The Kmiec Ramblings

Wish I had my camera today. We were at a BBQ today that had an inground pool. Cora decided to try it out on her own and walked right in. We quickly got her out of pool…no harm no foul, but a lot of laughs.

I was invited to participate in the Zivity’s Beta test. For the last week, I’ve been playing around the site, checking out the features, and keeping notes of my experience. The following are my thoughts so far:

1. I’m still not 100% sure why the site exists.  The nearest competitor I can think of is One Model Place.  Their business proposition is fairly simple and straightforward.  They exist to help you/the user find talent.  Talent can be a photographer, makeup artist, photographer, or someone else.  They offer different membership levels, ranging from free to paid.  Zivity on the other hand is a closed door network.  Members will pay a monthly subscription fee that allows people to look at very attractive women.  Here’s what I don’t get…why would I pay to look at attractive women when so much of that content is free on the web already?
2. The site is shallow in content.  You have model photos, photographer portfolios, your profile, and a message box.  There really isn’t anything more than that.  Think of it as Flickr, but with only high-end, well produced, and scantily clad women.  No men, just women.
3. The browse features are fairly limited right now.  The list of photographers and models is pagenated and allows you to see the person’s name, how many votes they’ve received, the number of photo sets, and the total number of photos.
4. Zivity offers a VOTE system that I just don’t understand.  Members can purchase votes and then apply those votes to photographers and models.  Votes are a way to demonstrate how much of a fan you are of that individual.  But, I ask, why would I pay to vote on top of paying a monthly membership fee?
5. Right now you can’t link to individual photos, which is a bummer.  You can only link to the photo set.  This really cuts down on the ability to share content.
6. The site offers a great way to skim through a profile’s photos.  You can roll over the thumbnails and they expand in size.  It saves me/the user time because I don’t need to click on the photo to see it.  It’s an awesome feature that I’d like to see Facebook and other social networking sites adopt.
7. One of the smartest things Zivity offers is the ability for members to invite other members into the beta.  Most beta launches are too closed door.  By allowing me to invite other people, I can help spread the word.  Smart.

I’m sure they’re going to get a lot of heat for this and will eventually be forced to pull the ad.  However, I give serious credit to both W+K and Heineken for producing it.  This has serious talk value and will test the concept of bad publicity being good publicity.

I guarantee you this video will hit 1,000,000 views by Wednesday. It’s currently at 123,000. The beauty of online video seeding is that you can reach audiences that aren’t in the brand’s sweet spot without alienating the core of the brand. If only Guinness had done this for real.

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted some Cora photos. It’s been hard to find the time to shoot anymore with me being out of town so often and her always running around. However, we made some time today to enjoy the hot weather. Enjoy.

Cora on the Porch

Cora Examining The Tree

Cora In The Tree

I love the new joint partnership between Heineken and Krups.  They created a mini-keggerator that they are calling the Beertender.  The Beertender accepts ONLY Heineken 5L mini-kegs.  The kegs are kept cold and the beer is dispensed via tap; just like beer should be.

Beertender

There are several things to like about this joint venture:

1. They’ve created a new category: The Home Bartender
2. The partnership is exclusive.  So if you like the idea of being a Home Bartender, you’ll be buying Heineken and Krups.
3. The size of the unit makes it portable and versatile.  It’s much easier to use and less messy than a traditional keg.
4. All of the replacement and maintenance parts, like the tubes, are ONLY available by Krups.

This is the primary TV spot running to promote the idea.

It was developed by Wieden + Kennedy.  No surprise that the work is spot on.

The thing I’m struggling with is if this is a smart long term move for Krups. If they keep the partnership exclusive they’ll be narrowing their audience tremendously. I personally don’t care for Heineken, which takes me out of the market. But, if the Beertender supported other beers and ciders, like Sam Adams, they’d have me sold. Hell I’d buy a few so I could have 3 beers on tap.

The Beertender sells for $279.99 or $299.99, depending on the model you opt for.

Just completed another WordPress upgraded.  As usual I nearly screwed it up.  Thank god for backups!

Part I can be found here, part II can be found here, part III can be found here, part IV can be found here, part V can be found here, part VI can be found here, part VII can be found here, and part VIII can be found here.

Got a call yesterday from the State Farm claim office.  This time it was a different claim rep.  I got the feeling this guy was more senior than the guy I had been working with.  This claim rep was very upbeat and overly apologetic that I’ve been without my car for 3 weeks; especially considering I brought it in for a pothole collision.  He filled me in on the latest and greatest, which boils down to this:

1. The measurements are still off
2. They are going to try the simplest and cheapest fix first, which is the Control Arm
3. If that doesn’t fix the issue it’s on to the strut and then the strut tower

Yes, only in Las Vegas can a night start at the CatHouse for Criss Angel’s Mindfreak premiere and then end at Slash’s birthday party.

Good times indeed.  Thanks to Brandie for the invite.

Literally blogging right now from my iPhone. Downloaded the WordPress application from the iTunes App store. It took about 2 minutes to configure. As cool as the app is, it still doesn’t make typing on iPhone any easier.