This post written from Starbucks in Sea Girt, NJ 

I walk from room to room with my head hung low as I try to recover from a life event that may haunt me for all my remaining days.

I switched from MyYahoo! To iGoogle – There, I said it! That’s right; I made the move from my long time (eight years) home page, MyYahoo! To the younger better looking iGoogle. – I feel so dirty.

It started out innocent enough, we’d meet up once in a while just to see what was new. We’d move some content around, add some widgets but it was all just good clean fun. Every night I’d come home to MyYahoo! I thought I could handle it, I now look back and realize I was a fool to think I could pull off seeing them both – I was living a lie and it was eating me up inside.

At first it was harmless content moving but then it happened, we started adding RSS feeds. First we started with just a couple of marketing Podcast feeds but before I knew it were going at it twice a day, adding Marketing Blog and mashup feeds like animals! Before long I was hooked, my widgets have never been moved like that before – I had to do the right thing and make the move permanently.

I surfed my way back to my old homepage; it was the longest click I’d ever taken. I was dreading the conversation with MyYahoo!

Me: We need to chat.

MyYahoo: I had a feeling this was coming.

Me: First off, it’s not you, it’s me.

MyYahoo: Cut the crap.

Me: You’re right, you deserve the truth. I never meant for this to happen, it just did. We’ve been together a long time. When we met things were new and exciting, it was a different time a different world, but as time went on we really just never kept up with the changing times. I have needs damit!

MyYahoo: Oh, so I suppose that iGoogle does all those things you wanted me to do?!?

Me: And more.

MyYahoo: Hmmmfff. So that’s it, you’re not even going to try? We can go see a developer.

Me: It’s too late for that; I’ve already changed the home button on my browser. Come on, cut that out, you know I can’t stand to see you refresh.

MyYahoo: I can’t help it, my server is overwhelmed.

Me: Look, we’ve had some good times and you’ve made me happy for a long time but I need more. I need quicker response times, faster feed updates, more choices and lets face it, iGoogle really works to keep looking great, you stopped caring about that years ago.

MyYahoo: I have a lot on my page!

Me: I know you do. I’m not saying…

MyYahoo: So I’m supposed to just wipe my cache of you and move on. Well it’s not that easy. You know iGoogle will never respect your privacy the way I do. Everything you do will be under the microscope. Every search and feed click will be recorded and eventually it will be used against you. iGoogle doesn’t care about you, you’re just being used.

Me: I know.

MyYahoo: And you still want to go?!?

Me: Yes.

MyYahoo: Fine! Then go – you’re no different than all the other users out there. All you really want to do is interface!

Me: Come on, lets not end it like this…

MyYahoo: Just click.

So I clicked. I didn’t know what else to do. I can’t say I’ll never look back or that I won’t have regrets down the road. I’ll definitely miss my old home page.  I can’t explain why I am making this move to iGoogle, I’m a marketing guy, an Internet marketing expert. I wrote an Internet marketing book for goodness sakes! I know better than anyone that my privacy is at risk and all of my search history will be recorded and eventually used and sold to advertisers. I can’t explain it?!?

– Maybe I’m just thinking with my pointer?

This post written from Starbucks in East Brunswick, NJ

So the madness begins! The lines for apples new iPhone have already started forming. All over the country people have started camping out on line in font of their local apple store to be one of the first to own the much anticipated iPhone.

The iPhone is set to go on sale on Friday June 29^th at apple stores and AT&T locations around the country. The iPhone is a revolutionary new device that combines a touch screen cell phone, web browser, email client and iPod into one ultra cool device.

As a certified gadget guy I have to say I would not mind owning one, unfortunately the phone does not really ft my needs. Even though I’m an avid iPod user (have an 80 gig iPod with over 20,000 song 50 TV shows and a few movies and I’ve had 4 iPods before this one), heavy cell phone user and a gadget nut, believe it or not I’m not the target customer for an iPhone.

The reason that the iPhone is not right for me is that the iPhone is not a good “smart phone” for business users (so don’t ditch your Blackberries just yet). There is no sync software to sync a calendar or contacts with any major CRM system, not even Outlook or Microsoft Exchange. You can only sync the iPhone contacts and calendar with apples iTunes software. The iPhone also lacks a core feature; voice dialing, and any road warrior will tell you voice dialing is a must have for calling and driving.

As a power iPod user this phone would be a poor replacement for my current 80 gig iPod. The two choices are 4 or 8 gigs; I have playlists bigger than that!

The reason that I’m not right for the iPhone, the iPhone (at least the first generation) is for the “cool factor” crowd. Just look at the people waiting in line waiting for one or take a look at the phone features apple is highlighting in thier commercials. Users sliding through pictures, surfing the web and my favorite, watching videos on You Tube. The commercial shows an iPhone user watching a skateboarding dog. Great, now I can take my A.D.D. on the road.

The iPhone is the device that will bridge the gap between iPod haves and have-nots, giving apple an even tighter grip on the already staggering market share they have in the digital music space. This device will increase Podcast listenership and force businesses to take a second look at designing websites that will work better on a smaller screen. The iPhone is going to shake things up.

Apple is going to make a huge customer connection with the iPhone. The marketing is dead on target for the person they want to buy. They did a great job. I love the phone and can’t wait to see the version (or the marketing) they come out with when I’m the target customer.

As much as I like the iPhone I do think they failed in one area, they chose AT&T as the initial service provider. I switched to AT&T a year or so ago when they had their no risk try us for 30 days campaign. I hated it. I’ve never dropped so many important calls in my life. I returned the phone well within the 30 days (I think is was more like 10 days) It took over 9 months to get them to stop sending me bills. AT&T’s marketing slogan is, “more bars in more places” which is perfect because after using their service I needed a stiff drink!

This post written from Starbucks in Florham Park, NJ

What kind of Jersey Boy would I be if I didn’t comment on the last episode of The Sopranos?I’ve been a loyal fan since the first edge of your seat episode to the last anti-climactic finale.

First my opinion about the last episode – IT SUCKED! A fade to black?!? Are you friggin kidding me?!?  Don’t stop believing? That’s not the theme song for the end of a legendary mob show! That’s the ending song for something starring Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn. So the message is that we can “believe” whatever we want. Can you get any less creative then letting the audience figure it out for themselves? What a cop-out.

I’m a HUGE Seinfeld fan and thought the last episode of one of my all time favorite shows was, well, bad. After seeing the ending of the Sopranos, the Seinfeld finale has skyrocketed to pure genius!

I feel like a weight has been lifted – I feel better having gotten this off my chest. Now, as a marketer I think I know why this happened. The writers lost their connection with their customers – us. They wrote what they wanted not what we needed. Just like Volkswagen did with the Phaeton (read earlier post) they stopped trying to understand what we wanted and why we loved the show to begin with.

We watch the Sopranos to become part of a world that 99% of the country knows nothing about. It’s adult fantasy, role play for grownups; we get to be armchair mobsters. As much as we would never want to see anything depicted on screen happen in real life, we do derive a level of excitement from seeing it unfold from the safety of our living rooms.

Two seasons ago at the height of Sopranos popularity the New Jersey based writers were fired and replaced by a writing team in California. BIG MISTAKE! The allure of the show was that “Jersey” connection; after all, that’s what we’re known for here in the Garden State, Mobsters and toll booths.

The show took a terrible tailspin when the new writers took over, goofy storylines started to appear. Christopher going Hollywood, Vito and Johnny-Cakes (uuugghhh) and the unbearable amount of time spent on AJ’s personality swings. This is not what we want to see. The west coast writers apparently thought we wanted to watch a soap opera and not a show about Jersey mob life.

As much as we don’t like to admit it we watch this show for the “shot out of a cannon” excitement, the violence, the back stabbing, lying, cheating and all that goes along with it. We get to be part of things far removed from our lives. Water coolers everywhere were abuzz with “whack-chat”. Who got whacked, where they were whacked, how they were whacked and why? We love whacking!

Gone were the days of Ralphie Cifaretto smashing his stripper girlfriends head into a guardrail and Richie Aprile running down (twice!) Peter “Beansie” Gaeta with his car. What was all this great mob action replaced with? CLEAVER! I’m glad the show ended, what would have been next, Tony eating a pie at Papa Johns!?!

Yes Phil Leotardo got whacked and had his head squashed like a cantaloupe but that was the only real action the entire episode, plus I’ve seen Criss Angel do that!

You may have another opinion (feel free to comment) about the last appearance of Jersey’s favorite family, you’re entitled, wrong but entitled.

When you lose your connection to your customers you create what you want as opposed to what they want and your business, just like the end of the Sopranos, may just fade to black.

There was one redeming part of the last episode that did make it worth watching. I think I actually learned the secret to livng a happy and prosperous life. Do you remember the part where

It’s easy to make a judgment about anything if you just look on the” surface”. What’s below the surface is typically not as easy to see or even understand much less identify opportunity. Microsoft has introduced a new way of computing called “Surface”. On the surface, “Surface” is an extremely cool technology. Quite possibly the coolest I’ve ever seen. I was mesmerized while I watched the video demonstrations on the “Surface” website. Once the wow factor was gone I immediately began identifying marketing opportunities for this new technology. Microsoft has identified targets for “Surface” such as hotels, bars, restaurants etc. After pondering for awhile you can easily think of hundreds of marketing and practical uses for this technology. One thought is in the entrepreneur space. Surface may bring back the short-lived “Internet Cafes” that popped up in major cities during the dot-com frenzy and disappeared just as quickly as the money burning business models of the day. “Surface” provides a more social element that was lacking in these café’s and may just be the magic bullet needed to make this seemingly doomed business model a success.