Microsoft Twitter Account Spreads Zune Phone Rumor

Microsoft wants you to "hold off" from buying a new iPhone or Palm Pre. Why? Apparently, June 2009 will be an “important month for Zune lovers”.

Rumors about a Zune phone have been spread before, but a recent one actually came from a Microsoft team (via the @officethemovie Twitter account).

Gizmodo points out that this account has “little-to-no-relation to the Zune project”. That might be true, but it's still quite possible that the “rumor” was planted there on purpose or that someone leaked it by mistake.

Keep in mind that tweets can be deleted.

Why would @officethemovie NOT remove the potentially erroneous statement if it was a mistake? It's been over 10 hours and the tweet is still there. Either the leak is real and everyone is making the wrong assumptions or we are soon to see a Microsoft "Zune" phone.

Here's what Social Nerdia thinks:

Microsoft needs a phone and it will have one sooner or later. But we predict that it won’t be “Zune” branded.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

 In the meantime, Palm better price the Pre as low as possible and do whatever else it can to get the masses, not just the press and a few geeks, to embrace webOS.

 

UPDATE: Alleged specs for a Microsoft "Pink" phone/device: Microsoft's project "Pink" specs revealed?

5 Reasons to Disconnect and Live More of Life Offline

Regardless of whether you are a marketer, journalist, software developer, CEO, or just a 13 year old kid with nothing to do, everyone could could use a little more time offline.

Here are 5 great reasons to spend some time away from the internet... before it's too late.

1. There is nothing like breathing, smiling, far-from-perfect real people

The internet has come a long way and it now allows us to communicate with anyone, almost instantly, but giving the online world too much value can keep you from the much more important things in life. Real people are out there waiting for you to live life with them and the web will often make you forget it. When we are online, we are only interacting and collaborating with a minuscule part of the real people behind all those strings of data, misspelled sentences and  shaky videos. There is much to be lived with family, friends, and even strangers. You will need to disconnect in order to really connect with them.

2. Your ego is lying to you

Constantly writing about your thoughts, ideas, and opinions is a great way to express yourself, but freedom of speech doesn't mean that you should only be concerned about your own 140 characters of brilliance. The more time you spend online, the less in touch you will be with reality. It is likely that you will get used to the comfort of hiding behind a screen and seeing others as a means to an end. It is also likely that you will place too much value on the idea of "being someone". One thing is to present yourself in a good way and offer your skills and abilities to a world that might need them, but it's another thing to think you need to be marketed 24/7 no matter what. You are not just a brand. You're much more than that.

3.  There is a part of you that loves to be shallow

Looking at the "trending topics" on Twitter is enough to realize that most online conversations are about very trivial and unimportant things. While sports, technology, advertising, and even world news are fun to talk about and share with others, they often keep us from other much more profound and meaningful aspects of life. A love for snippets of information can keep us from learning, pondering, meditating, and truly discussing about deep things like values, faith, morality, justice, grace, repentance, love, truth, poverty, greed, and life itself. Keep the shallow you from swallowing the rest of you.

4. The simple things rarely transcend into the digital world

Sure, you can see YouTube videos of people sharing a meal and you can certainly tweet about your favorite sandwich (OK, I went too far with that one), but there's nothing like actually seating with friends to eat and talk. If you're constantly online (whether at work, at home, or on your cell phone), you might miss your child's first words, a you-had-to-be-there moment with your wife/husband, and other valuable memories that not even a camera can capture. Most things online will  stay there for a while, but real life is constantly moving forward and there is absolutely no way to live anything twice.

5. The web keeps us from actually doing things

Typing, chatting, instant-messaging, and even thinking about things you want to do will help you remember that you want to do them. But at some point, you have to get up and just do them. Do we really need an iPhone app that tells us how many calories we need to burn and what exercises we need to do on a Tuesday? Not really. Go for a run. Call an old friend. Write a business plan. Burn it and then start a company without one. Send a real gift for a change. Write a real letter. Smile and laugh out loud in front of random people. Tell a story to a stranger.  Spend some time with your pets. Play an actual game with others. Give a hug to someone who doesn't expect it. Stop being alive only in your mind. Don't be funny and witty only when you type.

Life is too short to spend most of it online.

Andy Milonakis will get Oprah tattoo if you follow him on Twitter

We recently had the chance to interview the very funny and internet-savvy Andy Milonakis. We've been staying on top of Andy's tweets to see what he's up to. Here's what we found:

@AndyMilonakis If I get 100K followers by June 1st, I'm gonna get a big tattoo of Oprah Winfrey #AndyInksOprah

If you're not already on Twitter, you might finally have an excuse to do so. I mean, millions have already joined Twitter only to follow people like Oprah, Ellen, and Ashton Kutcher.

Why not do it for an actually worthy and long-term cause?

Review: New Facebook App for Windows Mobile is.. ok

The Windows Mobile 6 Facebook App was released today. While WinMo users have been able to check out Facebook using a mobile web browser at m.facebook.com, a downloadable app has been expected for a while.

The good news is that it's finally out. The sort of bad news is that it was developed by Microsoft (not Facebook).

As usual with Windows Mobile apps, this one came out later than other versions (iPhone, BlackBerry), and without all the hype.

So, here's our take:

- Intallation: Not as intuitive as anyone would like. You need to connect your phone to your computer; download the app; open it with File Manager, and hope it installs.

- Performance: The first time we loaded it, it froze. This has Windows all over it. It did ok the second time, but it was a bit slow.

- News feed: This might be a matter of preference and the device you're using, but we believe the mobile web site is simply smoother and easier to view. The mobile web version also gives you the ability to "comment" and "like", while the WinMo app does not. Not cool.

- Photos and Videos: This is the best part of the WinMo app. You can easily view all photo updates.

More importantly, you can capture a photo or video, and immediately upload it to Facebook. This is awesome and maybe the only reason to keep the app.

- Multi-tasking: Another plus for the WinMo app is the top navigation bar, which lets you toggle between Home, Wall/Profile, Friends, Inbox, and Phone Numbers.

- Profile: Just like with the mobile web site, you can't really update your profile info. This is less than stellar.

- Status Updates: Very easy to update, just as with the mobile web site. Good.

So, bottom-line, the Windows Mobile Facebook App is great for posting photos and videos on-the-go. It's also great for giving your  FBcontacts a phone call.

For everything else, stick with Facebook's own m.facebook.com.

KFC's Second Massive Fail

Kentucky Fried Chicken's "Unthink KFC" campaign looked like gold just 24 hours ago. Launching a new product (that actually looks ok), with the help of no other than The Oprah Winfrey, is a success in itself.

Especially for a restaurant that has not been doing well.

Unfortunately, failing to meet demands and angering people is probably not going to help them in the long-run.

Here's why this is KFC's Second Massive Fail (remember when rats conquered a KFC in Greenwich Village?):

1. Not enough chicken!

2. Oprah, the hypocrite?

3. Riots, long lines and racism

4. Poor coupon exclusions / explanations

5. Lame customer service

I don't think I'm going to "unthink" KFC.

I haven't been there in 5 years and now that I've attempted to get some free grilled chicken (5 times at 3 different locations), I don't think I'll go again for another 5 years.

So cheers, KFC. Job well done. Golden star in your face.

Interview: Netvibes CEO Freddy Mini on personalization, expansion, and the social web

Netvibes allows anyone to assemble the best of the web in one place. By providing private and public digital dashboards for individuals, personalized pages for brands, and personalized intranet pages for enterprises, it may just be the best personalized start page out there.

CEO Freddy Mini told us about his role in expanding Netvibes, the importance of personalization, and his view on the current stage of the social web.

After you're done reading, make sure to send Freddy a tweet and add the Social Nerdia Netvibes widget.

 1. Netvibes pioneered the personalized start page, but there are several options these days. What makes Netvibes the best?

Netvibes is the only personalization platform. With Netvibes you don't customize someone else's page you're invited to, you really own the page. entirely. An example: Netvibes doesn't have a big logo on the upper left corner to remind you you're at some eelse's place; at Netvibes you can get rid of the search engine if you're rather use it separately from your personal page. In addition, Netvibes offers the largest widget gallery with 180,000+ widgets to really find what you are looking for to build your very own page. And finally, Netvibes offers you 2 pages: one private and one public. On the public page, your own URL will welcome all the widgets you'd like to share, like a super profile page. Who can match all this? :)

2. Netvibes has very loyal users, me included. As CEO, do you find it difficult to please old users while innovating and seeking new ones?

It's in fact our biggest asset. Our installed base is beyond faithful, they are passionate. Netvibes is their product and we help improving it. To tell you the truth, I'm very happy with this and I believe that's the way all web services should be. To please existing (users) and seek new ones, we laser focus on our unique positioning: we are all about personalization. Everything should be, at the end, the choice of the user.

3. What would you say are Netvibes' shared values? Do other elements like strategy, structure, and staffing revolve around such shared values?

Netvibes' shared value are all around Personalization. Yes, our strategy, structure, and staffing to develop features and business offers are driven by it.

4. You previously served as COO. How has your focus changed now that your role is to lead the company?

As COO I led the business strategy, my role now includes product and corporate guidance. To the risk of an easy cliche, but it's the truth, I have a fantastic team and the fact that I spend one week a month in Paris forces us to be disciplined, organized and focused. What could be seen as a challenge is in reality a great opportunity.

5. You helped expand Netvibes across 4 continents. Do you see the company expanding into new products/offerings? Are there any examples already?

Yes, in the product offering, absolutely. By focusing on the "Personalization" arena, we expand, in addition to our media business of distributing widgets, our business offering in 2 directions:

1. Netvibes is today a super powerful publishing tool. We wanted to give to ad agencies all the tools they need to create sophisticated personalizable pages. For that, we had to go way beyond the classic grid of widgets piled up per columns. We introduced the flexible layouts back in December and have released an HTML editor widget to create post-like content within the widget. Benefit for user: the page can be made his/hers and he/she can peel off widgets from it. Benefit for the publisher: the page is managed by him directly without any IT. Benefit for the marketing dept: the page is more sticky than a classic page and its creation is faster and cheaper.

2. Netvibes is entering in the Enterprise Portal arena, competing with big classic players like IBM or Oracle. Our approach is different: we're born to be a personal page. We use the latest technology, all open-source and standards, we're independent of all 3rd parties like search engines, database makers, etc., we come with 180,000 widgets and our offer includes everything: on-site installation and training, mobile versions, widget technology that installs everywhere including desktops and we prove every day we do scale. Netvibes installed base is bigger than the biggest employer in the world :)

6. How did your experience with CNET in Europe help prepare you for your position today?

CNET Europe was a fantastic experience for me. Managing a multi-cultural company in the challenging time that was 2001-02  was enriching. It helped me a lot in management during crisis time and adaptation of a common product across languages and cultures. Not to mention remote management which is very useful when a big part of your team is 9 hours difference, 9000 kms away.

7. You blogged for several years at Le eMini Blog . Why did you stop and what do you think about Blogger?

I stopped blogging almost a year ago when I took the CEO position. It's difficult to part the voice of Netvibes with the voice of Freddy. I tweet instead for now. I use blogger because it was totally turnkey. Great service for someone who wants to solely have readers for his content. Now, to tell you the truth, I support my wife with the blog of her activity, www.perlentine.com about hand made jewelry, and I used Wordpress. Superb product.

8. Do you think the social web is becoming more and more like the real world in terms of how we communicate, participate, and collaborate?

It will be but it is not yet. The web, like many fast techno-evolutions, moves with wide pendulum swings. At this point, Facebook allows to reconnect with people, and Twitter (allows) to broadcast yourself to your own audience. In both cases, the notion of followers/friends is dangerous and used chaotically today.

Micro-celebrity is dangerous. Like in high school, people think they are popular because a lot of people follow them. And popularity can change someone and make him/her behave in a different way than the reason people were following that person in the first place. I believe in the future we will be wiser in the way we behave and manage our public communication. The collaboration part, as an ex Lotus (Notes) guy, is closed to my heart and I think real-time exchanges like Zoho or Google Docs are fantastic. Soon they will/should have a task allocation and next step process to them.

Bottom line, I believe we're still at the tool age for the social web and not yet at a more mature, service age.

10. What do you do for fun and what would you say is the secret to finding joy in what you do?

Developing a new territory, Personalization, is like creating a new city or a new country. The need for a Personalized web experience is undoubtedly here and we are the best suited to make this happen. For a small startup, born out of France, aiming at conquering the planet and competing against Google and IBM could be a nightmare... or great fun if you have the right product and the right team. I'm having a lot of fun :)

11. Finally, what advice would you give to a web startup in today's difficult economic environment?

It's quite simple: Dream the product and get real with your business.  A product without users is not a product and a business without revenue is not a business. Don't fix one side of this equation, fix both.

Interview: Andy Milonakis talks about Twitter, viral videos, and his upcoming album

Andy Milonakis from MTV's The Andy Milonakis Show is a great example of someone who has used the internet in very creative ways. His comedic talent has taken him from user-generated videos to his own TV show and several appearances on Loveline and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Andy was very cool to take some time to answer some questions for Social Nerdia. Make sure to check out Andy's  show and send him a tweet after you're done reading.

1. Did you really get started with web cam recordings and how did that happen?

I used to do a photo-based comic strip on Brian Lynch's site Angry Naked Pat. After writing a bunch, one of them was a rap and I thought it would be better to do a video, but since it was a long time ago it was a pain in the a**. People still had dial-up modems, so I had to get different programs to compress the video small enough for streaming, and learn different ways of embedding the vids on the pages and stuff. It was a lot of extra work but it paid off to get into the game so early. YouTube is great, it makes my life a lot easier.

2. Do you think it would be harder or easier to get started today (now that everyone is so aware of sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Veoh, etc)?

I think it's harder to stand out because there are so many people doing it but I don't think that should discourage people. If you have something really original or hilarious to say or do... Do it. If it really stands out, maybe millions of people will see it and good things will come from it. The problem is that there are millions of people who are dying for something good to come from their videos so they try way too hard or just aren't that original.

3. You've made quite an impact on the media. You're an "internet phenomenom" (Wikipedia's words, not mine) with  appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Loveline, and even your own TV show. What else are you working on now?

Right now I want to finish my comedy/rap album and tour all over. I just got back from a mini bay area tour with Dirt Nasty, Andre Legacy and Beardo... but that was just a small taste....I didn't really have my set ready, Dirt just wanted to give me a headstart and a small taste of what a music tour was like. I loved it but after 4 days I'm pretty tired. I wonder what 30 days would be like and I only did a couple of songs..  I can't imagine the people who do full sets of like an hour and do it for a month in a row. Those guys are the real hard workers in entertainment, **** actors. I'm going to get back to some ridiculous comedy this year too. I took a little break but I'm gonna hit it hard this year.

4. Does Dr. Drew call you randomly to see how you're doing or is it more of a professional relationship?

Dr. Drew is the man, when Carolla left Loveline he had me cohost for a week.  I think he misses me writing raps for him and wants to see me. I'm going to call the loveline producer today so I can get back on the show and see whats up.

5. You have a bunch of followers on Twitter. Do you tweet for the fun of it or is it a way to stay in touch with an audience? (If neither, why do you do it?)

I love twitter, it's such a direct way of chatting with fans and people you want to potentially work with...

6. You recently tweeted the following: "Dont hit me up unless you have 5,000 followers". What kind of reaction were you looking for?

People are so gullible... I mean, I didn't think about the reaction at first...... First I just thought about how people hold such a high importance to how many friends you have on MySpace and how many followers on twitter... so I thought it would be really ****** up if I wrote that. After I thought of it, I devilishly laughed out loud for about a full minute..... I posted it and instantly some followers dropped,  some people are just stupid.

7. How did you get the Twitter bird to sing with you on "Ayy let me Twitter Dat"? Overall, good collaboration or not so much?

I refuse to answer this question on the count of it being EXTREMELY CORNY.

8. Do you consider yourself a celebrity?

I hate that word; it's associated with so much douche baggery it's not even funny. I take pride in being real. I had my own show and people recognize me from it and what not, but to hell with the C word. It's like asking "do you think you're hot *** because you were on tv and people know you?" teeheeee

9. What do you think about companies creating videos in hopes of making a viral impact?

 It's smart but be creative, don't force it. There are so many people & businesses that are trying to get results and create forced, watered down content.

10. Have you ever used USTREAM?

Yeah I just started ustream and I have been using Stickam for awhile.

11. This list of the most watched viral videos includes music videos and movie trailers. Does it make sense to call these "viral" simply because they were viewed online?

Well, usually I think of viral videos as user generated videos by random people that catch on and the flame spreads to tons of people, but as time goes on definitions  always seem to get broader and change too,  and sometimes change completely and then suddenly you're like remember when this meant that.

12. Finally, what advice would you give to someone who wants to do short films/shows/user-generated content?

Don't fall in love with all of your ideas.  Look at all the stuff people are doing on YouTube or in shows, and spend a lot of time on thinking of ways to do something completely fun and different.  When you are dealing with TV Networks I think it's hard to do something completely different and have them accept you but that shouldn't stop you. Just to be honest, I'm talking to the small percentage of people that truly have an original voice... most of you out there suck and shouldn't even try. (1000 followers dropped).