This is one of those times.

(Link from the Bad Pitch Blog)

Most people use these to transfer files home from work and back again, but the USB drive can also be used to run small open source applications from PortableApps.com. These programs can be used as a digital Swiss Army Knife and can come in extremely handy, especially for work computers that don’t allow you to install software. My favorites have helped me out many, many times, and include:

GIMP Portable – GIMP is an open source graphics/photo editor, similar in many ways to Photoshop. While it isn’t quite as slick as its inspiration, it works great for resizing and cropping images, and if you take the time to learn it you’ll discover it’s extremely powerful in its own right.

Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition – When I browse the Internet, I typically have about 8-10 tabs open in Firefox. In fact, browsing without tabs drives me nuts. If your work computer has an old version of IE, this portable version of Firefox can be a godsend.

PDFTK Builder Portable – One of the strengths of the PDF format is that documents look the same across systems and platforms and they can’t be easily edited by others. One of the downsides is that they can’t be easily edited by you, unless you have Adobe Acrobat. Fortunately this program is around to help you split up and recombine pages from PDF files. This is one of those programs that you might not realize you need until you actually need it, and by that time it can help you avoid some very frustrating situations.

Each of these programs are small in size, so you can fit several of them on any modern USB drive. They’re a great way to put an extra drive to use, and in the right circumstances can honestly save the day.

A paradigm shift of this nature requires a 180 degree shift in approach. Businesses must resort to influence now, and understand that controlling the message is a luxury of times now gone. Further, this influence is based on trust, so more than ever true relationship building is thrust upon corporate America. This means they have to be honest, communicate, give as well as take (value for $), and be prepared for feedback.

The real challenge for those who provide PR counsel is to convince clients that this is an area worth participating in, and then allocating the proper resources to do it right. Not only do we need a 180 degree shift in approach, but a 180 degree shift in perception, as well.

Yet when gaming blog Kotaku posted about a rumored new feature for the Sony PS3, Dave Karraker, the senior director of corporate communications for Sony Computer Entertainment of America, canceled scheduled interviews with the bloggers and dis-invited them from an upcoming press event. I think Kotaku editor Brian Crecente was spot-on in his response:

I think this only highlights the differences that PR people and journalists have. My interest is not in making sure that Sony has positive news or that the timing of their news is correct, my job only is to inform the readers of news as quickly and accurately as I can.

Frankly, Mr. Karraker should understand Kotaku was only acting in the role of a journalist (and/or a blogger) and nowhere, as far as I can tell, behaved in a less-than-ethical manner. (Ultimately in the end cooler heads prevailed, and the two parties are on friendly terms again.)

I can understand not working with a reporter who takes quotes out of context and writes biased, one-sided stories in an effort to make an organization look bad. But for reporting a leaked story? That’s weak. The media does not serve PR, nor should they.

UPDATE: Joystiq, the other most-widely-read video game blog on the net, comments.

While I hemmed and hawed about posting a response, the far more qualified and eloquent Shel Holtz just nailed it, dropping knowledge on why the press release “still matters” and why the “new media release” makes sense. It’s a long post, but all of it is crucial reading.

UPDATE: For a little background, Todd Defren of SHIFT Communications has been tracking the “Stowe Meme” with a customized del.icio.us page.

If you’re paranoid about accidentally exposing your tracked changes to the world, don’t fret. Shauna Kelly suggests simply going to Tools -> Options -> Security and clicking the boxes labeled “Warn before printing, saving or sending a file that contains tracked comments” and “Make hidden markup visible when opening or saving.” Now you’ll be presented with an ominous dialog box before you attempt to print, save or send.

Knowledge is power!

There’s some really good stuff here, but my favorite quote comes from Andreas Kluth at The Economist, who advises, “Be ‘rare, relevant and short.’” So poignant and so perfect.

My question is: Doesn’t the ethical burden fall upon bloggers to disclose they’ve received the machines for free and what they plan to do with them after the review? Unless I’m missing something, I fail to see how Microsoft and Edelman are in the wrong. Josh Morgan puts it very well:

This is a review program. Many, many hardware and software
companies send products for review trade, consumer and business
publications all the time. For something as big as an OS it’s
practically required because most reporters don’t want to install a new
one.

If people keep the laptops, then they have the ethical problem, not Edelman. Not Microsoft, and not Acer.

Transparency should be the name of the game, right? Robert Scoble gets it right when he says he would have "forced disclosure by those who get the laptops." That detail would have saved a lot of trouble.

While I have no idea who received a machine for review, it looks like plenty of recipients have disclosed their receipt of the machines or intend(ed) to at the time of review. A few even intend to auction the laptops for charity, which might be the way to go in this situation.

Ultimately I think Microsoft and Edelman (and anyone in PR, for that matter) can chalk this up to a learning opportunity. If companies seeking blogger reviews insist on full disclosure and more clearly state the terms of the review up front, ethical dilemmas such as this one can be avoided.

One thing I noticed he’s included is "Never Cold-Call Me At My Desk." It seems like more and more journalists prefer electronic pitches, most commonly via e-mail but increasingly through blogs or services such as del.icio.us.

    i (charlie) have a psp. my friend jeremy does not. but he wants one this year for xmas.

so we started clowning with sum not-so-subtle hints to j’s parents that
a psp would be teh perfect gift. we created this site to spread the luv
to those like j who want a psp!

consider us your own personal psp hype machine, here to help you wage a
holiday assault on ur parents, girl, granny, boss – whoever – so they
know what you really want.

    we’ll let you know how it works for us. pls return the favor.

    more to come,
    c&j.

Of course the site features plenty of PSP news and "viral" videos and advertisements promoting the device. It’s suspicious, yes, since the graphics on the site look like they were produced by top-notch designers and yet the writing smacks of faux-"teen speak" with "teh" and "pls" interspersed throughout the copy.

The smoking gun, however, came when it was discovered the site is registered to Zipatoni, a marketing company. (Hat tip: Kotaku) I’m not surprised that one of their services includes "Buzz Marketing," which they describe like so:

At Zipatoni, buzz marketing means getting into customers’ conversations. We know we can’t control the dialogue. But we tap into the right insight to deliver an idea that will get opinion leaders and even entire communities talking about it on their own. Just like that, we’ve converted the consumer into a passionate and credible message-bearer. Now that’s good news.

I’m not against good viral marketing – I’ve sung the praises of Burger
King’s efforts, for example, which were tremendously successful and
remained honest. Unfortunately, setting up a fake evangelist Web site and pretending to be consumers smells like Astroturf to me, and that’s BAD news.