Day: November 12, 2003

I’m a regular reader of Good Morning Silicon Valley (GMSV) which is a fantastic mix of the topical and the off-beat in the world of technology.

In today’s issue, GMSV’s Editor, John Paczkowski points to a misquotation on Microsoft’s press site for Windows Media Player (read anti-Apple site).

Microsoft’s PR team have a quote purported to be from Paczkowski on the limitations of Apple’s iTunes service. So far so good eh?  Well it was until it turns out that the quote is actually (very very clearly) from a Microsoft spokesperson in a story Paczkowski wrote. Tut tut tut.

The original story is here and in case Microsoft pull the quote, which is highly likely, they include the entire quote from the story but remove the Microsoft spokesperson. This is either: a) an honest mistake or b) some very lame attempt at “spin” in its worst form.

The latest issue of GMSV should be posted here later today.  The referring story is entitled “I’m a Microsoft mouthpiece”.

News that Microsoft is using PR to launch its latest assault on Linux isn’t exactly news, but it does underline the continuing importance of Public Relations as a strategic tool in achieving corporate and sales objectives. And that’s good news.

Best of luck to Red Hat, Novell and the rest of the Linux community 🙂

The Motley Fool has an interesting article looking at how the media treat the same press release differently.

The example they use is McDonalds recent results press release. In the release they announce excellent financial performance (sales up 18%) but warn that there will be charges in the fourth quarter to support it’s “revitalization” plan.

Author Devan Goldstein points out that the news was covered subtly differently by different outlets, e.g.:

“McDonalds sees more revamp costs” – CBS Marketwatch

“McDonalds same-store sales up 8.4%” – Reuters

Devan advises readers:

“As you sort through the news, remember that you may not be getting the whole story from any one source, and that the dizzying array of headlines may be quite conflicting. So be a Fool and educate yourself. You’ll be much better equipped to deal with the news and numbers that speed your way every day. After all, while we do our best to give you our take on the news every day, you can’t base your investment decisions on just one point of view.”

Sound advice indeed…

While we are on the subject of e-mail, what about Mylastemail.com?

For $9.99 (the subscription lasts three years whether you do or not) you can have mylastemail.com send out e-mails on your behalf when you expel your last breath.

And they say innovation is… em… resting

 

As regular readers will know I regularly cover the problem of e-mail spam.  For PR people, whose e-mail addresses accompany press releases and are posted on websites, spam is becoming a critical issue in managing electronic communications.

Most of us don’t have the luxury of server-side spam tools as we want to make sure an e-mail from a journalist, analyst, freelancer or client is mistakenly blocked.  However most of the many spam products I’ve tried really don’t do a good job.  In many cases the product block as many good messages as bad.

A new approach to this spam problem is provided by Qurb. Qurb takes a different approach.  It scans your e-mail software (currently only Outlook and Outlook Express) and builds a list of legitimate e-mail addresses from your contacts, sent e-mail and other folders.  Any e-mail address not included in that list is then “Quarantined” into a sub folder.

If the folder includes e-mails from authentic senders you simply tick a box and that e-mail address is added to your allowed sender list.

It’s simple and easy and is already providing me with better results than the other spam products I’ve tried.

Couple of provisos:

It only works with Windows, and only works with Outlook 2000+ and Outlook Express 5.5+. 

When you install it, a default feature is sending a message to “unauthorised” senders telling them they’ve been quarantined.  I recommend turning this off immediately. You simply click on the Qurb button and in options uncheck the confirmation box.

Getting it:

You can download a free trial here. It costs $29.95