Current Affairs

We were pleased to read this past weekend in The Wall Street Journal that our friends at Iron Horse Vineyards were cited by Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher as one of the two best U.S. sparkling wine makers. The story is a guide to buying domestic “Champagne” or sparkling wine to celebrate Tuesday’s Inauguration of […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At the Google offices in Washington, D.C yesterday, Andy interviewed YouTube’s Head of News and Politics Steve Grove about the site’s new Congressional Web pages. There are separate pages for the House and for the Senate, and the offices of all senators and representatives can start their own channels. Andy blogged about […]

On Thursday, the United Nations released a 60-second Web video honoring the United Nations Peacekeepers on the occasion of its 60th anniversary.  The piece is narrated by George Clooney, who has the official title of "A UN Messenger of Peace." The video resides on YouTube, other video sharing sites and is being propagated around the […]

Although numbers of comparative visits to the Obama and Clinton campaign are not that different, the time spent on videos is far longer on the Obama clips by a margin of 3-1.  These are the results of a report issued today by Nielsen Online, VideoCensus. Traffic to John McCain’s site was modest compared to the […]

Online video is not just having a big impact on the media landscape, but it will have a positive impact on the environment, according to Robert Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet. Metcalfe believes that online video and conferencing can ameliorate the need for travel.  So, watch online video and shrink your carbon footprint! I have republished […]

Cell phones are having a profound effect on the economies of the emerging nations, according to an article in this Sunday’s New York Times. Sara Corbett followed Nokia researchers around the globe to report on how the proliferation of mobile phones is creating commerce and new opportunities for many just stepping out of poverty.  It’s […]

Click To Play Jorma Ollila, the long serving chairman and CEO of Nokia was in Manhattan today for the announcement of the finalists of Finland’s Millennium Technology Award.  The event took place at the New York Academy of Sciences. Ollila, who is no longer CEO but holds the title of Chairman at both Nokia and […]

The collapse of Bear Stearns, one of the world’s largest financial institutions is shocking. We don’t yet know the ramifications.  Last June, I interviewed John Vogel, real estate industry expert and a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.  Vogel  explains the  roots of this mess and explains the  role of Bear Stearns. […]

Click To Play Reuters, the global news organization which produces some 125 video clips a day, has just launched a program to make videos available to publishers big and small on a licensing basis.  We first reported on this development last week. In our second interview with Reuters’ Mitch Koppelman, we learn more about the […]

As all the presidential candidates embrace online video to reach voters, it is interesting to see who has made a success of this medium.  In the online video match up between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, in terms of the nubmers of views, Obama is the big winner, by a margin of 11 to 1 […]

Click To Play Investment in information technology has slowed in recent years and will slow more in the months ahead with the prospects of a recession, according to a report by Steve Lohr in today’s New York Times. While this belt tightening may be tied to an economic cycle, Jason Pontin, editor of MIT’s Technology […]

Click To Play Microsoft is making available some $235 million over the next five years to help students around the world with computer equipment and training, Reuters reports.  Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is scheduled announce the program tomorrow in Berlin.   The New York Times has some additional perspective via an IDG News Service story. Beet.TV […]

Click To Play The mortgage crisis and credit squeeze are serious albeit short term problems, but are not the most critical, says Andrew Bernard, an economics professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. The big issue is the lack of productivity in the U.S. which is growing at a meager 1 percent.  Professor […]

Click To Play Larry Dignan over at ZDNet has been following the impact fo the mortgage industry meltdown and writes that the acquisition of Countrywide by Bank of America, could elminate one of the Internet’s biggest advertisers, which spends around $50 million a month in online advertising. This mortgage meltdown is scary business and its […]

Click To Play We were saddened to read about the death of Ali Shafeya Al-Moussawi, a 22-year-old reporter for the award-winning online video show "Alive in Baghdad."  About a year ago I interviewed the Brian Conley founder and executive producer (above) who gave an overview on the show and its reliance on Iraqi videographers.  The […]

Click To Play Executives from Microsoft are in Rwanda today for an an international meeting on fostering technology adoption in Africa.  There was report on these efforts this morning on NPR’s Marketplace. The effort from Microsoft is part of a global initiative to bring technology to students around the world.  The program is called "Unlimited […]

Click To Play The Wall Street Journal just came out with its annual rankings of business schools and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth is ranked number one. The Tuck School is a client of my PR firm and we are delighted.  Not only is the school a client, but my son Benjamin, who […]

From George Allen’s Macaca eposide to the mash-up of the Hillary 1984 video, to earnest campaign announcements from the candidates, online video is making for an unpredictable campaign season where traditional media strategies have been turned on their heads. Making the rounds on YouTube is a sentimental campaign video from Rudy Giuliani’s 1993 mayoral campaign […]

Rudy Guiliani has a speech on YouTube which is nearly one hour, making it the longest campaign video, according to political video watcher, 21-year old Georgetown student James Kotecki.   Kotecki has some good advice for the former New York Mayor, hire a video editor and step in front of the lecturn. Kotecki’s views are part […]

Click To Play View a transcript of this interview Online video will be an increasingly important platform in the presidential elections.  Candidates are making announcements and policy statements on their own video clips,  And, the public will be uploading all sort of videos.  We reported a few weeks back that the Barack Obama campaign is […]