So in the past six months I’ve openly and freely loved my iphone. I really can’t say I had any complaints. Very few dropped calls. Loads of fun with apps. Reasonably fast internet connection. My usb charger never went up in flames, despite the warnings. I got plenty of time with each battery charge. I thought my phone was perfect, until it got cold here in St. Louis.

Something that never occurred to me when I purchased the iPhone in the summer (clever release date)…You can’t use it with gloves on. It only responds to your bare skin. This poses a major problem and serious annoyance, especially when you’re driving or walking around outside in the cold. It’s really not cool to have to either:

1) Scramble to take my gloves off and get to the phone in time to answer while simultaneously operating a vehicle or walking two large dogs, or…
2) Use my nose to unlock the screen and type in my password.

That little oversight has become a real annoyance.

This is pretty darn funny – especially given that it was put out by a company who I can’t say I’ve seen anything fresh and creative from in quite awhile. I hope we see more of this light-hearted, youthful flair in their brand during the next year. In times like these, you’ve got to find a way to reinvent yourself and get noticed.

http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/

And can I put a plug in for their spend $25 get $10 off coupon they’ve been sending out lately. Another great way to pick up some much needed foot traffic.

According to The Economist, online advertising will be relatively unscathed during the economic downturn. EMarketer agrees that we will still see growth in online ad spend, but has revised their growth projections for search advertising from a predicted 14.5% growth in 2009 to a 8.9% growth rate in the new year.

Some of the arguments: “Online marketing increasingly aims for awareness, consideration, preference and loyalty all at once…Marketing managers can therefore defend their online budgets as being both above and below the line.” And in relation to traditional forms of advertising: “All this makes spending on [online] advertising much less speculative, so that it starts to be treated instead as a cost of sales.”

San Diego Calc teacher sells ads on his tests to recoup money lost in budget cuts. Brilliant. I’m just glad I’m finished with school because my mother would have bought a large banner at the top of the test threatening me to fail another Calc test…