Bloomberg Businessweek. It's a profile of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Writer Devin Leonard portrays Jobs as the ultimate marketer. (Disclaimer time: I'm an Apple Shareholder)

I have no idea as to the value of the free publicity Apple receives compared to what they pay for traditional PR and Marketing. But the ratio has to be top heavy with the former.

When Apple roles out a product, it's a news event, a happening, with bloggers and analysts building up pre-launch "Mo" for days and weeks in advance. BUZZ louder than those horns you hear at the World Cup.

The most recent examples of course, are the new iPhone and the iPad. The new iPhone buzz started when an Apple Engineer "lost" a prototype at a restaurant. Tech Blog Gizmodo got its hands on the device and the free PR machine rolled into action.

At the "official" unveiling, Jobs quipped, "Stop me if you've seen this before." Wow. We should all be so skillful.

As Businessweek writer Leonard points out, "With the media landscape so fragmented, stopping the world in its tracks isn't easy anymore." But he adds that Jobs is the least great pitchman. Until the next great pitchman comes along.

All this gets back to my belief that what's key in communicating your message, is content. Regardless of the pipeline, you have to have a message and product that captures the hearts and minds of your target audience.

My daughter, who like me is an iPad owner, told me that while using it at the airport recently, several people came up to her and asked her about the device. When was the last time anyone came up to you and asked you about the laptop you were working with?

So even though you post on Facebook and Twitter, have videos on YouTube or just pitch to the local morning show keep one thing in mind: You, your message and product/service have to connect with Main Street.

It's a "Buzz" thing. Buzz is good.

Brian Olson
CEO and Founder
Conversation Starters LLC
"We get the conversation started." About You!