Timely Communication

I received an email from Microsoft this morning from their Windows Phone department. Today is November 3rd, three days after Halloween and two days after the end of daylight savings time.

Of the six section headers in the email, there are two that I would consider untimely.

1. "Is your phone ready for Daylight Saving Time?"
2. "Spoooooky (and free!) ringtones - Turn your phone into a Halloween factory..."

I would have loved these topics 1-2 weeks ago, but they just seem a little bit useless now. Is it at all worthwhile to send out this communication after the fact, or does it do more harm than good? What do you think?

Perfect Pronounciation

When I came to this country I was very intrigued at some of the differences between where I am from and where I now live. One of the especially interesting things that I still pay attention to is the pronunciation of words. In fact, my brother Jonathan and I were talking about one word in particular that we (as Canadians) say differently than people here in central California, asphalt. We say it (or used to say before we were corrected) ashphalt.

Check out this list of the 100 most often mispronounced words and phrases in English.

While I am guilty of saying some of these words incorrectly I think I do pretty well. The list doesn't have asphalt though. The other word I was very surprised that was not on this list was "Internet". I know a lot of people who pronounce it "Innernet" by replacing the "t" with a second "n".

These are just little things that can differentiate one region from another, and while they are not huge variations on the original words, if you hear someone say one of these mispronounced words and you are used to saying and hearing it said properly it will stick out like a sore thumb. I remember when I started college here, while in some sort of orientation class I was talking to the guy beside me and I said "Internet" to him, he stopped and looked at me funny and asked me to repeat the word. He says "Innernet".

(Via Duct Tape Marketing)

Signing Messages

I think the process of signing your name at the bottom of messages on the Internet is becoming a thing of the past.

As technology improves we are becoming ever increasingly linked to our usernames in whatever we do. I look at Facebook, both with the conversation style message function and wall posts, it seems too redundant to sign your name at the bottom because your name and picture are already right beside whatever you type.

In Gmail, the conversation format usually hides everything but the new part of the conversation and therefore it is easy to differentiate each part of the conversation. Text messages, IMs, and tweets are received from people we know with their name and/or number already attached or programmed into our device.

Does this add to, take away from, or do nothing to the level of how personal communication is on the web?

-Luke

Leaving a Voicemail

The Art of Manliness Blog has an interesting article about the best way to leave a voicemail.

I appreciate efficiency, and when someone leaves me a voicemail that drags on when it shouldn't, I can get annoyed.

I think we owe it to people with whom we communicate to make voicemails short and sweet. This is also one of the great things about text messaging. Sending a text message almost requires short and to the point communication.