Can Toyota Digg its way out of recall crisis?
This story by Thomas Mucha originally appeared in GlobalPost.
As Toyota careened from one recall crisis to the next, the contrast was almost funny.
In one corner, we had pure Kabuki theater — a highly-stylized corporate drama playing out on the world stage.
At a hastily-called news conference in Nagoya on Feb. 5, Akio Toyoda — Toyota president and grandson of the company’s legendary founder Kiichiro Toyoda — bowed deeply in remorse before a gaggle of Japanese photographers. He then, dutifully, uttered phrases like “personal responsibility,” “deeply regretted,” and “very sorry.”
Finally, Toyoda announced a new “taskforce” under his control to look into quality problems, and skedaddled.
It was everything you’d expect from a Japanese mea culpa (minus the ritual suicide) — stoic, very public and, of course, entirely predictable.
Google’s Fast Flip Trick
Google wants its online news site to feel more like the good old print product.
And the company is prepared to pay for it.
Google took the wraps off of Fast Flip on Monday, a slick online tool that lets readers flip through articles from newspapers and magazines as quickly and effortlessly as if they were turning the pages of a magazine.
The company said it will share advertising revenue with the 30 publishers whose content is currently available on Fast Flip, including the New York Times, the Washington Post and Newsweek.
Obsessive Google-watchers may recall that rumors of this product emerged back in June.
But the company officially released Fast Flip on Monday, making it available on Google Labs, the company’s outlet for products that are still in the testing phase.
Google is essentially hosting images of the first page of various articles from its partner publishers. A Web surfer can browse by topic or news source and scroll through fast-loading snapshots of all the relevant articles. There’s a “recommended” section that aggregates the most popular articles thanks to a new recommendation tool that Google has added (watch out Digg!).
Unfortunately, Google has discontinued Fast Flip… which sucks because I used to user it every day.
I also used to recommend Fast Flip a lot. My organization teaches speed reading classes and we used to recommend using Fast Flip as a great way to read faster online. Now that the app is gone, we’re going to create a new one, that is even better. We’ll post updates on it here: http://www.irisreading.com/fastflip
Facebook account: free. Friends? About 18 cents apiece
How much are 1,000 Facebook friends worth?
According to Leon Hill, $177.30.
That’s the price that Hill’s online marketing firm uSocial.net is selling Facebook friends for, through a new service that has already raised alarms within Facebook.
Hill’s reputation as a notorious peddler of online souls precedes him, having launched a similar service selling Twitter followers to clients earlier this year.
Another endeavor, in which he sought to “game” social bookmarking site Digg by letting advertisers buy votes to push certain stories to the top of the site, earned him a cease-and-desist letter from Digg’s attorneys, he says. (A Digg representative said the company could not comment).
Now, uSocial has set it sights on Facebook, which Hill believes will be the greatest opportunity yet.
“It’s going to be massive. There are about 20 times more people on Facebook” than on Twitter, said Hill in a telephone interview from his home-base in Brisbane, Australia on Wednesday.
Not a bad concept, if done ethically, but challenging for many businesses to make use of it.
Who’s Watching Steve Jobs?
If Steve Jobs’ well-being is somehow symbiotic with Apple Inc’s well-being, shouldn’t there be an application for tracking his whereabouts?
Someone must have a lucrative business plan for creating an “EDtv” or “The Truman Show” around the guru of the iPod Mac and iPhone.
Perhaps, this exclusive content could be piped to all Apple TV set-top boxes — for a fee. At the very least, how about a desktop widget that shows where in the world Steve Jobs is.
Its a scenario so fantastic that one wonders why noone has already discussed it. But maybe some have come close. The Wall Street Journal says one hedge fund in 2004 hired private investigators to follow Apple’s CEO to hospital visits, hoping to glean information about how sick, or well, he was. Remember — that was the year that Jobs had surgery to cure pancreatic cancer, a fact the company waited months to disclose.
All of this comes because of concerns about Jobs appearance of late, the company’s cloudy response to questions about his health, and their reluctance to disclose a successor-in-waiting at Apple that can match Jobs’s legendary status — and reassure shareholders.
For what its worth, the New York Times says all this sick talk is nonsense, and that Jobs has reassured people that he is “doing well” and free of cancer.
Given that Gateway and Oracle and many other entrepreneur-driven tech companies have struggled with succession issues, Jobs can lead the pack by introducing the kind of succession strategy that none of his peers have been able to implement. Perhaps he can unveil a management structure that ensures that product and marketing innovation will be a permanent part of Apple no matter who is ultimately in charge. Whatever the plan is, it must have the dynamic Jobs’ stamp and show that the brand essentials of both Jobs and Apple will be preserved and honored in the future.
Google, Microsoft may be eyeing Digg.com
Is Digg.com for sale?Even though founder Kevin Rose told CNET last month that the answer is “no”, today the answer appears to be “yes”.According to TechCrunch, Google and Microsoft may be prepared to fight over the popular Web site, which lets readers recommend articles to others.Digg has been working with investment bank Allen & Co, and is pitching big tech and media companies on a sale. It is even prepared to take less than the $300 million suggested late last year, TechCrunch said.Four companies, including Internet giants Google and Microsoft, are in heavy due diligence with Digg. The other two are media or news companies, TechCrunch said, adding that Google will likely bid $200-$225 million, which Digg would likely accept. Is Barry Diller’s IAC interested?TechCrunch expects a bidding war between Microsoft and Google.It wouldn’t be the first time they have butt heads over Digg. Last summer, Microsoft became the exclusive provider of display and contextual advertising on Digg.com, replacing Google.Then again, Silicon Alley Insider suggests that any offer over $100 million might be too much.Update: Digg CEO Jay Adelson speaks out on the company’s blog:
Normally our policy is to not comment about things like this, but this morning’s rumors about a bidding war involving Google and Microsoft have created such a stir we feel compelled to tell you all directly that they are completely inaccurate.Sorry to burst any drama theories, but they aren’t true. We remain focused on improving Digg and rolling out great features.
Alleyinsider’s Peter Kafka remains a bit skeptical over Adelson’s comments.(TechCrunch )Keep an eye on:
- Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer pledged the company would gain share against Google in online advertising and Web searching, even if it’s his “last breath” at the company. (Reuters)
- The board of National Public Radio its said chief executive, Ken Stern, was leaving after less than 18 months “by mutual agreement.” (NYT)
(Photo: Digg.com founder Kevin Rose, Digg.com)
I have also been looking at digg and notice many sites using it.. but would the average person just go there? not sure..
Toyota might take a page out of Jaguar’s book. Several years back Jaguar offered its lease owners the opportunity to obtain a brand new Jaguar at the same monthly cost and no extra money required. I asked them why? and they said that sales were not good and they wanted to keep production up. The new and used cars were given a two-year complete service contract (no service charges for two years). This might help Toyota over its current problem. Bob Baker, Playa del Rey, California, USA