Contrasting Social Media Counterprogramming Strategies for the Democrat Debate

The Democrats held their first Primary "Debate" (more of a candidate forum) at a Las Vegas casino. Most political pundits expected a snoozefest which lays a foundation to a Primary Coronation.

So that Republicans did not totally cede the news cycle to a progressive politics lovefest, a couple of Republican aspirants to the Oval Office took to Twitter to counter-program by chiming in on the process. It was a cheap way to gain attention and get the message out, going over the heads of the established media through the new media.

Donald Trump made headlines with his announcement that he would live tweet the event.  Former Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR) also wanted to get in on the action.  The latter leader's sharing seems to epitomize his campaign thus far--  cornpone slung just to win attention.

Take some of the @GovMikeHuckabee tweets--

They seemed like stale standbys to get some yucks. But unlike Huckabee's two debate performances when he dished out canned ham, it seems that the self nicknamed "Duck Hunter" did actually seem to watch the Democrat Debate.

That being said, Huckabee tried to be funny rather than to score points with his big campaign themes. 


In contrast, Donald Trump tried to steal the spotlight by starting with his star-appeal schtick thru @realDonaldTrump tweets--

Trump used social media to leverage his message by retweeting others who echoed or enhanced his memes and campaign messaging, whereas Huckabee basically used Twitter as a platform to share his pre-scripted one liners.

However, it looked like Donald Trump was genuinely reacting to the debate.  His social media responses reinforced his campaign messages on immigration, Washington is broken, helping Veterans and Hillary's hypocrisy.

One indication that Trump was not totally rehearsed in his responses is a short missive "Good move by Bernie S." that has no reference point, hash tags or even Twitter handles.  Presumably, this was when Senator Bernie Sanders (Socialist-VT) said: "Enough with the emails already!".

On the one hand, Trump generated excitement with his social media participation in the Democrat Debates with authenticity, branding and passively marketing his message. On the other hand, Huckabee served up more cornpone which were groaners to political pundits but did little to advance his own message via social media.

With the revised qualifications for the CNBC debate, this might be one of the last servings of cornpone and canned ham from the Huckster.

Solving a Sirius (sic) Streaming Dilemma

I have been an internet streaming radio addict for over a decade. However  “upgrades” in the delivery system posed a “Sirius” (sic) dilemma which called for digital discernment and eventually action.

I love streaming internet radio.  The digital reception is much better than most terrestrial radios. And streaming internet radio provides a cornucopia of listening choices from around the world. 

When relaxing, I found that I liked two stations halfway around the world– one is a jazz station from Paris and the other plays an eclectic melange of music from Spain’s Canary Islands. Streaming internet radio players also offer easy tuning options for subchannels, which are broadcast in the stillborn HD format and are seemingly run commercial free music.

But truth be told, I cherish internet streaming radio mainly to catch talk radio.   No longer was I shut out if a syndicated show was not run locally, as I could find other outlets which may be offered at various time slots.. Some hosts will repeat there show in a loop until the next time they take the airwaves.  For breaking news, such as when people took to the streets in angry protests, I could listen to police scanners to hear reports of rioting unfiltered by the media.  

Streaming internet radio players also offer easy tuning options for subchannels, which are broadcast in the stillborn HD format and are seemingly run commercial free.

For quite a while, I relied upon Applian software like Replay Radio, which served as a “DVR” for internet radio.  Replay Radio was great for time shifting and converting into MP3s for later listening on a portable device. 

Alas, Applian now charges several dollars a month to subscribe to their media listings, thus making convenience costly. But after I discovered set top streaming internet radios, my need for recording programs waned. 

My Logitech Squeezebox is a device that I use every day.  The six preset buttons have a mixture of some local stations, a couple of distant stations which run programs that I enjoy and a couple of Sirius/XM channels (which I pay extra for that privilege).  As one obsessed with absorbing the news, it is not always necessary to see images of talking heads duking it out on camera. Thus I appreciate having a preset button to listen in and if breaking news warrants a visual, then I can turn on the TV.

While I still love the Logitech Squeezebox, the situation was not perfect.  I found that the power connection on my unit was temperamental if the radio was moved and required a power cycling.  The real problem was with Logitech’s strategic direction.

 Logitech discountinued manufacturing the network media players in  2012 and was not improving the ecosystem (software and tuning backbone), but it still worked well with ocassional hiccups from third party apps like Sirius/XM. The Squeezebox also had trouble tuning into I-Heart Radio (the Clear Channel media streaming).

At the beginning of September 2015, Sirius warned streaming radio customers that they would be upgrading their player in a month and check with their manufacturer for set top streaming radio devices.  Logitech claimed that everything would be fine.  But as the deadline loomed, I learned that the Squeezebox would be shut out of streaming Sirius/XM.

This was a cyber reveille for me.  While it is possible to listen to SiriusXM on moble devices if one has  a subscription, it would require wearing headphones or dedicating a mobile device as a streaming radio server. The internet and android SiriusXM app can be sluggish and tough to quickly tune. For me, that may be OK when out of pocket but seems unwieldy for desktop usage. It was a deal breaker for me, akin to Amazon Kindle phasing out the text-to-speech option on their e-ink reading devices (but keeping the feature on the Kindle Fire).  This called for an upgrade of sorts. 

While a Thrifty Techie hated to get another toy, making do with a hobbled technology which has already been discontinued seems penny wise and pound foolish.  So I sought out the other major internet radio manufacturer–Grace Digital.

Grace Digital had a similarly designed internet radio to the Logitech Squeezebox–the Mondo.  The Mondo relies fully on WiFi whereas the Squeezebox has an ethernet port. But the Mondo has RCA jacks making it more convenient to plug into a stereo system. The Mondo allows for I-Heart Radio app, which would help in listening to Blaze Radio programming.  But most importantly to me, a software upgrade from Grace Digital makes to Mondo able to stream SiriusXM.

As a Thrifty Techie, I am confortable getting a refurbished unit from a trusted source. So I checked a major online auction site and on line stores to learn more information and price check.  On the Grace Digital webpage, refurbed units were selling for 33% off however there was a 30% off for Logitech customers, hence for a few dollars more, I could get a new unit with the 30 day unconditional return option and one year manufacturer’s warranty. So this time, a new piece of hardware made thrifty sense.  

But my Logitech  Squeezebox won’t collect dust in the technology graveyard.  Now the unit will be moving bedside to act as a clock radio.  Along with the headphone jack, it will make for an excellent network media device for counterprogramming to a spouse vegging out to Keeping Up with the Kardashians and the ilk.

Clinton EMails-- Not Just a Technological Glitch

MSNBC's Ed Schultz excused Hillary Clinton as being technologically challenged for not understanding that a person can have two email accounts on one device. Perhaps, but not exactly someone who confidently took the bridge to the Twenty First Century.

Nor was the Clintons' insistence on exclusively relying upon their own private email servers for official State Department business a thrifty technology decision. But the fact that these email servers were conveniently wiped clean when under federal scrutiny allows inquiring minds to wonder what electronic communications were being shielded. 

Is Hillary Clinton Just Technologically Challenged?

During Hillary Clinton's brief media appearance at the United Nations, President Obama's first Secretary of State claimed that the kerfluffle concerning Hillary's emails stemmed from the fact that she did not want to carry two smartphones to have two separate email accounts. 

Syncophants in the Lamestream Media, like MSNBC's Ed Schultz, sought to sympathize with Hillary's alibi by suggesting that older people are overwhelmed by technology.

The problem is that but a fortnight ago, Hillary Clinton admitted that she now  carries both an iPhone as well as a Blackberry.  So Special Ed's technologically challenged excuse both rings false as well as suggesting that the 67 year old Mrs, Clinton is not quite with it.

Hillary's assertion about not being able to have two email accounts on a smartphone seems silly to most Americans.  Of course, the matter is not the technological capability but control.  Personal emails on a work issued handset becomes the employer's property.  This is why many people dual fist cell phones. For federal functionaries, the standard was a secure phone provided by the government and an unsecure phone for personal emails. That is an inconvenient truth for Madam Secretary Clinton.

But how can Hillary plausibly posit being technologically challenged when the domain Clintonemail.com was established the day Mrs. Clinton's confirmation hearings for Secretary of State began in the Senate in 2009.  That sounds kind of suspicious for an official who is uncomfortable with technology.

As Mrs. Clinton questionably claimed that she had adhered to all controlling legal authority on preserving federal records, Hillary refused to surrender the server to an independent authority to vet the scrubbed email account as it contained emails from her and President Clinton.

While this press availability was meant to tamp down a scandal which was obscuring positive earned media for the Hillary 2016 proto-campaign. But the event may have multiplied the questions among ordinary Americans and intensified the political and legal pressures associated with Hillary emails.

h/t: Kevin Siers

Seeing the Virtues of iOS8

The Thrifty Techie has assiduously avoided Apple products.  As a vertically integrated business, Apple's  products have always been significantly more expensive than other alternatives.  Apple sold with the slogan: "It just works", which appeals to consumers who will pay for simplicity at the cost of customization.

With this in mind, Apple's announcement of the iPhone 6 and iOS 8 lit up the Thrifty Techie's mental radar.  Apple designers persisted through several iterations of the iPhone to insist that a 3.5" screen (with a retina display) was the perfect size for a cell phone.  But the market for 4" smartphones which cost for more than $300 is shrinking.  In fact,  the iPhone now only occupies 32.5% of the smartphone market.  So much was made about the iPhone 6 increasing its screen size to 4.7" and the iPhone6 Plus measuring 5.5".

A screen larger than 4.0" seems much easier to type on a virtual QWERTY capacitive keyboard.  One wonders if a 5.5" device is more a phablet which one does not pocket or clutch for prolonged period.  Nonetheless, Samsung has scored with their Note line of cellphones and Apple designers look to emulate that success.

What is more significant is Apple's emphasis on data security and personalization.  Civil libertarians should appreciate Apple's insistence that it can no longer comply with responding to government warrants because of the iOS 8 passcode feature.

The new Apple operating system is downloadable for older devices and will also work on the iPad.

This sense of personal data security should compliment the consumer acceptance of Apple Pay, an NFC powered mobile payment system.  Now Apple can concentrate on selling some reluctant retailers, like Walmart and Best Buy, into paying for the expensive infrastructure to facilitate Apple Pay.

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