Microsoft and CES

Bill Gates and co. are making lots of announcements out here at CES, but the major ones are content distribution deals that will make the XBox 360 a full on set top box.

In the US, ABC, Disney and MGM are going to distribute content through the XBox live box directly - effectively turning Microsoft into a combination MSO and VOD company.

In fact, they also announced that BT have just decided to start using the Xbox 360 as a set top box next year.

Two other quick highlights as I stuggle to blog and be in a casino and an escalator at the same time:

1. Using TellMe to power not only voice based search on Windows mobile, but voice based purchase and messaging (i.e. turning voice into a text message)

2. Slash on stage in a Guitar Hero III duel!

undecided?

So Iowa has spoken in the US primary election.

However, one of the "issues" of this most American of election systems is that it is gradual. If you follow the logic of Duncan Watt's research, the fact that we now know that Barack Obama is a winner makes it more likely for people to be swayed to voting for him in the rest of the primaries. There are exceptions to this of course - John McCain won in the 2000 New Hampshire Republican primary but lost in the more conservative states (like S. Carolina) after taking a hammering from Bush. But seems to have to be a big difference in beliefs/marketing pressure to undo the momentum and energy a candidate creates.

In case you are still making your choice, check out Glassbooth , an app that helps you make a decision on who to vote for based on your beliefs (thus saving you the time of reading through all the candidates web sites). Apparently I am 84% aligned with Joe Biden (who knew I was still such a lefty), but of course i will now never get to vote for him because he has dropped out of the race!

coffee place and CES

Two random things...

a) Likemind SF is getting the heave-ho from Cafe de la Presse. They're being very Parisian and saying that we can;t just stand there and drink coffee. Anyone got any other suggestions

b) I'm going to be speaking at the Digital Hollywood part of CES on mobile media and entertainment. if anyone has any blinding thoughts or just wants a coffee (maybe an Irish one since it's Vegas), drop me a line.

clapper board planning

One of the things I have had filed in my list of "projects someone like me should do" is to interview film directors about how they work with, coax, coach etc. actors. The director has to act very much like a planner in the sense that they work with creative people "making" the product but cannot literally direct them. Rather, they have to set the scene and make them feel a part of the environment, in the way that Denzel Washington describes in this interview about "The Great Debaters" .

Given all the pressures we are under it is very easy to forget how important it is to get anyone "in the mood" to work or, in fact, get any consumer to be "in the mood" to think about your brand. And I I kind of think mood-shifter (or even mood-enhancer) is a better job title than planner.