RIM (Blackberry) and HP are missing the point, and a huge opportunity.

Everyone knows that Apple won't be the only tablet manufacturer in the market... there are rumors or confirmations of every major cell/pc manufacturer and every OS software developer out there getting involved - Dell, RIM, Microsoft, HP, Google and so on.

Today the domain name BlackPad.com was registered by Research in Motion (aka RIM, the Canadian company behind the Blackberry). Just last week it was discovered that HP had filed for the trademark PalmPad (HP recently acquired Palm and is quickly integrating it's WebOS in to as much as they can).

Here's the thing: just a few months ago, Apple was a big joke because (a) they were releasing a tablet that was more like a big phone, than a computer; and (b) they had the word "Pad" in the name (causing a *flood of period jokes). *Sorry.

So why would all of these big companies all of the sudden be so interested in naming their products ______Pad? Obviously Apple's been successful with their tablet launch, but this is the first commercially successful product in what will become a new industry unto itself. There is still so much room to grow, there is a LOT of things that the iPad does not do (and I say this even though I love my iPad & it's capabilities). If other companies are going to want to compete, they will have to differentiate, and it starts with their brand.

HP had been using the word "Slate" in reference to their Windows 7 tablet... I think they should go that route. It would be so much more helpful if they can say something like "the iPad is a neat device that revolutionalized computing, BUT if you get the Slate you can do all of these extra things (I'm thinking front-facing camera (or any camera) and a USB plug-in as a start). PalmPad might even roll off the tongue easier than "iPad" due to the fancy alliteration, but it is still going to confuse itself with Apple's product. If someone tells my mom that the PalmPad has a camera, the odds are that she will still go out and buy an iPad - to her they will sound the same.

We'll see what happens, but so far I don't like the start that these other companies are giving themselves.

Bottled Water is Completely Pointless

Term Life Insurance
Via: Term Life Insurance

I've been telling my friends this story for years: I used to do some work with Calgary Water back in the day, working on some of their internal training materials. In a meeting it was brought up that Coca-Cola was their biggest customer (for Dasani) - and there was a lot of laughs about how many bathtubs full of water you could fill of tap water on the cost of one bottle of water... the irony being that they didn't even need to test the Dasani water versus the rigorous testing that they had to do on Calgary city tap water. So buyers of Dasani got to pay for bottling, shipping, marketing and Coke's profits, whereas those that drank from the tap got the advantage of water quality checks at a very small fraction of the cost. This was shortly after the Walkerton incident in Ontario, so basically, having the advantage of tested water was a big one.

My friends always have insisted that there was way more to bottled water than simply tap water. This infographic probably won't sway them, but here it is anyways. Coke's not the only culprit in this game, but they are in the news again lately with a lawsuit against them over Vitamin Water (Guess what? It's not healthy for you!).

This is the first book trailer I think I've seen. And it rocks.

This came out in March, so it's more than a few months old and I'm not breaking any news here. I'm also sure there are other book trailers out there, but it is the first time I've seen something like this.

The movie/book relationship has been around forever - but usually one exists before the other and the trailer existed to promote the movie, not the book (there is no film version for this book). After seeing the trailer, it seems like an obvious way to boost readership for a series who's target demographic is likely to be motivated by visuals of zombies, ninjas and hot young women.

I've been intrigued by Pride & Prejudice & Zombies for quite a while now (solely on the book cover and title), but this trailer just convinced me to get the books (the trailer is for the prequel book - exploring how Elizabeth Bennett became such a great zombie hunter).

The genius behind this series of books (as well as Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters, Android Karenina, and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter) is publisher Quick Classics.

It makes sense that a company that is reinventing old literary classics is reinventing the way that books are marketed.

Clips from Sam Rockwell's screen test for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

However bizarre, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was a great movie. I've previously mentioned that Sam Rockwell is becoming one of my favorite actors around, and it started with this movie. These clips make me all the more impressed (George Clooney makes an appearance at the end). I'm definitely going to make time and watch that film again.

I thought Rockwell was great in the role of Chuck Barris, even though I didn't know much about Barris aside from being the host of The Gong Show. Here's Barris in action:

Zach Galifianakis and Kanye West

I recently saw the Hangover for the first time. Then I saw it again a couple of days later. I was already a Galifianakis super-fan, but the fandom is at a bit of a hysteria right now. Expect to see more of his stuff here as I come across it, even if it's old (like this video which was done 3 years ago).

In the meantime, I've got to gets me a pair of orange shorts.

Introducing Clegg's List

This is something that's been around for a while now. It started kind of as a joke with some friends, and then I actually registered the domain and it became a reality. The site is cleggslist.com - and it serves as a way for me to list stuff I like, employ some fancy wordplay, stroke my own ego, and try out tumblr.  Hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I probably won't update the site very often - it's been around for a while and has only seen a few updates... but it will be updated enough that it's worth mentioning here. Plus - there's nothing wrong with a little cross-promotion between my personal sites.