Multimedia message

Bubba Gumps Fish Co

Multimedia message

Irises at the Getty. The real thing

Multimedia message

Its a small world

Multimedia message

Space Mountain

Multimedia message

Start. Disney

Multimedia message

Delta now 757 tails

PC holiday decorations al SEATAC

After all the controversy last year - this year's displays are completely PC. Very nice but nary a symbol amongst them... sad really

Multimedia message

Atlanta - now very busy early morning

Multimedia message

A T L at 6am

Xmas in Brazil. Street display in Sao Paolo

2 men from Verona!

Alex and his used Christmas tree powered by USB

Special Place for special people - only certain types can park here.

Multimedia message

Angkor Tom

Multimedia message

Richard sells his soul

Multimedia message

Investor gig

Multimedia message

Barry - Peter

Multimedia message

Too real in 2nd Life Phillips DESIGN

Multimedia message

John -The Thinker- Northen

Multimedia message

Martin -The Hammer - Symes

Multimedia message

Multimedia message

Search - Google

Multimedia message

Debate 2 stephan

Multimedia message

Future Consumer II

Multimedia message

Revolution vs Evolution

Email blogging now enabled

+1 425 785 4457 (US Mobile)
+44 7770 33 81 75 (International Mobile)

Multimedia message

Dim Sum

Multimedia message

Garlic with Shrimp

Multimedia message

Sea Snail

Multimedia message

Change is pillows...

Multimedia message

Multimedia message

David Vis leisurelogix

Multimedia message

Bryan Eisenberg

Multimedia message

Mobile 2.0 in Travel

Paul W. Tibbets - Enola Gay Pilot dies aged 92

Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the B-29 that dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima died today in Ohio.

A lifelong pilot and aviation enthusiast - one of his best comments, when hounded on the guilt he must have felt on killing so many people, was the right answer. He replied "I was doing what I was ordered to do." and then he added in an NPR interview "If I worried about the morality then I would not have been doing my duty. War is immoral, everything else is academic". How true.

Act II

Spamalot

Multimedia message

Multimedia message

Multimedia message

My office

Oxford Dictionaryand Facebook Out to get me...

OK - call me paranoid but I believe there is an orchestrated effort via the Web to get rid of me - at least my name.

The Shorter Oxford Dictionary, you know the big one that is anything but shorter, has decided in its infinite wisdom to remove the hyphen (actually 16,000) of them from the language. I quote"

"Lovers of the hyphen, look away now: it seems to be on the way out. Drawing on the evidence of the Oxford Reading Programme and our two–billion–word Oxford English Corpus, we removed something like 16,000 hyphens from the text of the Shorter. So it's double bass, not double–bass, ice cream not ice–cream, makeover instead of make–over, and postmodern rather than post–modern."

So hence forth I shall be O'NEILDUNNE or O'NEILL DUNNE. (Oh yes and this is correct according to Heraldry law!) But wait that's not all. Facebook has also got it in for me. I recently reactivated my Facebook. OK - I had let it lapse. But I find I cannot put in my real name. (It asks me lots f questions about whether I want to be there as a celebrity but still it insits that 3 capitals in one name are too much and as keeper of the flame on the Internet - they have decided that I cannot have such a thing therefore my name must be O'neil-dunne.

Joy....

But wait... my other family members get to have their names correctly... why not me?

It is a communist plot

STOP THE WORLD - I think I want to get off.... Web 2.0 overload

If you wont mind me indulging in shamelessly ripping of the title of the 1960s musical - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_the_World_-_I_Want_to_Get_Off

Emarketer issued a report on business use of Web2.0. It makes for sad reading if you take off the rose colored glasses. http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1004868&src=article1_home.

There is a sense that we have now reached a theoretical - no make that practical - limit on how much "stuff" we all have to do. Not content with running websites and writing blogs we now have to do even more. And get chided by the likes of emarketer to boot.

Ian McCraig - the new CEO over at Lastminute.com - in his pundits eye view at the recent Travolution conference indicated that the market for Online travel was now mature. With now more than 50% of all travel purchased on line (but NOT exclusively) is it game over.

THe problem is that we are starting to see that as the market matures inefficiencies that once the unsavvy consumer lived with are now becoming either annoying or worse downright smelly. more and crap is being served up as either a Travel 2.0 or Web 2.0 stuff. It just gets in the way of doing what i want to do. (And NO i dont want to pay to have a non-ad stuffed version).

So here and now I am stating that i hope seller type people will listen and SIMPLIFY my life not make it MORE complicated - as a consumer. Otherwise I will become a hermit or something...

For a reasonably executed version of a clean site go to www.cleartrip.com . And if you want to compare expedias (yes there are 13 of them now) check out the newest www.expedia.es and the worst www.expedia.com.

Cheers

Timothy

S.Pellegrino world's best 50 restaurants

Tuesday April 24 2007
1. El Bulli Spain ( World's best restaurant and best in Europe)2. The Fat Duck UK 3. Pierre Gagnaire France 4.The French Laundry USA (best in the Americas)5. Tetsuya's Australia (best in Australasia) 6. Bras France 7. Mugaritz Spain 8. Le Louis XV Monaco 9. Per Se USA 10. Arzak Spain 11. El Celler de Can Roca Spain 12. Gambero Rosso Italy 13. L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon France 14. Hof van Cleve Belgium 15. Noma Denmark (highest climber)16. Le Calandre Italy 17. Nobu London UK 18. Jean Georges USA 19. Hakkasan UK 20. Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée France 21. L'Astrance France 22. Can Fabes Spain 23. L'Ambroisie France 24. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay UK 25. Troisgros France 26. Le Bernardin USA 27. Martin Berasategui Spain 28. Le Gavroche UK 29. Le Cinq France 30. Charlie Trotter's USA 31. Dal Pescatore Italy 32. Daniel USA 33. Rockpool Australia 34. St John UK 35. Chez Dominique Finland 36. Alinea USA (highest new entry)37. Bukhara India (best in Asia)38. DOM Brazil 39. Oaxen Skärgårdskrog Sweden 40. Chez Panisse USA 41. Enoteca Pinchiorri Italy 42. Cracco Peck Italy (new entry)43. L'Arpège France 44. River Café UK (re-entry)45. Oud Sluis Netherlands 46. Combal Zero Italy (new entry)47. Le Quartier Français South Africa (best in Middle East and Africa)48. Taillevent France 49. Bocuse France 50. Les Ambassadeurs France (new entry)

Don Imus - Martyr to a cause?

Well if no one else says it - I will

Here is a comment on the Don Imus firing.

First off - I deplore his comments. Anyone who speaks in public must be accountable for their actions. So speaking as one who has at times inserted a foot into the mouth - I accept that this was not anything that has anyone happy. It was wrong! I also want to be sure - that I have found nothing on the right or the left side of the argument compelling enough to warrant firing the guy. CBS Radio - you knew that he appealed to a certain audience and that audience was fed the crap that they wanted to hear. Not my cup of tea but I defend the rights of anyone to who wants to hear that drivel.

Now the crux of my issue. Those who have hounded Imus off the air must now accept that they have indeed created another cornerstone in the Nanny state. Well done everyone! Free speech is dead - long live the power of public sensitivity.

The other day I was flipping stations on my radio dial and I heard in context the same words that allegedly offended, on several (i.e. more than one) radio station - "purporting" to be music. On the same day I watched with a 15 year old member of my family - several episodes of Fox's Family Guy comedy series. Lots of put downs there I can assure you.

My point is that you don’t have to listen to this. Free Speech says you can walk away at any time. You have a choice to speak AND to listen. Taking Imus off the air is censorship. Pure and Simple.

It is just too bad we don’t have as much sway over the current US administration. Would it not be eminently more appropriate for us to fire people for either - killing others, lying and deceit, wasting public money etc etc.

Think carefully before everyone jumps to conclusions. What has happened was a knee jerk response to an exercise (albeit in horrible taste) of a fundamental right of this country. Imus is no hero. But he has been made an unnecessary martyr in a war that should not exist.

This is my personal opinion and I stand behind it 100%



Timothy J O'Neil-Dunne
UNIVERSAL VOICEMAIL BOX +1 425 749 4221

The End of an ERA

In Spring of 1999 i used to dread having to go to the mailbox as my favorite weekly tech read was InfoWorld. The regular issues were well into the 50 pages plus. One monster edition clocked in at 124 pages.

Last week it closed its print edition a measly 38 pages and that was pushing it. Proudly proclaiming "Final Print Edition" sadly no more.

However - my laptop and all other electronic devices fail two critical tests of reading in my book.

1. - you cant comfortably take them with you to the toilet (one of the last refuges of peace and quiet)
2. You cant lay them out and stare at them

I liken this change to the end of the Album art canvas. A 12 inch LP was a place to display art. a CD case some how doesnt quite have the same impact. I need not tell you that look what happened to the entire food chain that was dependent on Albums. So too are we slowly witnessing the death of print. It wont ever truly die out but look what we have lost already...

-Diarists - bloggers dont even come close (this writer particularly)
-Letters - how will future generations unearth letters locked in trunks expressing passion and sentiment. IMs and SMSs are hardly eloquent
-Complete sentences...

Infoworld - I will miss you. And please stop spamming me with so much data. I only wanted to be able to skim certain pieces.

Love

T

UI Sux - edition # 423/07

recently i have been trying to plan a Round the world trip using the products from the major players - STAR, ONEWORLD and SKYTEAM. Plus i reviewed an independent tool from Airtreks.

Star uses a piece of technology from Goldenware. Oneworld uses Innovata. Skyteam did it themselves and AirTreks uses in-house developed tools.

They all suck.

Goldenware is very slow and crashes all the time. Innovata is as slow as a dog and also crashes. Skyteam makes you go through 9 screens before you find out that there is no tool. Oh yes it did give me a sample price... in Korean Wan!!!! 5,600,000 of them. (where is my wheelbarrow when I need it). Airtreks is very pretty not not very useful.

At the prices charged this should be a revenue spinner for an airline grouping. But alas they think this is not worth it. I realize there probably are not a lot of them sold every year but people this is the most expensive product you sell. Why not do a good job???

The follow up is incredible. I got a call from Germany (even though I said I was a UA customer) well that was last time. This time I received nothing.

So what do i learn from this... Call American Express - they do a better job than the airlines.

Next edition - find out how I managed with calling each of them

Cheers

Timothy

The Dark Side of Consumer Generated Content?

Phooee.

The article below appeared in Travel Weekly this week. I am sorry that I am presenting it here and probably breaking a copyright law in the process - but they didnt give me a link to respond. So I will respond here.

http://www.travelweekly.com/articles.aspx?articleid=55017

The vast majority of people prior to 1995 believed that their Travel Agent was not very knowledgeable. That was true. The sheer weight of information required meant that it was just not possible. Good agents had access to good tools . I worked for one of the best - Hoffman Travel Service in Beverly Hills (Travel Agent to the stars). We had a way to deal with it but we could not possibly cover the whole gamut. But boy what we knew - we knew well. Much of it was first hand. Moreover we were not above a little hyperbole when needed to close a sale.

Fast forward to today. Is the blogging and the buzz any different? Because we dont have a label as an anonymous or even named blogger does that mean we have any less credibility?

I believe there is an old expression "caveat emptor" Buyer beware. Perhaps the better one should be "Lector emptor" - reader beware! But there is always something you should believe. there is no perfect answer.

Cheers

Timothy

The dark side of consumer reviews (02/12/2007)

To contact Richard Turen, send comments to rturen@travelweekly.com.

By Richard Turen

Once upon a time, when expertise still meant something in our society, there were experts who knew more about a subject then you did. You asked your travel agent about the new Orient Express hotel hugging the coast in Ravello or the five-star inclusive along the Playa Maya. Sometimes, if you were lucky, you spoke to an agent who was so knowledgeable that she could actually reel off specific hotel room numbers from her little black book, a book compiled from 20 or 30 years of enduring three- and four-day inspection trips; snapping photos of bathrooms and views off the balcony; briefings by hotel property execs. That's a lot of trudging up and down stairs, comparing room types, taking notes. Your stock in trade was your collection of personal experiences. Your own little black book. Now, we all carry the same black book. We all have access to so much data that a new type of traveler has emerged. The self-confident, self-educated hotel consumer, eager to demonstrate his or her hotel superiority, is tough to deflate. Armed with reviews from Trip Advisor and other consumer review sites, consumers, confident that they are armed with the "truth," constantly challenge today's agents. But how accurate is hotel information gleaned from reviews written by the public at large? Not accurate at all, it turns out. The simple truth is that the Internet is the most efficient method ever devised to quickly transmit misinformation in a cost-efficient manner to the largest possible audience. So marketing departments maintain lists of pseudonyms so they can plant seeds. Certain important Internet personalities, primarily bloggers, receive free products or payment in kind for their raves or for spewing unkind words about a competitor. As Smart Money pointed out in its November issue last year, bloggers are being enticed by free trips and fancy gadgets into "planting fake reviews." This new process has a name. It is called "buzz marketing," and the nation's largest PR firms are setting up buzz marketing departments designed to influence the word of mouth generated by consumer reviews. There is even a trade group to promote buzz marketing with more than 300 members, including household names like Best Buy and AOL. Major corporations are beginning to staff buzz marketing positions. In researching this article, it took me all of four minutes to find an ad for a blog/viral manager of buzz marketing placed by Blockbuster Video's online subscription services. The successful applicant would need to "embed yourself and the Blockbuster brand in the online community." And, sounding a bit like a conspirator, the person in this position will be expected to "develop a network of trusted evangelists and influencers who write and speak online." Dell Computer was devastated by an onslaught from online bloggers intent on damaging the firm's credibility in the area of customer service. Was this orchestrated? How hard would it be to employ chat rooms to launch an attack on your hotel competitor masquerading as reviews? How hard would it be to find some bloggers willing to shape their "buzz" for free gifts, cash or in-kind payments? What we do know is that, according to Pew Research, more than 57 million of us read blogs. We read the strings of comments made about hotels worldwide, and virtually all of these hotel "reviews" have one thing in common: Each is written by someone who is using a fictitious identity. The Edelman public relations firm, one of the largest, admits to "reaching out" to bloggers that attract as few as 10 readers. What does "reaching out" mean? If opinions can be manipulated and paid for, how valuable are the reviews our clients are bringing to us? Who writes them and what are their motivations? And, dear friend, why have we, as an industry, been so silent on this topic? We have access to services that provide independent hotel inspection reports, and we still personally inspect dozens of properties in an average year. Yet consumers think they can get better information from someone they have never met, someone who is using a made-up identity, someone who might well be under the influence of powerful corporations. I remember a dinner in Lugano, Switzerland, many years ago. I was sitting with one of the world's top hotel inspectors, a former general manager at a famous property. We were working on our second bottle of a lush cabernet when he explained that each of the really top-tier hotels had one thing in common: The maid's cleaning cart was brought into the room. The reason was that the maids were taught to use Polaroid cameras. Almost half of all guests in luxury hotels move the furniture around a bit. The maid, before cleaning, snaps a photo of the room as the guest has left it. That photo goes on the guest's permanent profile and the room will be set up properly the next time they check in. "That's how you tell a top-tier hotel," I was advised. I never read that on the Internet. Contributing editor Richard Turen owns Churchill and Turen, a vacation-planning firm, and has been named to Conde Nast's list of the World's Top Travel Specialists since the list began.