EngadgetHD lays it out clearly in ‘Millions miffed at poor quality from holiday HDTV purchase‘.

While it’s no surprise that the mystery surround HDTV is further complicated by glossy marketing and a lack of technical support all around, a recent report claims that “about 19.5 million consumers” who purchased an HDTV over the holiday break are now complaining about the quality. Apparently, the “plug and play” approach that has become quite common on today’s electronics didn’t work out so well with HDTVs, leaving customers baffled that their TV wouldn’t magically display the clean, crisp imagery they viewed on the in-store displays when making their purchase. Customers are still having a difficult time understanding that special programming packages, set-top boxes, and / or OTA antennas are required to receive HD content, taking the wind out of their presumably puffed sails.

I went shopping at BestBuy for an HDTV flat-screen two-months ago and asked all my questions. One, in particular was…

So how does all the non-HD channels look once I”m all setup? Answer: “Oh, well, yeah, they don’t look anything like what you’re seeing here. (chuckle)”

Translation: Once you get this entire system home, with this special cable, and this new cable box, and if you tune to these stations at the right time, etc… It’ll look great, maybe.

While I don’t blame the sales person (who was very forthcoming actually), I do blame the manufacturers who really have tried to slip a fast one over on us consumers, when instead, they should have made it much, much simpler, or made a very serious effort to educate us about how it all really looks/works.

There is NOTHING WORSE for your brand to promise one thing, then deliver something else. That’s the only sure-fire way to a consumer’s wrath.

That being said, I want a new TV badly still. Mine is over 10-years old and the picture is fuzzy like my dog.

2007 is about 8 hours away. I’m looking forward to the new year, specifically because this is the year that I’m setting a few goals for myself and focusing ONLY on those few things. As those you of you who know me, I’m ADD when it comes to marketing ideas. In other words, I have too many ideas, and not enough focus. So what happens? Nothing gets done as well as it could.

So as I launch myself into 07, I have set these three main goals I need to stick to.

1. BlogKits.com - My affiliate network for bloggers. Requires the vast majority of my attention.

2. ReveNews - I serve as the publisher here for the past two years. Need to focus on launching some new projects and some general clean up.

3. Writing a book - This is the year I’m commiting to writing a book about, well, I’m not totally sure yet, but it will have to do with online influence and media and blogging and stuff like that.

That’s it.

Here’s the problem though. I have too many ideas in my head. What I’ve figured out is that the ONLY way to actually not think about all of these ideas is to share them with you and maybe, just maybe, you can take them and turn them into real businesses, therefore I won’t have to think of them anymore :)

Starting next week I will be begin to drop these ideas one at a time on this blog, and maybe at MarketingProfs or ReveNews as well. Stay tuned, and if you use them and become rich and famous, remember me on your way to the top!

Caught a link-baitish piece over at Techmeme today entitled ‘The World’s Most Beautiful Women Bloggers of 2006‘. My first thought on this piece was, wow, isn’t this going to tee off the rest of the women in the blog world? I mean, let’s face it, women have to deal with this type of scruntiny on their appearance their whole lives, now they are getting that same type of designation added to them as bloggers? Tough world. I’m not a women, but I think I’d be a bit cheesed off if I read this post. Then again, the world is overly politically correct, so who knows.

On a side topic, on that same site I saw a Google Adsense ad for a site called “GayWheels.com“. The ad said “Is your car out of the closet? Find out at GayWheels.com”. Had to click it, even though I’m not gay, and I bet you that it works really well for the target. Yes, it’s as I expected, it is a car enthusiast site for gay people.

Think you are the only gay person that likes cars? Want to know more about being gay in the automotive industry? Read our new HEADLIGHTS section where we put the high-beams on out automotive professionals.

A couple of thoughts come to mind when I read this site.

1. Isn’t it great that we can have such diverse niche content and topics?

2. Do we really need a list of gay friendly car companies? lol. Ok, maybe I don’t, but I guess some people do?

3. American Express “Open” Network is an advertiser. This just goes to show that big brand names do in fact pursue advertising to niche audiences.

Merry Christmas everyone. Please be safe and hug the ones you love.

Mark Cuban couldn’t resist jumping into the fray by calling out his ole’ buddy ‘The Donald’ on his blog today.

Now T the C on the other hand, well Donald, your blog sucks. Its actually pretty embarrasing. First of all, rule number one of blogging Donald is that you are the one that is supposed to write the posts on the blog. Less than half the posts on the front page of the blog have your name as the author let alone are written by you . Blogs are supposed to be personal, not corporate Donald.

Yeah, his blog does suck, but you know what? I would argue that some people don’t need blogs, and Donald is one of them. Trump has a plan and it works, and he don’t need no stinkin’ blog to keep it working. Here’s how Trump operates:

1. He overloads you with his brands, literally so much that you just can’t see through it all and your mind just gives in.

2. Then, when he’s attacked, he hits back… harder.

3. Wash, rinse, repeat.

It’s like being in a cult where they brainwash you. You know what? It works, very well. Gotta give him credit for it.

It’s because of that methodology that he doesn’t need a blog, and I argue that him even having a blog would hurt that system he has in place. A blog is to show transparency, and that my friends is in direct odds with Trump’s branding mantra.

Got a call from a reporter earlier in the week who came across my BlogKits Blog Honor badges and wanted to talk about fake blogs, or flogs. The piece he put out ran in the Sacramento Bee, you can read it here. I come in at the end.

But that’s not going far enough for some in the blogosphere. Jim Kukral, a blogger and online journalist, has created graphical badges for bloggers to post on their sites, promising readers they aren’t stealthily selling their opinions to marketers.

“We have hundreds of people already using the badge voluntarily,” Kukral says. “It’s OK to try to make money with a blog, but not fool you. The whole reason blogs work is based on people being honest with each other.

“It’s like sitting in a room with your friend having a conversation. If your friend found out that you’re lying and were being paid by Sony to go to talk about the product, what’s your friend going to say to you? They’ll say, ‘Why are you pitching me things?’ You won’t have that friend long.”

I’ll write a full blog entry about this at a later date, but you can see the story in archive on WKYC.com. Enjoy.

Video: Jim Kukral on WKYC.com. December 18th, 2006

Today’s show was just me, all alone. If you didn’t catch it live like the rest, you can listen to the archives here. Reminder, their won’t be a show next week due to the holidays, but I will pick it back up on Jan 02, 2007.

SHOW NOTES:

I spoke about my latest quick media hit website/story at www.fanprotest.com.

I also talked about my latest idea “Donut Juice” :) Hopefully Dunkin Donuts will be sending me a check soon.

The rest of the show was a stretch for time. We need more callers!

Alright, I’ll play, why not? Today I got “blog tagged” by Shmuly. The idea is that you tag 5 of your blogger buddies and pass the torch, also that you (the tag-ee) must write 5 things about yourself that many people don’t know. So here goes my list, with my 5 tags below.

1. I read magazines from back to front. Not books or newspapers, just magazines. I’m not sure why.

2. I am not OCD, but I must have the last numeric digit on a gas pump fillup be 6, no matter what.

3. I’ve been blogging since August 2001, a month before 9/11. Archives here.

4. My nickname growing up from my two older brothers was “Shag” because of my haircut in the late 70’s. Which, is ironic today as that hairstyle is back and popular with teenagers today.

5. I built my first webpage in Pagemaker in I think 96? Took a job as a web designer 2 months later and was handed a “Learn HTML” book on my first day. This was before tables existed.

So I tag, hmmm, I tag the following. Sam Harrelson, Wayne Porter, Matthew Ingram, Eric Olsen, Anita Campbell.

Pouge at the NYtimes goes off in an almost Andy Rooney tirade about ‘Whatever Happened to Online Etiquette?‘.

The deeper we sail into the new online world of communications, the sadder I get about its future.
I’m OK with criticism, I’m fine with disagreement, I’m perfectly capable of handling angry mail. That’s not the issue here (although my teenage correspondent above was, in fact, wrong about every single one of his points).
I’ve even accepted personal attacks as part of the job. I’m a columnist; the heat comes with the kitchen.
But what’s really stunning is how hostile *ordinary* people are to each other online these days.

I’ve been around, and I’ve seen more forum and comment trolls than most, so maybe I’m immune, but I can honestly say that the root of all new future trolls originates at Digg. It’s like the new breeding ground of trolls in training. They should change the Digg tag line to “99.9% Troll Super Fantastic - Fuck You, This Is Lame!”.

Seriously, Mr. Pogue, you’re right that a lot of people online today are jackasses, however, a lot are not. Stay away from Digg, and stop writing about the things that 15-year-olds with ergo keyboards obsess about, and you’ll live a much happier life :)

Andy Beal writes an enourmously powerful and helpful blog entry entitled ‘Five Secret Strategies to Add $1 Million in Revenue to your Interactive Marketing Agency in 2007′. Go read it, now. Ok, assuming you’re in the online/marketing/interactive agency business. If you’re a shoe repairman, you might not find it so intriguing. :9

One of the most common questions I am asked by marketing agencies seeking my advice – especially those that are newly-started or still relatively small – is “how do I attract new clients and grow my business?” While there are many ways to accomplish this task, depending on your resources and your target market, there are some proven strategies that any marketing firm can implement.

The five secret strategies listed in this guide are tried and trusted. I have used them to help grow one firm to $25+ million in annual revenues and another to an annual run rate of $2+ million in its first year. However, the strategies suggested below are not just confined to the companies I have worked with, they are evident in many successful agencies. Take a look at any successful marketing firm – whether it focuses on search, web design, email, viral or interactive – and you’ll likely see they’ve followed at least half the strategies I’ve listed.

I don’t want to sound like one of those overly-tanned, bright-smiled, “gurus” you see on infomercials late at night but, if you follow the strategies I’ve outlined, I’m convinced you can add at least $1 million in new revenue for your agency, over the next twelve months.

I can relate to all 5 points, and tell you that he’s dead-on. If you want to be successful, you’ll read this and follow it.