Thinking Pink

Because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, many technological companies have come out with special products (in pink, naturally) in recognition of the goal of the month. Microsoft's Zune has teamed with Ford Motor's Warriors in Pink (a campaign endorsed by the cast of "Grey's Anatomy," too) and released a pink Zune, 100% of whose profits are donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. There are several other products, including a pink Sony VAIO and Target's special edition of the iPod Shuffle.
Although there's no new technology involved, as the daughter, niece, and granddaughter of a breast cancer fighter and two survivors, respectively, it's gratifying to know that so many others are helping the fight.

Nike has just done it

In Dr. Shamp's 2020 class last fall, we learned that Nike had combined their easily recognizable shoes with Apple's iPod, which is getting more and popular by the day. My initial impression was something along the lines of "you must be kidding," but come to find out, they definitely weren't. In this article from the New York Times, I learned that there's actually a website that is attached to the rest of the offerings from the product. People can interact with each other online, discuss their runs, and maybe even get together and hang out, if they so choose. The fact that this has come from what appears to just be a pair of tennis shoes is a little incredible to me, and as I keep reading on, I'm discovering that I would like a pair, too. There's a sensor in the shoes that connects with your iPod, sending a workout rundown to the MP3 player that you can view when you dock it. This is just one of the ways that the company is branching out, and inevitably away from traditional advertising vehicles.
As an ad major, I'm a little concerned about that, but definitely a lot happier to be studying new media.

Email-free = Casual?

According to this article in USA Today, "Casual Friday" is trying to, in fact, be more professional. Email has become the top method of communication for businesses, and many companies are trying to cut back on it a little bit and encourage more face time with clients, and just co-workers in general. Some go so far as deleting their inboxes on Fridays. While I appreciate the more personalized approach that face-to-face meetings offer, I do not feel that email should be shunned so completely. With gas prices up, it is more of an inconvenience to attempt to handle everything face to face. Although Friday is just one day, there are generally about 5 of them in a month, which can still add up over a long period of time.
I feel like email is probably the greatest innovation to hit offices since the computer--at my job, it is something I use as much as possible. Conversations through email are saved and it's so much more efficient than faxing (which, yes, we still do). If we're getting rid of things on Fridays, I'm game for doing away with work all together.

Starbucks + Apple = Domination?

Apple is going one more step farther into taking over the world as they take over our coffee shop. Beginning tomorrow, people with iPhones and/or iTunes on their laptops will be able to download songs playing over the speakers in the store for the normal $0.99. Although they aren't the first ones to do this sort of thing (Verizon has been offering it for about a year), they seem to have the best chance of catching on, as they are latching onto the quintessential components of their target audience's life: coffee, convenience, and technological gadgets. Combined. They seem to want to rule our worlds, and it's pretty safe to say they're on the right track.