Nov. 29, 1972: It's Like Video Ping-Pong, With No Skill Required
By Tony Long 11.29.07 | 12:00 AM
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell created Pong. Photo: Ed Kashi / Corbis
1972: Pong, the first popular videogame, is released in its original arcade-game form.
If it seems crude by today's standards, well, it was crude then, too. And it was meant to be. Pong was the brainchild of Nolan Bushnell, a founder of Atari, who was inspired to develop it after playing an electronic table-tennis game at a trade show. But, having recently designed an arcade game he deemed too complicated because you had to read the instructions before you could play, Bushnell strove for utter simplicity.
"I had to come up with a game people already knew how to play, something so simple that any drunk in any bar could play," Bushnell said later. The game, actually designed by Atari engineer Allan Alcorn, was Pong. It was indeed a game that drunks could play, and they did.
The first coin-operated Pong arcade game was installed at Andy Capp's, a tavern in Sunnyvale, California, where Atari was located. It was an instantaneous hit, confirming Bushnell's suspicions and vindicating, yet again, H.L. Mencken's famous dictum.
Four months after its appearance at Andy Capp's, there were upwards of 10,000 Pong arcade games scattered across the land. This caught the eye of Magnavox Odyssey, developer of the game that had inspired Bushnell to dream up Pong. A lawsuit followed, resulting in an out-of-court settlement in Magnavox's favor. By then, however, Pong had moved to a home-console model, which was very different from the original.
Bushnell cut a deal with Sears to act as Pong's exclusive retailer, and the 1975 Christmas shopping season was a lucrative one. This can fairly be said to have ushered in the era of home videogaming.
In too many instances, hip-hop has become a celebration of ruthless self-interest, delivered by performers who don’t dare crack a smile for fear of losing status. That’s not where the music started, as two new books of photographs make clear. In “Born in the Bronx,” by Joe Conzo, the d.j.s and m.c.s do their share of scowling (and occasionally brandish weapons), but they also smile, wear fedoras, dance, and look like the skinny kids they are. Though Conzo’s photographs document hip-hop between 1977 and 1982, a time line by the writer Jeff Chang asserts that the genre’s origins stretch back to 1963, when the Cross Bronx Expressway tore the borough in half. Janette Beckman’s “The Breaks” picks up where Conzo leaves off. Beckman, an Englishwoman, captured a variety of young performers in New York with a taste for bright colors: Salt ’n Pepa, the Native Tongues Posse, and Slick Rick. That this vivid local culture would become a big and slightly chilly business lends a strange aura to these remarkable books. ♦
Now it's okay to go for seconds on that pumpkin pie
The Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation recently released a study examining how scent impacts arousal by measuring increases in penile blood flow. Pumpkin was found to be one of the scents that stimulated men most, increasing blood flow by 40%. Other smells provoking arousal were doughnuts, lavender, black licorice, cola, lily of the valley, buttered popcorn and cranberry.
So fill up your man's plate with an extra large slice of pumpkin pie with a side of cranberries at this year's Thanksgiving feast. This is the perfect recipe for some holiday post-feast passion. For more information on the study, visit ScienceofSmell.com.
PAUL WASSERMAN, affectionately known as Wasso, longtime publicist for the Stones, U2 and Jack Nicholson, among many others, has passed away after a long illness in an L.A. nursing home. A collection is being taken for his burial in Mt. Sinai.
Velvet Revolver has been forced to cancel their four-city Japanese tour because the country denied their visas. According to the band's Web site, Japanese immigration officials are taking exception with the backgrounds of various band members, which have included arrests. The band is appealing the decision. "We want to apologize to our fans in Japan that we won't be able to perform our scheduled concerts," Velvet Revolver said in a group statement. "We don't understand why the authorities won't give us visas when they granted them for us in 2005 for what was a successful tour and a great experience. We love Japan and look forward to our return there." The band will proceed with their Australian tour that begins on December 4 in Brisbane.
"I get more than 300 emails a day and my problem isn't spam. It's PR people," he wrote. Anderson then posted the email addresses of over 300 unsolicited "PR spam" pitches he'd received (from agencies such as Edelman, 5W Public Relations, Fleishman-Hillard, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, Weber Shandwick and others), stating they'd been blocked. In the aftermath, many in marketing and communications called his posting of those emails out of bounds.
We checked in with him to get his response to these claims and to ask him how our readers might keep the love alive with the media—instead of invoking its ire. Our exclusive interview:
Were you surprised you touched such a sensitive nerve with your post?
I was surprised by the volume of responses, not that I had actually touched a nerve. Let me put it this way: I am often surprised and disappointed that most of what I write doesn't get more people talking—that's what I do. So, in that sense, this one achieved what I set out to do: drive conversation. It just got bigger and bigger. We're now at 400 comments, and thousands of external links. The New York Times wrote about it and now the trades are, too. It has become a model of the form. I am trying to build conversation. The technique I used is this: I articulated a thesis and problem, and then called attention to it with a partly provocative act [posting of the emails]. In that light, it was effective.
What's your response to claims like Bratton's that posting the emails was mean spirited?
You could argue it was uncivil, ungenerous and unfair—there's truth to that, maybe. But it was effective in getting people to focus on a real problem: The emails aren't appropriate and they're going to the wrong person. Nobody should ever call me and send me anything; I'm not a person to pitch. People who said there was a more generous and nice way to respond, like writing them individually, well … they're right. That would have been nicer, but also impossible for me to do. More important: It wouldn't have changed the game. It wouldn't have focused people on this issue. So, I guess I have to say, "Guilty as charged." The goal wasn't to be nice.
Do you think email is over-used as a media relations tool?
You know, I have no problem with email. A lot of people drew the wrong conclusions from my post—that I wanted phone calls, relationship building with PR or to meet at lunches. I don't want that. I just want people to understand my interests. Read my publication! And realize that I am not the inbox for the publication. I just want people to take a moment and think about who I am and what I want before hitting send. Email is fine. The problem is not thinking, "Who is this person and what would be meaningful to him?"
What media pitching tips in general can you share with our readers?
Fundamentally, I have trouble with the word "pitch." What I want, again, is people who understand my interests. In my case, I'm not a journalist. I shouldn't be getting pitches. But for reporters in general, do your homework. It's as simple as that.
There's a huge paradox in PR: The PR cycle of releases and emails is driven by the client. But the receptivity cycle is driven by whatever journalists are intellectually interested in, assigned to cover or pursuing. So the truth is this: If I'm expressing interest in open source software and you can see that in my stories or blog, then you could send a note acknowledging that.
The best email ever would be something like, "I saw your post and thought my client is a perfect example of it." That's not driven by the client or a release. It's driven by serendipity—your spotting my interest because of your research. I would love it if we saw more of that kind of thing, but it rarely happens. More often, it's just a release that has nothing to do with what we're about and that is driven by you, the PR person. The odds of that intersecting with our needs or interests is so low that it's spam. Email should be targeted and personal.
I can't remember the last time a random press release was useful. But there have been loads of times that somebody spotted a post and found synergy or made a connection and put a release at the bottom of their email because it was a fit. That's fine—but spray and pray doesn't work.
Can you think of a PR person or agency who "does it right"?
I am not going to answer that question. It's not that they don't exist. I have had great experiences with PR people I like. But it's just been so long since I've been a day-to-day journalist.
That said, let me make one thing clear: Condé Nast employs hundreds of PR people. I have PR people on my own staff. We believe in PR. We spend a lot of money on it. Some of our best employees' functions are driven by PR. In fact, we're changing the game internally here by using what we're calling PR 2.0 to train staff to do their own marketing and outreach for their work and stories.
What does that mean—your editorial staff is actively promoting the brand?
Our product is articles. It's the magazine and the website. When those articles come out, we want them noticed and we bring them to the attention of relevant people. On any given month, we publish thousands of articles. Our PR people have no idea who the right audience is for every single article. That's impossible. The only people with that knowledge are the authors of the articles themselves. So the people involved in the creation of the product are often in the best position to find the right audience—but they're not necessarily trained in PR or happy to do it. Perhaps they feel that self promotion is unseemly or that it's not their job. But we're telling them it is their job—we're training our writers and editors to market their stories.
They know who should get the emails and notices because it's peer to peer. They're in those communities. They understand the audience's interests and how they want to be talked to. This is, really, the best way to market in the new media era. In fact, I would love our PR people over time to stop doing traditional and widely distributed PR in favor of using social media and more community-focused tools or ideas to reach their targeted audiences.
Basically, we're practicing what we preach here at Wired. We're walking the talk. Alexandra Constantinople, our head of PR, who was formerly with GE, is tasked with doing this here. It's a big job and a big change, but it works. There are lessons for the PR industry in general in what we're doing here, I think.
What are your final tips for building better media relationships—beyond pitching?
Read it. Freakin' read what you're pitching to. I shouldn't even have to say that. Why don't more PR people do it? The reason pitches are inappropriate is because making them work requires reading and a real interest in the industry you're promoting. You have to care about it. We all want emails from people who really understand what we do, why we do it, and who are sophisticated about their own industries and who can speak the language. So, I guess the tip here is to really consume the press in your areas.
I don't think you'll ever get a 23-year-old communications major able to talk to me about my robotics interest in the same way as the engineer who created the product. So another major tip here or area of focus for PR people should be coaching the guy in the know and plugged into the development process on how to reach out to me himself—not some entry-level PR person who doesn't even get the product. This is facilitating, not gatekeeping. If this is the only thing we can change about PR in our lifetime, it would be enough.
How do the concepts in your book "The Long Tail" play into this?
It's all about the fragmentation of markets and the shift away from mass market products to millions of niche products. It's exactly the same for the media and PR. It's not about reaching everybody through The New York Times now. Instead, it's about seven million blogs and learning to communicate with those fragmented audiences or communities. Traditional PR is oriented around mass media. The new era is about niche media. That is PR 2.0. It's also "Long Tail PR." We're releasing a new version of the book, called "The Longer Tail," in January. It will include a new chapter about long tail marketing, which also impacts PR.
One of the most important elements of your email communications is the subject line. Next to the "from" address, the subject line will determine whether or not your email gets opened. Writing a great subject line is no small challenge. You only have a few words to make it compelling, urgent, and specific-without sounding overly "salesy" or misleading your readers. Here are some tips that will help you write subject lines that get great results.
Keep it Short and Sweet - Do your best to keep your subject lines under 50 characters, including spaces, as most email clients display 50 characters or less. A recent study done by email monitoring company Return Path showed that, "subject lines with 49 or fewer characters had open rates 12.5 percent higher than for those with 50 or more," and that, "click-through rates for subject lines with 49 or fewer characters were 75 percent higher than for those with 50 or more." Want to have better open and click-through rates? Keep it short and sweet!
Be Specific - A vague subject line is a waste of real estate. A great example of this that I see often is monthly newsletters with subject lines like, "The Green Thumb Newsletter: June 2007." This tells the receiver nothing about what they will find when they open the email and gives them very little reason to do so. A better approach for a newsletter like this is, "The Green Thumb: 3 Tips for Summer Gardening."
Write it Last - Many email marketing services (including Constant Contact) prompt you to write your subject line first, as you are building your email. I encourage you to come back to it when you are done with your email content. It's important to determine all the elements of your email first and then look for the most compelling topic to highlight in the subject line. When you are done with the body of your email, read it over and pick the "nugget" that will entice your readers to learn more by opening.
Take Some Time - Don't just dash off your subject lines. Considering how important they are, take some time to think about them and write several (3-4) before choosing which one to use. Once you have a few subject lines you like, run them by a friend or colleague and see which they think is most compelling.
Test It! - When you have two strong-yet different-subject lines, test them. Split your list in half and use a different subject line for each group. After a number of tests like this, you will have a very good idea of what works for those on your list. And as always, the better you know your audience, the more effectively you can communicate with them.
Amy Winehouse’s public image continues to take a hit. The singer’s latest tale of woe came during an interview with Blender Magazine. The vocalist reportedly slurred her way through the interview and even started to nod off. When asked if she did drugs, Winehouse said she didn’t have the time, but did add that she was a big drinker who had been known to be at a pub banging on the doors before it opened. Interviewer Jody Rosen says that Winehouse apologized for being so drowsy, then nodded off later, briefly caught herself, muttered, and nodded off again while her cigarette fell to the floor.
Your middle school years were probably spent daydreaming about your crush of the moment and how you could ask them out. Simply walking right up to your love interest and professing your feelings was way too risky, of course. Thankfully, you could say it in a note- A much safer means of communication.
For those of us who have something to say, but have not yet graduated past middle school in terms of communication skills, there are Nastee Notes by Vanessa Cavaco. These brief, but direct letters are “stationery for when you need to say what’s really on your mind.” It does not get more direct than “Can I nail ya?” or “You so Sexy.”
The collection of notes is divided into the categories of “not so nastee” and “real nastee.” Peruse the nastee notes collection and make the person you care about feel sexy by passing them a note. Lockers are no longer in the picture, so you may have to be a little more creative in how you deliver your notes. Nevertheless, nastee notes are the perfect way to get your message across.
November 8, 2007 The Weekend Guide What to Do This Weekend
What’s in the horn of plenty?
SCOPE Kinokuniya Opens What: Premier Japanese bookstore offers in-store fashion, art, and cultural events, like Zen cooking demos and photo exhibits. Why: It’s huge in Japan! When: Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Where: 1071 Sixth Ave., b/t 40th & 41st Sts. (212-869-1700).
EAT The Mermaid Inn Opens Uptown What: Fancy East Village fish shack goes uptown. And they’re taking the lobster sandwich with them. Why: Wainscotting, harbor maps, raw bar. How are your sea legs? When: There’s something fishy going on. Mon.-Thurs., 5-11 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., 5-11:30 p.m.; Sun., 5-10 p.m. Where: 568 Amsterdam Ave., b/t 87th & 88th Sts. (212-799-7400).
SHOP FormSS08 Sale & Tibi Sample Sale What: A futuristic, romantic, conceptual collection from Form. Take 80 percent off samples and 56 percent off overstock from pattern-heavy Tibi. Why: Great winds for a sale. When: Form, Thurs. & Fri., 4-8 p.m.; Tibi, Thurs., 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Fri., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Where: Form Studio, 510 Broome St., b/t W. Broadway & Thompson St., ste. 7e (646-216-9194); Tibi, Loft 11, 336 W. 37th St., b/t Eighth & Ninth Aves. (212-966-3773).
Steven Alan Sample Sale What: Cotton shirts, cashmere sweaters, silk dresses, poplin pants, denim, and more for men and women are up to 80 percent off. Why: It’s back! When: Thurs. & Fri., 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sat., noon-7 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m. Where: SAS Showroom, 87 Franklin St., b/t Church St. & Broadway (212-219-3305).
SCOUT Underground-NYC What: More than 100 emerging designers showcase their wares at this new 10,000-square-foot space. Why: Hit the Underground running. When: Tues.-Fri., 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Where: 1031 Sixth Ave., at 39th St. (212-239-7275).
SWEAT Physique 57 Downtown Opens What: Cult 57-minute isometric fitness regime opens up a downtown sweatbox. Why: Feel isolated from exercise? Isolate the muscles. When: Opens tomorrow. Daily, 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Where: 161 Sixth Ave., b/t Spring & Vandam Sts. (212-263-0570).
Never has the saying, "Kids do the darndest things" been more apt. According to an Information Bulletin from the Collier County Sheriff's Office in Naples, Fla., youngsters in Florida may be using human waste to get high.
Yes, you read that right: human waste. The county's Criminal Intelligence Bureau has issued a report that "several students at Palmetto Ridge High school are experimenting with a new drug called "Jenkem." The bulletin, dated Sept. 26, states that so-called "Jenkem" -- the etymology is unclear -- originated in Africa and other third world countries where there is an abundance of its main ingredient: "raw sewage."
Makers "harvest" the drug by fermenting the sewage in a container with a balloon on top, which fills with gas. (And you thought making crystal meth smelled bad.) That gas is then inhaled to achieve a hallucinogenic and reportedly euphoric high, though how one could remain euphoric with a mouth full of that is anyone's guess.
The bulletin goes on to state that "jenkem is now a popular drug in American Schools." This seems doubtful, to say the least. The ever-reliable Snopes.com, for instance, rates the claim as "undetermined," noting that there have been very few reports of its use in the last decade. WINK-TV News in Florida, which reported the story after discovering the bulletin on Snopes, interviewed students at Collier County high schools. All denied having heard of it and claimed that the concept was "gross."
Still, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Agency insists that "there are people in America trying [Jenkem]." The DEA has yet to test Jenkem, he said -- a lot of volunteers for that job! -- but he said it is possible to experience hallucinations from methane fumes. He called use of the drug "dangerous, bad and stupid."
On that, at least, we can agree. It's one thing for parents to walk in on a child smoking a joint. Imagine the after school specials they'll have to make if Jenkem ever becomes popular.
By Emil Steiner | November 6, 2007; 10:00 AM ET | Category: OFF/beat
Aside from the time you drunkenly witnessed your "Dogs Playing Poker" actually barking, it's hard to find art that speaks to you. For an offer you can't refuse, check out LA Pop Art.
LAPA's the handiwork of a local artist/idolater, who creates images of famous people, images, and intoxicants entirely out of psychedelic, handwritten text. His limited-edition prints and posters range from the Jah-ly iconic (a spliffing Bob Marley drawn from Exodus lyrics), to the Cold Warring iconic (Ronald Reagan, from his 1987 "Tear Down This Wall!" speech), to the creepily-evangelically iconic (Jesus, from what Jesus did do). Most impressive are the movie posters, the latest being a Brando formed from the entire Godfather script, from the opening "I believe in America" to the closing "Don Corleone" -- issued as a sign of respect to Al Pacino, who would have surely had the good taste to demure, had he known about Godfather III.
To see art made from the lyrics of Rage Against the Machine, the script to Scarface, and police-approved street terms for marijuana, check out LAPopArt.com
Thrillist editorial - favorable reviews cannot be bought.
When I wrote last week's column comparing the social-networking sites MySpace and Facebook, I included a line after my signature stating that I had only 124 friends on Facebook, and urged readers to add me as their friends. As of today I have 261 new Facebook friends, the majority of which are Generation Y college students.
I turned to Hitwise data to find out more about them. By examining which websites social-network users visit after logging into their profiles, we can gain a bit of insight into how sites like Facebook fit into their members' daily online lives. The data showed that after other social networks, the most clicked-on category of sites was search engines, with 11.6% of all downstream visits. Web-based e-mail services were next with 8.5%. Blogs came in third in popularity at 6.1%, claiming more than four times the number of visits to traditional news sites, which logged 1.5% of downstream visits.
Perhaps a more interesting — and more accurate — way to figure out where college students are going online is to assess which of the 172 web categories tracked by Hitwise get the most hits from 18- to 24-year-olds. Here's a shocker: Porn is not No. 1. I've actually been puzzled by the decrease in visits to the Adult Entertainment category over the last two years. Visits to porn sites have dropped from 16.9% of all site visits in the U.S. in October 2005 to 11.9% as of last week, a 33% decline. Currently, for web users over the age of 25, Adult Entertainment still ranks high in popularity, coming in second, after search engines. Not so for 18- to 24-year-olds, for whom social networks rank first, followed by search engines, then web-based e-mail — with porn sites lagging behind in fourth. If you chart the rate of visits to social-networking sites against those to adult sites over the last two years, there appears to be a strong negative correlation (i.e., visits to social networks go up as visits to adult sites go down). It's a leap to say there's a real correlation there, but if there is one, then I'd bet it has everything to do with Gen Y's changing habits: they're too busy chatting with friends to look at online skin. Imagine.
This reshaped online landscape leaves me feeling old and out of the loop. It seems that social-networking sites have not only usurped porn in popularity, but they've also gobbled up time Gen Y-ers used to spend on traditional e-mail and IM. When you can reach all of your friends through Facebook or MySpace, there's little reason to spend time in your old-school inbox. So, if social networking is becoming e-mail 2.0, then perhaps Microsoft's recent $240 million dollar payout for such a small stake in Facebook isn't that ridiculous.
The reality is that Facebook isn't just for kids. Last week — and this was a highlight — my dad, who just turned 75, added me as a friend on Facebook. I considered sending him a virtual beer to celebrate the occasion, but I didn't think either of us would see the point. Back in my day, we drank beers out of bottles and cans — we didn't have these new-fangled virtual beers. But, then again, I think that's something I probably still have in common with the younger generation, something I don't need Hitwise data to back up: the love of a good old-fashioned beer.
Let the messages roll in.
Bill Tancer is general manger of global research at Hitwise
A former Girl Scout leader in Florida pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing her Scouts' identities in order to obtain $87,000 in illegal tax refunds. [All part of helping her troop earn the "Illegal Tax Refund" patch.]
It sounds like synopsis for a thriller (or a very sick comedy), but it's really a synopsis for a video on Imcooked.com, a new site we like to think of as YouTube for Netizens who don't want to sift through clips of laughing babies or crying Britney Spears fans, and just want the meaty stuff.
As the beef-stir-fry clip indicates, there are plenty of videos here that don't star stars. But who are we kidding? It's just more compelling to watch Walken slice fat off a dead bird than your grandma (whom we're sure is nobody's fool in the kitchen—no offense, ma'am.) Also, is there anything more endearing than the sight of a billionaire ex-Beatle slicing a tater as if he were a minimum-wage fry cook?
The answer is no. And if a minimum-wage fry cook out there is offended by that assertion, then go grab a video camera and get Imcooked yourself.
11.29.07 | 12:00 AM 
LAPA's the handiwork of a local artist/idolater, who creates images of famous people, images, and intoxicants entirely out of psychedelic, handwritten text. His limited-edition prints and posters range from the Jah-ly iconic (a spliffing Bob Marley drawn from Exodus lyrics), to the Cold Warring iconic (Ronald Reagan, from his 1987 "Tear Down This Wall!" speech), to the 
