ActiVision sues Viacom…over bad Star Trek

by

Activision, Inc., a leading developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software products, today announced that it has filed a breach of contract suit against Viacom. …through its actions and inactions, Viacom has let the once proud Star Trek franchise stagnate and decay. Viacom has released only one “Star Trek” movie since entering into agreement with Activision and has recently informed Activision it has no current plans for further “Star Trek” films. Viacom also has allowed two “Star Trek” television series to go off the air and the remaining series suffers from weak ratings. Viacom also frustrated Activision’s efforts to coordinate the development and marketing of its games with Viacom’s development and marketing of its new movies and television series.

(via Lane)

My first response? It’s about damn time! Trek has been going steadily downhill for quite a while now — I’m less than impressed with Enterprise, I’m being told to forego purchasing Voyager, and there hasn’t been a truly good Trek movie since Star Trek VI (First Contact came the closest, but I’ve got some definite issues with it, too). Whether it’s the fault of Viacom, Paramount, or the people writing and controlling the franchise, the fact is that it’s nowhere near where it was — nor where it likely could be.

However, that said — this seems pretty frivolous. Is it really Viacom’s purported mismanagement of the Trek franchise that is causing problems for ActiVision and their Trek-themed games? Or is it that the games themselves aren’t all that good to begin with? I’m not a gamer myself, and have neither seen nor played a Star Trek themed computer game since NetTrek, so I’m not at all in a position to judge the games. I just question whether the downward slide of the Trek franchise is enough of a contributor to ActiVision’s lack of sales to support a breach of contract suit. I’m sure it was one factor, but that much of a deciding factor? I’m not sure.

Counter-Googling

by

Here’s an interesting little marketing technique: Counter-Googling, where companies ‘google’ their customers to offer them personalized services.

With consumers disclosing their most intimate secrets online (voluntarily!), Google has essentially created a ‘domestic database’, i.e. a world-wide database loaded with your customers’ details and profiles, with a depth of information your company’s database can only dream of.

So instead of consumers Googling you before they buy your services, you should Google THEM, and instantly get more personal information than you’d ever be able to capture with traditional 1:1 in an entire life-time. TRENDWATCHING.COM has dubbed this emerging trend COUNTER-GOOGLING, and the opportunities are tasty!

A real-life COUNTER-GOOGLING example? The Bel Air Hotel in LA already Googles first-time guests upon arrival, based on their reservation details (name and address), leading to personalized services like assigning guests a room with morning sun if Googling shows the guest enjoys jogging early in the day (source: http://blog.outer-court.com).

While some might see this as just another form of spam, I have to admit that I could see it being at least slightly more tolerable than what I’m getting now. Rather than filling my e-mail inbox with ads for generic viagra, penis enlargment pills, or dietary concerns, I’d be getting offers tailored more toward my particular interests and needs.

Now, I still hate spam, and unsolicited offers — even if they are tailored to me — are very likely to end up being dumped straight into my trash folder. However, if there were some form of ‘opt-in’ possibility, then I can see possible applications of this technique that might be workable.

…bloggers, savvy consumers by nature, will no doubt introduce a ‘no unsollicited sales’ seal, the moment they grow tired of COUNTER-GOOGLING, making it clear what’s off limits and what’s fair game. Smart bloggers could even, in a dedicated section of their page or site, list the goods and services they don’t mind getting personalized offers for!

At minimum, it’s an interesting idea, and I won’t be at all surprised to see it in practice before very long at all.

(via Evan)

I think…

by

One of the guys here at work that is constantly giving me crap about being a Mac user just handed me a t-shirt that he picked up for me.

I think, therefore I mac.

That rocks.

A little stressed?

by

Something you don’t see very often on job order forms:

The package must be received…no later than 11am on Friday…. Please call me…once the package is on its way? Otherwise I will lose my job. I shit you not.

Good things Bush has done

by

Daily Kos is trying to come up with three good things Bush has done, and he’s having problems. I can’t come up with three — I can, however, come up with one. Here’s the text of comment I left over at the Go Fish:

Believe it or not, I do have one thing that I can completely seriously thank Bush and his administration for.

Thanks to his blundering incompetence, many people (myself included) are paying far more attention to politics than we used to. Bush’s otherwise disastrous presidency just may be the single strongest argument for people to actually wake up and pay attention to what’s going on in the world around them and to try to do something about it by getting involved than any ad campaign, voter registration drive, or anything else in years. More and more people want Bush out of the White House, and are realizing that for that to happen, they actually have to participate in this democracy of ours.

And for that, from the bottom of my heart, I thank President Bush.

But that’s all I can come up with.

Dean in Seattle this Sunday

by

Don’t forget, this Sunday is Howard Dean’s stop in Seattle!

Nipping at President Bush’s heels during his West Coast trip is former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who will drop into Portland and then Seattle on Sunday for a rally at Westlake Park.

In the midst of a four-day, 10-city trip he’s calling the “Sleepless Summer Tour,” Dean will attend a 5 p.m. fund-raiser at the Westin Hotel and a rally at Westlake Park from 6:30 to 8 p.m. before jetting off to Spokane on Monday morning.

[…]

As part of his campaign’s use of the Internet, Dean has solicited commitments from supporters to attend each of his rallies, and so far more than 2,250 people have signed up to attend the Seattle rally, Means said.

(via Mathew Gross)

Time for that operation

by

The Gender Genie is a potentially cute little application that examines a block of text, and uses an algorithm to attempt to determine the sex of the author. According to the authors of the algorithm, it’s supposed to be correct roughly 80% of the time.

To give it a test, I copied the text of my ‘Oh, go ahead and point, it’s okay‘ post, hit ‘submit’…

…and discovered that I’m female.

Hrm.

I never knew.

(via 601am, via Anil)

Oh, lord, now what?

by

From: Jhdbd @yahoo.com
Date: Mon Aug 18, 2003 21:55:16 US/Pacific
To: Susan
Subject: You and your COLON Lbpqqtvx
Reply-To: Jhdbd @yahoo.com

I think I preferred the never-ending stream of Viagra spam, to be honest.