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Reader G sends in a screen shot of a chat he had with a Verizon rep who elegantly expressed her own frustration with Verizon’s website. Hooray for her.

Filed under: Spy Photos, Sedan, Performance, Hatchback, Audi, Luxury

The 2011 A8 is the harbinger of things to come from Audi’s award winning interiors, and the release of an additional spy shot of the S7‘s insides proves that the new navigation screen found in the automaker’s flagship is set to proliferate throughout the Audi line-up.

As you can see in the image above, the seven-inch display that rises from the dash is fitted to the recently spied S7, and will also be included on the standard A7 when it goes on sale next year. The MMI Touch Pad, which also debuted on the all-new A8 and allows user to draw letters and numbers to control the navigation, phone and other systems, is likely to be an option on the A7/S7, along with the new A6. And speaking of the A6…

Audi’s mid-sizer has been around since 2004, with an updated model bowing two years later, so it stands to reason that an all-new A6 is coming soon. Judging by the automaker’s product cycles, we’re expecting the 2012 A6 to bow in Detroit or as early as the Paris Motor Show and go on sale sometime towards the middle of 2011.

Audi bringing new nav display, optional Touch Pad to 2012 A6 and A7/S7 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 May 2010 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Technology: Global device
Rumored Carriers: Could be 2 or 4 U.S. carriers
Rumored Release Date: We are hearing possibly August 2010

Noah got to finally get his hands on the Samsung Galazy S at the Google IO event May 19, 2010.  Specs are still not being released and neither is carrier information.  We do know it is a capacitive touchscreen device with Android 2.1 and a 5MP camera with video capture.  Stay tuned as we continue to update our site with information.

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I’ve seen the shuttle crossing the Sun’s path. I’ve seen the International Space Station ‘s solar transit. But I’ve never seen the shuttle docking to the ISS against the Sun’s surface. A unique, awesome view of two beautiful machines. More »

Last week, I explored the birth of the “superfan” in social media, drawing from the superfan concept at sporting events and pointing out some fan qualities that my company has observed on our clients’ Facebook Pages. This week, I’m going to discuss how to harness the passion of the superfan in order to convert them into an ambassador for your brand.

Once we had identified the superfans — the Facebook fans who not only liked a brand’s page but also participated and interacted with others on the page and even came back on a daily or near daily basis — we knew we had to do something more.

Sure, we could give them a special gift or recognize them publicly in a status update saying “Thanks,” but was that it? What’s so “social” about that? Isn’t social media giving us far more capabilities? And if someone is that engaged with a brand, what else do they want? Clearly, having this kind of unprecedented contact and communications with a brand fills some unidentified need in individuals who revel in the opportunities that social media tools provide.

Why Do Fans Become Superfans?

First, let’s explore what motivates people to do more than just click “Like” on a brand’s Facebook Page, what drives some of them to become active members of an organically-forming community on that Page.

I posit that what we are seeing on Facebook Pages is similar to what we’ve seen in online communities going all the way back to Usenet Newsgroups: People want to feel part of something larger than themselves. They want to belong. It’s human nature to be drawn to communities, and if one doesn’t already exist, then some people have it in them to start building one themselves.

When we see a person moving from clicking on a Like button to responding to status updates to then commenting on what others are commenting on to visiting a page daily and announcing their arrival, we’re seeing the natural community builders rising to the top. These are our superfans. Some of them could become even more than that to a brand. Some of them want to be more, but don’t know where to start.

How Do You Convert a Superfan Into a Brand Ambassador?

Once we identified one of our client’s Superfans, we knew we were onto something much more compelling than just people who were active on a Facebook Page. So I came up with a process to strategically and respectfully offer opportunities to superfans to become something bigger: a brand ambassador.

The term “brand ambassador” has been bandied about in marketing for years. Merriam-Webster defines an ambassador as “an authorized representative or messenger or an unofficial representative.” In this context, the concept of a brand ambassador is clear: someone who publicly and positively represents and promotes a brand. Note that I’m not talking about buying someone’s loyalty; this isn’t about paying them to be a brand ambassador. In my mind, once you pay someone a fee for their “ambassadorship,” what you’re really getting is a paid spokesperson. What I’m talking about it is how to create mutually beneficial and transparent relationships with brand superfans, to harness their passions and convert them into social media brand ambassadors. Here’s how we’re doing it.

1. Identify superfans.
2. Recognize superfans publicly.
3. Privately request that superfans respond to a questionnaire to get a better sense of who they are.
4. Evaluate the responses to identify potential brand ambassadors.
5. Approach superfans privately with a proposal to become a brand ambassador.
6. Engage the new brand ambassadors to amplify their passions around the brand.

All of the steps above can be infused with whatever meaning you or your client wants. The choices you make, however, are critical to the success of your brand ambassador program. First and foremost, you have to understand the dynamics of social media, online communities and the meaning of value. You then have to be sensitive and respectful to the individuals with whom you are interacting. Let’s face it: You need them way more than they need you.

The 4 Promises

To strike the right balance of mutual benefits, I put together a list of four things that the brand would do for each ambassador, and four things that our ambassadors would do for the brand. I was careful to balance the perks with “feelgood” things and tangible things. I didn’t offer money, but was not closed to the possibility in the right circumstances. For example, if a brand ambassador had a popular blog reaching the right target market, we’d never ask for ad placement on that blog for free. That would be highly inappropriate, and disrespectful.

Why did I decide on four promises for each side of the relationship? I felt that four was a nice, manageable number of actions to take. Not too overwhelming, not too demanding, but valuable enough for each party to feel they were getting something meaningful out of the relationship.

Not sure what to offer? Ask. Simply ask the people you’ve identified and are interacting with privately: “What would be valuable to you?” You’d be surprised at what basic needs their honest answers will reveal. They usually boil down to being respected, recognized and rewarded in simple ways.

Once we get people to accept the position as a brand ambassador, we invite them to a private Facebook Group to interact with them more directly. We also make it clear that they must always reveal that they are a brand ambassador for the brand when spreading the word publicly about the brand and if asked what they receive as compensation, they are encouraged to be totally forthcoming. There are no secrets here. There is full transparency.

The only thing the public isn’t privy to are the behind-the-scenes communications that inform the brand ambassadors about upcoming promotions and help them understand what we need specifically from them. By having the brand ambassadors learn about these things first, we are providing them with the additional value that they seek: being “in the know” before everyone else.

We’re using a combination of Net Promoter score plus our own proprietary measurement analysis to gauge the value of the  activities of our brand ambassadors. Even at this early stage, we can say that brand ambassadors are driving sales.

How are you leveraging the passions of your best customers to bring in new ones via social media?

Photo by stock.xchng image user cx_ed

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Social Media in the Enterprise

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by Chris Borgen

John Robb notes the following on his excellent Global Guerillas blog:

Coast Guard and BP’s private military contractors team up to enforce media and scientific blackout (part of BP’s information operations campaign) on the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. Here, they are caught on camera turning away a CBS film crew.

Coast Guard officials say they are looking into the incident. I look forward to hearing their explanation.

You know what’s funny?

We all know strong character values in a mate and in ourselves really do matter in life and love. Yet our world mostly offers love tips like:

“Buy these sexy clothes!”

“Be more successful!”

“Tighten your buns!”

Nobody comes out and says:

“Yo! Value good strong character values in yourself and others!”

And nobody says:

“Wow! Look at the integrity on that guy!”

Or:

“Did you check out the honesty on that girl?”

del.icio.us · Slashdot · Digg · Facebook · Technorati · Google · StumbleUpon · Yahoo

A worker at a Wendy’s in Daytona Beach, FL, narrowly avoided being zapped with a taser after getting a customer’s order wrong. According to police reports, the alleged assailant, Melane Asia Reid, “brandished a pink stun gun” and chased Jason HIll around the restaurant, until the manager threatened to call the police.

Jason Hill, the drive-thru employee who avoided being tased, told police he was working the window when two women became upset with their order, started an argument laced with profanities, and allegedly took a swing at him, reports CBS affiliate WKMG.

Police say Reid and another woman, 23-year-old Katrina Mari-Alyce Bryant, got out of the car and went inside; Reid allegedly chased Hill around the kitchen while Bryant cheered.

Police tracked the women down after they called Wendy’s — to complain about the restaurant’s service.

Wendy’s Worker Escapes Taser Fired by Dissatisfied Customer, Say Cops [CBS News]

»  Twitter (finally) rolls out an iPhone app for users and even non-users of the microblogging service. [Twitter blog]

»  AT&T (NYSE: T) CEO Ralph de la Vega doesn’t think a Verizon-iPhone deal will result in a rush of defections to the rival carrier. [Electronista]

»  Flash Co-creator Jonathan Gay accuses Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) of destroying the openness of the web. [Cold Hard Flash]

»  China’s Huawei Technologies is open to acquisitions. [Reuters]

»  iPhone OS 4 has a new tethering option but whether AT&T supports it is uncertain. [Geek.com]

»  Music downloads struggle to make headway as only 24 percent of U.S. and western European mobile users listen to music on their phone. [Reuters]

The implants of the future will be powered by the energy sources already inside your body. Last week we saw scientists take a step toward this vision by developing a transistor that used the fuel from our cells (a molecule called ATP). And now, a French team has announced the development of a fuel cell that can use the glucose (sugar) inside an animal to produce electricity. Their paper is available free at the journal PLoS One.

The team surgically implanted the device in the abdominal cavity of two rats. The maximum power of the device was 6.5 microwatts, which approaches the 10 microwatts required by pacemakers [Technology Review].

Philippe Cinquin and his team created the cell, in which graphite electrodes are coated with enzymes that oxidize glucose to produce energy. Then connectors carry the electricity from the cell to whatever it’s powering.

Unfortunately, the enzymes used in past glucose biofuel cells were not suitable for implants, because they either required highly acidic conditions to work or were inhibited by a variety of ions found in the body. The newly developed devices lack these constraints and are the first functional implantable glucose biofuel cells, with prototypes in rats stably generating power for at least three months [Scientific American].

The great benefit of these systems would be that they are long-lasting and self-sufficient: Who wants to sit around while a pacemaker recharges, or be cut open so its battery can be replaced? That kind of durability, however, remains a ways away for these biofuel cells.

The technology could be used for a range of applications, such as neural and bone-growth stimulators, drug delivery devices, insulin pumps, and biosensors, says Eileen Yu, a chemical engineer at Newcastle University. But whether enzymes remain stable for a long period of time is a concern, she says [Technology Review].

Related Content:
80beats: Scientists Craft Tiny Transistor Powered By Your Own Cellular Fuel
80beats: Ubiquitous Electronic Chips Can Interfere with Pacemakers & Ventilators
80beats: A Penny-Sized Nuclear Battery Could Keep Going, And Going…
DISCOVER: Wirehaired Bacteria

Image: Wikimedia Commons

[JURIST] Former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky [defense website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday ended his two-day hunger strike after a spokesperson for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev [official website] indicated that Medvedev was familiar with a complaint Khodorkovsky made regarding the three-month extension of his detention. On Monday, Khodorkovsky sent an open letter to Russia’s Supreme Court [official website, in Russian] contending that Russian courts are ignoring recent changes in the law that allow people charged with economic crimes to be released on bail pending the outcome of their trials. Khodorkovsky indicated the goal of his hunger strike had been achieved [press release], stating:

In a situation when it is officially declared that President Medvedev is informed about the essence of the problem, I do not consider it necessary to insist on the form of discussion within government structures. I am convinced that now the position of Chairman of the Supreme Court, which he promised to inform to the public, as well as court decisions in particular cases, will reflects position of President of the Russian Federation as the author of the bill – the guarantor of rights and freedom of citizens of Russia.

He also indicated his hunger strike was to change the judicial system going forward and not his current situation.

Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev [defense website] are currently serving eight-year prison sentences after being convicted [JURIST report] in 2005 on fraud and tax evasion charges stemming from an attempt to embezzle and strip their Yukos [JURIST news archive] oil company of valuable assets. They are now charged with embezzling [JURIST report] USD $25 billion worth of oil produced by Yukos. The men have pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the current charges, and face up to 20 additional years in prison if convicted. Khodorkovsky has previously criticized the Russian legal system, questioning the fairness of trials and expressing the need for widespread reform of the Russian court system [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority [official website] on Wednesday ordered Internet service providers to block [press release] social networking site Facebook [website] in response to a competition created by a group of the website’s members entitled “Draw Muhammad Day.” The PTA issued the order following a decision by the Lahore High Court (LHC) [JURIST news archive] to block the website indefinitely after Pakistan officials learned the competition would take place on May 20. The court also ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] to open an investigation into why the competition was created. The government initially planned only to block access to the group’s Facebook page, but after the LHC decision was issued, the Ministry of Information Technology [official website] immediately blocked the entire website.

Depicting the Prophet Muhammad is considered blasphemous by Muslims, and has been a source of international controversy since 2005 when a Danish newspaper published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in a series of cartoons [JURIST news archive]. Earlier this month, a Danish public prosecutor for the Utrecht District Court filed an appeal [JURIST report] against an April ruling [JURIST report] acquitting the Arab European League (AEL) of hate speech charges stemming from posting an inflammatory cartoon on their website insinuating that the Holocaust was fabricated. The court ruled that publishing the cartoon was not a criminal offense because it was intended to be a contribution to public debate regarding a perceived double standard in the distribution of the Danish Muhammad cartoons. The prosecutor is appealing in order to determine if the cartoon was “unnecessarily offensive,” stating that the court failed to rule on this issue. The prosecutor also found fault with the court’s agreement that the cartoon pointed out a double standard, saying that the controversy surrounding the Danish cartoon depicting Muhammad does not equate with the publishing of the AEL’s cartoon. The group depicted in the Muhammad cartoon was a “criminal group,” the prosecutor said, but the Jewish people “still have no share in the above social debate.”

We know how it is. You get to the hotel, turn on the lights in your room, and — gasp — instead of the soothing Rose Dust (14-1307) you expected, the walls are painted a hideous shade of Butternut (18-0830). And those sheets — are they really Fuchsia Red (18-2328)? If this has happened to you, there’s now an alternative, where every aspect of your lodging experience will be perfectly color-matched: The Pantone Hotel in Brussels, designed to “suit your savvy palette and colorful imagination.”

The hotel’s launch announcement bursts with colorful prose:

The guest rooms are works of art – white walls and bedding provide a clean, crisp canvas for saturated pops of vibrant color. Adding to the artistry, rooms feature photographic installations created by renowned Belgian photographer Victor Levy that include a spectrum of vibrant PANTONE Colors to create a unique ambiance in each room. The 59 affordably priced rooms and suites empower guests to transform their travels by selecting a room that complements their mood through color. The rooms and suites are patterned after one of seven distinct PANTONE Color palettes and include inviting bedding, LCD TVs and central air conditioning; many also offer unparalleled views of Brussels.

If that’s not enough, Pantone “color consultants are also available by appointment for informal color consultations or to present educational seminars on color psychology and trends.” But we know that what you really want is to step into that room, turn on the light, and gaze at those perfect Snow White (11-0602) walls.

Brussels Hotel – Pantone Hotel in Brussels Centre – Belgium [Official Site]

Tengo que reconocer que lo de la Chrome Web Store me ha sorprendido: una tienda de aplicaciones web. Esto de entrada puede resultar un tanto extraño, porque lo es, ¿compramos la aplicación Youtube, Google Maps o Flickr? ¿qué significa eso?. Si nos atenemos a lo que han explicado en la keynote del Google IO, pues básicamente dos cosas: que Chrome Web Store se encargará de la transacción / pago y se llevará presumiblemente una comisión por ello y que si usamos Chrome habrá atajos para acceder a esas aplicaciones. Y ya está. Son “aplicaciones web” normales, que se pueden acceder desde cualquier navegador y que utilizan las tecnologías estándar. Lo que no queda demasiado claro si Chrome es imprescindible para comprar y cómo se comprobará desde otro navegador que eres quien ha comprado.

El movimiento parece encaminado a coger algunas de las ventajas de las tiendas de aplicaciones – un administrador que garantiza las aplicaciones que hay, que les da visibilidad, las organiza y gestiona los pagos de los usuarios – pero evitando el inconveniente de que esté ligada a una única plataforma, y ahí toca mirar a Apple. Y es que Apple es el ejemplo paradigmático de plataforma cerrada y también de éxito de tienda de aplicaciones. Algo muy interesante de Chrome web Store es que se trata de aplicaciones que funcionan en Safari, por lo que Google abre una vía para desarrolladores que no quieren estar o son rechazados en la App Store de Apple, pero desean cobrar por uso, estar en un repositorio, etc… el desamor entre Google y Apple promete años de gestos de cariño como este.

Claro que el movimiento tiene al menos dos sombras iniciales. Una es la filosofía en sí, que viene a ser el crear un “punto de entrada al pago en la web” y que lo gestione – comisionando – Google. El otro viene dado por los límites del navegador frente a las aplicaciones nativas. Con Flash o sin Flash, usando Silverlight o partiendo de HTML5, las aplicaciones instaladas siguen permitiendo ofrecer una experiencia de usuario superior.

Dos bolas extras, relacionadas con Microsoft. La primera es que hace años apostaron por una “visión” del software más servicios, a la que podríamos asimilar todo lo que está ocurriendo con las aplicaciones en el móvil, que son nativas y se conectan a servicios online. El problema de Microsoft es que quienes están ejecutando bien esta idea son Apple y Android. La segunda tiene cierto componente irónico: hace un montón de años abandonaron el desarrollo de Internet Explorer al no encontrar negocio ni poder dominar los estándares de la web a pesar de su dominio. Si lo del Chrome web Store funcionase no dejaría de resultar curioso el hecho de que haya sido el último en llegar al mercado de los navegadores quienes apuntasen a su rentabilidad más allá del negocio de la publicidad en las búsquedas.

Republican Ross Garber, a well-known attorney, is now running for attorney general.

Garber, who defended the office of Gov. John G. Rowland during the impeachment inquiry in 2004, had stayed out of the race this year because his sister-in-law, Democrat Susan Bysiewicz, was in the race.

Garber, who ran previously for state treasurer in 2002 against Democrat Denise Nappier, took a shot at the incumbent, Richard Blumenthal.

“Connecticut needs an attorney general who will vigorously and diligently represent the state and its citizens, and who will do so without grandstanding or self-promotion.  I hope to be that attorney general,” Garber said in a statement. “As a lawyer who has spent his career representing individuals and businesses in their most important cases, I will be ready to do the job on day one.”

He added, “This is a challenging and exciting time in Connecticut.  I look forward to the chance to be the people’s advocate.”

Garber served as chief counsel to the governor’s office in 2004. As such, he represented the governor’s office during the impeachment inquiry. Rowland also had a private defense attorney, Willie Dow of New Haven, in that case.

In his last run for statewide office, Garber received 389,304 votes – compared to 527,216 for Nappier. He received more votes that year than any other Republican candidates for office, except the ticket of John G. Rowland and M. Jodi Rell.

Garber will be facing Avon attorney Martha Dean, who was also on the ballot in 2002. Dean ran against Blumenthal that year, and Blumenthal defeated her with 632,351 votes to 330,874. Dean defeated Blumenthal in her hometown of Avon by less than 400 votes, but she lost the statewide race by more than 300,000 votes.

Several other Republicans have expressed interest in the attorney general’s office this year, but the race is still wide open.

Republican fundraiser John P. Pavia III of Easton will make his final decision Friday, but he is leaning toward opting out of the race because of multiple business-related commitments that he must meet. He has not yet endorsed any candidate in the race.

“Ross will have as good of a shot as you’re going to have for entering the race two days before the convention,” Pavia said of Garber. “That’ll make a big statement and position him for the primary.”

One of the biggest questions in Connecticut politics is what is next step that Bysiewicz will take. Bysiewicz was stunned by the State Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling against her, and she is still trying to decide which office to run for.

While no final decisions have been announced, some insiders suspect that Bysiewicz will be running for state comptroller. The comptroller’s seat is open because Comptroller Nancy Wyman decided to run for lieutenant governor on a ticket with former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy.

When asked Wednesday by Fox 61 reporter Laurie Perez if she will run for comptroller, Bysiewicz responded, “I’m keeping open all the possibilities.” When asked if she might run for re-election for her own office as Secretary of the State, Bysiewicz answered the same way.

Bysiewicz told Perez that, based on the State Supreme Court’s interpretation of the law, Solicitor General Elena Kagan would not be “qualified to be attorney general in the state of Connecticut.”

Kagan is the former Harvard Law School dean and friend of President Barack Obama who has been nominated by Obama to fill the seat of John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court. Kagan has been criticized by some Republicans for having a thin resume.

Longtime Democratic activist Tom Swan, who ran Democrat Ned Lamont’s campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2006, said that Bysiewicz is “calling around asking for support for comptroller or Secretary of the State.”

Well that didn’t take long. Newzbin.com has shut down, just about six weeks after the High Court in the UK ruled against the Usenet indexing site. You had to see this coming.

The immediate reason for the closure was administration, which is sorta like bankruptcy here in the U.S. The court case against the Motion Picture Association drained the Web site dry, especially after being forced to pay the MPA’s court fees. resulting in the friendly “Newzbin Closed” message on the site today.

The site didn’t keep any logs to speak of, so if you were a member there’s no reason to freak out. I had a subscription once upon a time, and I’m not worried in the least.

There’s some sort of mystery regarding what happened to the site’s source code. Did someone steal it? Did a monster eat it?

There are, of course, plenty of other Usenet indexing sites out there, but Newzbin was sorta the elder statesman of the crowd. I mean, the .nzb files that people use to download from Usenet do stand for .NewZBin…

Even if all these indexing sites go under, I look forward to reading Usenet the old fashioned way: one group at a time, manually.

Filed under: China, Etc., Videos, Hatchback, Humor, Geely

We hate to say this, but until now, we didn’t realize it was physically possible to do a stoppie in a subcompact car. We thought launching a vehicle onto its front rollers was generally left to the two-wheeled crowd, but a new video of the Geely Panda has officially proven otherwise. The company has let loose a video of a fleet of the tiny cutesy hatchbacks being flogged in the best way possible. Want to see a Panda do donuts in reverse? No problem. How about cruise along on two wheels? You got it.

We have no idea what the text in between the shots of the cars suffering the kind of abuse that only stunt drivers can inflict and video of the assembly line says, but that’s okay. We understand the cute-as-a-button Panda paw print, and, as you all know, hooning is a universal language. Besides, it makes us think of the old Isuzu I-Mark and various Saab stunt team exhibitions, and that can’t be all bad. Hop the jump to see the mad skills for yourself. Thanks for the tip, JPHyundai!

[Source: Geely via YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Geely Panda gets to stuntin’

Video: Geely Panda gets to stuntin’ originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 May 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s a surprising fact: 99% of intercontinental data travels through underwater cables (not satellites.) But a report by the IEEE says that those cables, which are essential to international commerce, are vulnerable to sabotage and in urgent need of securing. More »

There’s a lot more to say on the topic of Blumenthal and the press, but a few commentators have begun to weigh in.

Colin McEnroe: Is that all you got?

The Laurel’s Kevin Hill: Plenty of blame to go around

Terry Cowgill: Blumenthal’s charm offensive protected him from criticism

NPR’s David Folkenflik: Media misspoke as well 

Quinnipiac’s Rich Hanley (via CT Mirror): Missed and misplayed